Why Gender equality is urgent and good business CONTEXT: UN Millennium Development Goals # 3 intended to promote gender equality and empower women. One of eight MDG’s that serve as a framework for halving poverty and improving lives; (deadline 2015).

The Global Alliance on Media and Gender: GAMAG launched in Thailand, December 2013 in its Framework and Action Plan is related to UNESCO’s Global priority, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. The current initiatives are rooted in the UN bodies aimed at bettering the lives of men and women.

Defining Gender Equality: The GAMAG defines Gender Equality as: the achievement of equal rights and equal status for all people irrespective of their sexual orientation and/or identity.

UNICEF: Gender Equality means that women and men, and girls and boys enjoy the same rights, resources, opportunities and protections. It does not require that girls and boys or women and men be the same or that they be treated exactly alike.

Wikipedia: Gender equality is the measurable, equal representation of women and men. Gender equality does not imply that women and men are the same, but that they have equal value and should be accorded equal treatment.

Key Words: ACCESS VALUE REPRESENTATION PROTECTION

ILO: Female economic activity is a common measure of gender equality in an economy. It is one of the numbers used by the UNDP in the calculation of the Human Development Index It is a measure of women and girls over age 15 who are working or able to work as a percentage of males. However, the UNDP in its 2014 Human Development Report concludes that “ the disadvantages facing women and girls are a major source of inequality”.

IDENTIFIED BARRIERS: There are numerous areas of inequality between the sexes but the following are highlighted in the UNDP’s report Health (access) Education Political Representation (Corporate) Labour Market

(Snapshots) Population Action International notes that: “in many areas of the world, including Yemen, Afghanistan and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, women have on average 5 children. 222 million want to prevent pregnancy but have no access to contraceptives. In deep rural areas (sub-Saharan Africa & South East Asia for e.g.) health facilities are often without electricity. This has implications for storage of health products needed by women. 60% of people living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa are women. (please note that this area has the highest incidence of the pandemic).

The FAO notes that: “54% of farmers in the developing world are women” who generally lack “access to credit, technological support and storage.” Hence productivity and efficiency are hampered. Improved access to these resources will increase food production by 4% thus reducing the number of hungry people by million. Hunger affects access to education

Identified barriers cont’d (snapshots) Education: UN Women in its “progress of the world’s women report” states that: improvements have been made in access to education but disparities remain between countries and regions. Its 2008 figures for enrolment at the primary level in developing countries show that 78% of girls were enrolled and 82% boys. The lowest performing areas were South-west Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. At the secondary level 44% of girls and 56% of boys were enrolled. The Caribbean rated above-average for enrollment at both levels.

A glimpse at the CSEC There is full access to primary and secondary education in most Caribbean countries. (SVG has 100% access at both levels). Access to tertiary education has also been expanding. Performance at CSEC exams, which form the basis for entry at the tertiary level is as follows: The 2012 results show that in 2012 the percentage rate of passes by gender ranged from a low of 55%-67% for females and 33%- 45% for males. Those for 2013 show a range of between 54%-76% for females and 24%- 46% for males. At the CAPE level the performance for 2013 was a range of 53%- 66% for females and 34%-47% for males.

The Australia Bureau of Statistics reveal that 20% more women have bachelors degrees than men. And the ILO notes that “access to education has narrowed but disparity at the university level remains highly unequal in some developing countries”. Further 2/3 of the world’s illiterate population are females.

Employment The OECD in a report on education arising from a 2011 council meeting noted that: “higher educational attainment rates amongst women have contributed to their greater economic independence in many OECD countries and beyond” More are entering the work force and staying for longer but there are differences in participation, hours spent in paid work/unpaid work, employment conditions and earnings.

Some figures for the UK Women comprise 42% of the work force 55% are university graduates Among MP’s and Peers (Parliament) 22% University Professors 20% FTSE 100 executive positions 6.1% Board chairs 3% Women in the UK earn on average 140,000 pounds sterling less than men over their working careers.

Female Doctors in the USA earn almost $17,000 less than their male counterparts yearly (US Department of Statistics). MSNBC in an article on top earning actress for 2013, Sandra Bullock ($51 million between June 2013 and June 2014) noted that in this areas of work the top 10 males earned a combined $419 million for the reference period whereas the top 10 women earned a combined $226 million.

OXFAM: Only 13% of the largest 500 companies in the world have female CEO’s. Women are over represented in precarious, low-waged or informal sectors of the economy. Around 70% of the people who live in poverty ( less than $US1) a day are women and girls. Exception where women earn more than men- the Gulf state of Bahrain- women earn 40% more than their male counterparts (International Trade Union Confederation)

Caribbean Governments have been seeking to address parity in employment through legislation. The Bahamas: Non-discrimination and Equal pay for equal work (2001) Grenada: The Employment act (1999). St Lucia: Equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation act (2000). SVG: Equal pay act (1994).

Other short notes of interest Despite progress made, men continue to outnumber women in paid employment, and women are often relegated to vulnerable forms of employment: (ILO) Gender inequality increases women’s vulnerability to poverty and suffering (OXFAM). In over 80% of countries across the world women lose rights when they marry (OECD)

Conclusions The population of men stands at 3.4 billion, representing 50.6% of the total global population (World Bank Gender stats). The global ratio is 1:01 males to every 1 female. If gender discrimination/inequalities persist individual countries, regions and the world are robbed of the full potentials of all citizens for social, economic, cultural and other areas of development and decision-making. We have seen that female economic activity is a common measure of gender equality, hence any diminution women’s full and equal economic involvement in an economy has a direct bearing on where they fall on the human development index.

The UNDP underscores that all of the MDG’s are directly related to women’s rights “ and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner.” As the Executive-Director of UN Women has said gender equality isn’t just about doing the right thing, its makes economic sense. Gender Equality is not only urgent, it is good business.