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Monday, June 03, 2019, 18:39
It's (still) a man's world as equality pledges fail 1.4b women
By Reuters
Monday, June 03, 2019, 18:39 By Reuters

A woman holds a placard during a march for gender equality and against violence towards women, marking the International Women's Day in Sofia, Bulgaria, on March 8, 2019. (DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP)

VANCOUVER — World leaders are failing 1.4 billion girls and women on promises of a fairer future, according to a global index launched at the world's biggest gender equality conference.

The research shows the world is way off track to meet a 2030 deadline for achieving gender equality, with not one country having reached the "last mile".

Some 8,000 delegates from 165+ countries — from world leaders to grassroots activists — are attending the Women Deliver conference in Vancouver.

Speakers include the founder of the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment, a Nigerian woman kidnapped by Boko Haram jihadists and a Pakistani squash champion who evaded the Taliban by living as a boy.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who describes himself as a feminist, will open the event on Monday, launching four days of debates on everything from climate change and gender to women's political empowerment.

Nearly 40% of girls and women — 1.4 billion — live in countries graded "very poor"; another 1.4 billion in countries graded "poor," according to a latest global index

Abortion rights will also be a hot issue amid concern overnew restrictions imposed by a wave of US states.

Katja Iversen, president of Women Deliver, said the world had reached a "tipping point" on gender equality.

"(There are) conservative winds — sometimes it feels like a storm — blowing against women's rights," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

ALSO READ: UN chief warns of 'relentless' pushback on women's rights

But she also saw a "super momentum" on gender equality and urged everyone to "dream big".

In 2015, world leaders did just that when they placed girls and women at the heart of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), promising sweeping transformations by 2030.

The new index ranks 129 countries on dozens of SDG targets related to women, be it health, education, violence or work.

However, the index also noted that many countries with the most limited resources "are making huge strides in removing the barriers for girls and women"

WAKE-UP CALL

Denmark, Finland and Sweden topped the list, while Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad came bottom.

Nearly 40% of girls and women — 1.4 billion — live in countries graded "very poor"; another 1.4 billion in countries graded "poor".

Only 8% of girls and women live in countries ranked "good".

No country achieved an "excellent" score, while the global average was "poor".

Philanthropist Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a conference speaker, described the report as "a wake-up call to the world".

But Equal Measures 2030 (EM2030), the partnership behind the index, also noted some surprising success stories.

Senegal has a greater proportion of women in parliament (42%) than Denmark (37%), while three in four Kenyan women use digital banking — higher than many wealthier countries.

"Many countries with the most limited resources are making huge strides in removing the barriers for girls and women ... demonstrating that when it comes to gender equality, governments shouldn't have excuses for inaction," Gates said.

This March 8, 2019 AFP graphics shows the percentage of men's rights which are also available to women, by country, according to a World Bank study.

Researchers said richer countries did not always live up to their promise.

Georgia, Malawi and Vietnam had higher scores than expected based on their GDP per head — a gross domestic product measures the value of a country's goods and services — while the opposite was true of the United States, Switzerland and South Korea.

EM2030 said the index, which will be regularly updated until 2030, would help advocates to identify gaps and drive change.

WIN-WIN

Another key report to be launched at the conference will look at the future of work and the implications for women of increasing automation, while a third study will examine how to get men to share the burden of unpaid care work.

Iversen said investing in women created a ripple effect that also buoyed families, communities, countries and economies.

"We have dug deep into the evidence and it really shows that a gender equal world is healthier, wealthier, more productive, and more peaceful," she said.

ALSO READ: More women taking part in economy means higher returns

"If we had gender equality in the work place we could add 26% to GDP — that's a lot of money," she added, citing a study by McKinsey Global Institute.

This May 22, 2019 AFP graphic shows a map depicting the share of women in management positions, according to data from International Labour Organization.

Iversen said she was encouraged to see increasing numbers of countries with gender-equal cabinets and more multinationals putting women in leadership positions.

But Iversen said it was not about power battles.

"Gender equality is also good for men and boys. It's not women against men, girls against boys. It really is a win-win."

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