It is extremely dispiriting that after all the talk, all the conferences and all the campaigning, women worldwide still only have 75% of the formal rights of men.  That figure represents an average - there are countries where the percentage is closer to 50%.

With all our talk of progress and modernity, we still allow discrimination against half of society for the simple reason that they are not men.  To put it mildly: grotesque.

The World Bank’s report Women, Business and the Law 2021 records that there are just 10 ‘economies’ that grant full equality for women before the law.  The report reviews issues such as the workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, assets and pensions in reaching its conclusions.

On top of this, current evidence indicates that COVID-19 has disproportionately and immediately jeopardised women’s social and economic standing.  Women make up the majority of health, social service, and poorly or unpaid care workers and are therefore uniquely vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic. Women continue to earn less than men for the same work while simultaneously facing a higher risk of violence in their homes.

The report also explains that while progress is being made, the pace of that progress remains ‘slow’.  The phrase often used in assessing such progress is that we are ‘inching’ towards gender equality – ‘inching’ no less! 

Based on current progress, the prediction is that the better performing OECD high-income economies will reach an average score of actual equality by 2025, with Latin America and the Caribbean in 2043 and Europe and Central Asia in 2044.  And this is the ‘best’ of progress!

The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 published by the World Economic Forum suggests that overall equality for women worldwide will not be achieved for another 99 years – yes, 99 years!

Gender inequality negatively affects all of society deeply from children’s well-being, food security, literacy and health to economic development and sustainability.  In such a context of not just inequality but also discrimination, women’s rights are unquestionably also men’s business.

Let us imagine for just a moment that the roles were reversed and men were experiencing such levels of discrimination simply because they were not women.  The howls of outrage would be heard in outer space.    

I have been teaching and debating these and related issues in the past few weeks and have been frequently challenged on the question as to what we can do about these realities; realities so widespread and deep that the actions of individuals would appear largely insignificant and irrelevant.

Nothing could be further from the truth; in fact, individual action is a sine-qua-non for equality, gender or otherwise.

The first duty each of us has is to challenge the silence and acquiescence that surrounds the agenda.  There are few of us who have not sat through conversations that have been abusive of women; few of us have avoided close cases of violence of various types against women. 

Yet too many of us prefer to remain silent rather than confront misogynist and often violent language and attitudes.  This is particularly an issue on social media especially here in Malta.  As in so many similar situations, silence amounts to consent.

Secondly, every one of us can do ‘daily activism’ on the issue.  At home, among peer groups, in workplaces, churches, trade unions, band clubs, schools and colleges, political parties etc., opportunities to offer an alternative perspective abound.  Changing the conversation and its terms of reference is fundamental to building change in the other dimensions of gender discrimination.

Finally, each of us can undertake a personal ‘audit’: who am I and, as a result what can I do? A man, father, husband, brother, Irish person, teacher, university graduate, writer, traveller, rugby fan etc., contexts that offer me immediate opportunity to make change.

As a result of such an audit, we should also ask the question: what might my corresponding duties be?

And all of this can be done before we take on more traditional activism through events, organisations, campaigns etc. 

Everyone is empowered on this agenda; no-one is without the opportunity (and, for me, the duty) to engage and to challenge gender and all other forms of discrimination.

In the absence of such an approach, it appears we have one International Women’s Day and 364 International Men’s Days.