This document discusses the causes and impacts of gender inequality around the world. It identifies 10 main causes of gender inequality: uneven access to education for women; lack of equal employment rights and opportunities for women; job segregation into lower-paying female-dominated occupations; lack of legal protections against issues like domestic violence and sexual harassment; lack of autonomy and access to reproductive healthcare for women; poorer quality healthcare for women; lack of religious freedom disproportionately impacting women; underrepresentation of women in political systems; intersection of gender inequality and racism; and societal mindsets that perpetuate discrimination. It provides examples and statistics for each cause. The document advocates for policies and initiatives to reduce gender socialization and stereotypes as ways to
2. Gender inequality refers to unequal
treatment or perceptions of individuals
based on their gender.
It arises from differences in socially
constructed gender roles as well as
biologically through chromosomes, brain
structure, and hormonal differences.
Gender inequality can be defined as
allowing people different opportunities
due to perceived differences based solely
on issues of gender.
4. 10 Causes of Gender Inequality
• #1. Uneven access to
education
• Around the world, women still have
less access to education than
men. ¼ of young women between
15-24 will not finish primary school.
That group makes up 58% of the
people not completing that basic
education. Of all the illiterate people
in the world, ⅔ are women. When
girls are not educated on the same
level as boys, it has a huge effect on
their future and the kinds of
opportunities they’ll get.
5. • #2. Lack of employment equality
• Only 6 countries in the world give women
the same legal work rights as men. In fact,
most economies give women only ¾ the
rights of men. Studies show that if
employment became a more even playing
field, it has a positive domino effect on other
areas prone to gender inequality.
• #3. Job segregation
• One of the causes for gender inequality
within employment is the division of jobs. In
most societies, there’s an inherent belief that
men are simply better equipped to handle
certain jobs. Most of the time, those are the
jobs that pay the best.
This discrimination results in lower income
for women. Women also take on the primary
responsibility for unpaid labor, so even as
they participate in the paid workforce, they
have extra work that never gets recognized
financially.
6. • #4. Lack of legal
protections
• According to research from the
World Bank, over one billion
women don’t have legal protection
against domestic sexual violence
or domestic economic violence.
Both have a significant impact on
women’s ability to thrive and live-
in freedom. In many countries,
there’s also a lack of legal
protections against harassment in
the workplace, at school, and in
public. These places become
unsafe and without protection,
women frequently must make
decisions that compromise and
limit their goals. [4]
• Nearly 235 Million Women
Worldwide Lack Legal Protections
From Sexual Harassment at Work
[8]
7. • #5. Lack of bodily
autonomy
• Many women around the
world do not have authority
over their own bodies or
when they become parents.
Accessing birth control is
frequently very difficult.
According to the World
Health Organization, over
200 million women who don’t
want to get pregnant are not
using contraception. There
are various reasons for this
such as a lack of options,
limited access, and
cultural/religious opposition.
On a global scale, about 40%
of pregnancies are not
planned and while 50% of
them do end in abortion, 38%
8. #6. Poor medical care
• In addition to limited access to contraception, women overall receive lower-
quality medical care than men. This is linked to other gender inequality reasons
such as a lack of education and job opportunities, which results in more women
being in poverty. They are less likely to be able to afford good healthcare.
There’s also been less research into diseases that affect women more than men,
such as autoimmune disorders and chronic pain conditions. Many women also
experience discrimination and dismissal from their doctors, broadening the
gender gap in healthcare quality. [4]
9. • #7. Lack of religious
freedom
• When religious freedom is
attacked, women suffer the
most. According to the World
Economic Forum, when
extremist ideologies (such as
ISIS) come into a community
and restrict religious freedom,
gender inequality gets worse.
In a study performed by
Georgetown University and
Brigham Young University,
researchers were also able to
connect religious intolerance
with women’s ability to
participate in the economy.
When there’s more religious
freedom, an economy
becomes more stable thanks
to women’s participation.
10. #8. Lack of political representation
Of all national parliaments at the beginning of 2019, only 24.3% of seats were filled by
women. As of June of 2019, 11 Heads of State were women. Despite progress in this
area over the years, women are still grossly underrepresented in government and the
political process. This means that certain issues that female politicians tend to bring up
– such as parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender equality laws and gender-
based violence – are often neglected. [4]
11. • #9. Racism
• It would be impossible to talk about
gender inequality without talking
about racism. It affects what jobs
women of color can get and how
much they’re paid, as well as how
they are viewed by legal and
healthcare systems. Gender
inequality and racism have been
closely-linked for a long time.
According to Sally Kitch, a professor
and author, European settlers in
Virginia decided what work could be
taxed based on the race of the
woman performing the work.
