In over 300 thousand years, science and technology have progressed at a rate that stands to define itself. However, the topic of gender equality still raises the question of whether, as a society, we have moved at all. Legalities in most countries would argue for the same judgment and treatment of both sexes, but reality depends on the actual implementation of the system that we have created for ourselves. To what extent are the laws that govern the world being upheld? The same laws that root down to the foundations of liberty—the same foundations that countries have been established over? Although discrimination is not something we can actively measure, the numbers in terms of wage, exploitation, and education, to use the common expression, “speak for themselves”—and they speak loudly.
Gender DifferencesÂ
In 2023, the United Nations reported that “On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally and…spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work” (“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”). And compared to 1 in 10 boys, almost a quarter of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor engaged in education (“Gender Equality”). Additionally, “worldwide, nearly half of married women [still] lack decision-making power over their sexual and reproductive health and rights” (“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”) despite the continuous evolvement we’ve experienced in terms of life expectancy and literacy of women. In 2023, the United Nations reported that “On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally and…spend about three times as many hours in unpaid domestic and care work” (“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”). And compared to 1 in 10 boys, almost a quarter of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor engaged in education (“Gender Equality”). Additionally, “worldwide, nearly half of married women [still] lack decision-making power over their sexual and reproductive health and rights” (“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”) despite the continuous evolvement we’ve experienced in terms of life expectancy and literacy of women. This increased literacy is consistent with the fact that the number of girls out of school in the latter is estimated at 32 million for primary education, 30 million for lower secondary education, and 67 million for upper secondary, a huge improvement from 65 million, 52 million, and 91 million in 1995, respectively (“Gender Equality”). Moreover, switching from the more economic side to social rights, UNICEF documents that gender norms and sexual exploitation are still prevalent to a startling degree where “35 per cent of women between 15-49 years of age have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence.” These norms, moreover, go beyond just the social setting in various countries, in that they are ingrained within their laws, legislation, and even justice systems which often lack consideration for girls’ rights; these examples include policies which prevent women from, for instance, inheriting land and owning property. However, this very ideology, that is often meant to benefit men, simultaneously harms them. This detriment to men, especially boys, lies in the societal expectations placed on them regarding military conscription, child labor, and violence. At the rate that the world is currently going:Â
“…it will take an estimated 300 years to end child marriage, 286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace, and 47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments” (“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”).
The irony of this situation is that while we expect equality to be at a closer reach than it was a while back, it has worsened substantially since this claim was made, with events, like COViD-19, only further amplifying the inequality. However, this very ideolog of gender inequality, that is often meant to benefit men, simultaneously harms them. This detriment to men, especially boys, lies in the societal expectations placed on them regarding military conscription, child labor, and violence.
The Gender Pay Gap and Economic Inequalities
The differences in pay between women and men cannot automatically be attributed to gender discrimination as it could be based on a wide range of possibilities such as experience and education, among a number of others (Ortiz-Ospina and Roser). Although, “both discrimination and inequality are important…they are not one and the same” and that is why the gender pay gap is a direct measure of gender inequality, rather than gender discrimination. While in most countries women earn less than men, the gap can also exist as otherwise: if it is negative, the value suggests that this situation is flipped, such that men are earning less than women. Based on 2016 reports, countries such as South Korea, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Brazil, Pakistan had positive gender pay gaps and others, including Turkey, Argentina, and Malaysia had negative ones. Within a more generalized global reach, regions with the highest gender parity were Western Europe at 77.6 % and North America at 76.4 %; ones with the lowest included South Asia at 62.3 % and the Middle East & North Africa at 60.9 % (“Gender Equality by Country 2023”).Â
Apart from the gender pay gap, other forms of economic inequalities also exist between men and women throughout the world, with regards to assets and land ownership. Ortiz-Ospina and Roser state that: “In nearly all low and middle-income countries with data, men are more likely to own land than women” and the same can be said in the case of inheritance rights, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East.
Progression in Canada
In Canada, “Of all women aged 20 to 54 who were not attending school full time, 68% were employed full time in 2021, up from 65% in 2007 and 55% in 1997” whereas the ratio for men stayed around 81 %; it is important to note that although the percentage of full time working women continues to rise, it is at a rate slower than those of previous decades (Drolet). This is further evident by the fact that while the gender gap in employment may have decreased from 25 % in 1997 to 13 % in 2022, this was due to the growing rate of employment for women, and the stagnation of Male employment rather than any actual improvement.
However, this inequality doesn’t only exist between the genders, even within women, there exists an inequality in employment based on ethnicity where Canadian-born women and long-term immigrants had the highest rates in 2021 compared to Indigenous women and recent immigrants. “The gap in full-time employment rates between Canadian-born and long-term immigrant women widened from less than one percentage point in 2007 to 5 percentage points in 2021, in favour of Canadian-born women”(Drolet) while the gap between Canadian-born and Indigenous women stayed stagnant at 12 %, similar to the former and recent immigrants. With regards to education, “In 2021, about 80% of Canadian-born women with a bachelor’s degree or higher were employed full time compared to 73% of long term immigrants and 62% of recent immigrants” —a gap that has not decreased over time. On the flipside, however, “Indigenous women with a university degree were just as likely to hold a full-time job (79%) as their Canadian-born counterparts.”Â
Regardless of the decrease of the gender gap in hourly wages between women and men from 2007 to 2022, women continue to earn less, with the inequalities deepening within subregions of women.(Drolet and Amini). While progress has been made in working towards gender equality, the gender pay gap and employment disparities still persist, and the path to a more equitable future remains challenging, but nonetheless essential.
Written By: Aziza Abdurakhmanova
Edited by: Sophia Naydenov
References
Drolet, Marie. “Unmasking Differences in Women’s Full-Time Employment.” Unmasking Differences in Women’s Full-Time Employment, Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, 26 Sept. 2022, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75-006-x/2022001/article/00009-eng.htm.
Drolet, Marie, and Mandana Mardare Amini. “Intersectional Perspective on the Gender Wage Gap in Canada, 2007 to 2022.” Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, 21 Sept. 2023, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2023049-eng.htm.
“Gender Equality.” UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/gender-equality. Accessed 7 Oct. 2023.
“Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment.” United Nations, United Nations, http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2023.
“Gender Equality by Country 2023.” World Population Review, worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gender-equality-by-country. Accessed 8 Oct. 2023. Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban, and Max Roser. “Economic Inequality by Gender.” Our World in Data, 21 Mar. 2018, ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality-by-gender.
Campus UNICEF 