Gender equality is a social order in which women and men share the same opportunities and the same participation in both the economic and the domestic areas of responsibility. It refers to valuing both men and women equally, it works to defeat the misjudgement that both genders can contribute to and benefit from economic, social, cultural and political developments within society. Women are ranked last in the ladder of society and this is a real disadvantage, if women were treated equally relating to being healthy and educated, their families, communities and nations benefit. When both sexes have relative equality, economies grow rapidly, less corruption occurs and children’s health improves. Gender equality is a vital and important human right.
Gender equality is central to economic and human development in a country. Removing inequalities gives societies a better chance to develop. Gender inequality refers to Men and women being physically different but it is the barriers between one another, these include social, economic, political and legal interpretation that lead to inequality between both sexes. There are many issues relating to social inequality, men and women have different daily responsibilities and roles, men overrule women, as men tend to have a high status in society as the work they do is riskier and heavier compared to women’s which is providing food for their family and caring for their children. Women are not treated equally; they have unequal access to education and health services. There are high tendency of violence against women in numerous countries around the world. In some situations it may be within families where it is considered as ‘normal'. Economic inequality within the world has shown that 70% of the world's poor are female. Women have unequal access to economic resources and access to education which leads them to receive low literacy levels which then follows to low status jobs and there is limited opportunities for employment this then has disadvantage on women’s ability to improve their economic situation. Within in the terms of political and legal inequality females are treated unfairly and are poorly represented at all levels of formal decision making in society. This situation occurs as sex- stereotypes have a huge impact on the equality of men and women being treated equally. Behaviour in men and women generally reflect on the expectations for both sexes, which leads to unequal rights and benefits.
In most societies, traditional gender roles and power relations place women and girls in disadvantaged situations relative to men and boys. The roles and the stereotypes that are at the basis of gender inequality are established during childhood. Organisations working with children, their parents and the broader community to inform and reduce gender inequalities in its effort to reduce the vulnerability to HIV infection and to AIDS. Programmes are available to reduce gender inequalities and stereotypes often focus exclusively on women. The following are issues that need to be dealt with in order to improve gender equality:
· Education - Education is a fundamental human right: Every child is entitled to it. It is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. When we ensure that children have access to a rights-based, quality education that is rooted in gender equality, we create a ripple effect of opportunity that impacts generations to come. Education enhances lives. It ends generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development. A quality basic education better equips girls and boys with the knowledge and skills necessary to adopt healthy lifestyles, protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and take an active role in social, economic and political decision-making as they transition to adolescence and adulthood.
· Sexual and reproduction health rights - Guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights. Acknowledgement of the critical role that men and boys play in improving Women’s reproductive health and achieving gender equality is commendable. For example, the addressing reproductive health needs of adolescent girls and women in low-income household, requires strengthening the role of boys and men in achieving reproductive health goals.
· Infrastructure – To invest in infrastructure to reduce women’s and girls’ time burdens, measure women’s and girls’ time burdens as a result of the lack of infrastructure is hours per day (or year) women (girls) and men (boys) spend fetching water and collecting fuel.
· Property rights – to guarantee women’s and girls’ property and inheritance rights, so women have an equal share of property in comparison to men overruling property etc.
· Employment – eliminating gender inequality in the work force is one of main issue that needs to be dealt with, if women firstly have low literacy levels and there employment is unskilled, this then continues on to low status jobs. Where access to jobs is not available, this issue needs to be addressed so there is equal fairness in employment.
· Participation in national parliaments and local government bodies- Increase women’s representation in political bodies. The United Nations recommends tracking women’s share of seats in national parliaments. So there is no unequal decision and unfairness directed at women in politics
· Prevent violence against women – Laws need to be enforced to provide a safe and ensure stabability for women to feel safe at home and at work. What organisations are currently doing to address the issue?
UN Women Watch –
Women watch is a central gateway to information and resources on the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women throughout the united nations system, including the united Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women the United Nations Secretariat, regional commissions, funds, programmes, specialized agencies, and academic and research institutions.
Feminist Majority Foundation –
The Feminist Majority Foundation, which was founded in 1987, is a cutting edge organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health, and non-violence. The feminist majority foundation makes use of research and action to empower women economically, socially, and politically. The organization believes that feminists - both women and men, girls and boys - are the majority, but this majority must be empowered.
Equality Now –
Equality Now works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world through the mobilization of public pressure. Equality Now was founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Working with national human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support their efforts to stop these human rights abuses. Through its Women’s Action Network of concerned groups and individuals around the world, Equality Now:
· Distributes information about human rights violations
· Takes action to protest these violations
· Brings public attention to human rights violations against women
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) -
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international, feminist, membership organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights. AWID’s mission is to strengthen the voice, impact and influence of women’s rights advocates, organizations and movements internationally to effectively advance the rights of women.
Vital Voices –
Vital voices invest in and bring to visibility extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and fairness in their communities. The organization includes a team of over 1,000 partners and has trained more than 8,000 emerging women leaders from over 127 countries since 1997. These women have returned home to train and mentor more than 500,000 additional women and girls in their communities.
What suggestions can you offer to address the issue
Locally:
1. Reassuring male colleges/ friends that is interested in perusing a ballet/ dance career. That gender should always be equal.
2. Reassuring female friends that it is good to be an engineer or go into the army as we are trying to promote gender equality
3. Allowing small children that one may babysit to dress up and play with the opposite genders/ clothes stroke toys. Example Angeline Jolie is allowing her youngest daughter to dress up in male clothes.
4. Encouraging the opposite genders to be involved in more male/female dominated sports at a community level. Thus demonstrating that boys and girls can play each other’s, suppose sports.
5. Employing young teens equally in male/female dominated retail areas such as clothes shops and sport shops.
Globally:
As the world becomes smaller and different nationalities and cultures travel and witness small communities making an effort in gender equality this observation is taken back to their homeland and may encourage them to employ similar values. As these values are spread around the word this then becomes a accepted norm. Then this promotes gender equality worldwide.
