Breaking socio-economic barriers for women’s empowerment

Nowadays, gender equity is understood to be a crucial issue for societies and cultures
worldwide which are mostly prescribed as “underdeveloped societies”. In these
discriminatory contexts , due to the strong impact of patriarchy, women’s condition is
characterized by a lack of socio-political representation and the denial of fundamental
rights leading to varying forms of violence such as Gender Based Violence/Sexual and
Gender Based Violence (GBV/SGBV), which have been defined by the international
community as drastic and severe crimes against humanity.
The United Nations and its agencies have frequently raised alarm bells upon member
States with the aim of making them conscious of the unbearable discriminatory
conditions of women and girls in many contexts , by stressing that:” Gender equality is a
fundamental human rights to achieve peaceful societies, with full human potential and
sustainable development”. We are aware that Gender Equality was made part of
international human rights law by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which
was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948. However, this
principle has not been upheld in letter and spirit.

Which countries have the highest rate of discrimination against women?

There has always appeared an acute difference in the treatment of women between the
West and the East side of the world. While many Nations have shown a considerable
openness to gender equality over the years, there exist certain cultural norms that
restrict women from enjoying complete expression of their fundamental rights ( that
include political, social and economic ones). On the podium of underrepresentation
some nations are worth recalling, namely Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq, followed by
Pakistan, Syria and other Sub-Saharan countries. According to the latest research
conducted by the Global Gender Gap Report 2021, three key factors must be taken into
consideration to clearly understand how gender equity is still a dogmatic topic in many
countries: Inclusion, security and justice.
The consequences of gender inequality are clearly dramatic, bringing a negative impact
on women’s well-being from both social and economic points of view. Women suffer
from isolation and acute stigmatization from their community only for the sake of their
gender; this factor leads to a high rate of illiteracy among girls and women along with
the high prevalence of school dropout along with tragic future rejection from any job
position due to the lack of necessary skills and culture. It is necessary to remind that
Women’ rights need to be based on prescriptions by the CEDAW convention ( article 10)
which mandates provision of efficient education on part the respective state without any
form of discrimination .
However, these requirements, (particularly in the Middle-East and Sub-Saharan Africa),
the educational and financial gap between men and women is substantial.
To know more: https://peaceforasia.org/breaking-socio-economic-
barriers-for-womens-empowerment/