Gender Inequity: Why we all need to do something about it; urgently!

Context

The world has been celebrating international women's day since 1911. While some gains have been made, progress is largely slow. We need to act differently with sincerity and a sense of urgency, otherwise it would take over 100 years to achieve gender equity.

When we exclude women in economic activities, policy formulation, governance, leadership, access to education, job and career opportunities, we limit our possibilities.

Embracing gender equity is not a favour to women, it benefits everyone - socially and economically. From an economic perspective, when women earn income, it means better child nutrition, health and education. I do not think that women are really asking for any special treatment, they are rather asking for equal opportunity to be considered based on their competence and capacity.

Despite having a few women in top positions especially in the private sector, the reality is still that many of them had to work harder than their male contemporaries to earn those positions and accolades.

Some hard facts

1. According to the UN and the World Economic Forum, women are 47% more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men, just as women are likely to experience more medical side effects because drugs are designed for male bodies. Globally women own less than 20% of land while 33,000 girls become child brides every day thereby making it harder for them to achieve their full God-given potentials.
2. Only 6 countries give women equal legal work rights as men (Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden). In Nigeria, we have discriminatory legal provisions such as that of the Nigeria Police where an unmarried policewoman is punished for getting pregnant, but it doesn’t matter if an unmarried policeman impregnates a woman.
3. Statistically, a woman is less likely to default on a loan, yet female entrepreneurs get less funding for business than their male contemporaries.

?Call to action

Here are some practical steps we can start taking right now to break the bias:

1. Reimagine gender equity to break the bias – we need to change our mindset, we must challenge status quo, stereotypes, and questionable cultural practices and seek education to address unconscious biases. There was a time we killed twins after birth on the belief that they were evil, that was not our culture, it was a barbaric act built on pure ignorance – and thank God we stopped. We need to see gender discrimination in the same light, it belongs to the stone age – we cannot afford to be stuck in the past. If you find yourself looking for a woman to take the minute at a meeting; or you believe certain colours like pink or purple are only for women; or some careers like engineering are the exclusive preserve of men; or a male child is more entitled to an inheritance than a female child; or that some household chores like cooking or washing should only be done by girls or women etc, then you need to work on your unconscious gender bias regardless of whether you are a man or a woman.

There was a time we killed twins after birth on the belief that they were evil, that was not our culture, it was a barbaric act built on pure ignorance – and thank God we stopped. We need to see gender discrimination in the same light, it belongs to the stone age – we cannot afford to be stuck in the past.

1. Measure the gap, define outcome and track progress – Whatever is not counted doesn't count. We need to develop a scorecard of gender equity gaps in key aspects such as legal impediments, access to education, economic empowerment, political representation, workplace and career advancement, and roles and rights within the family. The end goal is to attain a level when we will no longer need to celebrate successful women as the exceptions but the norm, just as it is today for men.
2. Play your part and help others do the same – We all have a role to play, men and women, individually and collectively. We must make personal commitments towards inclusion and gender equity. Whoever cannot lend a helping hand should please not be a stumbling block. We must remove the impediments against women. Qualification criteria for opportunities must be gender neutral focusing only on capability. The truth is that we are equal, just differently capable.