Gender equality: current status

The World Economic Forum estimates that it will take another 108 years to reach gender parity...  

Today, 33,000 girls become child brides every day; 214 million women around the world are unable to access modern contraception; and up to 18% of global maternal deaths are caused by unsafe abortions (World Economic Forum, 2019). 

Globally, women and girls make up 72% of all human trafficking victims; women make up more than two-thirds of the world’s 796 million illiterate people; and only 20% of the world’s landowners are women (UN Women).

Women’s economic empowerment and gender equality are central to the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  Studies show that the economic empowerment of women is central to advancing gender equality and women’s rights.

And that seems obvious enough: access to fair employment and equal participation in the market advances the ability to exercise control and to participate meaningfully in economic decision-making. 

And yet despite this, women today still make up only 39% of global employment (McKinsey Global Institute 2020).  In India (the world’s fastest growing economy), women’s labour force participation had declined to 20% in 2019.  

2018 World Bank statistics tell us that globally, over 2.7 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men; 104 economies still have laws preventing women from working in specific jobs; and in 18 economies, husbands can legally prevent their wives from working. 

Statistics reported by UN Women tell us that women tend to spend around 2.5 times more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men.  In India, for example, men spend on average 50 minutes per day doing unpaid work.  Women, on the other hand, spend nearly six hours (OECD). 

This matters.  Gender inequalities in employment and job quality result in a gender gap in access to economic and social protection and empowerment acquired through the benefits of training and employment. 

Looking ahead, a 2020 paper by the McKinsey Global Institute reports that the advancement of gender equality could contribute an additional $12 trillion to global GDP by 2030.  The same amount the International Monetary Fund estimates the Covid-19 crisis will cost the global economy... 

Images: IKTIYAR, India 2016-2017