Another generation of women will have to wait for gender parity, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt, closing the global gender gap has increased by a generation from 99.5 years to 135.6 years.

The Global Gender Gap Index annually benchmarks the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment). It is the longest-standing index tracking the progress of numerous countries’ efforts towards closing these gaps over time since its inception in 2006.

The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2022 assesses gender parity across 146 countries. It measures progress in four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. The report found that progress towards gender parity has stalled, particularly in the workforce, where the pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities. The report also examines emerging trends in the labour market and explores factors contributing to gender gaps in wealth accumulation, lifelong learning, and stress levels. It provides detailed Economy Profiles of each country, along with an interactive data platform that allows users to explore the findings in detail.

The World Bank's Gender Data Portal makes the latest gender statistics accessible through compelling narratives and data visualizations to improve the understanding of gender data and facilitate analyses that inform policy choices.

They include:

• Population
• SDGs
• Children 0-14
• Youth 15-24
• Assets
• Education
• Employment and Time Use
• Entrepreneurship
• Environment
• Health
• Leadership
• Norms and Decision-making
• Technology
• Violence

Gender and Food Systems

Gender equality is a precondition for achieving the world’s shared ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, including delivering sustainable food systems. From production to marketing and consumption, gender, power and privilege are woven throughout the fabric of food systems. As a result, gender inequalities are both a cause and an outcome of inequitable food systems that contribute to unjust food access, production, and consumption.

Food system organizations can be leaders in creating a just and sustainable food system. One in which women’s roles move from being invisible to visible, where their voices are heard, and their leadership amplified. One where food system roles, responsibilities, opportunities, and choices are not predetermined by restrictive gender roles, and social and cultural norms and power imbalances are not entry barriers for many people.

The 2021 Global Food 50/50 Report

The primary aim of the 2021 Global Food 50/50 Report is to catalyze faster progress towards this vision by enabling enhanced accountability driven by rigorous evidence. A second aim is to increase recognition of the role that gender plays in the food system for everybody — men and women, including transgender people, and people with nonbinary gender identities.

This Report presents measures of how well an initial sample of global food system organizations are acknowledging and addressing gender as a determinant of opportunity, access, and participation in the global food system. It shows that organizational commitment to gender equality is high. Over half of the organizations are transparent about their policies for shaping diverse, inclusive, and equitable working environments.

At the dawn of the 2020s, building fairer and more inclusive economies must be the goal of global, national and industry leaders. To get there, instilling gender parity across education, health, politics and across all forms of economic participation will be critical.

Over the past 14 years, the Global Gender Gap Index included in this report has served as a compass to track progress on relative gaps between women and men on health, education, economy, and politics. Through this annual yardstick, stakeholders within each country are able to set priorities relevant in each specific economic, political and cultural context.

This year’s report highlights the growing urgency for action. Without the equal inclusion of half of the world’s talent, we will not be able to deliver on the promise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for all of society, grow our economies for greater shared prosperity or achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. At the present rate of change, it will take nearly a century to achieve parity, a timeline we simply cannot accept in today’s globalized world, especially among younger generations who hold increasingly progressive views of gender equality.

This guidance note provides recommendations for developing gender factbooks as a channel to effectively communicate gender statistics, which serves as a critical input to designing and monitoring policies to improve development opportunities for all. A gender factbook is a comprehensive publication that disseminates gender statistics through visuals and tables accompanied by relevant analysis and legal or policy frameworks that give context to the data presented. This guidance note is intended to support national statistics offices in their efforts to improve existing gender factbooks or to assist a country in developing its first gender factbook. Section 2 outlines the motivation for reporting on gender data and creating a gender factbook. Section 3 provides guidance on producing and disseminating a gender factbook, leveraging best-practice examples from a comprehensive review of existing gender factbooks and publications that focus on improving the communication and dissemination of gender statistics. Section 4 concludes, and the appendixes provide valuable sources, samples, and templates.

The overlapping impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating climate disasters, and geopolitical conflict are a threat to gender equality and women’s rights across the globe. This report from UN Women and UNDP shows what governments can do now to prevent further rollbacks and recover lost ground, while enhancing resilience and preparedness for future shocks.

Drawing on a unique global dataset of close to 5,000 measures adopted by 226 countries and territories in response to COVID-19, the report finds that, overall, government responses paid insufficient attention to gender dynamics. At the same time, instances of innovation and learning hold important lessons for gender-responsive policymaking in times of crisis.

For the first time, the report provides analysis on the factors that led to a strong gender response, generating key lessons for governments:

• In a context of growing threats to democratic and open societies, strong institutions proved critical for an inclusive gender response.
• Feminist movements and women’s rights organizations provided an early warning system on the gender impacts of the pandemic, particularly on violence against women and girls.
• Women’s representation and leadership in executive positions, parliaments, and public administration was critical for translating feminist advocacy into policy action.
• Countries with robust public services and gender-responsive social protection systems were in a better position to respond, while others had to improvise, under pressure, and with varying degrees of success.
• Digital tools sustained feminist activism online and enabled policy innovations and rapid support roll-out, reaching groups of women often left behind in “normal times”.
• Real-time gender data on the impact of the pandemic on women and girls was critical to making the case for gender-sensitive response measures, as was tracking what worked in government responses.

