The Global Problem of Gender Inequality
The world’s gender inequality is a real problem that impacts people’s lives and the ability of nations to grow. Gender equality is the right of all individuals to be treated equally regardless of their sex or gender, and gender discrimination is when one sex or gender is routinely privileged or prioritized over another. This is an issue that disproportionately affects women worldwide, and is rooted in history going back to the dawn of civilization in most cultures.
While there are countless reasons for why women are still held back in many societies, the most fundamental reason is that we are still living in a patriarchal society that places men at the center of the social hierarchy. When women are not fully empowered and given a voice, the rest of the world suffers.
This is why we need to continue to fight for the rights of every person to be treated fairly, and this must include men as well. The goal of gender equality is to remove the disadvantages that arise from patterns of biases that are based on differences in biology or psychology, or in culture and norms.
These biases often lead to unfair treatment. They can be harmful to all people, whether they are women or men, and this includes gender inequality in education, employment, health, economic development, political participation, and violence. Fortunately, we have seen some progress in all of these areas — especially in developing countries. But, a close look at the available data shows that progress has all but stalled in the last few decades.
A major driver of this slowdown is the fact that women are more likely to be working in less-than-desirable jobs compared with men, particularly when they are unpaid. This has been the case for decades and remains the case today. While there have been some improvements in terms of women’s representation in the workforce, there are still far too few women in managerial and technical occupations. And, even after accounting for educational achievement, there is no explanation for why progress toward closing the gender pay gap has all but stalled in the last two decades.
In addition, girls are more likely to be denied access to education and to drop out of school. This has huge implications for their future incomes and career prospects, and it contributes to higher poverty rates in these societies. Gender inequality also limits girls’ potential for leadership and influence. Investing in girls’ education can increase economic growth by up to $28 trillion, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
The bottom line is that the root causes of these problems are complex, and the solutions will require a holistic approach that addresses the rights of all people to be treated equally. This is why the United Nations launched an international commission to examine these issues and propose policies to address them. As you will see below, the resulting report makes a number of recommendations.