Countries with greater bias in gender social norms also show a lower presence of women in parliament
Indigenous women, migrant women and women with disabilities have meagre political representation, demonstrating how overlapping biases could further reduce opportunities for women. Representative photo: iStock. The past decade didn’t see any improvement in the level of prejudice shown against women. Nearly 90% of people still hold at least one bias against women, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Around half the world’s population believe that men make better political leaders than women, and two in five believe that men make better business executives than women, according to UNDP’s 2023 Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI).
A staggering 25 per cent of people believe it is justified for a man to beat his wife, noted UNDP in the document released on June 12, 2023.
Also read: It will take 3 centuries to close gender gap completely, warns UN
UNDP tracked people’s attitudes towards women in four dimensions — political, educational, economic and physical integrity. This helped in examining how biased beliefs can obstruct gender equality and human rights.
Gender social norms have persisted for centuries and are pronounced in countries with lower and higher Human Development Index (HDI). GSNI values showed that they have stagnated over the past decade.
The latest GSNI report capturing data up to 2022 showed little overall progress, despite global and local campaigns for women’s rights in recent years such as Me Too, Ni Una Menos, Time’s Up and Un Violador en Tu Camino.
Persistent biased gender social norms violate human rights and limit the enlargement of well-being by impeding women from acting on behalf of their own values and interests. By excluding women from decision-making, the world will lose out on perspectives, experiences, abilities, voices and ideas, UNDP noted.
Biased gender social norms can contribute to lack of equality in political participation. In some cases, biases might even intensify in the form of backlash when women attain leadership positions.
Countries with greater bias in gender social norms also show a lower presence of women in parliament. Indigenous women, migrant women and women with disabilities have meagre political representation, demonstrating how overlapping biases can further reduce opportunities for women.
On average, the share of heads of state or government who are women has remained around 10 per cent worldwide since 1995, and women hold just over a quarter of parliament seats globally.
Also read: Why are there fewer women on India’s science scene? Data needed to answer that, say experts
Women are grossly underrepresented in leadership in conflict-affected countries, mainly at the negotiation tables in the recent conflicts in Ukraine (0 per cent), Yemen (4 per cent) and Afghanistan (10 per cent). Globally, about seven of 10 peace processes did not include any women mediators or women signatories.
The good news is that policies aimed at achieving equal participation in education have been effective, with women catching up in education. Higher enrolment and completion are seen at all levels.
However, gender gaps in economic empowerment persist. This means the recent increase in education achievements has not translated into better economic outcomes and opportunities for women. Even in the 59 countries where adult women are more educated than men, the average income gap is 39 per cent.
This lack of progress in closing the gender gap in income is seen worldwide. As women catch up in education, the gender gaps in income can no longer be explained by gaps in education. Instead, gender gaps in income can be correlated with GSNI values.
In countries with higher bias in gender social norms, women spend more time than men — nearly six times — on domestic chores and care work.
Gender-based inequalities in empowerment are partly because of biased gender social norms or the undervaluation of women’s capabilities and rights.
Even though the GSNI value changed little over the past decade, data has shown an increase in the share of people with no bias in any indicator, and this was evident in 27 of the 38 countries surveyed. The largest increases were in Germany, Uruguay, New Zealand, Singapore and Japan. Progress was greater among men than women.
The most significant declines were in Chile, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia and Kyrgyzstan. The past few decades have seen major breakthroughs in gender social norms influenced by policies, regulations and scientific breakthroughs.
One of the major examples is the birth control pill. The pill’s introduction was met with backlash, and for many years no research was done to bring it to use for family planning purposes, as the idea of artificial contraception was unfamiliar and considered taboo.
For several decades, many countries banned prescribing the pill for birth control, and religious institutions declared that artificial birth control was sinful.
The birth control pill followed a volatile process until its eventual social acceptance, and this had a tremendous impact on women’s control over their bodies and ability to plan their families and professional lives. Access to a wide range of family planning services and resources has since transformed child and maternal health.
“Social norms that impair women’s rights are also detrimental to society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human development,” said Pedro Conceicao, director of the Human Development Report Office, UNDP.
In fact, a lack of progress on gender social norms is unfolding against a human development crisis: HDI declined in 2020 for the first time on record — and again in the following year. Everyone stands to gain from ensuring freedom and agency for women, Conceicao added.
Gender biases hold across regions, income levels and cultures. Without tackling biased gender social norms, the world will not be able to achieve gender equality, as reflected in the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals.
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