Abstract

This retrospective report explores global progress and lessons learned over the past 10 years in promoting gender equality. This report takes stock of global progress and considers the impact of evidence-backed solutions to close the most persistent gender gaps. It examines the evolution of World Bank Group’s engagement on gender and highlights promising approaches. Reflections and findings will enable the WBG and its partners to develop a deeper understanding of what works, provide opportunities to strengthen and expand efforts in critical areas, and will inform the new WBG Gender Strategy, to be launched in 2024.

Citation

“World Bank. 2023. Gender Equality in Development: A Ten-Year Retrospective. © Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/39939 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”

URI

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/39939

The age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) brings about unprecedented opportunities as well as new challenges. To take full advantage of new technologies, we need to place emphasis on what makes us human: the capacity to learn new skills as well as our creativity, empathy and ingenuity. By developing our unique traits and talents, humanity can cope with increasingly fast technological change and ensure broad-based progress for all.

The equal contribution of women and men in this process of deep economic and societal transformation is critical. More than ever, societies cannot afford to lose out on the skills, ideas and perspectives of half of humanity to realize the promise of a more prosperous and human- centric future that well-governed innovation and technology can bring.

This report finds that, globally, although many countries have achieved important milestones towards gender parity across education, health, economic and political systems, there remains much to be done. On the one hand, countries where the next generation of women are becoming leaders in their domains are poised for further success. On the other hand, this year’s analysis also warns about the possible emergence of new gender gaps in advanced technologies, such as the risks associated with emerging gender gaps in Artificial Intelligence-related skills. In an era when human skills are increasingly important and complementary to technology, the world cannot afford to deprive itself of women’s talent in sectors in which talent is already scarce.

Talent is one of the most essential factors for growth and competitiveness. To build future economies that are both dynamic and inclusive, we must ensure that everyone has equal opportunity. When women and girls are not integrated—as both beneficiary and shaper—the global community loses out on skills, ideas and perspectives that are critical for addressing global challenges and harnessing new opportunities.

This report finds that, globally, gender parity is shifting into reverse this year for the first time since the World Economic Forum started measuring it. Yet there are also many countries that have made considerable progress, understanding that talent is a critical factor for growth. These countries are poised for further success. This year’s analysis also reveals gender gaps at the industry level and, in particular, highlights that even though qualified women are coming out of the education system, many industries are failing to hire, retain and promote them, losing out on a wealth of capacity.

As the world moves from capitalism into the era of talentism, competitiveness on a national and on a business level will be decided more than ever before by the innovative capacity of a country or a company. In this new context, the integration of women into the talent pool becomes a must.

While no single measure can capture the complete situation, the Global Gender Gap Index presented in this report seeks to measure one important aspect of gender equality: the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.

By many measures, 2015 marks a watershed year in the international communitys efforts to advance gender equality. In September, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN Member States committed to a renewed and more ambitious framework for development. This agenda, with a deadline of 2030, emphasizes inclusion not just as an end in and of itself but as critical to development effectiveness. At the center of this agenda is the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls (SDG 5). In addition to governments, the private sector is increasingly committed to reducing gaps between men and women not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it makes business sense. Gender equality is also central to the World Bank Group’s own goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. No society can develop sustainably without transforming the distribution of opportunities, resources and choices for males and females so that they have equal power to shape their own lives and contribute to their families, communities, and countries. Promoting gender equality is smart development policy.

Citation

“World Bank Group. 2015. World Bank Group Gender Strategy (FY16-23) : Gender Equality, Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/23425 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

This report provides a snapshot of adolescent girls' digital literacy across the East Asia and Pacific region with a special focus on Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.

Digital literacy is critical to participation in today’s world and by the year 2030, up to 80 per cent of jobs in Southeast Asia will require basic digital literacy and applied information and communication technology (ICT) skills. In 2022, an estimated 73 per cent of youth aged 15–24 years in the Asia Pacific region used the internet, but use and digital competences vary by gender across the region.

UNICEF calls on stakeholders to address the gender digital divide by supporting the empowerment of girls to develop advanced digital competencies safely and by ensuring both girls and boys have increased access to affordable internet and digital devices.

Women, Business and the Law 2020, the sixth edition in a series, analyzes laws and regulations affecting women’s economic inclusion in 190 economies. The Women, Business and the Law Index, composed by eight indicators structured around women’s interactions with the law as they begin, progress through and end their careers, aligns different areas of the law with the economic decisions women make at various stages of their lives. The indicators are: Mobility, Workplace, Pay, Marriage, Parenthood, Entrepreneurship, Assets, and Pension. The report updates all indicators as of September 1, 2019, and builds evidence around the linkages between legal gender equality and women’s economic inclusion. By examining the economic decisions women make as they go through different stages of their working lives and the pace of reforms over the past 2 years, Women, Business and the Law makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic opportunities and empowerment. While celebrating the progress made, the data and analysis emphasize the work still to be done to ensure economic empowerment for all.