African women’s work was “labor,”
so it was taxable, while work
performed by English women was
“domestic” and not taxable. The pay
gaps between white women and
women of color continues that
legacy of discrimination and
contributes to gender inequality. [4]
• Race and gender are social
constructs that reflect the
predominant societal prejudices.
They both have seemingly biological
underpinnings which themselves are
social constructs. And crucially,
both are used to attribute, justify,
and defend the superiority of one
group over another. [9]
12. • #10. Societal mindsets
• It’s less tangible than some of the other
causes on this list, but the overall
mindset of a society has a significant
impact on gender inequality. How
society determines the differences and
value of men vs. women plays a starring
role in every arena, whether it’s
employment or the legal system or
healthcare. Beliefs about gender run
deep and even though progress can be
made through laws and structural
changes, there’s often a pushback
following times of major change. It’s
also common for everyone (men and
women) to ignore other areas of gender
inequality when there’s progress, such
as better representation for women in
leadership. These types of mindsets
prop up gender inequality and delay
significant change. [4]
• There’s a need for everyone concerned
to work together: government,
universities, civil society, but also the
Muslim and Christian religions. [11]
• Tradition often takes precedence over
13. Economic Inequality Across
Gender Diversity
• The global trend towards extreme
wealth and income concentration has
dramatically strengthened the
economic and political power of those
individuals — overwhelmingly male —
at the top.
• In the United States and around the
world, women continue to be
underrepresented in high-level, highly
paid positions and overrepresented in
low-paying jobs.
• Women of color and transgender
individuals experience particularly high
levels of poverty, unemployment, and
other economic hardships.
• Gender discrimination and sexual
harassment in the workplace contribute
significantly to these persistent
15. HOW MUCH DO WOMEN MAKE COMPARED TO
MEN?
UNCONTROLLED GENDER PAY GAP
THIS MEASURES MEDIAN SALARY FOR ALL MEN AND ALL WOMEN
WOMEN EARN
81¢
FOR EVERY $1
EARNED BY MEN
CONTROLLED GENDER PAY GAP
THIS MEASURES MEDIAN SALARY FOR MEN AND WOMEN WITH THE SAME JOB AND QUALIFICATIONS
WOMEN EARN
98¢
FOR EVERY $1
EARNED BY MEN
[4]
16. • Gender Income Gaps
• Female-dominated
occupations — such as
childcare and restaurant
service — continue to
occupy the lower rungs of
the U.S. wage ladder.
• Women make up 63
percent of workers earning
the federal minimum wage,
a wage rate stuck at $7.25
since 2009.
• By contrast, women
represent only 5 percent of
CEOs at Fortune 500 firms.
CEOs took home $13.1
million on average in 2016.
18. • THE FUTURE OF GENDER INEQUALITY IN
THE WORKPLACE
• To Meet the Challenges of the Future of
Work, Women Across the World May Need to
Upskill and Transition to New Industries
• Women already have the job skills to
position them for roles in high-growth fields
of the future but are overrepresented in
industries most likely to be affected by
automation.
• By 2030, an estimated 40-160 million
women may need to transition into higher
skilled roles, necessitating higher education
or upskilling.
• Women are currently underrepresented in
high-skilled subjects like STEM.
• Globally, women make up 35% of STEM
students and only 29.3% of those working in
scientific research and development (R&D).
19. To reduce gender inequality, a sociological perspective suggests various policies and measures to
address the cultural and structural factors that help produce gender inequality. These steps might
include, but are not limited to, the following:
1.Reduce socialization by parents and other adults of girls and boys into traditional gender roles.
2.Confront gender stereotyping by the popular and news media.
3.Increase public consciousness of the reasons for, extent of, and consequences of rape and sexual assault,
sexual harassment, and pornography.
4.Increase enforcement of existing laws against gender-based employment discrimination and against
sexual harassment.
5.Increase funding of rape-crisis centers and other services for girls and women who have been raped
and/or sexually assaulted.
6.Increase government funding of high-quality day-care options to enable parents, and especially mothers,
to work outside the home if they so desire, and to do so without fear that their finances or their children’s
well-being will be compromised.
7.Increase mentorship and other efforts to boost the number of women in traditionally male occupations
and in positions of political leadership. [14]
20. As we consider how best to
reduce gender inequality, the
impact of the contemporary
women’s movement must be
neither forgotten nor
underestimated. Since it began in
the late 1960s, the women’s
movement has generated
important advances for women in
almost every sphere of life. Brave
women (and some men)
challenged the status quo by
calling attention to gender
inequality in the workplace,
education, and elsewhere, and
they brought rape and sexual
assault, sexual harassment, and
domestic violence into the
national consciousness. For
gender inequality to continue to
be reduced, it is essential that a
strong women’s movement
