Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day – a day aimed to help nations worldwide eliminate discrimination against women. It also focuses on helping women gain full and equal participation in global development. It is a day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
It has been 25 years since 189 countries adopted a 150-page road map for achieving equality for women, yet a new report by UN Women shows us that the reality is not what would be expected. Millions of women still face poverty, discrimination, and violence, according to CBC Canada.
Happy International Women’s Day! Join us today in celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and girls around the . #BecauseOfYou, we are driving positive change in our efforts to advance gender equality in . #IWD2020 pic.twitter.com/bJ57HfZcvW
— Canada (@Canada) March 8, 2020
The report also notes that 70 percent of legislators, parliamentarians, and managers are men and nearly 500,000 women and girls over the age of 15 are illiterate. The UN Development Program”s new Gender Social Norms Index also had some bad news for women. Close to 90 percent of men and women hold some sort of bias against women.
According to the data, “almost half of those polled feel that men are superior political leaders, while more than 40 percent believe they make better business executives and are more entitled to jobs when the economy is lagging. Moreover, 28 percent think it is justified for a man to beat his wife.”
Marchers around the world call for equality, on International Women's DayMarch 8, 2020
The United Nations held an observance for International Women’s Day on Friday. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had quite a bit to say about the issue of gender inequality that is rampant around the world, reports Politico.
“Deep-rooted patriarchy and misogyny have created a yawning gender power gap in our economies, our political systems, our corporations, our societies, and our culture,” he said. “Women are still very frequently denied a voice; their opinions are ignored and their experience discounted.”
On Monday in New York, the UN Commission on the Status of Women will hold a drastically scaled-down one-day event so delegations can adopt a draft political declaration commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1995 UN conference in Beijing that adopted the wide-ranging plan to achieve gender equality.
The commission had been expecting over 12,000 people from its 193 member nations to be at its annual meeting. But it was decided to postpone the major event due to the coronavirus outbreak.
