What I Have Learned About Gender Equality Gender equality is most definitely a basic human right; however, “gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society” (UN, 2011) today. A project that is attempting to improve gender equality is Millennium Development Goal number three, which is aimed at promoting gender equality and empowering women. However, the UN (2011) states that this millennium development goal cannot be reached if 50% of the world’s people are not afforded equal rights and opportunities. Hillary Clinton (2014) states, “the role and rights of women, their freedom, equality and dignity is the unfinished business of the 21st century.” The themes that will be explored in this paper are the need to empower women, education, and reproductive health. My learning on gender equality has been substantial, and ultimately makes me want to promote positive change for women throughout the world. I believe that it is essential to see women as a cardinal part of the society of which they live in, as they make up 50% of the world today. Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women This international development goal is to expand women’s opportunities by providing them with the rights that they are entitled to (World Bank, 2011). The World Bank (2011) states that it is essential to empower women and girls by: improving education, increase literacy rates, increase early childhood development intercessions, increase women’s labor force participation, improve women’s access to financial resources, ending gender based violence, promote women’s political rights, and lastly, to improve reproductive health. In achieving these goals, gender equality can exist by the year 2015. The Need for Empowerme... ... middle of paper ... ... 2014 “too many women face far too much discrimination and violence” (New York Daily News, 2014). UNIDO (n.d) state that millennium development goal number three cannot be achieved without closing the gaps between women and men. In closing the gaps, we must empower women by providing them with education, accessibility to reproductive health, and lastly, engage men in promoting gender equality for women (WHO, 2014). I agree greatly with Hillary Clinton’s quote that is “human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights” (New York Daily News, 2014). Gender equality is a basic human right; however, in 2014 “gender inequalities [still] remain deeply entrenched in every society” (UN, 2011). The world has had numerous achievements thus far; however, gender equality still “remains the great unfinished business of the 21st century” (New York Times, 2014).
In conclusion, women around the globe have come a long way. Societies across the world are recognizing that women are valuable and important to societies. Unfortunately, there are still many societies across the world that wants to keep women down. The women of these societies should not be abandoned and forgotten because they are across the globe. Women from the other countries need to remember how far they have been able to come and reach out to support the oppressed women. As Dr. Martin Luther King would say, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Despite the drastic changes made toward the improvement of equal rights there a still many problems that have been overlooked, or simply ignored. According to Mario Osave, (2010) “Thirty years after the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), many girls and women still do not have equal opportunities to realize rights recognized by law. In many countries, women are not entitled to own property or inherit land. Social exclusion, “honor” killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking, restricted mobility and early marriage among others, deny the right to health to women and girls and increase illness and death throughout the life-course.” (Shah 1)
As huge as the gender hole is, women, above all in developed countries have more contingencies today than ever before. But even with this, no country has truly accomplished gender equality. We need to shut down the gender gap in capacities such as health,employment, and education. The destiny of our world entrusts on the young women of todays times. Women have been struggling for equality for thousands of years. Even though we have taken many successes on our battle for equality and have made a tremendous amount of progress, we still are at disadvantages. We have been approved to vote and now we now can apply or take any job a male can have. Even if we are able do this, we nonetheless still are pinned to the equal expectations we had for all these years. We are anticipated to watch over the kids, have dinner made ready for everyone to enjoy, to do the laundry, and make sure the dishes are clean and put back where they belong. We must make our way towards the movements needed to make sure that the health of women around the world is efficient and fair. We must inform coverage and encourage actions throughout international location, groups, and development partners. This isn't just about the variations among women and men throughout our society, and not just for women. Discussing women’s health is a crucial and adequate approach to establishing better
The Social Expectations of Race and Gender “.Race, gender, and social class play a key role in why stereotypes and inequality are so challenging to erase (Gender & Society). ” How a person sees others should not be determined by what he or she assumes to know about them based on stereotypes. Even the way we impose a racial interpretation on someone draws on traditional customs that reflect both gender and race. Overall, it is astonishing how consistent the design of ethnic fluency is within societal expectations about what other people do, and even what we anticipate from women compared to that of men. Ultimately, race and gender can put individuals at odds with social expectations.
The evolution of human species has lead to roles we have placed on males and females and what we expect them to do for our society. With the gender norms we have developed over time towards each gender, in order to break the cultural barrier, this requires us to put down the norms we know for each gender and to accept that some males and females maybe different from the norm. These differences should not be considered as harmful to our society or deviant acts that interfere with our gender norms that we have set for our society but should be considered accepted. As human rights beings to increase, humans should be also given the rights to act outside of how society views males and females on its own but should open up to different acts
James Minde Multi-source essay Gender equality: the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender. Now, this is a status that every great country strives for. Through research and basic observation It’s easy to figure out that we (The United States) still haven’t reached this status. This fact proves more true for countries that are less fortunate and developed as us such as Africa. The question is how are we going to provide social, educational, reproductive, and other basic liberties to women all around the world in “developed” countries and in “undeveloped” countries.
