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Ninety per cent of people hold some bias against females, a new report by the United Nations revealed. The report was released on March 5, Thursday.
UN’s report on the “Gender Social Norms” index analyzed gender-based prejudices in areas including politics and education in 75 countries, covering over 80 percent of the world’s population.
The report discloses that around 50 per cent of men believed that they had more right to a job than women. While almost a third of respondents felt that it was acceptable for men to hit their partners.
The report maintained that “there is no country in the world with gender equality.”
According to the report, about half of the world's men and women felt that men were better at politics. In China, 55% of people thought men were better suited to be political leaders.
In the US, a country that is yet to choose a female president, around 39% of people felt that men were better at leading.
Women not preferred for senior positions
Women are paid less than men and are much less likely to be in senior positions. Globally, 40% of people thought men made better business executives. In India, 69 per cent of men felt that they could play the role of business executives better than women.
Raquel Lagunas, UNDP gender team acting director said: "We must act now to break through the barrier of bias and prejudices if we want to see progress at the speed and scale needed to achieve gender equality," UNDP report added.
Abysmally low number of women as government heads
The number of female heads of government is lower today than five years ago, with only ten women in such positions in 193 countries. In 2014 , it stood at 25.
According to Pedro Conceição, head of UNDP's Human Development Report Office, UNDP has come a long way to ensure equal representation of women in all aspects of society and get access to life’s basic needs as men.
Conceição stated: "But gender gaps are still all too obvious in other areas, particularly those that challenge power relations and are most influential in actually achieving true equality. Today. the fight about gender equality is a story of bias and prejudices."
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