THE GENDER PAY GAP AND WHY IT MATTERS
FÉBÉ POTGIETER, ANC General Manager, unpacks the Gender Gap Report and the startling statistics on how far away we still are to achieving gender parity in every sphere of life
THE LONG MARCH TO GENDER EQUALITY
Nearly 130 years after women first gained universal suffrage in New Zealand, the latest World Economic Forum informed us that we should add another generation to the 99.5 years it will take, at current pace of change, for the world to reach full gender parity (Figure 1).
The WEF annual Gender Gap Report measures gender parity across three areas: political empowerment; economic participation and opportunity; and educational attainment and health and survival. According to the survey of 156 countries globally, the gender gap is closing in the area of women and girls’ education – it will take just another 14.5 years for
educational equality in access and outcomes to be achieved. The gender gap in terms of health has been closed, although there are variations across race, geography and income levels. However, when it comes to political empowerment and economic participation and opportunity, at the current rate of progress, it will take another 145 years for
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