Facts on Gender Equality Today

Gender equality is one of the most delicate issues in our society today, and it is still gender is still a matter of discrimination, believe it or not. Women Equality Day can be celebrated on the 26 of August, as this was the date in 1971 when women gained their right to vote. How about women’s equality to man nowadays?

Making a living today is an important issue, and many women succeeded in having excellent careers. Sadly, not all of them are so fortunate. Statistics show that men have better salaries than women. In addition to that, Afro-American and South America women earn less a month and in their lifetime than a man.

Studies also show that the same women (Afro-American and South America women), plus elderly women and single moms are prone to poverty. Only four in ten adults living in the streets are men. However, the situation of homeless people is bad, regardless of their gender.

Women are still victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, which are both traumatizing experiences. The numbers on sexual assault victims in the United States are alarming (1 in 5 women is likely to have this experience). When is comes to abusive husbands and partners, women are prone to both physical and psychological damages. 85% of domestic violence victims are women. These sort of experiences increase women’s chances to suffer a stroke or heart diseases or even to become addictive to alcohol by 70-80%.

Women are also victims of online and real life harassment. One could think that the online environment is a safe one, where everyone can share thoughts and opinions, with no risks implied. Once again, testimonials show the sad reality. Women and girls are threatened because of their gender, and also because of the ethnic or racial group they belong to, forcing them to leave social media platforms. This is a form of restricting someone’s rights, liberties, and freedom of choice.

Studies also show that men tend to believe that what their wives are best at is taking care of children and doing the housework. Their mentality doesn’t seem to be compatible with the notion of gender equality, but perhaps they aren’t even aware of that.

On August 26 we celebrated  Women’ Equality Day, but the way in which our society functions doesn’t seem to acknowledge that. Nevertheless, women shouldn’t be perceived as weak: they are neither weak or strong, they are equal to men, and there is no reason why they shouldn’t be treated as such.

Image courtesy of: Wikipedia