Women Won’t Get Gender Equality For Another 300 Plus Years

Awesome! (That's sarcasm)

Published March 7, 2023

Every year on the 8th of March, International Women’s Day is celebrated across the globe!

It’s a day to recognize female achievement and a call to action, encouraging everyone to stand up for women’s rights and gender equality…

Women’s rights are being “abused, threatened and violated” around the world and gender equality won’t be achieved for 300 years on the current track, the United Nations secretary-general warned Monday.

The U.N. chief pointed to Afghanistan where “women and girls have been erased from public life,” and said that in many countries women’s sexual and reproductive rights are being rolled back.

He also said girls going to school risk kidnapping and assault in many places, and he complained that there are police preying on vulnerable women they are supposed to be protecting.

“From Ukraine to the Sahel, crisis and conflict affect women and girls first and worst,” Guterres said.

The pandemic also played a part in women trying to achieve equality. Recent research shows that more than half of working moms believe increased childcare responsibilities during this health crisis have negatively affected their careers.

Now, a new report says the pandemic had also slowed down progress with gender equality, too. As we come out of the health crisis, women face an even greater uphill battle.

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, women won’t achieve global gender equality with men for another 135.6 years. Now as of Monday, the reports suggest it will take even longer.

The annual report analyses gender equality in 156 countries and explored four vital areas: health, education, economic opportunities, and political opportunities.

If we look back at the report from 2020, it said global gender equality could be achieved in 99.5 years. But just 12 months in, this has been pushed back by 35 years. The 2021 report explains that Covid-19 had hit women harder across the board.

In the global rankings, Iceland came out on top as the best country in the world for gender equality, with the report saying it was 89% of the way towards achieving full gender parity. Here are the Top 10 Countries from (2020). And in case you're wondering, Canada ranked 16th in the world!