GOAL 5 : GENDER EQUALITY
GOAL 5 : GENDER EQUALITY
Education enables girls and women to reach their full potential in their homes, communities, workplaces, and institutions of influence. According to World Bank studies, one additional school year can increase a woman’s earnings by up to 20%. Some countries lose more than US $1 billion a year by failing to educate girls at the same level as boys. As the gap between girls’ and boys’ education narrows, gender disparities in wages and employment decrease as well,19 yet there is still a long way to go to equalize this entirely. Women in developing countries could be an estimated US $9 trillion better off if their pay and access to paid work were equal to that of men. Firms with greater upper-level diversity report performing better throughout the business, out-performing others by 53% return on equity and 66% return on invested capital. This closing of the higher education gender gap creates societies with more disposable income for goods and services, while strengthening women’s empowerment in families and communities. Increased educational attainment accounts for approximately 50% of the economic growth in OECD countries over the past 50 years, over half of which is due to girls experiencing greater access to education.
‘While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment under the Sustainable Development Goals (including equal access to primary education between girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Unfortunately, at the current time, 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15-49 have reported experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a 12-month period and 49 countries currently have no laws protecting women from domestic violence. Progress is occurring regarding harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), which has declined by 30% in the past decade, but there is still much work to be done to complete eliminate such practices. Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large. Implementing new legal frameworks regarding female equality in the workplace and the eradication of harmful practices targeted at women is crucial to ending the gender-based discrimination prevalent in many countries around the world.’
Economic Opportunity and Poverty
Relatively low participation in labour markets and legal discrimination have condemned many women to hardship
In 72 countries, women are still barred from opening bank accounts or obtaining credit. According to UN Women calculations made prior to the pandemic, women (at 55%) were also participating far less in the global labour force than men (94%). Now, the situation has only worsened. An analysis conducted by UN Women in dozens of countries confirmed that employed women were more likely than employed men to lose their jobs due to the pandemic’s impact, because they are overrepresented in the relatively hard-hit service sector. In addition, 82% of self-employed women workers were likely to face reduced paid work hours, compared with just 65% of men. Prime working-aged women (between 24 and 44) with children were more likely than their male counterparts to lose their job, while younger women (18 to 24) with children were far more likely than their male counterparts to see reduced paid work hours. The International Labour Organization has predicted that women’s job recovery will be slower than men’s – with 13 million fewer women employed in 2021 than in 2019, even as the number of employed men remains the same.
Their relatively low labour market participation impacts women’s economic status, as does their inability to own or inherit land or assets in several countries. In fact, it condemns many to a life of poverty. An analysis commissioned by UN Women and the UN Development Programme estimates that by the end of 2021, 435 million women and girls will be living on less than $1.90 a day – and 47 million will be pushed into poverty as a direct result of COVID-19. This translates into 118 women in poverty for every 100 men, a ratio that could increase to 121 per 100 by 2030 (the ratio will be worse in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia). However, more than 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments implement comprehensive strategies to improve access to education and family planning, pay fair and equal wages, and expand social transfers. Any measures aimed at increasing women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship must be coupled with efforts to ensure gender parity across occupations and professional levels – to spur greater economic equality and reduce poverty for women and girls everywhere.
The Care Conundrum
The pandemic meant women around the world were suddenly tasked with a disproportionate amount of unpaid domestic work
In much of the world traditional gender roles continue to define unpaid, care-related and domestic work as “women’s.” Studies conducted by UN Women prior to the pandemic found that women were doing three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men, on a global basis. This includes household tasks like cooking, cleaning, and fetching firewood and water – and caring for children, the sick, and the elderly. For many women, this time spent on unpaid work increases their odds of poverty, and leaves them little time for training or for themselves. There is no country where men spend the same amount of time on unpaid work as women – even where the ratio is lowest, women are still doing twice as much. Although the care work they are tasked with is essential for families, communities, and entire economies to thrive, it goes uncounted and undervalued. If women’s unpaid work were assigned a value, in some countries it would account for as much as 39% of GDP. To share the workload more evenly, many organizations have called for the three Rs: recognition, reduction, and redistribution.
COVID-19 has only worsened the situation. Assessments conducted by UN Women in 45 countries reveal that women have been more likely than men to report an increase in domestic work. They were 1.7 times as likely as men to report increased time cooking, 1.3 times as likely to report increased time playing with children, and 1.2 times as likely to increase time spent instructing children, cleaning, or collecting water and wood. In addition, partnered women with children who took on additional unpaid care and domestic work were more likely than their male counterparts to lose their jobs. In the US, four times as many women as men had dropped out of the labour force as of September 2020, and one in four who lost a job said it was because of a lack of childcare. With schools, nurseries and daycare facilities shuttered, women suddenly had more people at home to care for, creating physical and mental health effects and stretching household resources. However, women in countries that adopted policies to directly support unpaid care during the pandemic were less likely to report an increase in their domestic work.
