Gender inequality cited as barrier in achieving work flexibility in PHL

Some 53% of women responding to a study said gender inequality is hindering their ability to access flexible work, according to the Avon Global Progress for Women report.

The beauty products company said some 18.6% of respondents also said they were hindered in starting businesses by gender inequality.

In a statement, Avon said respondents cited childcare responsibilities as among the factors obstructing their career and entrepreneurship goals.

“This research shows that we’re still a long way off gender equality. …we need to do more to create opportunities for women to contribute to the economy, participate in work, and realize their potential,” Avon Chief Executive Officer Kristof Neirynck said in a statement.

Global research company Censuswide surveyed 7,000 women from the UK, Italy, Romania, Poland, the Philippines, Turkey, and South Africa. The survey was conducted in December.

Globally, respondents who cited gender stereotypes as a barrier to equal opportunity totaled 89% in the latest sudy, up from 86% a year earlier. Those who perceive representation in business to favor men also increased 5 percentage points to 61% between studies.

Respondents citing gender pay gaps totaled 52% in the latest study, against 46% previously.

Avon, referring to a United Nations study, said women earn a third of the global income generated by labor and estimated that for each dollar earned by men, women earned 51 cents.

According to the Global Gender Report 2022 of the World Economic Forum, the Philippines was 19th out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index.

In the Avon report, women who cited difficulties in rising to senior positions accounted for 57% of all respondents.

WORKPLACE AS A REFUGE

Despite harassment and micro-aggressions in the workplace, some women described work as a place of refuge.

In the Philippines, 44% out the 1,000 respondents said they have seen a colleague who appeared to have suffered signs of domestic abuse, including physical injuries.

About 48.79% were confided in by a colleague about being abused by a partner at home.

The Philippine National Police recorded 13,122 cases of violence against women in 2023, 59% of which turned out to be in breach of the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act.

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Source: Business World

It could take 131 years for the world to close the gender gap

Progress on achieving global gender equality is languishing.

A new report from the World Economic Forum estimates that women won’t attain parity with men for another 131 years. In other words, not until 2154.

The overall gender gap — a measurement of equality across the realms of the economy, politics, health and education — closed by a mere 0.3% as compared to last year, according to the WEF’s “Global Gender Gap Report 2023,”.

The “tepid progress” in closing those gaps and indications of parity slipping in areas such as the economy create an “urgent case for renewed and concerted action,” Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the WEF, wrote in the report.

“Recent years have been marked by major setbacks for gender parity globally, with previous progress disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on women and girls in education and the workforce, followed by economic and geopolitical crises,” Zahidi wrote. “Today, some parts of the world are seeing partial recoveries while others are experiencing deteriorations as new crises unfold.”

The WEF’s Gender Gap Index measures gender parity in 146 countries and across four areas: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. Overall parity has improved by 4.1 percentage points since the WEF launched the index in 2006.

While the report shows progress in the areas of educational attainment and upticks in the health and survival and political empowerment categories, the economic participation gap showed some regression, sounding alarm bells of a “post-pandemic crisis,” according to the report.

“The recovery from the shock and ensuing polycrisis has been slow and, so far, incomplete, and the current context, coupled with technological and climate change, risks causing further regression in women’s economic empowerment,” according to the report. “Not only are millions of women and girls losing out on economic access and opportunity, but these reversals also have wide-ranging consequences for the global economy.”

The WEF estimates that it will take 169 years to achieve global economic parity and 162 years for political parity.

Only nine countries have closed at least 80% of their gap: Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania. For the 14th year, Iceland is the most gender-equal country by having closed 91.2% of its gap, according to the WEF.

The United States is 43rd, with a parity score of 74.8%. The United States dropped in the overall rankings from last year (when it was 27th with 76.9% parity) as a result of a sharp decline in the political empowerment index, which measures the gap between men and women in the highest levels of political decision-making.

“Accelerating progress towards gender parity will not only improve outcomes for women and girls but benefit economies and societies more widely, reviving growth, boosting innovation and increasing resilience,” Zahidi wrote.

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Source: CNN

PH sees progress in 2023 global gender gap index report

The Philippines has become better at addressing gender equality, ranking 16th place among 146 countries, according to the 2023 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Index report.

The Philippines, which ranked 19th in 2022, garnered a parity score of 0.791.

The parity score is the level of progress toward gender equality. A parity score of 1 indicates full parity.

To determine a country’s score, the report looked into four factors: economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.

The Philippines scored the highest in education attainment, garnering 0.999. However, it scored the lowest in political empowerment with 0.409 points.

“Gender gaps in political leadership continue to persist," the Global Gender Gap Index report read.

"Although there has been an increase in the number of women holding political decision-making posts worldwide, achieving gender parity remains a distant goal and regional disparities are significant,” it also said.

The Philippines is also among the top three countries to exhibit gender equality in the East Asia and Pacific Region, along with Australia and New Zealand.

Iceland, Norway and Finland, respectively, were named as the most gender-equal countries worldwide.

The report also showed that the world may attain gender equality after 131 years.

“Recent years have been marked by major setbacks for gender parity globally, with previous progress disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on women and girls in education and the workforce, followed by economic and geopolitical crises,” Saadia Zahid, managing director at the WEF, stated in the report.

Global Gender Gap Report 2023

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Source: CNN PH and WEF