Daily Times

Year 2020 marks the Twenty-fifth anniversary of the gathering which produced the Beijing Declaration & Platform for Action, an ambitious and visionary document that outlines a world in which women have the same rights and opportunities as men. Leaders from 189 countries agreed to pursue gender equality in an unprecedented display of solidarity during the UN fourth world conference on women in China. It aims at removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life through ensuring women a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making. This means that the principle of shared power and responsibility should be established between women and men at home, in the workplace, and in the wider national and international communities.

International community and civil society, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, are called upon to take strategic action in the following twelve critical areas of concern for women globally: Women and poverty, Education and training of women, Women and health, Violence against women, Women and armed conflict, Women and the economy, Women in power and decision-making, Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women, Human rights of women, Women and the media, Women and the environment, and the girl-child.

Gender disparities are a persistent form of inequality in every country. Despite remarkable progress in some areas, no country in the world-rich or poor-has achieved gender equality. All too often, women and girls are discriminated against in health, in education, at home and in the labor market-with negative repercussions for their freedoms.

This is the time for a reality check. The commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration (Beijing+25) provides an opportunity to reassess the path to gender equality and adjust actions to close gender gaps.

In this regard, latest report of The Human Development Report’s Gender Inequality Index (GII) has been published which measures women’s empowerment in health, education and economic status. Report displayed that overall progress in gender inequality has been slowing in recent years. Recent report also triggered to deliberate upon the social norms and traditions prevalent in the society which consciously and unconsciously constitute our societal patterns and behavior. For instance, based on current trends, it would take 257 years to close the gender gap in economic opportunity. Beyond what is measured, there are unaccounted burdens behind the achievements: the double shift at home, the harassment in public transportation, the discrimination in workplaces, and the multiple hidden constraints that women face.

New social movements are emerging all around the world. Different forms of demonstration-including online campaigns, women marches and street performances-demand new ways of looking at gender equality and women’s empowerment. The #MeToo movement gives voice to many silence breakers, uncovering abuse and vulnerability. In India the #IWillGoOut movement demands equal rights for women in public spaces. In Latin America the #NiUnaMenos movement sheds light on femicides and violence against women from Argentina to Mexico. A movement born in Chile created a hymn named “a rapist in your way,” shouted in unison by thousands of women across the world (367 times in 52 countries and on every continent except Antarctica) demanding that society stop blaming the victims of rape.

Why is progress towards some aspects of gender equality getting slower and more difficult? Are there hidden dimensions of gender inequality? To explore these questions, the 2019 Human Development Report argues that progress towards gender equality is confronting moving targets and inequality traps, with disadvantaged groups catching up with basic achievements, but trailing in more empowering enhanced achievements. One example: In the 50 countries where adult women are more educated than men, they still receive on average 39 percent less income than men-despite devoting more time to work.

In centenarian context, there has been remarkable progress on gender equality. Over the past century, women in most countries were granted basic political, economic and social rights. Restrictions to vote, go to school and work in different economic areas were lifted, with the principle of equality typically granted in constitutions.

The trend gained global momentum in the second half of the 20th century. This strong push was a basis for optimism before the turn of the 21st century. In 1995 Human Development Report highlighted sizeable gender disparities, larger than today, but documented substantial progress over the preceding two decades, particularly in education and health, where the prospect of equality was visible on the near horizon.

After 1995 the situation of women continued to improve, with remarkable strides in education, almost reaching parity in average primary enrolment, and in health, reducing the global maternal mortality ratio by 45 percent after 1990. But gains in other dimensions of women’s empowerment have been smaller, and progress towards gender equality is slowing.

Gender inequality is correlated with a loss in human development due to inequality

Gender inequality is correlated with a loss in human development due to inequality. No country has reached low inequality in human development without reducing the loss coming from gender inequality. Investing in women’s equality and lifting both their living standards and their empowerment are thus central to the human development agenda and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Not only are 45 targets and 54 specific indicators of the SDG framework directly linked to gender, the effects of these inequalities are linked to all dimensions of development. This implies that investment in gender equality has a catalytic effect on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Progress in human development is linked to expanding substantive freedoms, capabilities and functioning from the basic to the more enhanced, representing different levels of empowerment. There has been faster progress towards equality in basic capabilities and slower progress in enhanced capabilities. Disadvantaged groups catch up in the basic and fall behind in the enhanced, a dynamic that tends to perpetuate the unequal distribution of power. Gender equality-related capabilities follow a similar pattern. On the positive side, women are catching up in basic areas of development. Legal barriers to gender equality have been removed in most countries: Women can vote and be elected, they have access to education, and they can increasingly participate in the economy without formal restrictions. But progress has been uneven as women move away from basic areas into enhanced ones, where gaps tend to be wider.

Take access to political participation. Women and men vote in elections at similar rates. So, there is parity in entry-level political participation, where power is much diffused. But when more concentrated political power is at stake, women appear severely underrepresented. The higher the power and responsibility, the wider the gender gap-and for heads of state and government it is almost 90 percent.

Similar gradients occur even for women who reach higher power. With portfolios unevenly distributed, women most commonly held in environment, natural resources and energy, followed by social sectors, such as social affairs, education and family. Fewer women had portfolios in transport, economics or finance. Certain disciplines are typically associated with feminine or masculine characteristics, as is also true in education and the labor market.

Economic participation also shows a gradient. When empowerment is basic and precarious, women are overrepresented, as for contributing family workers (typically not receiving monetary payment). Then, as economic power increases from employee to employer, and from employer to top brass, the gender gap widens, with women representing only 21 percent of the world’s employers and 12 percent of the top billionaires.

This pattern appears in other aspects of development. Women today are the most qualified in history, and newer generations of women have reached parity in enrolment in primary education. But this may not be enough for achieving parity in adulthood, as large differences persist in occupational choices, with the share of female graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs lower than 15 percent for most countries.

The transition from the education system to the world of paid work is also marked by a gender equality discontinuity associated with women’s reproductive roles. Women on average comprise 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries while the share of female holders of agricultural land reaches only 18 percent. Some discontinuities represent a natural part of the development process-the constant need to push new boundaries to achieve more. Others represent the response of deeply rooted social norms that preserve underlying structures of power.

(To be concluded)

Saud Bin Ahsen is an old Ravian, can be reached at saudzafar5@gmil.com