The Fight for Gender Equality

The world as we see it today discriminates against not only women, but men as well.

Women are not the only ones suffering from gender inequality; men are also affected in many

ways. Thus, it is not surprising that gender inequality has been persisting for many decades now.

Despite massive progress towards equality, social stratification still exists between men and

women. In today’s society, women are still being viewed as inferior to men and this disparity is

seen in many sectors. Gender inequality is prevalent in the workplace, where women are denied

of equal pay. In addition, the lack of fair treatment for women in education is something that

needs to be addressed. There is also inequality in healthcare, as evidenced in the recent study of

male birth control shot that was cut short due to side effects. Achieving equality in these areas

requires more than just raising awareness about the issue. There is no doubt that gender equality

is real and affecting our everyday lives.

Philippines

Out of 142 countries, the Philippines ranked ninth in terms of gender equality (MacPhail,

2015). As one of the top countries, it is not surprising that the Philippines is able to cope up with

Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, in ensuring that women are also accorded with the

same rights like men. Relatively, the degree of gender equality in the Philippines is quite

commendable. The Philippine government is always after ensuring women are accorded with

equal rights, that is why it ratified key international agreements, as well as the Convention on the

Elimination of All forms of Discrimination. As to MacPhail (2015), gender equality is enshrined

in the constitution, and the Magna Carta of Women in the country also requires the state to

promote the human rights of women.

go on the conquest of gender equity. These countries include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia,

Qatar, Pakistan, Japan, Liberia, and Chad. These countries have not yet established gender

equity and are not very close to.

1. Unwanted pregnancies and high rates of unemployment of women are rampant in

Bosnia and Herzegovina. Worse, women are not only abused, but are also raped.

Women are not also granted with maternity leave, and they usually come back jobless

(Sarajevo, 2013).

2. Ethiopia is also a struggling country. In fact, out of three girls, only one is able to

attend primary school (Ridley & Bridges, 1998). As a result, you cannot expect them

to be trained in any field. As a result, they can only get to braid hair and make

jewelry not even enough to compensate their effort. Relatively, Lewis (2015)

mentioned that kidnapping is rampant in Ethiopia. Women are kidnapped for the

purpose of marriage, although this is against their will. However, many women

believe in this country that women the right to beat and abuse them.

3. Qatar is also a struggling country. Although Qatar is known to be a rich country

because of its oil production, women are immensely disrespected because of its

religion. It is the Sharia law which restricts women their rights. As such, women are

not allowed to do a lot of things, and this include talking to men who are neither their

husband nor their relative. Felder and Vuollo (2008) believed that although many are

still able to land on jobs, there is still a high rate of women unemployment in Qatar.

4. Pakistan is also another country which still needs to embrace gender equity. In this

country, women live in fear, and they opt not to speak with how they are abused. In
 addition, they do not have enough economic assistance. Moreover, they also risk their

lives just to pursue education. Rehman, Jingdon and Hussain (2015) stated that in

2012, the literacy rate in Pakistan is only around 52%. Relatively, domestic abuse is a

cultural norm in this country.

5. Japan also has to work out gender equity. In this country, people believe that women

are designed just to be at home and raise the children and family, while men are the

ones responsible for going to work. Considerably, women in Japan find it hard to find

jobs which would pay them justly. As provided for in Japan Times (2016), there are

more boy who attend school compared to girls.

6. Liberia is struggling with gender equity too. Gender roles are clearly uneven and

there is unfair education directed to girls since funding for education usually favors

boys. As a result, illiteracy rate among women is high, because they are unable to

attend school for extended periods (Sulonteh-Brown, 2016).

7. In Chad, women are not treated equally as well. According to Argintar (2013), “only

10 percent of girls have even completed elementary school.” Most of the Chadians

believe that women are expected to do the house chores and take care of their

children and husbands. Thus, they are only accorded bare minimum rights.

There are some countries which are neither improving nor declining in the climb for

gender equality. Germany, Austria, and Rwanda are examples of this.

