Gender Equality

 One of the sustainable development goals, specifically the number 5,  talks about gender equality and that's the topic that I chose for this entry.

Let's start by talking about the situation in our country; according to the UN in recent decades, Colombia has made important achievements in promoting gender equality and empowering women, although there is still a need to close related gaps. Colombia has ratified all current international treaties on human rights and women's rights, and has made significant progress in the enactment of laws to promote gender equality and protect the human rights of women.

According to the 2018 “Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda”, Colombia has a population of 14.2 million households, of which around 6 million are women (40.7%) as heads of household.

In the last ten years, the labor force participation of men and women has increased. In women, this proportion increased from 50% in 2009 to 53% in 2019, while among men, it increased from 73% to 74%. However, the ten-year participation gap has only narrowed by two percentage points, from 23 percentage points in 2009 to 21 percentage points in 2019.

As higher levels of education are achieved, the gap narrows and the gap is even greater in rural areas and among uneducated women.

Now globally speaking, in trying to improve their leadership in higher education, women will professionally hit the glass ceiling. According to data from the UNESCO International Center for Research and Research Development, by 2020, only 18% of public universities in Latin America have female presidents. According to data from the Association of European Universities (AEU, 2020), among European universities, 15% of the presidents of member universities in 48 countries are women, while 85% are men. There is no president in 20 countries.

Regarding salary, there are also salary differences. In the United States, 57% of college students are women, but the unadjusted median income of women is 78% of that of men. Among the 28 former EU member states, 26 countries have more women than men in higher education institutions, but the unadjusted average income of women is lower than that of men in 28 countries.

Now that I talk about this I would like to give a personal example. My stepmother was a very prepared woman, and when I say very prepared I mean: she studied in Ecuador where the education is not of such good quality,but then she moved there and  she was constantly updated, she took courses, diplomas, postgraduates, she knew 4 languages and was is an expert in the area of marketing (arguably one of the best in the world of medical devices). 

She always told me how difficult it was to be a woman in some companies, she spoke to me about sexual and labor harassment that was seen, about the injustices in the salary differences and about many things that every time made me doubt whether to continue with the decision to study business or not. There was a time when both a co-worker  and she had the same position and simply because she was a woman she received 25% less than him, being able to be better qualified. 

After all that she had to go through, she ended up working in a multinational company where she is highly valued and her salary is in line with what she does and it doesn't matter if she is a woman, she gets what she deserves.

References

• BOLETÍN ESTADÍSTICO EMPODERAMIENTO ECONÓMICO DE LAS MUJERES EN COLOMBIA. DANE. (2020). Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://www2.unwomen.org/-/media/field%20office%20colombia/documentos/publicaciones/2019/09/boletin%20estadistico%20onu%20mujeres%20-%20marzo%202020.pdf?la=es&vs=3252.
• Informe de UNESCO IESALC afirma que la desigualdad de género en la educación superior sigue siendo un problema universal – UNESCO-IESALC. Instituto Internacional para la educación superior en América Latina y el Caribe. (2021). Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://www.iesalc.unesco.org/2021/03/10/informe-de-unesco-iesalc-afirma-que-la-desigualdad-de-genero-en-la-educacion-superior-sigue-siendo-un-problema-universal/.
• Las mujeres en Colombia. ONU Mujeres | Colombia. Retrieved 1 May 2021, from https://colombia.unwomen.org/es/onu-mujeres-en-colombia/las-mujeres-en-colombia.