Linda Martorella and Pasqua Putignano
The Global Gender Gap Index is a tool that annually measures the current state and evolution of gender equality across four key dimensions: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. And it is in “Politics” that the greatest gender gap is recorded.
“No action can succeed if women are not part of it”
Josep Borrell, EU High Representative
It is internationally recognized that gender equality and the empowerment of women, girls and girls are an essential precondition for the eradication of poverty and for building a global society based on sustainable development, social justice and human rights. This means that gender-related discrimination, which persists throughout the world, albeit in different forms and dimensions, must be perceived not only as an obstacle to the enjoyment of human rights but as a key factor to be overcome and eliminated so that progress can be achieved. economic and social. Since its foundation, the European Union (EU) has been committed to gender equality,empowerment and the rights of women, girls and girls (GEWE).
“The European Union is at the forefront globally in promoting gender equality as a key policy objective aimed at accelerating progress towards global goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals (in particular SDG 5), at the heart of the 2030 Agenda.”
Gender Action Plan 2021-2025 (GAP III)
The last one Action plan on gender equality (Gender Action Plan 2021-2025 – GAP III), represents the reference framework for European Union policy on the topic. It is an ambitious plan to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, both at national and European level, which aims to enable women and girls to participate and lead equally in social, economic and political life and to have a voice have a say in the decisions that involve them. Promoting gender equality is fundamental to a fair and inclusive society.1
Italy, with Law 125/2014, which introduces as its main innovation the creation of a true system of Italian Development Cooperation (art. 23), is committed to promoting the GEWE theme. All actors in the Italian system are called to apply and monitor the “Guidelines of the Italian Development Cooperation on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Girls and Girls”. The Italian Development Cooperation intends to adapt to the international framework through the development of an approach aimed at the individual and collective participation of women in development choices and decisions, so that they are no longer understood simply as part of the excluded and disadvantaged population, but as “protagonists of change”. The aim is therefore to address the structural causes of inequalities between men and women, modifying the discriminatory social norms that underlie them and perpetuate them, and support the ability to make decisions about the family, to make economic choices, to have a voice and political influence in society and carry out collective actions as women.2 Creating long-term change through concrete actions that change mindsets and address harmful social norms and stereotypes at the root of gender equality is desirable. Greater awareness of the choices that women and men are called upon to make throughout their lives must be pursued through a structured and pervasive commitment of the competent institutions in supporting actions aimed at breaking down gender stereotypes in early childhood when personality and the perception of roles are still in training and can be oriented.
From theory to practice: where are we with gender equality?
Il Global Gender Gap Index is a tool that annually measures the current state and evolution of gender equality in four key dimensions (sub-indexes): Participation and economic opportunities, Educational level, Health and Survival ed Political emancipation. It is the longest-running index tracking the progress made by numerous countries to close these gaps over time, since its introduction in 2006 by the World Economic Forum. The 2023 edition shows data from 146 countries, illustrating scores on a scale of 0 to 100 interpreted as the percentage of the gender gap that has been closed. The global score for all countries stands at 68.4%, a slight improvement compared to the previous year (68.1%). No country has yet achieved full gender equality, although the top nine countries in the ranking (Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania) have closed at least 80% of their gap. In last place is Afghanistan (40.5%).
Europe is the geographical region with the highest gender equality, equal to 76.3%. It is expected that it will reach gender parity in 67 years while for Italy, which has fallen from 63rd to 79th place in the last year, it will take even longer. If we analyze the four sub-indexes, the gender gap regarding Health and Survival was reduced by 96%, the gap in Educational level of 95.2%, closely linked to the literacy rate, the gap of Participation and Opportunity economical of 60.1% and the gap of Political emancipation only 22.1%. (Figure 1)
At the current rate of progress 2006 – 2023, it will take 162 years to close the gender gap in political empowerment, 169 years for the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity and 16 years for the gender gap in educational attainment. The time needed to close the gender gap in health and survival remains indefinite. In Italy, as in the rest of the world, political emancipation it is the area that continues to record the greatest gender gap (24.1%), followed by the area of Participation and economic opportunities (61.8%). The gap in Educational level shows a percentage of 99.5%. The Health and Survival area is the only one that shows an improving trend: it goes from position 108 to 95 with a gap of 96.7%.3
A closer look reveals that, in general, regarding the sub-index Participation and economic opportunitiesa major source of gender inequality stems from the overall underrepresentation of women in the labor market. The integration of women into the labor market goes far beyond considerations of equity and justice: there is a strong and undeniable link between women’s participation in the labor market and economic development.4
Women’s participation in the labor market has declined globally in recent years. Women have since (re)entered the workforce at a slightly higher rate than men but continue to face higher unemployment rates and when they do gain employment, they often face sub-standard working conditions. Furthermore, according to global data provided by LinkedIn, although the percentage of women employed in leadership positions has steadily increased, representation remains low in these roles. Differences also emerge between different job sectors: women fare relatively better in consumer services, retail and education, while construction, financial services and real estate present more difficult conditions.
What prospects for the future?
In science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) occupations, which represent an important set of well-paying jobs expected to increase in importance and scope, women remain significantly underrepresented.3Decreasing gender equality, a trend also supported by the post-pandemic crisis, implies a large-scale disruption of economic opportunities for women around the world in labor market participation, skills, wealth accumulation and in general well-being. The recovery has been slow and, so far, incomplete, and the current context, combined with technological and climate change, risks causing a further regression in women’s economic empowerment. Not only are millions of women and girls losing economic access and opportunity, but there is a risk of far-reaching consequences for the global economy.
“This is why I maintain that if we want to design a world that works for everyone, we also need women. […] Not to mention that the a priori exclusion of the female perspective fuels a sort of involuntary male bias that would like, often in good faith, to pass itself off as the absence of gender connotations. This is what Simon de Beauvoir meant when he said that men tend to confuse their point of view with the absolute truth” (5)
Linda Martorella and Pasqua Putignano, School of Specialization in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, Florence
References
EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III – AN AMBITIOUS AGENDA FOR GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IN EU EXTERNAL ACTION
Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_20_2184
Guidelines on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of women, girls and girls (2020-2024) – Italian Agency for Development Cooperation
Available online:
https://www.aics.gov.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/LLGG_GENDER_XWEB.pdf
Global Gender Gap Report 2023 – World Economic Forum
Available online: https://www.weforum.org/publications/global-gender-gap-report-2023/
Carta, M. De Philippis, L. Rizzica and E. Viviano – Women, labor markets and economic growth, June 2023, Bank of Italy
Available online: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/collana-seminari-convegni/2023-0026/women_labour_markets_growth_n26.pdf
5 Invisibles. How our world ignores women in every field. Data in hand, by Caroline Criado Perez, Ed. Einaudi – Stile Libero Extra (2020)
women’s empowerment, women’s empowerment and rights, Gender Action Plan, gender gaps, Global Gender Gap Index, engineering and mathematics (STEM), scientific occupations, women’s participation, Action Plan on gender equality, girls and boys ( GEWE)., technological, gender equality