Dr. Parveen Kumar
We cannot imagine a world without women. The fairer sex has been the indispensible part of our societies since the existence of life. All across the globe they have been contributing to every sector of economy. Besides having a pivotal and binding role in families, they have been paying a proactive and instrumental role in farming, livestock, health, education, manufacturing, service and all other vital sectors of the economy. Unfortunately in all these developments, they remain largely invisible and unrecognized. The male dominated society has not yet allowed them to come out of four walls of their homes. They still aspire for a proper place in the social hierarchy. Decision making still eludes them and they are the worst victims of various social stigmas, prejudices, stereotypes, domestic violence and various other gender related issues.
GENDER INEQUALITY: Gender inequality still persists in our societies. It is the discrimination on the basis of sex or gender causing one sex or gender to be routinely privileged or prioritized over another. Worldwide, women have less access than men to resources such as land, credit, agricultural inputs, decision-making, technology, training and extension services that would enhance their capacity to adapt to climate change. Gender equality is a fundamental human right and that right is violated by gender-based discrimination. The gender inequality mainly results from uneven access to education, lack of employment equality, Job segregation, inadequate legal protections, poor access to health care, lack of religious freedom, inadequate political representation and many other related causes. Due to the prevailing gendered differences in terms of inequality and inaccessibility the female folk face in the society; women, girls, and gender minorities face specific, life-threatening impacts after climate-related disasters. Their risk of gender-based violence escalates; for example, girls are sometimes forced into child marriage when families rely on this practice as a survival strategy during droughts. Across the world, women remain concentrated in the lowest paid jobs, many in extremely vulnerable forms of employment. Women are still underrepresented in public life and decision-making and gender equality is still a distant dream despite many tall claims being made for the same. This gender inequality has also been revealed in a report of the United Nations Secretary General. The report reveals that women are Heads of State or Government in 22 countries, and only 24.9 per cent of national parliamentarians are women. The report further reveals that at the current rate of progress, gender equality among Heads of Government will take another 130 years. Regarding gender gap, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), it won't close until 2186. Women, especially young women are at the forefront of diverse and inclusive movements online and on the streets for social justice, climate change and equality in all parts of the world. Yet, women under 30 are less than one per cent of parliamentarians worldwide.
To highlight various issues being faced by the women, recognize the contribution of women and to further strengthen their roles in the development process, March 08, every year is celebrated as the ‘International Women Day (IWD) all across the globe. On IWD, women across the world come together to force the world to recognize these inequalities while also celebrating the achievements of women who have overcome these barriers. The ‘International Women Day' originated back in 1908 when some 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours. A year later, the first National Woman's Day was observed in the United States on February 28, in accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. In 1910, a woman called Clara Zetkin leader of the ‘women's office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany came out with the idea of an International Women's Day. She suggested that every country should celebrate women on one day every year to push for their demands. A conference of more than 100 women from 17 countries agreed to her suggestion and International Women Day was formed. In 1911, it was celebrated for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19. In 1913, it was decided to celebrate International Women Day on March 8 and since then it has been celebrated on this day. The United Nations recognized this day in 1975 and since it has created a theme each year for the celebration of the day. In 2011, former US President Barack Obama proclaimed March to be ‘Women's History Month'.
THEME OF IWD 2024: A theme on which every year this important global days activities revolve is the hall ark of the important event. In the year 2023, the celebration of international women day focused around the theme, ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality'. This year the theme is, ‘Investing in Women, Accelerating Progress'
INVESTING IN WOMEN: This year's theme of the day is a very relevant document that highlights the international priorities in addressing various women related issues. Gender inequality is a human right issue. Nations need to invest in women to have societies based on equity and equality. Poverty is another obstacle. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts, 75 million more people have fallen into severe poverty since 2020. Women and girls have been the victims of this pandemic. Immediate action is crucial to prevent over 342 million women and girls living in poverty by 2030. Though the climate change affects all; but not equally. The impact of the rising temperature varies among regions, sex, age and socio-economic status. Climate change is not gender neutral means it affects different sexes differently. In this context, the finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) also needs to be highlighted. Both women and men working in natural resource sectors such as agriculture are likely to be affected. However, the impact of climate change on gender is not the same. Women are increasingly being seen as more vulnerable than men to the impacts of climate change, mainly because they represent the majority of the world's poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources.
As per the United Nations, around 80% of the people most affected by climate change are women. Studies in recent decades have proved this fact. Evidence linking gender inequality and climate change have been established. Let me take the case of Bangladesh. In the aftermath of Cyclone Gorky, women accounted for 91 percent of deaths in Bangladesh. During the heat waves that erupted across Europe in 2003, 75 percent of those who died were women. Similarly conflicts and rising prices may lead 75% of countries to cut public spending by 2025, negatively impacting women and their essential services. This also needs to be addressed and countries have to ensure sufficient and enough investments in women related projects. The current economic system disproportionately affects women. Advocates propose a shift to a green economy and care society to amplify women's voices. Studies also reveal that despite leading efforts, feminist organizations receive only 0.13% of official development assistance. The need today is also for gender Responsive Budgeting. Gender-responsive budgeting is a strategy that creates budgets that work for everyone. By considering and analyzing the unique and diverse needs of every person, gender-responsive budgets strive for a fair distribution of resources.
Women's vulnerability to gender inequality stems from a number of factors viz. social, economic, political and cultural. Seventy per cent of the 1.3 billion people living in conditions of poverty are women. In urban areas, 40 per cent of the poorest households are headed by women. Women predominate in the world's food production (50-80 per cent), but they own less than 10 per cent of the land (Balgis Osman-Elasha). Women represent a high percentage of poor communities that are highly dependent on local natural resources for their livelihood, particularly in rural areas where they shoulder the major responsibility for household water supply and energy for cooking and heating, as well as for food security.
INSPIRIG INCLUSION: We are facing a key challenge: the alarming $360 billion annual deficit in gender-equality measures by 2030. The theme for UN Women's Day 2024 reminds us that without ambitious investments to scale-up women specific programmes, implement effective policies, and provide support services to address violence against women and girls, progress cannot be accelerated and inclusion cannot be achieved. At the same time, we need to inspire inclusion. By inspiring others to understand and value women's inclusion, we can forge a better world. Inclusion also means to openly embrace their diversity of colour, caste, creed, ability, age, religion and their field of endeavor. Let the compaign to inspire inclusion go on until all the barriers to women empowerment are broken down and we have an ecosystem where women are valued, given proper regard, respected and taken care of.
The author writes on agriculture and social issues; can be reached at pkumar6674@gmail.com
