Gender equality is ‘300 years away,’ U.N. chief warns
Washington PostDec 24, 2022
Equal Measures 2030, a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Wednesday published its 2024 SDG Gender Index report. The report found that from 2019-2022, almost 1B women in 40% of countries faced declining or stagnating gender equality.
During that time span, according to the report, gender equality declined in 17 countries, remained the same in 36, made "some progress" in 45, and made "fast progress" in 41. Based on these trends, it claims just 68.9% of the world will have gender equality by 2030.
The road to global gender equality is darker than it has been in almost a decade. Even in the US, the Supreme Court stripped women of their national abortion rights. Across the world, women hold less wealth, education, and political power than men. And they have a higher likelihood of facing violence. If this trend continues, it will take more than a century to reach full gender equality.
These reports contain serious contextual issues. When women in Western countries choose to be mothers or decline to climb the corporate ladder, NGOs often claim those societies are falling "backwards." Equality means allowing men and women to live how they want, not forcing them to achieve an abstract UN agenda. Context is required for interpreting findings like these.