Gender, Global, Headlines, Human Rights, Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, TerraViva United Nations
Opinion
Women perform a disproportionate amount of unpaid work, hampering their ability to build assets or advance their careers. Credit: Manipadma Jena/IPS
– The global fight for equality for women and girls has been ongoing for centuries, with no country achieving full equality. In many countries, women and girls continue to face discrimination, harassment, unequal treatment, injustice, domestic violence and lack of safety.
One of the main objectives of this fight is to dismantle systemic discrimination and guarantee the basic human rights of women and girls. These rights include economic freedom, social independence, voting power, and bodily autonomy.
While some progress has been made, the current global situation regarding women’s equality remains worrying. Many women and girls are still fighting for their lives, their rights and their dignity.
It was not until the early 20th century that countries began passing laws to guarantee women the right to vote and stand in elections. The first country to allow women to vote was New Zealand in 1893. About a decade later, Australia, Finland, Denmark and Iceland followed suit.
By the mid-20th century, more than half of countries had granted women the right to vote, and today, none of the nearly 200 countries in the world prohibit women from voting. However, some countries effectively or practically deny women this right due to the absence of elections or restrictive regimes.
National surveys in different regions of the world find that a large majority of the public supports women’s equality and says that it is very important that women in their country have the same rights as men. The majority of the public supporting women’s equality ranges from highs of 90 percent or more in countries such as Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom to lows of about 55 percent in Kenya, Russia, and South Korea.
On the contrary, a minority of misogynists consider women inferior to men. This minority often treats women as their personal property, denying them control over their lives and bodies. They restrict women’s political, social and economic rights and often ridicule, intimidate and physically abuse them.
Various indices and metrics have been used to measure the extent and progress of women’s equality between countries. For example, the Women, Peace and Security Index, based on thirteen indicators of the situation of women in 181 countries, focuses on inclusion, justice, rights and security.
The five countries that rank highly in the Women, Peace and Security Index are Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Together, these five countries represent approximately 0.3% of the world’s female population. European countries occupy nine of the top ten spots in the index, with Nordic countries consistently ranking in the top ten for many years.
On the contrary, the five countries that occupy the bottom positions in this index are Afghanistan, Yemen, Central African Republic, Syria and Sudan. Among the ten worst-ranked countries in the index, only one country, Haiti, is not in Africa or Asia (Table 1).
Source: Women, Peace and Security Index.
It is noteworthy that the ten countries with the largest economies are not among the highest ranked countries in the index. Among these ten countries, Canada and Germany occupy the highest positions, 16th and 21st, respectively. In contrast, China and India, which each have about 17% of the world’s female population, rank significantly lower on this index, with scores of 89 and 131, respectively.
Another metric used to assess countries’ progress in achieving women’s equality is the United Nations’ Gender Inequality Index (GII). The GII is a composite metric that measures maternal mortality, teenage births, secondary education level, share of parliamentary seats, and labor market participation.
No country has achieved full equality and women still face the threat of discrimination, harassment and gender-based violence. In many developing countries, women and girls continue to suffer serious injustices, including forced marriage and high levels of domestic and sexual violence.
According to the GII, the five countries with the highest ranking in terms of women’s equality are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In contrast, the five lowest-ranking countries on the GDI are Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, Chad and Afghanistan. Other rankings, such as the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index and US News’ Best Countries, also produced similar rankings of countries with the highest and lowest levels of women’s equality.
Several factors contribute to the lack of women’s equality and discrimination against women and girls. These factors include restrictive laws, discriminatory norms, cultural stereotypes, risks of violence and unequal education that values men and boys over women and girls. These misogynistic barriers are reinforced by unconscious bias, weak policy enforcement, economic disparities, and structural disadvantages (Table 2).
Source: Amnesty International.
Men and boys typically receive more education, power, resources and opportunities than women and girls. Furthermore, traditional or religious norms often portray men as dominant and women as subordinate. While these norms generally affirm the spiritual equality of men and women, they often perpetuate social and institutional inequality on Earth due to traditional interpretations of sacred religious texts.
Discrimination, harassment, lack of rights, limited healthcare, unequal access to resources, education and political power, high rates of violence, forced marriages and cultural preferences for sons contribute to the unequal treatment of girls and women.
Additionally, women also perform a disproportionate amount of unpaid work, hampering their ability to build assets or advance their careers. They face lower wages for the same work and are often concentrated in lower-paid occupations. In many countries, women also have restricted access to land ownership, credit, financial services and unequal legal protection.
Humanitarian crises, climate change and pandemics tend to disproportionately affect women, exacerbating existing inequalities. Fragile states and those experiencing conflict also tend to rank low in terms of women’s equality.
Women’s inequality also varies within countries. For example, although women make up 50% of the American population, female inequality persists in all social, economic, and political sectors. Based on 17 key indicators of women’s equality in the U.S., one study found that the top five states are Hawaii, Nevada, Maryland, Maine, and Oregon, while the bottom five states are Utah, Texas, Idaho, Arkansas, and Louisiana (Table 3).
Source: WalletHub.
There are only about five years left for the world to fulfill the promises made to girls and women on gender equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Achieving gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is vital for sustainable development.
Women’s equality is a fundamental human right and a foundation for a peaceful and sustainable world. Progress has been made in recent decades. However, the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.
Over the remaining years, eleven of the biggest challenges have been identified that must be addressed to advance women’s equality. These challenges include discrimination, inequalities, inadequate access to education and healthcare, lack of women in political leadership, violence against women and girls, poverty, and lack of economic opportunities (Table 4).
Source: UN Women.
Women and girls face discrimination that hinders their access to education, employment, health care and legal protection. Treating women unfairly and depriving them of their basic human rights leads to the creation of unjust societies.
Approximately 1 in 3 women (an estimated 840 million worldwide) have experienced sexual or intimate partner violence throughout their lives. In the last 12 months alone, 316 million women – representing 11% of those over 15 years of age – were subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner.
Major factors contributing to women’s lack of equality include restrictive laws, discriminatory norms, cultural stereotypes, violence and safety risks, weak enforcement policies, unequal education, economic disparities, inadequate healthcare, lack of political representation, job segregation, wage gap, unpaid care burden, and unequal domestic responsibilities.
Achieving women’s equality requires a multifaceted approach. This includes ensuring their basic human rights, enforcing legal protections against discrimination and violence, ensuring equal pay, access to education, economic empowerment and opportunities, promoting women in leadership roles, dismantling misogynistic stereotypes, promoting inclusive policies, supporting women-led institutions and encouraging shared domestic responsibility.
Furthermore, this multifaceted approach involves promoting proactive efforts by governments, non-governmental institutions, businesses, schools, community organizations, families and individuals to ensure equal opportunities, freedom from violence and fundamental human rights for women and girls.
Joseph Chamié is an independent consulting demographer and former director of the United Nations Population Division.
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