When a lot of people hear the word "feminist," they roll their eyes. Perhaps a quick image of a woman burning a bra flashes through their mind, or maybe they're even mildly offended by the mention of it.
If you've listened to the podcast or browsed the website even remotely, you know that I'm a little biased, because yes - I'm a feminist. And I think you should be, too. But if the stories shared on the website, podcast, and blog aren't enough to convince you to adopt the title of feminist, here are some facts from global studies of the world's economies to help. 1 - Women are half the world’s working-age population but generate only 37% of GDP. Nearly 2/3 of people earning minimum wage in the US are women. The majority of these women are not teenagers, and many of them have at least one child. In a recent study of 187 economies in 2018, 104 economies still have laws dictating which jobs women cannot have. This is not a result of women's inability to do equal work as men. This is a result of a lack of resources, cultural capital, and opportunity. Inequality in the workforce perpetuates social and cultural inequality, and vice versa. 2 - 59 economies have no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace. In the era of #metoo, we know that not all women working in the remaining 128 economies are safe in their workplaces that do have sexual harassment laws, either. A safer work environment in all places of work would give women more opportunities for employment, and potentially higher pay. Even if women were raised with the same legal opportunities to go to college (let alone the cultural capital to do so), that does not guarantee access to a safe work environment: physically, emotionally, verbally, or mentally. 3 - Globally, 75% of unpaid work (consisting mostly of routine household chores) is done by women. The time women spend in unpaid work on average is 2.5 times more than men. It is estimated, conservatively, that the opportunity cost of unpaid work at home as an alternative to paid work is $10 trillion annually. Women reinvest approximately 90% of their income back into the economy and family, while men reinvest only 30%-40%. There shouldn't need to be evidence that including women in the workplace is good for the economy, but for the people in the back, there ya go. 4 - 30% of women have experienced abuse from an intimate partner. 723 million women globally. Consider the women who did not have a safe way to disclose this information, or the women abused by attackers who were not intimate partners. 5 - Over 130 million girls do not have access to education. Reasons like child labor, child marriage, conflict, gender bias, and lack of resources, among other issues, are to blame. 6 - In 2010, 126 million girls were missing due to sex-selection. The gender-biased sex-selection process can happen during pregnancy when the sex has been determined, or after the baby has been born by infanticide or neglect. Regardless of what media has made feminists out to be, we are just people fighting for equal rights for women globally. To be a part of the conversation, and to hear from women overcoming the problems that are a result of the ever-present disparity, subscribe to the podcast and listen to their stories.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorMady is the host of Shouting About the Silence Podcast and Community. She is by no means a professional writer; she just has a lot of thoughts! Archives
October 2019
Categories |