Global Gender Inequalities – An Overview
Posted on November 15, 2017by Karl Thompson
Gender Inequalities in Employment –
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For every dollar earnt by men, women earn 70-90 cents.
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Women are less likely to work than men – Globally in 2015 about three quarters of men and
half of women participate in the labour force. Women’s labour force participation rates are
the lowest in Northern Africa, Western Asia and Southern Asia (at 30 per cent or lower).
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When women are employed, they are typically paid less and have less financial and social
security than men. Women are more likely than men to be in vulnerable jobs —
characterized by inadequate earnings, low productivity and substandard working conditions
— especially in Western Asia and Northern Africa. In Western Asia, Southern Asia and
Northern Africa, women hold less than 10 per cent of top-level positions.
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When all work – paid and unpaid – is considered, women work longer hours than men.
Women in developing countries spend 7 hours and 9 minutes per day on paid and unpaid
work, while men spend 6 hours and 16 minutes per day. In developed countries, women
spend 6 hours 45 minutes per day on paid and unpaid work while men spend 6 hours and 12
minutes per day.
Gender Inequalities in Education –
The past two decades have witnessed remarkable progress in participation in education. Enrolment
of children in primary education is at present nearly universal. The gender gap has narrowed, and in
some regions girls tend to perform better in school than boys and progress in a more timely manner.
However, the following gender disparities in education remain:
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31 million of an estimated 58 million children of primary school age are girls (more than 50%
girls)
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87 per cent of young women compared to 92 per cent of young men have basic reading and
writing skills. However, at older age, the gender gap in literacy shows marked disparities
against women, two thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women.
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The proportion of women graduating in the fields of science (1 in 14, compared to 1 in 9
men graduates) and engineering (1 in 20, compared to 1 in 5 men graduates) remain low in
poor and rich countries alike. Women are more likely to graduate in the fields related to
education (1 in 6, compared to 1 in 10 men graduates), health and welfare (1 in 7, compared
to 1 in 15 men graduates), and humanities and the arts (1 in 9, compared to 1 in 13 men
graduates).
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There is unequal access to universities especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. In
these regions, only 67 and 76 girls per 100 boys, respectively, are enrolled in tertiary
education. Completion rates also tend to be lower among women than men. Poverty is the
main cause of unequal access to education, particularly for girls of secondary-school age.
Gender Inequalities in Health
Women in developing countries suffer from….
Poor Maternal Health (support during pregnancy) – As we saw in the topic on health and education,
maternity services are often very underfunded, leading to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary
female deaths as a result of pregnancy and child birth every year.
Lack of reproductive rights – Women also lack reproductive rights. They often do not have the
power to decide whether to have children, when to have them and how many they should have.
They are often prevented from making rational decisions about contraception and abortion. Men
often make all of these decisions and women are strongly encouraged to see their status as being
bound up with being a mother.
Gender Inequalities in the Experience of Overt Violence – Around the world, women are
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Victims of Violence and Rape – Globally 1/3 women have experience domestic violence,
only 53 countries have laws against marital rape.
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Missing: More than 100 million women are missing from the world’s population – a result of
discrimination against women and girls, including female infanticide.
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At risk from FGM – An estimated 3 million girls are estimated to be at risk of female genital
mutilation/cutting each year.
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Girls are more likely to be forced into marriage: More than 60 million girls worldwide are
forced into marriage before the age of 18. Almost half of women aged 20 to 24 in Southern
Asia and two fifths in sub-Saharan Africa were married before age 18. The reason this
matters is because in sub‐Saharan Africa, only 46 per cent of married women earned any
cash labour income in the past 12 months, compared to 75 per cent of married men
Gender Inequalities in Politics
Between 1995 and 2014, the share of women in parliament, on a global level, increased from 11 per
cent to 22 per cent — a gain of 73 per cent, but far short of gender parity.