Despite progress made in bridging equality gap, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said that about 90 percent of men and women still have some sort of bias against women. The Gender Social Norms Index recently released shows that the invisible barriers that women still face in achieving equality,
Most of the men and women felt that men were better political leaders, according to the Index. With respect to Business executives, 40 percent said men are better than women. Most of the people (both men and women) thought that men have more right to employment when job is scarce. The UNDP index showed that 28 percent justified a man beating his wife.
Though several countries showed improvements with respect to gender equality, the report also points out that attitude in some countries have worsened. UNDP’s Human Development Report Office head Pedro Conceição said that gender gaps are still prevalent in many countries. He also mentioned that the world had gone a long way in ensuring that women have the same access to basic needs as men. Pedro Conceição also said that the index was a pointer to the enormous “power gaps” that existed in all sectors.
When men and women exercise the franchise similarly, women hold only a low 24 percent of parliamentary seats across the world. The report also said that there are only ten female heads of government. The index men were paid better than women in labour market.
. They are unlikely to get into senior positions, the report said.
