Despite progress, gender inequality is still a reality, but in more ways than you might realize.
Women are about 20% of the world’s landowners
In the developed West, the percentage is slightly higher but still falls short of reaching parity with men. In sub-Saharan Africa, women account for only about 15% of landowners, and the situation is even more dire in West Asia and North Africa, where women represent less than 5% of agricultural landowners.
Illiteracy
While female education is mandatory in most parts of the world—though not everywhere—the importance of educating girls is still not fully recognized by everyone. Currently, an estimated 796 million people worldwide are illiterate, with over two-thirds of them being women.
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@youthveerangnayen via Instagram
Gender gaps in primary school
Data from 42 countries indicate that rural communities place less emphasis on educating girls, even at the primary level. In these areas, girls are twice as likely to be out of primary school compared to their urban counterparts, often because they are needed to help on farms or manage the home while adult women work outside.
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@unicefmalawi via Instagram
Pay gap in rural areas
Globally, women in rural areas are more likely than men to hold part-time or seasonal jobs, like fruit-picking. Even when they perform the same jobs as men, they usually earn less. Unfortunately, this pay gap often widens with age.
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@forumasia.humanrights via Instagram
Longer work hours
It’s well-known that women often work longer hours than men, but the disparity is especially stark in the developing world. In Benin, for example, women work 17.4 hours more per week than men, and in Tanzania, the gap is 14 hours. The reasons for this vary widely from country to country.
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Susanne Plank via pexels
Learning to swim
In many developing countries, it’s common for young boys to learn to swim, but their sisters often don’t have the same opportunity. Tragically, the consequences of this become evident during disastrous floods, when non-swimming women are more likely to lose their lives.
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pok rie via pexels
The Taliban
The recent return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan has been especially devastating for women. Girls and women are now prohibited from attending secondary school and university, making Afghanistan the only country in the world where girls are denied the same education as their brothers. This situation is deeply troubling.
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i_redefine_sin via reddit
Abortion
The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has led to at least 12 states banning abortion, leaving women in these states with fewer reproductive rights protections than those in patriarchal Saudi Arabia. According to UN Women, the lack of access to safe abortion is a major, preventable cause of maternal mortality.
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Health care in Yemen
In Yemen, women not only need a male guardian’s permission to marry, but they also require his consent to receive healthcare. Additionally, Yemeni women lack equal rights in child custody and divorce matters and have minimal legal protection against domestic abuse.
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r/pics via reddit
Child marriages
Child marriages are still common in many countries, including the USA, and typically involve girls marrying older boys or men. While sometimes driven by religious beliefs, these marriages are more often a result of extreme poverty or conflict, both of which are tragic issues.
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abu_doubleu via reddit
Violence against women
Violence against women remains a widespread issue globally, ranging from teenage girls being set on fire in India for rejecting advances to young women being abducted and murdered by police officers in London. Despite protests and efforts for change, progress in addressing this violence is happening very slowly.
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@h_cato via Instagram
Displacement and its consequences
By the end of 2021, an estimated 44 million women and girls had been displaced from their homes due to war, conflict, human rights violations, or climate change. While many men and boys were also displaced, women and girls face a higher risk of trafficking and sexual abuse as a result.
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@womensrefugeecommission via Instagram
Unpaid childcare
The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the already challenging issue of unpaid childcare. With nurseries, preschools, and daycare centers closing in 2020, women had to take on an additional 512 billion hours of unpaid childcare. This situation is unfair to both the women and the children they care for.
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markus spiske via pexels
Food insecurity
Official statistics show that women are more likely to face food insecurity than men. In 2022, nearly one-quarter of women experienced severe or moderate food insecurity. The UN and other organizations predict this issue will worsen unless targeted actions are implemented.
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@unwomen via Instagram
Voting access
While women now have the right to vote in every country with elections—except Vatican City, where only male Cardinals vote for the Pope—accessing the ballot box remains a challenge. In Afghanistan, women need permission from a male guardian to leave home, and in Kenya, violence and safety concerns around elections often discourage women from voting.
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@africanwomenphotograph via Instagram
Misogynistic politicians
Nigeria has a former President who took three weeks to acknowledge the kidnapping of 279 girls, and a current President who makes jokes about his wife’s place being in the kitchen. Meanwhile, in the UK, a Cabinet Minister made a ‘joke’ about spiking his wife’s drink to prevent her from leaving him. These examples are deeply troubling.
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Bozzaholic via reddit
Global leadership
Official figures reveal that for every 100 men in global leadership positions, there are only 37 women. This disparity is due to various factors, including entrenched structural misogyny, limited access to education, and indirect sex discrimination.
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@unwomen via Instagram
Harassment during outdoor exercise
As many women know, exercising outdoors often invites harassment, whether jogging in a remote area or after dark. A 2017 Runner’s World poll found that 40% of women had experienced harassment while running outside, with the figure rising to 58% for those under 30.
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@dajoeearly via Instagram
Violence from partners
Although stranger rapes and murders often make headlines, women are most at risk from those closest to them. Globally, about one in three women has experienced violence, including sexual violence, from an intimate partner. This statistic is consistent across both developed countries like the USA and lower-income nations.
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@abbotsfordpd via Instagram
Paid maternity leave
Few countries lack paid maternity leave at the federal level, but the US is one of them. This is despite ample evidence showing that paid maternity leave is associated with fewer infant deaths, greater involvement of new fathers in childcare, and improved employment outcomes and wages for women.
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@spectrababylebanon via Instagram
Divorce and its financial consequences
Divorce is financially challenging for both parties, but a recent survey by Legal & General in the UK reveals that it’s particularly hard on women. After a divorce, a woman’s household income typically drops by 33%, which is double the reduction experienced by her ex-spouse.
