That we are a long way from gender equality is blatantly obvious. In the last week alone, Roman Polanski was given a César award in France, leading French actress Adèle Haenal to storm out of the ceremony in protest, while the internet is currently rife with analysis about how Elizabeth Warren’s gender played a part in her dropping out of the Democratic race.
“Gender in this race?” said Senator Warren earlier this week. “You know that is the trap question for every woman. If you say, ‘Yeah! There was sexism in this race,’ everyone says, ‘Whiner!’ And if you say, ‘No, there was no sexism, about a bazillion women think, ‘What planet do you live on?’”
If anyone was about to accuse Warren of whining, a new study proves that gender bias really is keeping women out of positions of power globally. The study, by the UN, found that at least 90 per cent of men and women hold a bias against females.
Analysing biases in 75 countries, it found that 50 per cent of men believe that they have more right to a job than a woman, while half of the respondents – male and female – think that men make better political leaders.
Worryingly, the same report, the “Gender Social Norms” index, found a third of respondents think it is ok for men to hit their partners.
There are no countries in the world with gender equality, it concluded, and we will not see gender equality by 2030.
According to The Guardian, Pedro Conceição, director of the UNDP’s human development report office, said: “We all know we live in a male-dominated world, but with this report we are able to put some numbers behind these biases. And the numbers, I consider them shocking.”
UN spokespeople also suggested the report may demonstrate a backlash against women’s rights and called for local improvements in policy and legislation in order to improve gender equality.