10 Reasons Why Women Have Broken Through the Glass Ceiling

Broken through the glass ceiling, really? No, they haven't, and Happy April Fools Day to you for thinking it was true. Keep reading... I'm writing this post in support of Project Femimen by Daniel Sheehan, who is increasing gender equality awareness through #Femimen.

The most encouraging information I found about gender equality was bittersweet. I happened upon an update from the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, where 17,000 participants and 30,000 activists attended the Fourth World Conference on Women in September 1995. The two week event birthed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, "the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing women’s rights." On the 20th anniversary of penning this commitment, a progress report was released. The results are encouraging but more so discouraging and humbling. We still have a long way to go. Here is a snapshot:

1. Maternal Deaths: Worldwide there are 45% fewer deaths in 2015 compared to 1990... but 800 women still die everyday from preventable, pregnancy related causes. (99% of these deaths occur in developing nations.) The world has yet to reach a safety ceiling for pregnant women.
2. Water: Two billion people gained access to drinking water from 1990 to 2010... but women still spend 16 million hours per day collecting drinking water in 25 sub-Saharan countries.

1. Said another way, that's 1,826 years per day collecting water. Add in children and the number is even more staggering. I tried to find equivalent water-carrying statistics for men without success. Why, because women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection. Ironically, involving women in water projects increase the effectiveness of these projects 6 - 7 times. It's challenging to articulate the barrier to breakthrough here.
2. Politics: The percentage of women in politics has nearly doubled in the past 20 years... but this only translates into 22% of women in parliament today. Hmmm, what would the world look like if all governments learned to clean-up their messes just like we're taught to clean-up after play as young children?
3. Wages: 50% of the world's working age women (over 15) are in the labour force today compared to over 75% of the working age men... yet globally women earn 24% less than men.
4. Senior Management: 25 women CEOs lead Fortune 500 companies today compared to only 1 in 1998... but this still only represents 5% of all CEOs on the list.
5. Education: good progress in that almost all nations have reached gender parity in primary school education but this then drops off at the secondary level... where the gender disparity actually widens.
6. Literacy: The adult literacy rate has risen to 85% from 76% in 1990... but women account for over 60% of the world's illiterate.
7. Conflict: In 2000, the pioneering UN Security Council Resolution 1325 recognised that war impacts women differently and stressed the need to increase women's participation in peace talks... but from 1992 to 2011 only 9% of negotiators at peace tables were women.
8. Violence Against Women: In 1993, the UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women provided a framework for action on the pandemic... but more than 20 years later, 1 in 3 women still experience physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner.

9. Media: Women's presence as news subjects in print, radio and television has only increased to 24% in 2010 from 17% in 1995... and 46% of stories reinforce gender stereotypes, while only 6% challenge gender stereotypes.

10. School Violence: While some progress has been made in the world of gender equality, we are still a long way away from significant progress. Some of these women are in the Philippines, and you can help give them hope through charities such as ICM. In the five minutes that passed while you read this post, a women died during childbirth, collectively women spent 1.26 years carrying water, and at least 936 girls were subjected to School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV) globally. Honestly if we don't do something, we ARE fools.

To learn more about these issues, visit the United Nations Beijing Platform for Action site. If you enjoyed this post, please click the thumbs up icon (above or below) to let me know, or better yet please leave a comment. Thank you! #metoo, #SRGBV, #glassceiling, #feminism