GENDER EQUALITY AND THE

PROMOTION OF EMPOWERING

WOMEN AND THEIR RIGHTS

Shelby Elliott

What is Gender Equality? Gender equality is the equality

between men and women in a society. Gender equality may also be known as sex equality, sexual equality or the equality of genders. The idea of gender equality refers to the view that men and women should be treated equally without discrimination based on their gender.

Women’s Rights. What are they?

Women’s rights are the rights entitled to women and girls in societies around the world. In some parts of the world, the rights entitled to women are supported by the government or law whereas in other places, they are completely ignored and unvalued. Issues that are associated with women’s rights are included but not limited to:

- their own bodies- vote- work- hold public office- fair wages- own property- education- work in the military- enter legal contracts

- have marital or parental rights

More on Women’s Rights In some places, women are denied the right to abortions,

regardless of the situation or how the pregnancy happened. When women are being denied the right to abortions, they are also being denied the right to privacy, bodily autonomy, and the right to have access to safe, legal healthcare.

In Arizona, there has been a bill passed stating that women cannot have an abortion past the 18th week of pregnancy. The thing that is absolutely crazy about this, other than the fact that there is a law stating what a woman can or cannot do with her body, is that the government starts counting the 18 weeks from the date of the last period, rather than when the baby was conceived. Also, if a woman does have an abortion within the 18 week time range, it is a law that the doctor must make her see the baby on a sonogram and hear the heartbeat.

The Wage Gap Between Males and Females The wage gap between males and females in Canada is 19%. The

gender income gap ranges from a low 8% in Norway to a high 29% in Japan.

Age, occupation and education all affect the gender income gap. The largest occupation income gap is in the health occupations, where women earned only 47¢ for every $1.00 earned by men in 2010.

Women aged 25 to 34 earned 78.3¢ for every $1.00 earned by men in 2010. Women aged 45 to 74 earned 75.7¢ for every $1.00 earned by their male counterparts in 2010.

Women in Government Women in the government are often

under-represented in comparison to men. Even though women are often under-represented, women are increasingly being elected to be the head of state and government. There are more than 20 countries where women are holding office as the head of a national government.

An issue women in government face is sex stereotyping. Sex stereotyping assumes that masculine and feminine traits intertwine with leadership. The belief is that masculine traits are required in order to participate in elected office. This creates a bias that femininity produces weak leadership.

How Can we Empower our Women?

There is an organization called Women Empowered (WE). Women Empowered is a member-based, non-profit organization made up of professional and entrepreneurial women in the Los Angeles, California area. WE was founded in 2008 and gained nonprofit status in 2010. The initial goal of WE was to become a support group but it quickly turned into a philanthropic group. WE offers volunteer support in women’s shelters as well as women in poverty, a support group of young women. WE values: friendship, community, individuality and education. Women Empowered connects, educates and supports women of all ages and backgrounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWE1Os9hLKk

References As a woman, what rights are being taken away when you're denied of abortion? (n.d.). Retrieved

June 3, 2014, from Yahoo Answers website:

https://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120401142042AAb8ylp Fight the Assault on Women's Rights. (2012, May 9). Retrieved June 4, 2014, from Mountiewire

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http://mountiewire.com/fight-the-assault-on-womens-rights/ Gender Equality. (2001, January 15). Retrieved June 3, 2014, from Wikipedia website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_equality Gender Income Gap. (2013, January). Retrieved June 3, 2014, from The Conference Board of

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http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/gender-income-gap.aspx Merariphoto. (2014, March 19). WE Conference [Video file]. Retrieved from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWE1Os9hLKk Women Empowered. (2011). Retrieved June 4, 2014, from Women Empowered website:

http://women-empowered.com Women in Government. (2001, January 15). Retrieved June 4, 2014, from Wikipedia website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_government Women's Rights. (2001, January 15). Retrieved June 3, 2014, from Wikipedia website:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights#Equal_employment_rights_for_women_and_men