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Counting the ways women aren’t equal

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It's a snail's pace to gender equality. Picture: iStock
It's a snail's pace to gender equality. Picture: iStock

Another Women’s Month rolls to a close. Another August in which to itemise the, at best, snail’s pace towards gender equality globally.

In the US, black women’s equal pay day was this week – on August 22. Last year it was on August 7 and in 2017 it was on July 31. To earn what their white male counterparts earned last year, black women had to work eight months of this year.

Also released this week was an American survey of likely voters in the US next year. The survey, titled Gender Equality, the Status of Women and the 2020 Elections, found that two-thirds of those surveyed didn’t believe there was equality for women in work, life and politics. Worryingly, however, 54% of men surveyed thought there was.

When it comes to Donald Trump, the five top words that came to mind among respondents to describe him were: rapist, misogynist, disrespectful, good and predator. Imagine having a leader who is best described as dangerous to more than half of your population? The female half.

To further prove that mistreating women doesn’t exempt men from positions of leadership or public life, 63% of the respondents believed that Trump had “definitely” (44%) or “probably” (19%) sexually assaulted a woman in the past. Let that sink in.

On August 1, the “conservative leaders” of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia – who would be better described as feudal misogynists – amid much praise, announced that adult women would now be allowed to get passports and travel without a male relative.

On August 2, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump tweeted: “The announcement by Saudi Arabia of reforms that will dismantle the guardianship system and allow women to obtain passports, travel and work without securing the permission of a male relative, represents major progress for the Kingdom! More of this!”

While in Saudi Arabia one of the jokes doing the rounds was: “Congratulations, I can go to the passport office and get my passport without my guardian’s approval, now I just need my father to let me to go to the passport office.”

It is 2019, every democracy on the planet should be shouting for sanctions against a country that is so backward it thinks giving women the car keys and a passport is progress. Closer to home, this month the African Christian Democratic Party launched a protest about the sex education curriculum to be introduced in schools next year.

Teaching children about appropriate sexual contact educates them about all-important consent and what abuse is, which is the surest way to make girls and women safer from predators.

So, as we bid another Women’s Month farewell, let’s keep the pressure on those who want to trivialise the attacks on our human right to be equal.


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