Falling behind - International Women's Day 2020 #EachforEqual

With International women's day fast approaching I thought I would share some shocking information I came across this week. I read an article written by The Guardian that changed my whole perception on gender equality. I didn't want to believe the headline and thought 'yeah this is a classic case of manipulating data for a headline' but after researching, unfortunately, this wasn't the case...

'Nine out of 10 people found to be biased against women' 

the headline screamed at me. The article summed up data gathered from the United Nations Development Programme. This data uncovered the shocking scale of women's rights globally. It analysed the data of 75 countries containing over 80% of the worlds population. It found that almost 90% of people are biased against women. 90%. I knew it was bad, but I didn't realise it was quite that bad. In the UK and US this figure was not so high but still over half of people held those views. 

It also found that half of people think men make superior political leaders. 

Unfortunately, this point did not surprise me. We know that women are not represented equally when it comes to business and politics. Women's representation in politics does not account for voting rates let alone population. However, the next line really shook me to the core. 

'Almost a third of men and women think it’s acceptable for a man to beat his wife.' 

I have no words. 

UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 - Gender Equality also discussed that 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical or sexual violence by a partner within the last 12 months. Unbelievably, 49 countries do not have laws protecting women from this kind of violence.  

A gender index created by Equal Measures concluded that NO country was on target to achieve the UN sustainable development targets on gender equality by the deadline of 2030. 

Unfortunately, some hold the view that 'any progress is good progress' and that 'gender equality is sorted' but to this I strongly disagree. It is not good enough to allow more generations to grow up in an unequal world with unequal opportunities, unequal pay and unequal rights. I naively believed that things were improving. Not as quickly as I liked, but still improving. However, the UN programme highlighted that in some countries, attitudes towards women have actually worsened. 

The UN stated '...attitudes appear to have worsened in recent years, signalling that progress cannot be taken for granted.'  However, I don't believe women should wake up daily with an attitude of gratitude towards having equal rights to that of a man.  It is a right not a want. Although I am glad that there is progress in some countries, this does not outweigh the fall backs of others. We are all behind where we should be. Behind is behind. 

As stated by the united nations sustainable development goals 'Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world'.

Challenge gender stereotypes.
Stand up for what you believe is right. 

Fight for an equal future. 

'An equal world is an enabled world' 

Happy international women's day! 

#IWD2020 #Each for Equal 

For more information and to see where I gathered my data please see the links below:
The Guardian

United Nations Development Programme 

UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 - Gender Equality

International Women's Day