"Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance." Kofi Annan, a famous Ghanaian diplomat, said this when talking about the goal of reaching gender equality. Women in many ways are treated differently and lesser than men. Although many things have changed for the better throughout the years, many things remain the same and us as a society should make it better.
Understanding the basics of gender equality will help understand the argument being made and will give further knowledge on the topic. Gender Equality is a human right, where men and women are equal in not just the US, but the whole world. Gender equality is one big problem in the US that is trying to be achieved next to equality in race and gay rights. Women have disadvantages in society like equal pay, sexual violence, and few other things which will be discussed later on.
Many people wonder what the ideal goal of gender equality and don’t know about inequality in the US between men and women. Women have been fighting for years for women’s rights and their main goal? Allowing women to have the same rights in every aspect. Based on Gender Equality in Ireland, “Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including economic participation and decision-making, and when the different behaviours, aspirations and needs of women and men are equally valued and favoured.”. Main disadvantages people see are difference in pay and sexual violence but it’s clear those two aren’t the only case. Women face inequality in even little things like not being able to make their own decision, and people thinking they are dependent on others. The next thing to understand is measuring gender equality. According to Gender Equality in Ireland, “Gender equality is measured by looking at the representation of men and of women in a range of roles”. Gender Equality in Ireland includes statistics from other countries like the EU. The EU mentions education, labour market, earnings and health, which are important when determining the wage gap which will be mention later on. People either argue or don’t realize inequality in the US so a few facts will be introduced. According to Sarah Fielding's article on ‘Bustle’, “…a stigma still persists that men who make less than their significant other are weak and women should be the ones to leave work to take care of the children”. This could prove and show how women are disrespected by men by saying they’re more weaker, and should be more of a “stay-at-home” person and take care of the house and kids. Aside from looking at the basics, it’s time to look at the big picture.
There are three huge, key issues that people should be informed about. These issues are more known but still going on and affecting women today globally. UNFPA did research and came to the conclusion that, “Economic disparities persist partly because much of the unpaid work within families and communities falls on the shoulders of women, and because women continue to face discrimination…" Women are economically unstable not only in the US, but globally and is proven that 6 out of 10 poor people in the world are women. The wage gap, which will be mentioned later, has a big part of the disparities in the economy of women. The next issue is political issues. “…many social and legal institutions still do not guarantee women equality in basic legal and human rights, in access to or control of resources, in employment or earnings, or in social or political participation.” (UNFPA). Studies have even showed that women do not have some basic human rights not only economically, but even politically. “..men continue to occupy most positions of political and legal authority; globally, only 24 percent of parliamentarians are women.” (UNFPA). This is an example of how women do not get basic human rights politically, the government barely contain any women. In fact, only 105 out of 535 seats between the House of Representatives and the Senate according to Sarah Fielding, who got her sources from study made by Rutger University. The last issue, which is actually not known much as a key issue, but is very important to focus on in improving equality is education. According to the UNFPA, “Lack of an education severely restricts a woman’s access to information and opportunities. Conversely, increasing women’s and girls’ educational attainment benefits both individuals and future generations. Higher levels of women's education are strongly associated with lower infant mortality and lower fertility, as well as better outcomes for their children.”. Women all around the world aren’t getting the proper education needed so women are statistically “dumb” because of lack of education. UNFPA found that two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women and Global Citizen studied and found out that 63 million girls in the world still need to go to school. The key issues mentioned should be looked upon and society should work together on fixing it but now the first topic that comes to everyone’s mind when talking about gender equality will be talked about next.
Jobs and pay between men and women are the most and biggest topic when talking about inequality. Understanding jobs of men and women and recognizing the wage gap will further you to understand the inequality. Male dominated jobs consist of Architects, electrical engineers, and airplane pilots, and female dominated jobs are teachers, nurses, secretaries and librarians. These just show the difference and help you understand what the difference in work is. Wage gap is the main topic in all discussions. Wage gap is the difference or gap between what men and women are paid. “Wage gap between men and women stems from processes that determine the quality and earnings associated with jobs” (Wiki Genders) Understanding the wage gap and how it works is something useful to know and it’ll allow others to see if they’re making more or less than others. It’s also useful when determining if the statistics, which will be introduced, are sourceful and correct or not. Wage gap statistics are the most useful to know and shows how women are oppressed in pay. Yosola Olorunshola wrote an article on 7 facts on gender inequality and one fact mention was “In most countries, women only earn between 60 and 75% of men’s wages for the same work”. The Institute for Women’s Policies Research said “In 2017, female full-time, year-round workers made only 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent” and also mentioned “In middle-skill occupations, workers in jobs mainly done by women earn only 66 percent of workers in jobs mainly done by men”. The statistics from the various amounts of sources show the same percentage of gap. Getting the same stat from each source makes it more reliable, and it shows how bad women are discriminated in the workforce. Wage gap is the biggest issue in the world, but assault globally is about the same, if not very close to the wage gap issue.
Assault towards anybody is a tragic idea. Women are dealing with the most sexual assault and it should be taken seriously. Looking at the different types of sexual assault will expand your view on assault and allow you to realize what may seem fine, is wrong. Sexual Assault can be verbal, physical, or really anything that forces a person to do unwanted sexual actions. Sexual activities include touching inappropriately, any sexual intercourse you say no to, and the biggest one, rape.