Written By: Aisha O'Neil
Edited By: Sakura Kojima
“Women’s rights are human rights!”
The recent uproar over Texas’ abortion laws have brought gender equality into the national spotlight, but gender inequality across the world is by no means an issue restricted to just abortion. A New York Times article from March headlined ‘Gender and Society’ brings modern-day sexism into examination.
“One cannot simply outperform inequality or be excellent enough to escape discrimination,” Megan Rapinoe, a professional US soccer player, told the New York Times.
In the US, the gender pay gap has shrunk only by 25 cents in the past 25 years, creating an average loss of $406,280 over a woman’s career. This pay gap is not expected to close until 2059 for white women, and it will be another century before black and Hispanic women receive equal pay.
This divide is made worse by the near-complete lack of women in leadership positions. Two researchers from Britain tested the impact of women’s leadership in a study entitled, ‘Leading the Fight Against the Pandemic: Does Gender ‘Really’ Matter?’. They found that gender really does matter when it comes to leadership.
“Being risk averse with respect to loss of lives and having a clear, empathetic and decisive communication style made a significant difference,” the study concluded.
In other words, women’s unique ability for strong communication and empathetic mannerisms can impact nations and lives on a global scale. Women embody a new form of leadership - something we need now more than ever. But, as a recent survey by Women Political Leaders found, women continue to be viewed as less competent than men in power.
However, as the Taliban in Afghanistan continuously demonstrates with horrifying momentum, gender inequality is not an issue only for females pushing progressive agendas, or even that of developed countries at all.
“There is a group of educated women with us who are really concerned of their condition and their future,” Sabira, a women’s activist in Afghanistan, told NPR last month.
Sabira is not alone in her concern. According to a study by UN Women, “Women make up more than two-thirds of the world's 796 million illiterate people.” Afghanistan's women could easily add to that figure soon, after the Taliban’s recent prohibition on girls from 6th through 12th grade attending school.
“If we do not raise our voice,” Sabira told NPR, “the Taliban will do any kind of violent action, any kind of discrimination, any kind of gender violence.”
For some countries, though, sexism is not a new question. The New York Times invited Saudi Women to write about their experiences in Saudi Arabia’s strict patriarchal system, and the results are astonishing and heart-breaking.
“I live in a lie just so that I don’t end up getting killed.” — DINA, 21
“It’s like I’m in handcuffs, and society, the law, the people [are] against us. That’s why most women choose to marry in their early 20s as a way to escape, and guess what? The man she marries is no different from her brother or father.” — BASHAYR, 19
However, as one woman wrote, progress is being made. “We are advancing. We are moving forward. We just need patience and a chance.” — L, 18
This point is consistent across cultures. A century ago, in 1900, women in America could not vote, no women had yet been elected to their countries’ highest office in the modern world, and abortion was unsafe and illegal in all fifty United States.
Women make up half the world’s population. As UNICEF wrote about Afghanistan, “progress for women means progress for all.”
Conclusively, the role of us, as citizens of our counties and the world, becomes to ensure the abortion laws in Texas and the degradation of women’s rights in Afghanistan remains the exception, not the rule.
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