1. Traditionally, women in Germany are believed to just stay at home, take good care

of their children, go to church with the family, and cook for them (Goordeeva,

2017). However, women and men now receive equal pay because of a campaign
 called the Gender Pay Gap Campaign. Before, not many women had jobs, but there

is a changing pattern in employment tradition for women. The share of female

graduates went up, legal protection for all sexual harassment was established.

Although, some areas still need to be addressed for lack of child care facilities.

2. Austria is both doing well and bad in different areas of gender equity. Only one in

five women has completed education, although they are well above in Europe of

Austrian labor markets. Manual labor jobs are given to men, but it is in the top three

nations in Europe for women in politics. However, it can be noted that fair wage and

promotion decisions must be made in order to improve gender equality at work (The

Local, 2016).

3. Rwanda is another country which is stagnant. There are women who work in the

government, but women are given hard labor jobs. Women do not have the right to

own land. Girls have a higher enrollment rate in primary schools and teen pregnancy

is a main issue. Although all of these implications, Rwanda is the second greatest

gender equal country in Africa and seventh in the world for greatest improvement in

gender equality. In fact, “gender equality is enshrined in the constitution and

Rwanda was the first country in the world to have more than 50% female members

of Parliament” (Rwanda, 2017).

Other countries are fairly gender equal and have achieved many aspects of gender

equity. These countries include Norway, Australia, and Mongolia.

1. Norway has a well balanced population, where some countries lag. Women have

easy access to birth control. Women’s rights movements have been going on since
 early times. Norway’s first female prime minister was in 1971 and currently they

still have a female prime minister, Erna Solberg. Their government has about 40%

women, and that is the one thing they need to work on to reach complete gender

equity. Accordingly, Zahidi (2016) mentioned that “all Nordic countries reached 99

percent - 100 percent literacy for both sexes several decades ago, and girls fare just

as well as boys in terms of access to primary and secondary education.”

2. Australia is another country that is positive in gender equality. In Australia, girls get

a sex education, which is a major issue in other countries. There is a low

unemployment rate for women, but this is natural in developed countries because

some women want to stay at home and care for children. Women are being

underrepresented in government and their wage is less than compared to men.

Although they have some major obstacles to overcome, Australia is moving upwards

on the track to gender equity. According to Beucher (2016), “the government had

already implemented reforms for gender equality before 2012; measures have been

consistently taken to reduce the gap between men and women in all fields of

society.”

3. Mongolia is also positive in the track to gender equality. In education and

employment, Mongolia has already achieved gender equality. The rate of women

unemployment is low. What Mongolia is struggling with is government equity. The

government is male dominant. In 1999, the first female was a temporary prime

minister, but only for a few weeks until she was kicked out. However, the

4. Lisa Conolly believed that there is already a gradual upward tren for women in

leadership positions (as cited in Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Mongolia has
 the potential to become one of the most gender equal countries, if they overcome

government equity.

Norway, Australia and Mongolia are almost at complete gender equity and some of

them are making efforts to help other countries in their quest. Norway is determined to make a

difference in other African countries women’s rights. They support the promotion of gender

equality internationally. Norway has ratified all the human rights treaties and international

conference agreements which provide a legal foundation for ending gender discrimination and

gender based rights violations. Australia has started a new policy to aid other countries. This

new development policy Australian aid will help to promote prosperity, reduce poverty, and

enhance stability. These efforts will help other countries to get on the track to gender equality.

Universally, there are some countries that are need a lot of improvement in gender

equality, some that are opening the door to it, and some that are almost fully gender equal. The

countries that are negative in gender equity are Pakistan, Japan, Ethiopia, Qatar, Bosnia and

Herzegovina and Chad. Countries that are stagnant include Germany, Austria, and Rwanda.

Countries that are positive include Norway, Australia, and Mongolia. There are many more

negative countries then positive countries. The countries that are positive are helping out and

trying to get the world to complete gender equality. Countries in need of help look up to

positive countries and keep them as their role models. Gender equality can only be achieved

slowly and steadily and it is a work in progress.

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