2023-06-12 11:17:05
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) updated, Monday, June 12, its index of social gender norms including the new data reveal that prejudice against women has not diminished in the world over the past decade. “A decade of stagnation”titre United Nations press release.
To update its index, UNDP used data from the World Values Survey – international project on the evolution of values and beliefs in the world – in eighty countries covering 85% of the world’s population. The index integrates political, economic, educational and physical integrity dimensions. In both men and women, “Social norms based on gender prejudices are widespread in the world: nearly 90% of the population has at least one prejudice” of the seven reviewed by UNDP.
Gender bias is “rooted” in companies, “despite major global and local campaigns for women’s rights” like #metoo, laments the UN. These “biases are widespread among both men and women, suggesting that they are deeply embedded and influence men and women to similar degrees”, continues the report. They are pronounced in both low and high Human Development Index (HDI) countries. These prejudices “persistent across regions, incomes, levels of development and cultures, making it a global problem”notes the press release.
The report argues that these prejudices constitute real obstacles for women, and lead to violations of their rights. The data from the survey reflect this violation of women’s rights by highlighting a chilling figure: 25% of respondents find it justifiable for a man to beat his wife.
The equality of essential rights in democracy for 27% of respondents
Do men make better political or business leaders than women? Is going to university more important for a man than for a woman? Should men be given priority in the job market when offers are scarce? In 2023, nearly half of respondents (49%) believe that men make better political leaders than women.
Only 27% believe it is essential for democracy that women have the same rights as men. “Without tackling these social gender norms, we will not achieve gender equality or the Sustainable Development Goals”warns the report.
The UN agency also notes that nearly half of those questioned (46%) believe that men have more right to a job and almost as many (43%) that men make better business leaders. In addition, 28% believe that university is more important for men.
This stagnation of prejudices occurs in a context of decline in human development in general, linked in particular to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Social norms that limit women’s rights are also detrimental to society as a whole, holding back progress in human development”commented in a press release Pedro Conceição, director of the UNDP Human Development Report Office. “Everyone will win if women’s freedom and power are guaranteed”he insisted.
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