Ellison, Jesse. "The 2011 Global Women's Progress Report." Newsweek 158.13 (2011): 27-29. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 May 2012.
Imagine, being denied something, just because you were born a girl. This was the case for all women in the past, and still is today for too many women and girls living in countries all around the world. The lack of women’s rights and gender equality is an issue that affects every country to some extent. An issue that so many people and organizations are trying to fix, but it is no easy feat. Women all over the world are living under inadequate circumstances because they don 't have any authority in their lives. If women were able to have control over certain aspects of their lives they would be happier and healthier. When women have choices about their education, reproduction and marriage, and jobs,
Despite the fact that, everyone is important, still as per the stats given by U.S. government, only 43 out of 148 countries gives equal rights to both men and women. Moreover, gender equality isn’t still achieved because of the fear of the women empowerment. Women empowerment does not means to overload women’s with some extra rights over men or make women dominate the world. It simply means giving women more hold on their personal choices and decision rather than taking permission from men. In sum, gain for women does not imply any losses for men. Men’s are more physically strong and women’s are more emotionally aware. But this is because of our biological origins. If given equal opportunities, who can say which one is better than the other?
There was a time in the world when women were without basic rights and required the power to make decisions about their own lifestyle. They weren’t educated to the same standard as men. They weren’t allowed to work, they weren’t even allowed to inherit property. Everything belonged to their husband or family. There were no women in the police force or government and women weren’t even allowed to vote. Men’s power over women often cost their lives , the physical power is obvious. But there is also emotional power. Yet, after many years, women and men are still not equal. Women and girls should be able to lead a free, equal and self-determining life in every corner of the world just like men do so.
Despite progress in recent years girls still suffer a lot of disadvantage in education systems. While gender equality in education remains a crucial issue for many countries women still account for two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population. Estimated thirty one million girls of primary school age and thirty four million girls of lower secondary school age were not enrolled in school in 2011. (http://www.UNICEF.org/education/bege-61657.html) Girls’ education is both an intrinsic right and a critical lever to reaching other development objectives says UNICEF. Girls’ education is important to the achievement of quality learning. Girls who have been educated are likely to marry later and to have smaller and healthier families. Educated women can recognize the importance of health care and know how to seek it for themselves and their children. Education helps girls and women to know their rights and to gain confidence to claim them. However, women’s literacy rates are significantly lower than men’s in most developing countries. UNICEF recognizes the opportunities provided through girls’ education and it supports governments in the reduction of gender discrimination through interventions at national, local and community levels aimed to empower girls. As we look towards 2015 and beyond, UNICEF continues to take a more transformative approach to girls’ educ...
Throughout the international community, women have been a primary focus of the United Nations due to their importance to the economic and social balance in a country. The advancement of women is a vital issue concerning the world as the new millenium begins. Although the international community views women with high regard and of the utmost respect, ancient traditions, one sided beliefs, and false stereotypical propaganda, which demean and belittle women are existent in the world today. Historically, women have been victims of inequality and abusive practices, and due to this, many women never reach their full potential in the economic world. First, the primary root that hinders the progress of women is the inferiority complex at an early age.
Women have fought through torture, blood, sweat, and tears to help women stand strong in our
In the contemporary society, education is a foundational human right. It is essentially an enabling right that creates various avenues for the exercise of other basic human rights. Once it is guaranteed, it facilitates the fulfillment of other freedoms and rights more particularly attached to children. Equally, lack of education provision endangers all fundamental rights associate with the welfare of human beings. Consequently, the role of education and in particular girl child education as a promoter of nation states welfare cannot be overemphasized. As various scholars asserts, the challenges and problems faced by the African girl child, to enjoy her right to education are multifaceted. Such difficulties include sexual abuse, child labor, discrimination, early pregnancies, violence and poverty, culture and religious practices (Julia 219). Across the developing world, millions of young girls lack proper access to basic education. In the contemporary society, this crisis, which is particularly critical in remote and poor region of sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia have fascinated increased public attention. However, almost all global nation states have assured their commitment in addressing various girl child challenges and allowed a declaration to enable each young girl and boy receive education by the year 2015 (Herz and Sperling 17). This target was firmly established and approved in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. However, this study will focus on girls’ education in Africa and its impacts to their livelihood.
World Bank. Gender and Development Group. Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals. 4 April 2003