The World Economic Forum gives us a frightening headline: it will take 135.6 years to achieve gender equality, 36 years longer than before the pandemic.
But what is behind this information?
There is a lot. Many reasons why women continue behind. Patriarchal and sexist education in many parts of the world, established gender roles in many countries, early childbearing, dispossession of women's property in many geographical areas, religious dogmas, sexual division of labour, inability to get a paid job, and if they can, the salary is still on average 30% less than men's. Unfortunately, this is only an exemplary list, which could be extended much further.
In many countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and South Asia, the vast majority of women do 100% of the housework, meaning the maintenance of a house and the care of children. This is the case in 101 countries around the world.
Domestic work is a full-time job, with much longer working hours than outside home, and it is also unpaid. This means that women have no income and no possibility of study, as they do not have the time to do so. This is called the feminisation of poverty.
In addition, there are many countries whose laws contain practices against women that violate all kinds of rights.
Sharia law, found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Nigeria, Sudan and Indonesia, prescribes how Muslims should live and prohibits women in particular from studying, working, wearing bright colours or laughing out loud. In many other countries, a woman cannot drive or travel without her husband's permission.
In more than 30 countries today, female genital mutilation is practised, a practice which, apart from the ethical and moral consequences it entails, is carried out without any guarantees and with scissors or even blades, often resulting in bleeding, infection or even death. In more than 90% of mutilations, the child is under one year old. Such risks and complications for a baby girl put her own life at stake. Yet it is practised.
In countries such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan, "honour crimes" are recognised. The family of a woman who is deemed to have committed dishonourable behaviour has the right to convict her of an "honour cime". These sentences can range from beatings, mutilation, or even death.
Forced marriage is another practice that takes place in many countries around the world. In 2021, it was estimated that 26% of Syrian girls had arranged for a husband before the end of their childhood. In many other countries in the Middle East, for example, there is no minimum age for marriage, resulting girls as young as 9 or 11 being able to marry.
Gender-based violence deserves a separate chapter. A true pandemic in itself, it is present in all countries of the world. However, it is more difficult for women in countries where they have no legal or social support and where such practices are even tacitly accepted and recognised. For example, in Iraq, the husband has the right to "punish" his wife.
In Pakistan, violence is institutionalised. Up to 72% of women in custody in Pakistan are physically or sexually abused.
A practice that is a real violation of all kinds of rights is that the only way for a raped woman to make amends (because, of course, it is her fault) is to marry her rapist. This is a custom that is still in force in the penal code of countries governed by Sharia law. The law openly recognises the possibility for abusers to marry their victims in order to be acquitted and to hide the dishonour from the raped woman's family in the process.
I understand that your head is upside down and that you don't understand anything. But the situation of women is also very complicated in high-income countries.
It is true that most of these countries have laws that advocate equality, that, of course, condemn all kinds of violence against us and that try to protect us in case of abuse, but it is not so easy. Women living in developed countries continue to suffer discrimination in the workplace. 85% of the people who work in the third sector are women, but only in 20% of the management positions in these organisations are for us, women, in 80% of the cases, it is men.
This is revealing. Even today, in many highly qualified companies and sectors, women are only considered until they become pregnant. More than a few of us have had to hear from our superiors "you are now going on holiday for a few months", referring to maternity leave. In Spain we still have the culture that getting pregnant is the end of our working career and that maternity leave is a holiday.
In all developed countries, women are constantly abused in pubs or clubs. Comments, looks and absolutely inappropriate situations that society normalises, and which we face every weekend. Only in Madrid there are 80 reports of abuse in pubs or clubs every month. And those that are not reported also exist.
Organisations such as Amnesty International bring to light chilling data: 137 women are murdered every day by a member of their family. According to the World Health Organisation, 35% of the female population has suffered physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner or sexual violence from another man without such a relationship at some time in their lives.
And in the midst of all this comes a pandemic. What does it cause?
The OECD states that the crisis caused by the pandemic is damaging health, social and economic well-being around the world, with women at the centre for several reasons.
The first is that women lead the health response, accounting for almost 70% of the health workforce, putting them at greater risk of infection and sick leave.
The second is that in countries where women are part of the labour market, in addition to working outside home, they also carry much of the domestic burden. We have seen that due to the closure of schools and nurseries at the beginning of the pandemic, gender inequalities have increased, which has meant, according to this organisation, an increased risk of loss of employment and income for women. In the last two years, many women have requested sick leave and leave of absence in order to take care of their families.
Also, organisations working with vulnerable groups have reported an increase in the incidence of violence, exploitation or abuse against women during the quarantine period. There is an unfortunate explanation for this: with the most vulnerable families confined to small spaces and suffering loss of income and high levels of stress, women have suffered more violence from their partners than before the pandemic.
What is the solution, and is there one?
Apart from laws to protect women and punish any kind of violence or abuse against them, a deep change of mentality is needed. Education is the key.
We need to educate our sons and daughters in the same way, we need our sons to punish and condemn certain behaviour accepted in society. We need the labour market to be filled with women, and, of course, to have children if they want to, because that is the only way to continue as a species in the first place. We need a different kind of boss. A boss who rewards the productivity of a woman who tries to raise her child in the best possible way and at the same time get her job done, motivate her teams, and achieve her goals. We need these behaviours to be rewarded and given a voice. We need more organisations and institutions to reach out to women who cannot or are afraid to speak out. The thousands of women who have suffered or are suffering abuse and are afraid.
The SDG 5 targets are very clear and the future does not look good the way we are going. We have to change and we have to start now, with the education of our young children, who are the ones who will be here tomorrow.
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