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ShortOverview
Gender equity is essential for the development of a healthysociety and is one of the most effective ways to address all the other globalchallenges in this chapter. It is well documented that countries with smallergender gaps tend to have better economies, healthier children, and superiorwelfare in general. For example, the Nordic countries top both gender parityratings and general quality of life indexes. Increased participation of womenin political economic decisionmaking around the world has been slow but steady.
The ratio of women in national parliaments has increasedfrom 13.8% in 2000 to 18.4% in 2009. Since some 110 countries have introducedregulations to help women get elected, there are notable advancements in Europe and the Americas, but less progress in Africa and the Middle East. Nevertheless,UNICEF reports that school attendance improved worldwide and the educationgender gap is closing; of the estimated 100 million primary-age children whoare not in school, girls only slightly outnumber boys.
Women represent over 60% of all unpaid family workers andaccount for over 40% of the world’s workforce but earn less than 25% of thewages and own only 1% of the assets. Since there are more women than men inuniversities in many countries that limit women’s professional work, thefeminine brain drain could become an issue in countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia and Japan.
About 70% of the 600,000–820,000 individuals trafficked eachyear are female and up to 50% are minors, in the “largest slave trade inhistory.” Although many of the norms on gender relations have found officialendorsement in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of DiscriminationAgainst Women and in the Beijing Plan of Action, many countries still have lawsand cultures that deny women basic human rights.
Religious and patriarchal structures continue to hinderprogress in addressing women’s deprivations of liberty, maternal mortality,unsafe abortions and lack of access to family planning, genital mutilation,child marriage, child labor, and the feminization of poverty. While maternaldeath risk is 1 in 8,000 for women in industrial countries, it is 1 in 76 inthe developing world, with most prevalence in Africa and Asia due to highfertility rates and weak health systems. Environmental disasters, food andfinancial crises, armed conflicts, and forced displacement might furtherincrease vulnerabilities and generate new forms of disadvantages for women andchildren.
The largest war today, as measured by death and casualtiesper year, is men attacking women. WHO reports that after diseases and hunger,violence against women is the greatest cause of death among women. Aboutone-third of women suffer gender-based violence during their lives, and one infive have been be a victim of rape or attempted rape, especially during armedconflicts. War crimes committed against them are often not prosecuted. Truthand reconciliation commissions on violence against women and protecting theirrights in armed conflict should be established. Educating men and endingharmful gender stereotyping in the media will help, but it is a slow process.In the meantime, elementary and secondary school systems should considerteaching martial arts and other forms of self-defense in physical educationclasses for girls. Mothers should use their educational role in the family tomore assertively nurture mutual respect between men and women.
Campaigns such as “UNite to End Violence against Women”raise awareness and encourage strategies to address physical, mental, or sexualharm against women and girls worldwide. Fewer than half of the UN member stateshave passed laws targeting domestic violence. Meanwhile, women are increasinglycutting through cultural hierarchies via the Internet to get information, formgroups, coordinate actions, and participate in networks. Web sites likeiknowpolitics.org help improve women’s political skills. (See Appendix in theattached CD for an annotated listing of women and gender organizations andresources to improve gender equity.) Indexes are being created to assess gendergaps and increase accountability. Legal systems should draw on the Conventionon the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the BeijingPlan of Action to improve gender parity and access to credit, land, technology,training, health care, and child care. Infringements on women’s rights shouldbe subject to prosecution and international sanctions.
Challenge 11 will be addressed seriously when there isgender parity in school enrollment, literacy, and access to capital, whendiscriminatory laws are gone, when discrimination and violence against women isprosecuted, and when there are essentially equal numbers of men and women inparliaments, cabinets, and other policy-making positions. (See results of astudy conducted by Mellennia 2015 on potential policies to improve the statusof women in the attached CD.)
Regional Considerations:
Africa :Half the world’s maternal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Pregnancy-relateddeath is 4.5%, genital mutilation is still widespread, women have little say intheir own health care, and only 61% of the girls go to primary school. Althoughwomen represent 18.5% in sub-Saharan African parliaments, thanks to a 30% seatsguarantee rule, Rwanda became the first country in the world to elect awomen-majority parliament. Major cultural changes will have to be made tosystematically improve the prospects for the average woman in Africa. Uganda eliminated school fees to help close the educational gender gap. Fifteen FirstLadies of Africa held a summit in California.
Asia and Oceania: Some 18% of Asian nationallegislators are women; the equivalent figure in Oceania is 15.2% and in ArabStates, 9%. At least 60 million girls are “missing” in Asia due to the abortionof female fetuses, female infanticide, and deliberate neglect and starvation ofbaby girls. China funds pension plans for parents with daughters to countermale-only child preferences. Many women are achieving socioeconomicindependence through micro loans. China has banned gender discrimination in thejob market. The Philippines is close to having a Magna Carta of Women becomelegally binding. Australian universities now graduate more women than men, andtheir women hold 36% of senior executive positions in government and 12% ofprivate-sector management jobs.
Europe : Women hold 41.4% of parliamentaryseats in Nordic countries, 19.3% in OECD countries (excluding Nordic ones), and30% of EU Parliament seats. Although women represent 59% of universitygraduates, their employment rate is only 58% and they earn on average 15% lessthan men (11% less in France); women represent 32% of managers, 10% of boardmembers, and only 2.9% of CEOs of large companies. Work/life balance is stilldeficient. About 500,000 women from Central and Eastern Europe are working inthe sex trade in Western Europe. A new public school program in Italy has more than 60,000 girls learning martial arts as deterrence to male violence.
Latin America : Women’sparticipation in Latin American parliaments improved after the introduction ofquotas in many countries. Women represent more than 60% of college graduates in Brazil. Peru is introducing programs for teaching computer skills to women inindigenous languages. Institutional weaknesses, “machismo” attitudes, and apatriarchal culture hinder progress in addressing rape, domestic violence,sexual harassment, and equal pay and opportunities for women.
North America : Womenhold 25% of parliamentary seats in Canada and 16.5% in the U.S. The U.S. “Equal Pay for Equal Work” law gained international recognition. Women held15% of executive positions in the top 500 companies in the U.S. in 2007 and 13% in Canada in 2006. Nevertheless, at least 86.4% of U.S. companies had boards with at least one woman member, versus 48.2% in Canada. In Quebec, Canada, state corporate boards by law will have to be 50% female by2012.
Women in National Parliaments (percentage)
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union, with Millennium Projectestimates