What ways is gender inequality still present in the world today?
Female Genital Mutilation
Most girls are genitally mutilated before the age of 5.
At least 200 million women and girls alive today have had female genital mutilation.
This practice has no health benefits for women and usually preformed without proper anesthesia. Genital mutilation can cause severe bleeding, frequent UTIs and infections, complications in childbirth, and increased risk of newborn deaths.
Human Trafficking
Education & Work
Child Marriage
Girls living in countries affected by conflict are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys.
Less than 40% of countries offer boys and girls equal access to education and only 39% of countries have equal proportions of the sexes enrolled in secondary education.
Child marriage is a form of gender based violence and a result of gender inequality and discrimination.
"Save the Children analysis revealed a further 2.5 million girls at risk of marriage by 2025 because of the pandemic—the greatest surge in child marriage rates in nearly three decades."
Globally, almost 750 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday.
Young girls, not old enough to have a baby, are forced into marriages with older men resulting in young teen pregnancies and other sexual abuse.
Child marriages are most prevalent in many African and Middle Eastern countries, as well as India.
300,000 children married in the U.S. from 2000-2018
Child Labor
Gender Based Violence
Gender based violence occurs all over the world and affects both sexes.
Both men and women can be victims of human trafficking. However, women and girls make up 71% of registered victims of trafficking according to the UNOCD's 2016 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.
While both boys and girls are negatively affected, girls are more at risk. An estimated 1 in 3 women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
Types of gender based violence include: prenatal sex selection, female infanticide, neglect, female genital mutilation, rape, child marriage, forced prostitution, honor killing and dowry killing.
Most of these gross violations of human rights have been used as weapons of war across the world. Refugee children have been the most vulnerable to this situation.
Traffickers primarily target women because they are more likely to be affected by poverty and discrimination.
Women and children are trafficked across borders for different purposes: sexual exploitation, forced labor, forced marriages, forced criminality, etc.
As of 2023, statistics show 71% of human trafficking victims are women and girls and 29% are men and boys.
1 out of 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime. 90% of rape victims are female and 10% are male.
Women tend to be underpaid in the same positions as men.
Limited opportunities and gender stereotyping still persists in the work field today.
According to UNICEF, boys are more likely to be involved in child labor than girls.
In 2020, 11.2% of boys were involved in child labor and 7.8% of girls were involved in child labor.
Child labor has gender bias and drives gender inequality due to gender roles/stereotypes. Boys are more likely to do paid work like construction which can be more dangerous. Girls are more likely to do unpaid work like domestic tasks.
This video explains the negative effects of genital mutilation: