Equal Gender Opportunities

Equal opportunities is a broad topic that affects all aspects of communities. Yet, specifically, gender equality cannot be considered as one aim among others, since it is the all-encompassing basic structure that enables building actual democratic societies, positively influencing all other inequalities and discriminations.

However, the global situation on the issue of gender equality is not always encouraging because many countries are still struggling to achieve satisfactory results. Although many studies and analyses continue to tell us that strengthening gender equality could both build really equal societies and double global economic growth, estimates from a World Bank study tell us that ‘women enjoy less than two-thirds of the legal rights granted to men, and only half of them are part of the global workforce’.

In the renewal of the EU parliament the goal of gender parity seems ever more unlikely to be reached. The question may arise of what good can come out of it for developing countries?

It should also be noted that the latest UN-WOMEN report, presented recently to the UN Assembly, shows that some indicators or sub-indicators of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (relating to gender equality) have not yet been achieved. At the current rate, gender parity in the European Parliament remains a distant dream, potentially unachievable until 2063. It will take another 137 long years to lift all women and girls out of poverty. And nearly one in five girls continues to be married before reaching adulthood. The gender gap in positions of power and leadership remains entrenched, and at the rate things are going, the new generation of women will still spend, on average, 2.3 hours more per day than men on unpaid domestic and care work. No country is on track to eradicate intimate partner violence, and the share of women in leadership positions in the workplace will remain below parity even by 2050. Significant progress has been made in girls’ education, but completion rates remain below the universal threshold.

While the issue of equal opportunity is a fundamental linchpin of sustainable development, it must also be recognized that the issue of consensus on gender equity is not seen in the same way in all UN member states, making it a distant goal.

Sustainability issues are of a social nature, their resolution cannot be delegated exclusively to the policy that governs and guides national choices but must actively include civil society actors at the program level, value the associative fabric and international organizations involved in human rights issues.

To carry out the role of associations involved in human rights issues, there must be transversality between the actors. The role of these associations is essentially to inform and mobilize their members, coordinate citizens’ response to the actions of local and regional governments and support the localization of the 2030 agenda. Greater sensitivity is required to take into account the themes of equal opportunities, especially in health, education, access to natural resources, etc. It is appropriate to ask the question of whether the approach chosen so far is effective. Are the instruments and actions that decide on this aid effective?

The donor countries have a vision and the countries of the South have expectations and often the question of equal opportunities is not taken into account in their priorities.

What is needed is an ad hoc strategy based on the social and national context. Donors often want to please the governments of the receiving countries. But as long as there is no consensus on gender equality, we will not go any further in obtaining the expected results. This is why it is important to work with associations as essential stakeholders that can work as a link between donor countries and local communities.