Introduction
Gender equality is a fundamental human right and essential for achieving peace, prosperity, and sustainable development. Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and participation in political and economic decision-making is an important element of sustainable development. It is worth noting that due to social and economic differences and background, women’s experiences might vary. Thus, some prioritize work rights as the most critical ones being violated; others suffer from physical and mental abuse. Moreover, many women do not consider gender inequality an issue or even do not understand the scale of the problem because they personally have never felt any injustice. As a matter of fact, even more, males find this sustainability challenge not relevant or overestimated, although men are also the ones suffering from inequalities. At the same time, on a larger scale, there are more complex challenges that require a different perspective and cannot be based on personal experience. This essay investigates the issues associated with gender equality on both individual and community levels and identifies the possible responses to those challenges. The paper argues that both personal and community experience of gender inequality can be most efficiently addressed through systematic changes.
Contemporary Gender Equality Challenge on Personal Level
Many women in developed societies on personal levels face gender inequality the most in their career paths. This is undoubtedly associated with a number of ensuing problems and challenges. In order to succeed, women need to refute gender stereotypes through their behavior (Agarwal, 2018). At the same time, this is associated for them with the risk of losing their adequacy in the eyes of others, with the likelihood of appearing as a socially inferior woman (Chung & van der Lippe, 2018). Male behavior is dangerous for a woman because it often provokes negative social and economic feedback, but success is impossible without it. This contradiction has been called the Dilemma of Impression Management (Brake, 2017). It forces a woman to be attentive and tense all the time, not to be too emotional, too confident, and so on. Based on this approach, women should solve their problems by using self-monitoring, balancing, and demonstrating behavioral flexibility. Women must develop creative strategies while a supposedly gender-neutral environment remains in the shadows. According to this approach, all that society can do is give women better education and call for the impossible – a change in culture, an end to gender categorization.
Response To the Challenge on Personal Level
An analysis of the phenomenology of gender inequality shows that women are excluded from power circles; thus, an important focus should be put on addressing this issue. Women feel isolated, shunned by their male counterparts, and not interested in developing their usual work relationships (Chung & van der Lippe, 2018). However, it is worth considering that networking opportunities are inaccessible to minority groups. From this, one can conclude that the availability of social capital for career advancement is critical, and the need for special efforts on the part of the company’s management to form social ties. Research shows that the support of a mentor is much more important for a woman’s success than a man’s (Brake, 2017). Phenomena such as “sticky floor” and “glass ceiling” are women’s main barriers when moving to higher positions. The female gender is considered an obstacle to forming the social capital necessary to gain career advancement advantages (Coron, 2020). Indeed, there are unique informal practices of communication between men, which exclude the possibility for a woman to join a social network that gives access to networking processes at the micro and macro levels
Besides addressing networking, more complex changes should be implemented in the workplace. Therefore, one inevitably faces the need to influence the environment from the outside, from the position of the system (Chang & Milkman, 2020). An essential step in achieving gender equality is to assess the current situation in the national and local context and identify areas where improvements are required in terms of gender equality. Measures such as creating a dedicated equality structure within the education trade union or encouraging women to participate in negotiation teams help address gender equality issues. This helps to achieve equalization of the interests of women and men in the work processes. Moreover, it is critically important not to forget the cross-cutting, multifaceted nature of many elements of inequality when discrimination occurs simultaneously on multiple grounds (Chang & Milkman, 2020). In addition, it is also essential to combat the growing privatization of education as a factor contributing to the strengthening of elements of inequality in the position of men and women in society. In general, all individual experiences related to gender equality would be most effectively addressed through targeted concrete measures.
Contemporary Gender Equality Challenge on Community Level
The practice of gender discrimination is deeply rooted in modern society. It is often the result of patriarchal attitudes and associated social norms. The UN calls the strengthening of the legal framework a priority measure for ensuring gender equality empowering women and girls. One in five women between the ages of 15 and 49 experience physical or sexual violence at least once in their lives (United Nations, 2020). At the same time, 19% of women in this age category experienced physical or sexual violence by their intimate partner at least once in the last year (United Nations, 2020). At the same time, in 49 countries of the world, there is no legislation prohibiting domestic violence (United Nations, 2020). In 18 countries, a husband can officially prohibit his wife from working. In 39 – men and women have different rights to inheritance (Falk & Hermle, 2018). However, only 13% of all women globally have land rights (United Nations, 2020). Thus, gender inequality is a significant problem encountered in many fields of communities. When looking from a community perspective, one could notice a significant number of issues and challenges associated with the existing matter of things.
Response To the Challenge on Community Level
No country in the world will be able to achieve full gender equality by 2030, one of the sustainable development goals set by world leaders. Even in the most prosperous countries in terms of gender equality, existing gender norms for women and girls will stand in their way after 2030, according to an analysis carried out by Plan International for the annual World Forum in Davos (Chang & Milkman, 2020). In all societies, boys and girls are still required to conform to accepted norms, to meet expectations regarding their behavior and their assigned role in society from the moment they are born. By imposing certain restrictions, these norms, first of all, have a negative impact on the opportunities of women. However, the main driver of progress towards goals set by the gender equality agenda will be raising public awareness and spreading education about the issues. Access to information is essential for women’s empowerment (Engeli & Mazur, 2018). States and other stakeholders should ensure that women have full rights and opportunities to access information as a mechanism to overcome gender inequality. Only in this case will all subsequent reforms at the collective level be possible.
The policies and laws should not be limited to just promoting gender equality. The reform needs to be carried out in the population’s minds so that gender equality in various areas is a natural state of affairs. Women should participate in politics and big business – they are the ones who should make decisions regarding the gender issue. The high representation of women in the top management of companies and in senior government positions will reduce the unfair pay gap for women and promote women’s economic inclusion (Engeli & Mazur, 2018). It is impossible to achieve gender equality by 2030 without strong measures aimed at the root causes of discrimination against women (Brake, 2017). For example, discriminatory laws need to be reviewed, and progressive legislation promoting equality needs to be adopted. To do this, it is necessary to ensure women’s full and meaningful participation and equal opportunities for them to lead at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life (Fernández et al., 2021). Empowering women is critical in establishing gender balance and equality (Celis & Lovenduski, 2018). Strong independent women can also identify and address issues arising from gender injustice and find the best solutions for them.
Conclusion
Attitudes towards gender equality have evolved significantly in our days. Today, more women than ever are educated and employed as leaders of organizations, while more and more men take parental leave and take on their fair share of household chores. However, today’s generation is not protected from gender stereotypes and gender roles strictly defined by society. Therefore, the impact of gender stereotypes on all aspects of gender equality should not be underestimated. Gender stereotypes can be defined as simplistic generalizations about individuals’ gender characteristics, competencies, and differences. They come from many sources and limit people’s freedom and choice, leading to direct or indirect discrimination. In order to overcome gender inequality at different levels, it is necessary to understand the range of challenges that the problem poses for both genders. Gender equality must be present both in the national and international plan and in the strategies of individual companies and enterprises. Raising awareness of the relationship between gender stereotypes and other gender equality issues in the national/regional/local context remains significant for various public and economic institutions. In addition, it is essential to pay attention to systemic changes that are possible through empowering women.
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