Gender equality across the world remains a far-fetched goal and no country has achieved it so far, according to the 2020 edition of the United Nations report on the state of gender equality in the world.

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Q.Discuss how marriage age and women’s health are linked with each other?

About the Report

• The report titled “World’s Women: Trends and Statistics” was released by the UN-DESA.
• The report provided a reality-check on the global status of women 25 years since the world adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
• It presented the global state of gender equality in six critical areas: Population and families; health; education; economic empowerment and asset ownership; power and decision-making; and violence against women and the girl child as well as the impact of COVID-19.

Highlights on status of women

• The gender gap in the labour market, for example, has not budged a bit since 1995.
• While the status of women has improved with regard to education, early marriage, childbearing and maternal mortality, the progress has stagnated in other areas.

Participation in the labour market

• The gender gap in the labour market has remained as it was since 1995: The gap of 27 percentage points has barely changed since then, the report showed.
• Only 47 per cent women of working age participated in the labour market, compared to around 74 per cent men, according to the report.
• The largest gender gap in labour force participation was observed in the prime working age (25-54).
• This gap has remained unaddressed since 1995 and was at 32 percentage points as of 2020, according to the report. It was 31 percentage points in 1995.
• In India, the ratio of female-to-male labour force participation rate was 29.80 in 2019 as against the desired ratio of 50 per cent.

Working for free

• The data in the interactive UN report showed how women remained under the burden of unpaid domestic and care work.
• On an average day, women globally spent about three times (4.2 hours) as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (1.7 hours).
• Unpaid domestic work includes activities related to the maintenance of the household, including food preparation, upkeep of the home, caring for pets etc.

Family responsibilities

• Family responsibilities and unequal distribution of unpaid domestic and care workers were among the primary reasons for women not joining the labour force.
• Their participation depended on their liabilities and responsibilities in their household, noted UN. It found that women living alone were more likely to be in the labour market.
• On an average, 82 per cent women of prime working-age living alone were in the labour market, compared to 64 per cent women living with a partner and 48 per cent living with a partner and children.
• Their participation rates in the economy were found to improve in the latter part of their lives after their responsibilities reduced — when their children grew older.

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