Gender Equality: At this rate, another 136 years of waiting …

During this month dedicated to Women, let’s reflect back on key highlights of Gender Gap reports globally. The reality of gender disparities is surreal in this 21st century and Covid has worsened an already outrageous situation. According to the Global Gender Gap report by the WEF, 2020, it will now take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide. What ?

1. Nearly 2.4 Billion Women of working age globally Don’t have the same economic eights as Men according to the Worldbank Women, Business and the Law report, 2022

2. Almost 90% of Men/Women Globally are biased against Women as per UNDP Gender Social Norms Index 2020 

3. 33,000 girls (or 1 girl every 2 seconds) become child brides every day, as per the Girls not brides global network 

4. While women represent 39% of global employment, they account for 54% of job losses during Covid as per a McKinsey report 2020 

5. While 80% of men aged 15-64 globally are in the Labour force, only 52% of women are. Global Gender gap report, 2021, WEF

6. Women represented only 26.1% of ~ 35,500 parliament seats and just 22.6% of +3,400 ministers worldwide according to the Global Gender gap report, 2021, WEF

7. Only 37 countries out of 156 have full parity in terms of  educational attainment between men and women. The global average parity of 96% hides a gloomy reality with major variations in the quality of education based on income, race, ethnicity and geographic location between countries and within countries, especially developing countries. Global Gender Gap World Report, 2021, WEF

8. The median presence of women in senior positions across all countries assessed by the index is 33%. Global Gender Gap World Report, 2021, WEF

And this without mentioning the differences in salaries for positions of the same level or the rates of violence against women, etc.

This is a tragedy that can be corrected. it is why, addressing these normative and legal barriers for women to progress should remain a priority area for policymakers and businesses in all countries.

And it all starts with each one of us, each in his or her role. Because these numbers reveal a lot of prejudice and conscious or unconscious bias by many. We are all capable of doing something and changing our perspective.

D. Manou-Assoko