UNDP report: Gender equality - no improvements over the last decade

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has released a study about the progress of gender equality during the past 10 years, but the results are not bright: 25% of men still believe to be justifiable beating women, 43% of people believe that men are better business executives than women, and 46% of people believe man should have more rights to a job than women. Moreover, although women’s education has increased, in the 59 countries where women are now more educated than men, there is still an income gap of 39% in favour of men. These are some of the main results released by the study, that together conclude that there is a chronic gender bias still entrenched in people's lives.

The first steps to change this reality are to combat hate speech and gender disinformation, but according to Raquel Lagunas, director of UNDP, the key is to acknowledge the economic value of women’s unpaid care work, as the countries with highest gender bias are the ones where women spend at least six times more time on unpaid work than men. Governments are important to promote legal changes and new parental policies that could minimise the effects of this difference.

Overall, tackling gender bias is a challenge of all and it must be done by expanding human development and education on social norms with investment, insurance and innovation. These are the avenues for the full implementation of gender equality, the fifth Sustainable Development Goal.