The Glass Ceiling’s Global Dimensions – Despite Many Gains, Much Work to Do in the Most Basic Ways

Posted on July 4, 2010

by Susan Welch, Hewitt Research –

There is much positive going on for women around the world, but despite the many gains (which we will continue to write about on this blog), women still have seriously diffcult barriers to overome in nearly every corner of the globe.

Too often, the struggle isn’t even for equality, or equal wages, or equal access to jobs. In too many circumstances, the struggle is for a chance at basic education, or an escape from violence.

In China and India, the female struggle begins at birth: An estimated 1.5 million fewer girls per year are born than should be in these regions. Girls in these countries die before they reach age 5 more often than they should. By the time they are adults, there are 32 Chinese men for every 20 Chinese women—and, according to The Guardian, the ratio will worsen over time. Yet, as The New York Times reports, in both China and India, deeply rooted cultural values, religious beliefs, and economic conditions stand in the way of correcting the gender imbalance.

In parts of Africa and the Middle East, reproductive rights take the stage, though the problem, of course, goes beyond reproductive rights: in some locations women often are perceived as property, as are children. Violence toward a wife is swept beneath the carpet, whereas wives and daughters who are assaulted by men other than their husbands are blamed, sometimes jailed, sometimes murdered by their families as a matter of honor. But even in their everyday lives, these women struggle. They bear more children than they might want, often more than they can afford. Recent media coverage in the United States around the Pill’s 50th anniversary includes speculation that making the Pill and other forms of contraception available in Africa and the Middle East might go far toward lifting women and children out of poverty.

Equal access to education is another priority, and here the picture is brightening. According to the World Economic Forum’s most recent Global Gender Gap report, 82 of the 134 countries studied have achieved parity in education. Another 41 countries have closed at least 90 % of the gap between boys and girls. The nine remaining countries, all in sub-Saharan Africa, have a longer journey ahead of them. Around the world, girls hold their own in enrollment and, when it comes to secondary education, even begin to surpass boys. The advantages for girls are immense: For every year of schooling, a female’s earning power increases 10 to 20%, increasing to 15 to 25% at the secondary level. Women use these gains to improve their lives, putting 90% of their earnings back into their households (as compared to men, who only reinvest 30 to 40% of their income into their homes).

This brings us back to equality on the job. Andrés discusses in The Inclusion Paradox, multinational corporations, with their meritocracy culture, stand poised to significantly help women, and already have dramatically changed the lives of women in India and China. In “The Global Glass Ceiling” Isobel Coleman found that 75 % of companies that worked to empower women in developing countries already had earned economic benefits or were poised to do so. Multinationals aren’t the only answer, either. In countries such as Pakistan, microloans from local organizations are making a difference. The New York Times reports how one Pakistani woman secured a loan for $65, using it to build a business that now employs 30 families, as well as her husband!

These gains are noteworthy and substantial, but still do not result in equal terms for women. Globally, women are more likely to be unemployed than men, and they are overrepresented in vulnerable or low-paying (or unpaid) jobs, such as agriculture, caretaking, unpaid family work, and the like. The International Labor Organization reports that in every region of the world working-age men are more likely to have jobs than working-age women. Even in East Asia, which boasts the highest rate of female workers among the eligible population (69.5% of possible women workers are employed), men fare significantly better (82.5% of eligible men are employed). Other regions fare much worse: Only 25% of eligible women are employed in the Middle East, for example, compared to 82% of eligible men. And, yes, the wage gap persists. According to this chart from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, on average women still earn almost 18% less than men—with the gap varying from country to country.

Whether fighting for their lives or fighting for their jobs—which, in some cases, equates to the same thing—women across the world have some distance to cover. Ground is gained here, and lost there, but the overall picture is one of slow progress.