Scribd
Upload
31 views

Documents

Gender equality is a human right, but globally women have fewer opportunities than men in areas like economic participation, education, health, and political representation. Guaranteeing women's rights and opportunities is critical for achieving development goals and benefits everyone. While progress has been made, no country has fully achieved gender equality. Key issues include women's access to education, health care, economic resources, and decision-making power both publicly and privately. Scandinavian countries have made the most progress in closing their gender gaps.

Uploaded by

builoan.040870
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views

Documents

Gender equality is a human right, but globally women have fewer opportunities than men in areas like economic participation, education, health, and political representation. Guaranteeing women's rights and opportunities is critical for achieving development goals and benefits everyone. While progress has been made, no country has fully achieved gender equality. Key issues include women's access to education, health care, economic resources, and decision-making power both publicly and privately. Scandinavian countries have made the most progress in closing their gender gaps.

Uploaded by

builoan.040870
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Group:

Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm 20CNA07


Bùi Thị Ngọc Hiền 20CNA05
Lê Thị Thanh Tuyền 20CNA03
Nguyễn Mai lin Na 20CNA12
Phan Thu Trang 20CNA08

GLOBAL ISSUES: GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S


EMPOWERMENT
Gender equality is a human right, but our world faces a persistent gap in
access to opportunities and decision-making power for women and men.

Globally, women have fewer opportunities for economic participation than men, less
access to basic and higher education, greater health and safety risks, and less political
representation.
Guaranteeing the rights of women and giving them opportunities to reach their full
potential is critical not only for attaining gender equality, but also for meeting a wide
range of international development goals. Empowered women and girls contribute to the
health and productivity of their families, communities, and countries, creating a ripple
effect that benefits everyone.
The word gender describes the socially-constructed roles and responsibilities that
societies consider appropriate for men and women. Gender equality means that men and
women have equal power and equal opportunities for financial independence, education,
and personal development. Women's empowerment is a critical aspect of achieving
gender equality. It includes increasing a woman's sense of self-worth, her decision-
making power, her access to opportunities and resources, her power and control over her
own life inside and outside the home, and her ability to effect change. Yet gender issues
are not focused on women alone, but on the relationship between men and women in
society. The actions and attitudes of men and boys play an essential role in achieving
gender equality.
Education is a key area of focus. Although the world is making progress in achieving
gender parity in education, girls still make up a higher percentage of out-of-school
children than boys. Approximately one quarter of girls in the developing world do not
attend school. Typically, families with limited means who cannot afford costs such as
school fees, uniforms, and supplies for all of their children will prioritize education for
their sons. Families may also rely on girls' labor for household chores, carrying water,
and childcare, leaving limited time for schooling. But prioritizing girls' education
provides perhaps the single highest return on investment in the developing world. An
educated girl is more likely to postpone marriage, raise a smaller family, have healthier
children, and send her own children to school. She has more opportunities to earn an
income and to participate in political processes, and she is less likely to become infected
with HIV.
Women's health and safety is another important area. HIV/AIDS is becoming an
increasingly impactful issue for women. This can be related to women having fewer
opportunities for health education, unequal power in sexual partnership, or as a result of
gender-based violence. Maternal health is also an issue of specific concern. In many
countries, women have limited access to prenatal and infant care, and are more likely to
experience complications during pregnancy and childbirth. This is a critical concern in
countries where girls marry and have children before they are ready; often well before the
age of 18. Quality maternal health care can provide an important entry point for
information and services that empower mothers as informed decision-makers concerning
their own health and the health of their children.
A final area of focus in attaining gender equality is women's economic and political
empowerment. Though women comprise more than 50% of the world's population, they
only own 1% of the world's wealth. Throughout the world, women and girls perform long
hours of unpaid domestic work. In some places, women still lack rights to own land or to
inherit property, obtain access to credit, earn income, or to move up in their workplace,
free from job discrimination. At all levels, including at home and in the public arena,
women are widely underrepresented as decision-makers. In legislatures around the world,
women are outnumbered 4 to 1, yet women's political participation is crucial for
achieving gender equality and genuine democracy.
The World Economic Forum recently ranked the United States as 19th in the world on its
gender gap index. With women comprising less than one fifth of elected members of
Congress, the report identifies political empowerment as the greatest gender equity issue
for the United States. The U.S. ranked higher in economic empowerment, but women's
earning power remains approximately 20% lower than men's. Women in the United
States have a very high ranking of educational attainment, though, with high levels of
literacy and enrollment in primary, secondary, and university education. At present, there
are more U.S. women attending college than men.
Globally, no country has fully attained gender equality. Scandinavian countries like
Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Sweden lead the world in their progress toward closing the
gender gap. In these countries, there is relatively equitable distribution of available
income, resources, and opportunities for men and women. The greatest gender gaps are
identified primarily in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. However, a number of
countries in these regions, including Lesotho, South Africa, and Sri Lanka outrank the
United States in gender equality.

You might also like