Gender inequality By Saloni Garg

 Gender inequality is one of the oldest and most pervasive forms of inequality in the world. It denies women their voices, devalues their work and make women’s position unequal to men’s, from the household to the national and global levels.

Despite some important progress to change this in recent years, in no country have women achieved economic equality with men, and women are still more likely than men to live in poverty.

Lower-paid, unpaid, undervalued: gender inequality in work

• Low wages. Across the world, women are in the lowest-paid work.  Globally, they earn 24 percent less than men and at the current rate of progress, it will take 170 years to close the gap. 700 million fewer women than men are in paid work.
   
• Lack of decent work. 75 percent of women in developing regions are in the informal economy -  where they are less likely to have employment contracts, legal rights or social protection, and are often not paid enough to escape poverty. 600 million are in the most insecure and precarious forms of work.
   
• Unpaid care work. Women do at least twice as much unpaid care work, such as childcare and housework, as men – sometimes 10 times as much, often on top of their paid work. The value of this work each year is estimated at at least $10.8 trillion – more than three times the size of the global tech industry.


• Longer workdays. Women work longer days than men when paid and unpaid work is counted together. That means globally, a young woman today will work on average the equivalent of four years more than a man over her lifetime.

Increasing women's economic equality would reduce poverty for everyone

Gender inequality in the economy costs women in developing countries $9 trillion a year – a sum which would not only give new spending power to women and benefit their families and communities, but would also provide a massive boost to the economy as a whole.

Countries with higher levels of gender equality tend to have higher income levels, and evidence from a number of regions and countries shows closing the gap leads to a reduction in poverty.

In Latin America for instance, an increase in the number of women in paid work between 2000 and 2010 accounted for around 30 percent of the overall reduction in poverty and income inequality.

Supporting women to have access to quality and decent work and improve their livelihoods is therefore vital for fulfilling women’s rights, reducing poverty and attaining broader development goals.

Women’s economic empowerment is a key part of achieving this. We need a human economy that works for women and men alike, and for everyone, not just a fortunate few.

Gender discrimination is the unequal or disadvantageous treatment inflicted on someone because they belong to a specific gender. It is usually the women who usually have to face such gender discrimination.

Education and learning opportunities: gender-wise literacy rates in India showcase the wide gap between men and women. As per 2011 census data, effective literacy rates (age 7 and above) were 82.14% for men and 65.46% for women. Parents are unwilling to spend on girls’ education because educating women is of no value as they will only serve their husbands and the in-laws in the future.

The Indian constitution provides equal rights and privileges for both men and women, but most women across India don’t enjoy these rights and opportunities guaranteed to them. This is because of a number of reasons.

Despite recent legal successes that indicate some progress, such as the supreme court decision that ruled that sex with an underaged wife is rape, the government has been slow to address the specific laws that support discrimination based on sex.

True, the constitution grants equal rights to men and women, but the society is still male dominated. The list of traditions that put women at a disadvantage literally begins at birth and carries on through childhood, marriage, and adulthood.

Due, no doubt, in part to India’s participation in the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG), approximately 70 percent of girls between the ages of 6 and 10 attended primary school in India in 2012. Unfortunately, that’s compared to 76 percent of boys in the same age group.

The situation is worse at the upper primary level where only 40 percent of girls attend school.

The discrimination starts from even before the girl child is born. In many instances, she is prevented from being born. The girl child is considered a burden. She is often deprived of the basic rights and equal opportunities to lead a wholesome childhood and adult life. According to the Census 2011, from the total child population in India, girls account for 48%, many of whom are engaged in child labour, child trafficking and child marriage. The future of innumerable girls looks grim, as shown by the following statistics:

1. 12.15 million children are married in India - 8.9 million are girls; married girls are three times the boys. (Census 2011)
2. 51% of all trafficking victims were children, of which more than 80% were girls. (NCRB 2018)
3. There are 223 million child brides in India; 102 million were married before turning 15. (UNICE