Gender equality

Gender equality around the world

Although Gender equality is a part of universal human rights, it is not possible to tackle this problem universally. The interests of women and men differ in various cultural environments. Individual countries approach masculinity and femininity differently due to their cultural and social specifics. Therefore, manifestations and consequences of gender structures differ. Thus, it is not possible to apply a uniform approach in promoting Gender equality but it is necessary to take national specifics into account and to choose specific strategies to address specific problems. Although the aims of equal access to education, work, equality in the family, equal pay, equal share of assets and its profit, equal access to power and managing personal affairs, protection against gender determined violence and etc. are general, the rate of their enforcement, as well as the obstacles, that prevent them from applying, are different in individual countries.

Some specific problems include the following:

• Early marriages, mostly forced, pre –approved marriages, "bought " marriages , restrictive legislation modifying marriage ( prohibition of divorce or loss of protection for women after divorce or the death of a spouse) , but also the continuous occurrence of ritual killing of widows after the death of their husbands. The roots of this phenomenon are in regional cultural and religious traditions which persist despite official policy that rejects them. This phenomenon is present predominantly in rural areas. This applies to Asia and the Middle East, but also to Africa.
• Criminalization of homosexuality. Many countries - mostly because of religious control - punish homosexuality. For example, in India, at present there is a discussion on the decriminalization of homosexual coexistence but without success. It is also similar in some countries in Africa and the Middle East.
• A specific problem is the "missing girls“ phenomenon. It is estimated that due to the undervaluing of women, over 100 million males are living as a result of the infanticide of female children, sex selection for boys, allocation of economic resources and nutrition that are taken away from female children, and generalized violence. The reasons for this are as follows: selective abortions based on identifying the sex of the child in regions with a one-child policy, low value of femininity and therefore girls in comparison to boys as a cause of worse treatment of daughters than of sons (in care, feeding, health care etc.). Worse access to health care for girls and women. India is the country in the world fourth most at risk for the female gender, after Afghanistan, Congo and Pakistan. Since the last provisional census carried out in 2011, in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, where the ratio between males and females between 0 and 6 years has fallen to 886 girls per 1,000 boys, a very active civil society movement is taking action against what is defined as "female feticide". The figures recorded in Uttarakhand are far worse than the national average which has dropped to 914 girls per 1,000 boys, from 927 per 1,000 in the 2001 census. That year, demographers said that there were six million 'missing girls' in India, now 7.1 million are missing, of a total population of 1.21 billion people.
• The big problem is violence against women. According to the findings of the World Bank and the Global Women Fund, 48 % of judges in India believe that it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife (despite existing laws criminalizing domestic violence).
  A specific example of violence against women, which endangers their reproductive health, is Genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

Sources

siteresources.worldbank.org
www.globalfundforwomen.org
www.feminist.org
www.who.int