Five Facts On Women's Equality by Suzanne Scheideker Cook
“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.” - Gloria Steinem
When I was growing up, a brand of cigarettes called Virginia Slims had an ad campaign that used “You have come a long way, baby!” as its slogan. (I can hear the howls now.) The ads showed a glamorous, slender, pants-wearing woman smoking a Virginia Slims cigarette. The underlying message was intended to cash in on the social movements of feminism and women’s liberation. It was a hugely successful ad campaign and illustrated the point that I was taught by a great mentor, words do not always tell the same story as the numbers.
Wayne, who was our Department’s Chief Financial Officer, was brilliant and had a gift for numbers that few could match. Wayne taught me to look at the narrative and then look at the supporting facts and figures to see if they lined up or not. If the words and the facts did not tell the same story, then there was a problem.
Since March is Women’s History Month, I thought it would be interesting to look at the facts related to women and see how they line up with the narrative that we’re making great strides towards equality for women. Here are five facts that show that we have a long journey ahead of us before we achieve equality:
In 2020, only 47% of women participated in the global labor market compared to 74% of men. This statistic has remained unchanged since 1995.
43% percent of women are in jobs that pay below poverty-level wages worldwide.
Nearly 15 million women in the United States earn too little to cover basic living expenses for their families despite working in full-time, year-round jobs.
The World Economic Forum predicts that global equality for women will not be achieved until 2133. That’s 115 years from now.
Women bear a majority of the responsibility for performing the unpaid work at home. This includes taking care of children and/or the elderly as well as doing housework. According to the World Bank, women spend 2 to 10 more hours a day than men on these activities.
We have come a long way but to make the rest of our journey we’re going to need several pairs of sturdy walking shoes. So, taking another step forward, your personal challenge is how do you split the chores and caretaking responsibilities in your household to make sure they are fair and equal?
