Gender Inequality
Gender inequality appears when women are not treated equally as men due to their gender. The discriminatory acts lead to the suffering of women in both their private and public life. The number of women in proportion to men in different fields is not equal. Gender inequality in the economy is mainly found at the workplace where women are not paid equally as men, may be subjected to sexual harassment, and are prone to suffering from distinctive behavior that differentiates them from men. Gender inequality also exists in politics given the deficit political participation of women worldwide. The unequal social involvement of women and men in a number of aspects of the society appears in the unequal distribution of power between them and in the disproportionate ownership of assets.
Women have globally less chances of economic participation than men, limited access to higher education, higher health and safety risks, as well as poor political representation. Unfortunately, women are systematically under-represented in the decision-making processes despite the great influence decision making has on their ability to lead independent lives. Women in the Middle East and South Africa suffer from significantly higher discrimination compared to other global regions. For instance, as of 2018, women represented only 5% of the Lebanese parliament. While this reflects a severely deficient representation of women in the political sector, it also reveals the presence of barriers perhaps cultural, social and even legal that women encounter while living in a rather patriarchal society. Such a patriarchal society fosters the perception that women are less qualified and less competent than men and thus women are more prone to gender inequalities than men. The patterns of gender inequality represent a constraint to the society’s progress as they limit the opportunities of growth for a huge portion of the population, and must therefore be treated with uttermost concern. The establishment of women empowerment movements came into place due to the various challenges faced by women and the struggles they suffer from when intending to equally participate as men in the economy, the political life and the social life.
Furthermore, there are a set of barriers that deprive women from equally engaging in different fields. The women empowerment movements in which women strive to share equal opportunities with men represent a major worldwide issue. It is extremely important to highlight the effect of gender equality on the overall well-being of the economy and on the prosperity of the growth in the country.
