Gender Equality And Women’s Empowerment

What is women’s empowerment?

Women’s empowerment can be defined to promoting women’s sense of self-worth, their ability to determine their own choices, and their right to influence social change for themselves and others.

It is closely aligned with female empowerment – a fundamental human right that’s also key to achieving a more peaceful, prosperous world.

In Western countries, female empowerment is often associated with specific phases of the women’s rights movement in history. This movement tends to be split into three waves, the first beginning in the 19th and early 20th century where suffrage was a key feature. The second wave of the 1960s included the sexual revolution and the role of women in society. Third wave feminism is often seen as beginning in the 1990s.

Women’s empowerment and promoting women’s rights have emerged as a part of a major global movement and is continuing to break new ground in recent years. Days like International Women’s Empowerment Day are also gaining momentum.

But despite a great deal of progress, women and girls continue to face discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

1. The Women's Empowerment Principles

Created in a collaboration between the UN Global Compact and UN Women, the Women’s Empowerment Principles are used to empower women in the marketplace, workplace and community.

The seven Principles are:

• Principle 1: Create high-level corporate leadership for gender equality
• Principle 2: Treat all people fairly at work, respecting and supporting non-discrimination and human rights
• Principle 3: Ensure the health, wellbeing and safety of all workers, whether male or female
• Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for women
• Principle 5: Implement supply chain, marketing practices and enterprise development that empower women
• Principle 6: Champion equality through community initiatives and advocacy
• Principle 7: Measure and report publicly on progress to create gender equality

2. Quotes on women's empowerment

By standing up for equality, women have helped other women speak up and empowered them. Here are some examples of prominent women who have spoken out about women’s equality.

It all started with one family choosing to sponsor one child. Helping that one girl, you don’t know how many other lives you can touch.

Teriano Lesancha, advocate and former World Vision sponsored child Women are always saying, 'We can do anything that men can do' but men should be saying, 'We can do anything that women can do.'

Gloria Steinem, American feminist, journalist, and social political activist . I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.

Mary Wollstonecraft, English writer and advocate of educational and social equality for women

I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate

It all started with one family choosing to sponsor one child. Helping that one girl, you don’t know how many other lives you can touch.

Women are always saying, 'We can do anything that men can do' but men should be saying, 'We can do anything that women can do.'

Gloria Steinem, American feminist, journalist, and social political activist

I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.

Mary Wollstonecraft, English writer and advocate of educational and social equality for women

I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate

It all started with one family choosing to sponsor one child. Helping that one girl, you don’t know how many other lives you can touch.

3. The global landscape of women's empowerment

Gender equality is a basic human right, and it is also fundamental to having a peaceful, prosperous world.

But girls and women continue to face significant challenges all around the world. Women are typically underrepresented in power and decision-making roles.

They receive unequal pay for equal work, and they often face legal and other barriers that affect their opportunities at work.

In the developing world, girls and women are often seen as less valuable than boys.

Instead of being sent to school, they are often made to do domestic work at home or are married off for a dowry before they are adults. As many as 12 million underage girls are married every year.

While some progress is being made in various parts of the world, there is still a great deal left to be done to right the problems of gender inequality.

4. Why is empowering girls and women so important?

Empowering women is essential to the health and social development of families, communities and countries.

When women are living safe, fulfilled and productive lives, they can reach their full potential. contributing their skills to the workforce and can raise happier and healthier children. They are also able to help fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at larg

A key part of this empowerment is through education. Girls who are educated can pursue meaningful work and contribute to their country’s economy later in life. They are also four times less likely to get married young when they have eight years of education, meaning that they and their families are healthier.

Empowering girls is the key to economic growth, political stability and social transformation.

5. Real stories of women’s empowerment

Marie: One last chance

When 14-year-old Marie started school, there were equal numbers boys and girls. But in her Year 8 classroom, she is the only girl, surrounded by 19 boys.

“I want to finish secondary school too. I want to prove that girls can do it,” Marie says, with a look of determination.

If Marie graduates primary school, she’ll be the first girl in her family with a certificate.

In South Sudan, girls who complete all their education are exceptional. Due to the conflict and poverty, only 30 per cent of the children who are of school going age are currently studying. Gender inequality is also a factor, and only one in every seven girls (18 per cent) finish primary school in South Sudan.

But World Vision is acting to support education in Marie’s community. We built the primary school that Marie attends and provides teachers with financial incentives and materials to work there.

The 700 children currently enrolled in the school are provided with school supplies – books, uniforms, pens and pencils.

“We’re addressing gender inequality in education through community awareness sessions with parents, but changing behaviour and customs that have lasted for generations requires persistence and determination,” say Godfrey, a World Vision project manager working in Marie’s community.

Marie hopes that one day she can change her community and that through her example more girls will be able to continue studying.

Until then, she’ll continue to keep taking notes and writing tests, towards her goal of finishing her education.

Globally, 26 per cent of ever-partnered women aged 15 and older (641 million) have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a husband or intimate partner at least once in their lifetime.

In a 2021 survey in 13 countries, 45 per cent of women reported that they or a woman they know has experienced some form of violence since

In 2021, nearly one in five young women were married before the age of 18.

35 per cent and 28 per cent of young women were married in childhood, respectively in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia,

The global prevalence of child marriage has declined by about 10 per cent in the past five years.

Up to 10 million more girls are likely to become child brides by 2030 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the 100 million girls projected to be at risk before the pandemic.

At least 200 million girls and women today have been subjected to female genital mutilation, mainly in 31 countries.

As of 1 January 2022, the global share of women in lower and single houses of national parliaments reached 26.2 per cent, up from 22.4 per cent in 2015.

At this pace, it would take another 40 years for women and men to be represented equally in national parliaments.

Women’s share is slightly over one third in local governments.

In 2019, before the pandemic, women accounted for 39.4 per cent of total employment. In 2020, women represented nearly 45 per cent of global employment losses.

The share of women in managerial positions worldwide increased from 27.2 to 28.3 per cent from 2015 to 2019, but remained unchanged from 2019 to 2020, the first year without an increase since 2013.

Between 2007 and 2021, 57 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 who are married or in a union made their own informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care.

In the first year of the pandemic, an estimated 1.4 million additional unintended pregnancies occurred in lower- and middle-income countries.

Only 15 out of 52 reporting countries included sufficient provisions in their legal frameworks to protect women’s rights to land.

Between 2018 and 2021, only 26 per cent of countries have comprehensive systems in place to track public allocations for gender equality, 59 per cent have some features of such a system, and 15 per cent do not have the minimum elements of such a system.

Conclusion

Women's empowerment is a human right that promotes self-worth, self-determination, and the right to influence social change. It has emerged as a global movement and is gaining momentum, but women and girls still face discrimination and violence.