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@grace_doxon1 via Instagram
Less chances for a promotion
The glass ceiling is frequently mentioned as a barrier to women’s promotions, but its impact goes beyond just being an obstacle. Research shows that its mere presence can deter women from even pursuing promotions, creating a complex and discouraging effect.
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@robert.the.otter via Instagram
Lack of financial advice
In a global financial services industry dominated by men, it’s not surprising that there’s a significant disparity in the number of women who have consulted financial advisors compared to men. This gap is even more pronounced in the developing world, where women face even greater challenges accessing financial advice.
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@ellevest via Instagram
Heart disease is often misdiagnosed
Contrary to popular belief, heart attack symptoms are similar for both men and women. However, heart attacks are often misdiagnosed in women to such an extent that many women delay seeking critical medical help. Even when women do seek treatment, it may not always be on par with the care men receive.
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@womensheartalliance via Instagram
There’s unequal access to contraception
Contraception has traditionally been seen as a woman’s responsibility, but access is often limited, typically focusing on condoms. This issue extends to permanent methods of contraception as well, where men generally find it easier to access a vasectomy than women do to access keyhole surgery sterilization.
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@milann_fertility_and_birthing via Instagram
Cancer research
Cancer research funding does not always align with the severity of the disease. For example, ovarian cancer, which has a very poor prognosis, receives an average of $97,000 per person per year of life lost in the US. In contrast, prostate cancer, despite having a less severe prognosis, receives an average of $1,821,000 per person per year of life lost.
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@recherchecancer via Instagram
Tertiary education
While women are at least equally represented in tertiary education in most developed countries, this is not the case globally. In the lowest income countries, for every 100 boys who attend college or university, only 55 girls do the same.
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@eduminofindia via Instagram
Sex discrimination is encoded in law
Despite most countries having laws against sex discrimination, many also have legislation that enshrines such discrimination into law. At the current rate, it’s estimated that it will take 286 years to eliminate all laws that discriminate based on sex and gender. This includes laws related to equal pay for equal work and sex discrimination.
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@espn via Instagram
The gender pay gap
The gender pay gap represents the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women. Worldwide, women earn less than men for the same work. Recent research indicates that, on average, women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by men in the same job.
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@wgeagency via Instagram
Lifetime earnings
Throughout her working life, the average woman earns less than the average man. This disparity goes beyond the gender pay gap and includes factors such as the caregiving burden many women face, unequal career advancement opportunities, and gaps in financial literacy.
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@tracy_holland_mindset via Instagram
Budgetary vs breadwinning skills, as taught by the parents
Parents often teach their children various skills, but these lessons can be gendered. Research shows that, globally, parents are more likely to teach girls budgeting skills, while they focus on breadwinning or wealth accumulation skills for their sons.
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@aconsciousmarriage via Instagram
Then there’s lower levels of savings
On average, men have nearly twice as much in savings as women. Over their lifetimes, men typically save three times as much as women. While financial confidence and knowledge are factors, the ability to save also plays a role, with savings often being more of a luxury for women than for men.
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@piggybankng via Instagram
Reduced overall financial confidence
Lack of financial confidence is a widespread issue that impacts many women throughout their lives and shows no sign of improving as Generations Y and Z come of age. A UBS Global Wealth Management survey found that 58% of adult women rely on their partners for financial decisions, with this figure rising to 60% among women aged 20 to 34.
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Karolina Kaboompics via pexels
Discrimination based on gender in financial advice
Gender differences in financial advice are deeply ingrained, even in media created by and for women. A research firm analyzed over 1,500 editorial pages from popular women’s magazines and found that only five addressed financial topics. In contrast, media aimed at men is more likely to include financial advice.
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@moneytalkswithife via Instagram
Reduced participation in sports
Although many girls express enjoyment in being active, female participation in sports consistently lags behind that of males across all age groups, from early school years to adulthood. Specifically, girls and women are less likely to engage in team sports. Factors such as entrenched stereotypes, limited opportunities, and insufficient funding contribute to this disparity.
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@womeninsportsinc via Instagram
Being misrepresented on television and in advertising
A 2020 research report revealed that women are often misrepresented in advertising and on television. Despite attempts to address this issue, the misrepresentation usually involves gendered stereotypes, often depicting women in traditional housewife roles. Moving beyond these stereotypes is the next critical step.
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@femalequotient via Instagram
Getting seats in parliament
As of January 2023, women hold only 26.5% of parliamentary seats globally. Only 13 countries, mostly in Europe, have cabinets with equal numbers of men and women or where women outnumber men. According to forecasts, global gender parity in parliamentary representation is not expected until 2062, a significant distance away.
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Dominika Gregušová via pexels
Working double shifts
A recent McKinsey study highlighted that many women, both in developed and developing countries, continue to work a “double shift.” This means they complete a full shift of paid employment and then take on most of the domestic work at home. This phenomenon is also observed among women who are the primary earners in their households.
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@adi_yacobi via Instagram
AI risks
Recent research indicates that the number of men and women needing to transition to new work due to AI advancements is roughly equal. However, women encounter more significant barriers in adapting to the changing job market, including issues related to access to technology, existing skills, and the persistent care burden.
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@geniususocial via Instagram
Attrition rates are higher
A 2019 report on Women in the Workplace found that women face higher attrition rates than men at lower levels within organizations. The primary challenge appears to be a missing or broken rung on the ladder to managerial positions. This gender-based obstacle is particularly unfair.
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Christina Morillo via pexels
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