Gender inequality has been a persistent problem through human history, and remains one of the most widely discussed issues all around the world today. Despite progress that has been made in societies over the past decades, many challenges still persist.
According to the Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum published prior to COVID-19, it may take 108 years on average to bridge the overall gender gap globally — but with different timelines for different regions of the world.
But even with this staggering number, the future seems largely bright, at least according to 86% of future policy-makers polled in the Gender Futures report.
Gender Futures: A Background
Written by Bridging GAP (Gender and Policy), a student-led initiative that focuses on gender and policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Gender Futures is a report that aims to understand how current policy students (as soon-to-be policy makers) envision gender policies in the future.
Supervised by Assistant Professor Sonia Akter, this report is based on a survey conducted from seven Global Public Policy Network schools, including those from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, the School of Public Policy at London School of Economics and Political Science, and the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo, among others.
The fight for gender equality is multi-faceted and weighs heavily on the intersection of various issues. Beyond the scope of human rights and legalities, there are serious implications for the economy too. According to McKinsey Global Institute, advancing women’s equality can add US$12 trillion to global growth by 2025. Surely enough, for an overwhelming majority of the respondents, social and economic reasons formed the basis for their support of gender equality.
The contrast between short-term and long-term perception
So, how is the state of gender equality perceived if we peek ahead into the near future?
In 2030, which is less than a decade away, 79% of respondents believe that gender policies would look positive, in contrast to the 19% who believe that the situation might worsen.
It's interesting to note how some of these participants believe that women's welfare would deteriorate rather than improve or even remain status quo. But for those who retain a bleak outlook, their sentiments are largely inspired by the current economic and political situations of countries across the world.
"The patterns of gender inequality, such as the gender pay gap, high share of unpaid work burden, gender-based violence, are very similar in both developed and developing countries. Without a doubt, COVID-19 has wiped out a large amount progress made so far, with the rising economic inequality and the growing tide of capitalism as other driving forces that can widen the gender gaps further," says Professor Akter.
Even with all these concerns, it does seem like current political narratives and the immediate international instability would play a much smaller role in shaping the long-term perception of gender equality.
Looking further ahead to 2050, 87% believe that the state of gender equality would look positive, a further rise from the 79% in 2030. The perception of the respondents shifted towards more social inclusion in the long term, supported by policies that are more economically, politically and legally inclusive. This time, only 2% of participants believed that the gender equality landscape would deteriorate, with the remaining 11% retaining an ambiguous stance.
How will policy change in the next 10 years?
A deteriorating state of safety, security and social policies
However, even with largely positive sentiments, respondents lack faith in the advancement of certain policy areas. The top two policy areas that were expected to have the most deterioration in the next ten years are in the realms of "Safety and Security" and "Social policies", where nations around the world are expected to curb on gender rights and safety.
This disparity can largely be attributed to the fact that conflicts are rising around the world, creating conditions that might jeopardise any developments in these two areas.
"Women's safety and security are compromised the most under conflict situations. Firstly, it increases the risk of war crimes against women by military personnel or combatants. When families are displaced and living in refugee camps or seeking asylum in a different country, women and children are at high risk of gender-based violence and trafficking. Additionally, climate change and increased intensity of natural disasters are also increasing temporary or long-term displacement risk of these already vulnerable populations," says Professor Akter.
With all these factors, it becomes inevitable that women's and children's safety and security will be compromised as the number of displaced populations grows steadily. Of course, the spillover effects of COVID-19 should not be discounted either — the pandemic alone has resulted in a spike in domestic violence worldwide. With no immediate end in sight to this global health crisis, it is likely that this trend will continue as well.
Economic policies, legal rights and labour policies to have the most improvements
Interestingly, the respondents seem to believe that economic policies, legal rights and labour policies will be the ones bolstered up in the near future. What does it mean to know that the personal and very human consequences of gender inequality are likely to be neglected, in favour of market-driven benefits?
"Market forces rarely account for the positive externalities generated by gender equality. As economies become more market driven, the positive external benefit of investing in women's welfare will be ignored," explains Prof Akter. "These externalities can be internalised only through public investments in women's education, skills, childcare, increased political participation, elimination of other forms of gender inequality in the labour market, in unpaid care work, and much more."
Empowered or powerless?
It's a long road towards gender equality and there is still much to be done. How should the future of gender policies look like, and what are the key areas that these future policy-makers looking to prioritise?
According to the study, 75.9% want gender policies to focus on existing inequality or opportunities that lie ahead, many of which are already underway in numerous nations around the world. Some broad themes that emerge include expected breakthroughs in social inclusion, legal protection, gender roles and LGBTQ rights.
With a strong belief that community movements, national and sub-national governments are the key players in shaping gender policies in the coming years, an overwhelming majority (almost 80%) believe that the future will indeed be better and that they have the ability to shape it.
Pushing soon-to-be policy-makers to think about the future landscape of gender policies is an important step in reforming policies for the better. Gender equality has been a global goal for years now, but slow progress has been made thus far. With the optimistic outlook as presented by the results of this study, perhaps the gender gap could be bridged with much more effect under the leadership of these future leaders.
(Photo: Magda Ehlers)