Advancing Gender Equality Globally

As part of the Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $2.1 billion over the next five years to advance women’s economic empowerment, strengthen women and girls’ health and family planning, and accelerate women’s leadership, Chiemelie Ezeobi reports

Globally, women have been subject to significantly fewer opportunities in education, employment, and political representation. But despite the marginalisation, they have continued to make incredible progress in different facets of life.

Most times, women have been told that womanhood equates weakness and incompetence, thus they do not deserve a seat at the table in any area of life. These days, those stereotypes have been trampled upon as women have continuously broken the glass ceiling. They have shown truth, resilience and determination in challenging the status quo.

However, much still needs to be done to further unlock this transformative potential. This is because giving women and girls the opportunity to succeed is not only the right thing to do – it can also transform societies and economies. This has been backed by research that if there is gender equality, societies would develop further.

Essentially, reducing inequality strengthens economies and builds stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men – the opportunity to fulfil their potentials.

Causes of Gender Inequality

The causes of gender inequality have been identified by humanrightscareer.com, as uneven access to education as around the world, women still have less access to education than men; lack
of employment equality as only six countries in the world give women the same legal work rights as men; job segregation as one of the causes for gender inequality within employment is the division of jobs; lack of legal protections as
according to research from the World Bank, over one billion women don’t have legal protection against domestic sexual violence or domestic economic violence or harassment in the workplace, at school, and in public.

Another cause is lack of bodily autonomy where

many women around the world do not have authority over their own bodies or when they become parents as accessing birth control is frequently very difficult; poor medical care which states that in addition to limited access to contraception, women overall receive lower-quality medical care than men; lack of religious freedom because when religious freedom is attacked, women suffer the most; and lack of political representation given that of all national parliaments, despite progress in this area over the years, women are still grossly underrepresented in government and the political process.

It also includes racism given that it would be impossible to talk about gender inequality without talking about racism as it affects what jobs women of color are able to get and how much they’re paid, as well as how they are viewed by legal and healthcare systems; and societal mindsets as beliefs about gender run deep and even though progress can be made through laws and structural changes.

Generation Equality Forum

It was to bridge these gaps that the Generation Equality Forum was born. Typically, what the Generation Equality Forum will do is to advance women’s economic empowerment, strengthen health and family planning, and accelerate women in leadership as women suffer disproportionately from the pandemic

Thus, on June 30, 2021, as part of the Generation Equality Forum convened by UN Women and co-hosted by the governments of Mexico and France, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a commitment of $2.1 billion over the next five years to advance women’s economic empowerment, strengthen women and girls’ health and family planning, and accelerate women’s leadership.

The forum took place in Paris from June 30 to July 2, 2021, thus bringing together governments, the private sector, and civil society partners to commit to specific actions and announce financial, political, and programmatic commitments that will accelerate gender equality and advance women’s rights.

According to the foundation, not since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, when 47,000 participants and activists traveled to Beijing, has the world come together to take ambitious action that will have a transformational impact for women and girls.

“The world has been fighting for gender equality for decades, but progress has been slow. Now is the chance to reignite a movement and deliver real change. The beauty of our fight for gender equality is that every human being will gain from it. We must seize this moment to build a better, more equal future,” said Melinda French Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation.

The foundation noted that the forum took place at a critical inflection point, adding that “while we have seen progress over the past quarter century, nowhere on Earth are women on equal footing with men. Waves of opposition to women’s rights have emerged, and structural barriers to gender equality and women’s health still exist”.

Commitment

Essentially, the foundation’s $2.1 billion commitment over the next five years will advance activity in three areas: economic empowerment, health and family planning, and accelerating women in leadership. The funding includes economic empowerment to the tune of $650 million over five years, which will witness an expansion of the foundation’s existing work on women’s economic empowerment, this funding will support women’s empowerment collectives, strengthen the care economy, improve women’s financial inclusion, and reduce barriers to paid work.

Secondly, the funding covers Family Planning and Health to the tune of $1.4 billion over five years, which reaffirms and expands the foundation’s commitment to family planning and women’s health, with a focus on increasing options and access to contraceptives and support for a network of family planning partners, including UNFPA Supplies Partnership, Family Planning 2030, the Global Financing Facility, and the new Shaping Equitable Market Access for Reproductive Health initiative.

Thirdly, the funding will accelerate Women in Leadership to the tune of $100 million over five years / $230 million over 10 years. According to the foundation, this is an all-new funding commitment to accelerate women’s inclusion in leadership roles, primarily in health, law, and economics. It includes a contribution to a new fund by Co-Impact that aims to dismantle systemic barriers to gender equality and women and girls’ leadership around the world.

Prioritising Gender Equality

“Gender equality must be at the center of the world’s efforts to make progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. “Prioritising gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to fighting poverty and preventable disease. The Generation Equality Forum is an opportunity to hold leaders accountable so that we can ensure that all people, everywhere, have the opportunity to live healthy, productive lives”.

Concerns over Pandemic-driven Inequality

Although gender inequality has been an issue over the decades, it got worse at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown.

Corroborating, Gates Foundation released new data that show pandemic-driven inequality is growing at an alarming pace, driven by disruptions to women’s health services, job losses in sectors where women are overrepresented, and a sharp increase in caregiving needs and other unpaid work. “Ripple effects of the pandemic have conspired to rob women and girls of opportunity,” said French Gates.

Quoting the International Labour Organisation, they posited that “unemployment for women rose by 9 million in 2020 compared to 2019 and is projected to increase another 2 million in 2021. This pattern is not true for men, who are projected to see unemployment decrease in 2021.
Total global female employment in 2021 is expected to remain 13 million below its 2019 level. By contrast, total male employment is expected to return to close to its 2019 level, exacerbating existing inequalities in the workforce.”

Also quoting new data by Eurasia Group, they highlighted that gender-equal policies can fuel the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic by providing access to childcare for women around the world who currently lack it could deliver up to $3 trillion of additional GDP each year by enabling them to participate in the labor force; instituting cash transfer programs globally could lift up to 100 million women out of absolute poverty, which is defined as living on less than $2 per day.

“Women and girls already faced unique barriers to their full participation in social and economic life, and the latest data show that the pandemic has only sharpened gender disparities,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation. “Each data point represents a woman fighting for a better future, and this funding reflects our longstanding commitment to support all women in their fight for a fairer and more equal world.”

The Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.

Also, the foundation has been committed to family planning and women’s health since it began more than 20 years ago. For almost a decade, it has been supporting partners around the world to break down structural barriers that women and girls face and to advance women’s economic empowerment. Gender equality is core to the foundation’s work, and the Gender Equality division is focused on accelerating progress toward a more gender-equal world.