GS Paper 1
Syllabus: Role of Women
Source: UNDP
Context: The UNDP’s Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) 2023 has revealed no improvement in biases against women in a decade, with almost 9 out of 10 men and women worldwide still holding such biases.
What is the GSNI?
- First introduced in the 2019 Human Development Report, GSNI provides an in-depth account of the root causes of gender inequality that hinder progress for women and girls.
- It covers 4 key dimensions – political, educational, economic and physical integrity – to highlight areas where women and girls face systematic disadvantages and discrimination.
Highlights of the GSNI 2023:
- Half of people worldwide still believe men make better political leaders than women.
- Over 40% believe men make better business executives than women.
- A staggering 25% of people believe it is justified for a man to beat his wife.
- The share of women as heads of state or heads of government has remained around 10% since 1995.
- In the labour market, women occupy less than a third of managerial positions.
- A broken link between women’s progress in education and economic empowerment.
- For example, women are more skilled and educated than ever before, yet the average gender income gap remains a staggering 39% in favour of men.
Impact of these biases:
- Drive hurdles faced by women manifested in a dismantling of women’s rights, and a surge of human rights violations.
- As a result, movements against gender equality are gaining traction in many parts of the world.
- Severe underrepresentation of women in leadership.
Way ahead:
- Governments have a crucial role in shifting gender social norms. For instance,
- Parental leave policies have changed perceptions around care work responsibilities, and
- Labour market reforms led to a change in beliefs around the employment of women.
- Directly addressing social norms through education to change people’s views and more representation of women in decision-making and political processes.
- An important place to start is recognising the economic value of unpaid care work, as women spend over six times as much time as men on unpaid care work.
- The focus needs to be on expanding human development through –
- Investment in laws and policy measures that promote women’s equality in political participation.
- Insurance such as strengthening social protection and care systems.
- Innovation, for example, combating online hate speech and gender disinformation can help to shift pervasive gender norms towards greater acceptance and equality.
Conclusion:
Gender bias is a pervasive problem worldwide. Therefore, without tackling biased gender social norms, gender equality as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can’t be achieved.
Insta Links:
Mains Links:
What are the continued challenges for women in India against time and space? (UPSC 2019)
