Mind the gap!
Feminist development policy specifically promotes gender equality and is therefore an essential factor for peace and development. But how do things stand in the education, business, policy-making and health sectors? Our infographics have the answer.
First the good news: around the globe, gender ratios in the primary and secondary education sectors are balanced. In the tertiary education sector – i.e. colleges and universities – women are actually more strongly represented: 53 per cent of enrolled students are women. Research and teaching have yet to mirror these figures. Only 30 per cent of all researchers are women.
Source: World’s Women 2020 | UNStats
Overall, political participation trends are positive. While in 1995 women accounted for just 11 per cent of national parliamentarians worldwide, today the figure already stands at 26.5 per cent. Differences between countries are vast: at 61 per cent Rwanda has the largest number of women in politics worldwide. In comparison, the German Bundestag has only 35 per cent.
Sources: UN Women, IPU Parline, Global Gender Gap Report 2022, F.A.Z. (in German)
Worldwide substantial potential is being wasted because women – and mothers especially – are not in paid work. Sweden has been addressing this issue for decades with laws and initiatives such as paid parental leave, pay transparency and equal participation. And its efforts have met with success: Sweden’s quota of women in full-time employment stands at around 85 per cent. If employment rates for women increased worldwide to match Sweden’s, OECD countries could see a GDP gain of USD 6 trillion per year. Total GDP in the OECD was last measured at USD 54 trillion.
Sources: Women in Work Index 2023 – PwC UK; Gross domestic product (GDP) – OECD Data
Women continue to be underrepresented in leadership. However, there are considerable differences between positions in the public and private sector. The gap is smallest in non-governmental organisations. In contrast, a look at the companies with the highest sales volumes worldwide paints a different picture: merely 8 per cent of them are run by women. And yet this is still a success. In 1995 their share was zero and in 2011 only 2.4 per cent.
Sources: Global Gender Gap Report 2022, Catalyst
One factor holding back women’s societal participation worldwide is the unequal distribution of unpaid care work. On an average day, women worldwide spend three times as many hours than men doing unpaid household and care work (4.2 hours compared to 1.7 hours). In Northern Africa and Western Asia this gender gap is even more pronounced at seven times higher for women.
Source: The World’s Women 2020 | UNStats
Access to contraceptives not only makes for better health but also fosters equal education and opportunities overall. The past twenty years has seen a marked increase in the number of women desiring to use family planning, from 900 million in 2000 to 1.1 billion in 2020. As a result, the number of women using modern contraceptives has risen from 663 million to 851 million. Today nearly 77 per cent of women say their need for family planning is being met. In 2000 this figure stood at 74 per cent.
Source: WHO
There is still a long way to go. At the current pace, it will still take 135.5 years to achieve gender equality. Before COVID-19, the timeline was calculated at 99.5 years. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation as more women have reduced the number of hours they work and dedicated more time to unpaid care work.
Source: Global Gender Gap Report 2022