The Facts
According to the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Gender Social Norms Index, global views on women have not progressed over the last ten years — with almost nine out of 10 men and women still holding biases against women. Those with at least one bias dropped from 86.9% to 84.6%.
The report, which compared data from 2005-2014 and 2017-2022 from 80 countries surveyed, found that 50% of people believe men make better political leaders. 40% said men are better business executives, and 25% believe men assaulting their wives is justified.
The Spin
Narrative A
Gender inequality isn't just about equal representation in college or the corporate world, it leads to hundreds of millions of women and girls living in abject poverty and struggling to feed themselves and their children. Such neglect for women has also resulted in unequal access to healthcare, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. As the global community works toward eradicating hunger and thirst, women must be kept at the forefront of our minds, as they often bear the brunt of the crises faced by billions around the world.
Narrative B
The gender equality debate is stagnant because both sides define equality differently. Men and women are equal in value but not the same. In the workplace, for example, women tend to network in smaller, like-minded groups, while men are more likely to branch out with the sole goal of getting ahead. This doesn't mean women should be barred from the workplace, but rather we should take these decisions into account when analyzing macro-level outcomes. If the world looked at every disparity through this lens, we would have far more substantive conversations and reach more common ground.