Gender inequality and Pay gaps
Women around the world are being paid less than men for work of equal value
The global gender pay gap is stuck at 16%, and women in some countries are paid as much as 35% less than men, according to a report published by UN Women in 2020. Still, even these figures do not capture the full extent of pay inequality – particularly in developing countries where informal work or self-employment is rampant. Women in these places often take low-paid jobs that do not provide protection under local labour laws or social benefits. In most places, gender pay gaps are rooted in systemic inequality. Prevailing stereotypes tend to push women away from traditionally male-dominated occupations, and pull them towards poorly-compensated care work. Meanwhile discrimination prevents many women from winning prestigious leadership roles, as notions of traditional gender roles create and sustain pay inequities. Women are often hit with a motherhood-wage penalty, for example, which increases alongside the number of children they have. This can manifest in the form of working fewer paid hours, choosing relatively family-friendly jobs with lower salaries, hiring and promotion decisions that (consciously or not) penalize mothers, and the absence of programmes that support women’s re-entry into the workforce.
Gender pay gaps are also wider for women of colour, and for women who progress to higher levels of responsibility and authority. According to the #BlackWomenomics report published by Goldman Sachs in 2021, Black women earn 15% less than white women on average, and 35% less than white men. The report estimated that reducing that racial gender pay gap in the US could create as many as 1.7 million jobs, and raise annual GDP by as much as 2.1% (equivalent to about $450 billion) annually. Gaps also tend to be starker in certain industries; a sample of reported pay at 10 large UK banks, for example, showed a 44.5% difference between male and female hourly wages as of April 2020 – meaning that a woman there has been earning about 56 pence for every pound earned by a man. At the current pace, the World Economic Forum has suggested that achieving gender parity in economic participation and opportunity will take 257 years. Some potential ways to speed up related progress include pay-equity laws requiring employers to eliminate pay gaps, greater transparency, and enabling employees to organize and bargain collectively.
Inclusive Labour Markets
The technological disruption of labour markets creates both challenges and opportunities for people
The creation of labour markets that enable everyone to participate regardless of race, ethnicity, or background has been a long-time goal of many organizations. While some advances have been made with regard to the share of women in the workforce, and laws barring discrimination, a lack of inclusivity has persisted – not least in relation to women and young people from developing countries. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, there is a necessity for action as women occupy just 21% of the ministerial positions in the world, and spend at least twice as much time on unpaid work as men. Meanwhile the integration of migrants and refugees into labour markets requires linking up a wider array of stakeholders, supporting entrepreneurship, and facilitating the identification, assessment, and validation of skills. There is more to addressing inclusion than simply reforming education – research has shown that qualified women often exit the technology industry because they have concerns about their work environment, and a lack of ethnic diversity and ageism have been documented at some of the fastest-growing companies.
Some of the most common measures used to combat bias include diversity training – and it has been shown that shifting social norms and affecting the collective mindset can be more effective than solely focusing on changing individual outlooks. The influence of TV and the media in general appear to be of particular importance in this regard, as evidenced by a Brazilian study on the effect of telenovelas on decisions about family size and female participation in the labour market made by their audiences. The COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly made work virtual, which has had an impact on teamwork and interaction. In addition, technologies such as blockchain have created greater entrepreneurship opportunities, as they make traditional intermediaries less relevant. In the coming years, we can expect that increasing globalization will give even more people the opportunity to work virtually (and independently) from anywhere in the world. This means that more will theoretically be exposed to employment opportunities that were previously inaccessible. In order to truly boost the inclusivity of labour markets, however, this trend must be accompanied by initiatives to re-regulate employment and bolster social protection systems.
Building ESG: Addressing the Gender Gap
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The gender gap is a multifaceted topic that refers to variations in opportunities, resources, and incentives between men and women in numerous aspects of life, including as education, work, income, and political representation.
Despite tremendous improvements in recent decades, the gender gap persists in many regions of the world and continues to have a dramatic impact on women’s lives. Here are some of the primary concerns about the gender gap and how organisations might address them:
Major Concerns:
1. Unequal Pay: Men, on average, earn more than women for the same job and experience.
2. Limited Access to Education: Girls have limited access to education in many parts of the world, which lead to lower levels of literacy and reduced opportunities for employment.
3. Fewer Leadership Opportunities: Women are underrepresented in leadership positions throughout industries, limiting their impact and decision-making capacity.
4. Workplace Discrimination: Women frequently suffer workplace discrimination and bias, which can impede their career advancement and job satisfaction.
How Can Organizations Address the Gender Gap?
1. Promote Equal Pay: Organisations should ensure equal pay for men and women for the same work and experience by performing frequent pay equality audits and implementing clear pay scales in recruitment policies
2. Provide Access to Education and Training: Organizations can introduce L&D (learning and development) department or facility to provide education and training opportunities for women to help them acquire the skills and knowledge needed to advance their careers.
3. Increase Women’s Representation in Leadership: Organizations can implement leadership development training, policies and mentoring programs that support women’s career advancement
4. Foster an Inclusive Workplace: Organizations can create an inclusive workplace culture by providing flexible work arrangements, addressing harassment and discrimination, and promoting work-life balance.
5. Support Women’s Health and Wellness: Organizations can provide family-friendly policies, access to childcare, and comprehensive healthcare coverage which will support women’s health and wellness needs.
Gender Equality facilitators should have a specific set of know-what and know-how competences, such as:
- applying a gender perspective to analytical work;
- detecting and mapping discrimination at work;
- identifying strategies for advocacy and capacity-building in promoting inclusive workplaces;
- improving communication competence and organizational capacity to coordinate Gender Audit;
- analysing accountability, evaluation and monitoring systems and instruments in place for gender equality and change management;
- identifying new challenges and possible improvements.
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