Citation
“World Bank. 2020. Women, Business and the Law 2020. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/32639 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32639

The World Bank Group Gender Strategy 2024-30 puts forward the bold ambition to accelerate gender equality to end poverty on a livable planet. Building on lessons from past WBG gender engagement and two years of intensive internal and external consultations, the strategy engages with greater ambition – approaching gender equality for all as essential for global development. It responds to the global urgency, fundamentality, and complexity of achieving gender equality. It calls for innovation, financing, and collective action to end gender-based violence and elevate human capital, expand and enable economic opportunities and engage women as leaders.

At the core of the Constitution of Kenya (COK, 2010) is the belief that there can only be real progress in society if all citizens participate fully in their governance, and that all, male and female, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and all previously marginalized and excluded groups are included in the affairs of the republic.Specifically, the Constitution provides in Article 81 (b) that “the electoral system shall comply with the principle that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender”. The persistent challenge has been on how to actualise this core commitment in Kenya’s National Assembly and Senate as prescribed. This publication traces the efforts to implement the commitment through legislation.

Women have been historically and systematically marginalized through distinct social and legal imperfections that relegated them to the periphery of public political life. The post-independence context in Kenya is particularly important in assessing the struggle for inclusion of women in political and electoral processes.

The purpose of this publication, is to highlight these political and legal developments towards implementation of the two-thirds gender principle. Important to note is the lack of political will towards the goal. Secondly is the outright disobedience of court orders by parliament. Thirdly is the flagrant impunity the legislature is showing by continuing to operate yet it is unconstitutional. Passing the two-thirds gender law is a matter of constitutional compliance, yet parliament has made it a matter of political choice.

Women, business and the law focuses on this critical piece of the puzzle, objectively highlighting differentiations on the basis of gender in 141 economies around the world, covering six areas: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit and going to court. Women, business and the law describes regional trends and shows how economies are changing across these six areas, tracking governments' actions to expand economic opportunities for women. For men and women throughout the developing world, the chance to start and run a business or get a good job is the surest hope for a way out of poverty. It also requires good business regulation, suited to the purpose, streamlined and accessible, so that the opportunity to build a business or have a good job is dependent not on connections, wealth or power, but on an individual's initiative and ability. The doing business report has led the way in providing data to countries about creating a sounder and more streamlined business environment. Women, Business, and the Law 2012 are the second in this series of reports. This edition retains the same basic structure of the 2010 pilot edition, while significantly expanding the depth of data covered. While the number of topics covered is the same, there has been a significant expansion of the data collected within these topics, thus addressing some of the initial shortcomings of the pilot edition. The number of economies covered has also been expanded from 128 to 141.

Citation
“World Bank; International Finance Corporation. 2011. Women, Business and the Law 2012 : Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/27444 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27444

The World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law examines laws and regulations affecting women’s prospects as entrepreneurs and employees across 187 economies. Its goal is to inform policy discussions on how to remove legal restrictions on women and promote research on how to improve women’s economic inclusion. Women, Business and the Law 2019: A Decade of Reform introduces a new index measuring legal rights for women throughout their working lives in 187 economies. The index is composed of 35 data points grouped into eight indicators. The data covers a 10-year period not only to understand the current situation but to see how laws affecting women’s equality of opportunity have evolved over time. The index assesses economic rights at milestones spanning the arc of a woman’s working life: the ability to move freely; starting a job; getting paid; legal capacity within marriage; having children; running a business; managing assets; and getting a pension.

Citation
“World Bank Group. 2019. Women, Business and the Law 2019 : A Decade of Reform. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31327 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31327

How can governments ensure that women have the same employment and entrepreneurship opportunities as men? One important step is to level the legal playing field so that the rules for operating in the worlds of work and business apply equally regardless of gender. Women, Business and the Law 2018, the fifth edition in a series, examines laws affecting women’s economic inclusion in 189 economies worldwide. It tracks progress that has been made over the past two years while identifying opportunities for reform to ensure economic empowerment for all. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2017 and explores new areas of research, including financial inclusion.

Citation
“World Bank Group. 2018. Women, Business and the Law 2018. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29498 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29498

The Global Media Monitoring Project is the largest and longest longitudinal study on the gender in the world’s media. It is also the largest advocacy initiative in the world on changing the representation of women in the media. It is unique in involving participants ranging from grassroots community organizations to university students and researchers to media practitioners, all of whom participate on a voluntary basis.

Every five years since 1995, GMMP research has taken the pulse of selected indicators of gender in the news media, studying women’s presence in relation to men, gender bias and stereotyping in news media content. The fifth research in the series was conducted in 2015 by hundreds of volunteers in 114 countries around the world.

Learn more at https://whomakesthenews.org/