A Position Paper on Gender Inequality

Submitted By:

Janine C. Viray, CPTE-A, Bulacan State University

Gender inequality does not only limit someone’s potential but it also affects people’s
lives in different aspects such as in education, employment, politics, and health thus, this
social issue pertaining to gender must end. According to the European Institute for Gender
Inequality (n.d.), gender inequality is the “legal, social and cultural situation in which sex
and/or gender determine different rights and dignity for women and men, which are
reflected in their unequal access to or enjoyment of rights, as well as the assumption of
stereotyped social and cultural roles”.

Various statistics shows improvement in global gender gap base on economic

opportunities, educational attainment, health and political empowerment. However,
despite the current trend and progress in these categories, charts still show inequality. At
this rate, this gender gap issue will take about 108 more years to close (World Economic
Forum, 2018).

In the Philippines, data shows that there is no inequality when it comes to education
(World Economic Forum, 2018), but in some parts of the world it is still one of the reasons
why, especially in the sub-Saharan Africa, girls are more likely to be out of school than boys,
and studies by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics proved it so. They have found out that the
biggest reason behind this is poverty – the cause of why girls are forced to leave school for
chores, marriage preparation and to avoid harassment. Another factor was the poor school
conditions that affect the girls’ education. Lack of electricity and drinking water in the
school are just the start, because another surprising reason why girls would not go to
school is the lack of separate school toilet for them as it does not only pose risk in their
health but also because of their fear that they might get sexually harassed. Being out of
school in Africa is a problem of both genders due to shortage of teachers. However, data
show that it is more common to girls than with boys. Thus, to encourage more girls to
continue their studies, one of the solutions is to hire more female teachers to set as a role
model for them (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, n.d.).

Gender inequality is also still prevalent in the economic aspect worldwide in terms
of pay and senior positions and this is all in favor of men (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2019)
which are both related to employment opportunities. Globally, gender gap in economic
participation and opportunity is slowly narrowing but there is still 41% more to close
(World Economic Forum, 2018). In this consideration, there are several suggested ways to
solve gender inequality at work and one of them is to re-evaluate job interviews and put an
end to the question about the expected salaries or the applicants as women are more likely
to ask for less pay than men. Therefore, companies should be transparent in the salary
range of their vacant positions (Trachsel, 2014).

The inequality in gender can also be seen in other aspects of life such as in political
power which remains to be the biggest gap that needs to be closed. This 78% gap shows
that there is little representation of women in political functions. In the Philippines, despite
being in the top 10 worldwide in the 2018 Gender Gap Report, we still score low in this
category (World Economic Forum, 2018). One of the factors being pointed at is the
prevalence of patriarchy in our culture. Currently, our country is addressing this issue by
actively promoting women’s rights and gender equality (Government of the Philippines,
Philippines Commission on Women, n.d.).

In the article published in the website of Our World In Data, it is shown that the
gender inequality is still at large but compared to the gap several decades ago it is now
lesser. (Ortiz-Ospina & Roser, 2019) This ancient-old social issue, if abolished, will create a
better world for everyone. (Government of Canada, Department for Women and Gender
Equality, 2018)

In my opinion, gender inequality does not only put limit on a person but also to the
potential improvement that the world can achieve through its humankind. Gender gap
should first be closed inside the family. Boys should be taught the same things as girls and
vice-versa. I also believe that being responsible starts at one’s home and then next in school.
That is why teachers and the school administrators should also be gender sensitive in their
teachings.