What Is Gender Equity? Why Do We Need It?
Learn how it sets the stage for equality to ensure an equal platform for one and all.
As Head Of Content Operations, Harini sets the tone and editorial direction for StyleCraze to deliver engaging, interesting, and authentic content revolving around women's health, wellness, and beauty. She is a Certified Professional Life Coach from Transformation Academy, a Certified Emotional Intelligence Practitioner from The Priority Academy, and has over 17 years of experience in content writing and editing for online media.
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The characteristic of being fair and impartial is called equity, and gender equity is something that we need as a society now. While gender equality refers to a situation in which gender does not have any bearing in accessing rights and opportunities, gender equity sets the stage for gender equality by providing extra support to bridge the discrimination. Although the two names and concepts seem identical, they are different. However, they are also connected to each other. Consider this: if equality is our ultimate aim, equity is how we will achieve it. This article discusses gender equity, why it is important for a society, and why it is everyone’s business. Continue reading to know more.
In This Article
What Is Gender Equity?
According to the International Labour Organization, the concept of gender equity refers to “fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities.”
In other words, gender equity denotes the process of allocating resources, programs, opportunities, and decision-making fairly to both men and women. Everything has to be 50/50. To achieve it, everyone has to have access to a full range of opportunities.
[ Read: What Is The ‘Glass Ceiling’ And How To Break It ]
Why We Need Gender Equity Now More Than Ever
Women make up one half of the world’s population – 49.55% to be precise – yet we are often denied equal access to health, education, political and economic participation. This is not a “women’s issue” – it is a rights issue, and it significantly damages a country’s economic development.
The sad truth is that right now, no country in the world is on track to achieve true gender equality. In fact, at the present rate of progress, it will take another 202 years to reach gender equality globally (1).
It means it will take about six more generations for our great, great, great, great, great, great grandchildren to see a world without gender inequality. That is terrible news not just for our daughters, but also for our sons – because it impacts everyone.
What we need is a thorough analysis of organizational practices and policies that may obstruct the participation of women and girls. Some of these include hiring and recruitment practices, participation rates, resource allocation, and activity programming. But the current scenario looks very, very sad:
- According to a new report by Glassdoor, in the US, men on average earn 21.4% higher base pay than women (2).
- If there is only one woman in your candidate pool, there is statistically no chance she’ll get the job (3).
- In corporate America, men are promoted at 30% higher rates than women during their early career stages, and entry-level women are significantly more likely than men to have spent five or more years in the same role (4).
- There are more CEOs of large U.S. companies who are named David, Steve, and John than there are CEOs who are women (5%) (5).
- Women hold only 21% of the world’s parliamentary seats, and only 8% of the world’s cabinet ministers are women (6).
- Around 60% of the world’s chronically hungry are women and girls (6).
- Gender-based violence is one of the biggest causes of injury and death to women worldwide, causing more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war (6).
[ Read: All You Need To Know About Matriarchy ]
Gender Equality Vs. Gender Equity: What Is The Difference?
Gender equality does not always mean that men and women should be treated exactly the same. Biological sex differences are inevitable, so it is reasonable for men and women to have different legal rights in some cases. For instance, only women require maternity leave specifically for pregnancy and birth. (Though the fight for paternity leave is also on the rise right now to encourage men to play a more active role in child-rearing and close the gender wage gap).
Look at it this way: You are riding on a bus on which there are a 30-year-old lady and a 65-year-old man and only one empty seat. Who should ideally get the seat? It is the old man. Although, a female stands as his competition, as per equity, the old gentleman needs the seat more.
What we require in scenarios like these is not equal treatment, but equitable treatment. Equity recognizes the differences in ability and the fact that fairness often requires treating people differently, so they can achieve the same outcome.
At times, gender equity is absolutely necessary to achieve our goal of gender equality because the core of this problem lies in the irrational biases and prejudices that women are routinely subjected to. However, this is not always the case.
While gender equality is concerned with equal opportunities, gender equity is concerned with equal outcomes. There is a clear distinction. To sum it up, gender equity stresses the idea that treating everyone exactly the same is actually not fair. What this does is erase our individual differences and needs, and promotes privilege instead.
Audre Lorde once said, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
Gender equity is often confused with gender equality as they sound similar. Though their objectives are a bit similar, gender equality is a broader concept. To put it easily, you need gender equity to realize the objectives of gender equality. Equity, in this case, means a fair allocation of resources, opportunities, and decision-making powers, and it goes against the denial of access to rights based on gender. However, it means not treating everyone exactly equally but keeping in mind the differences in their abilities to ensure equitable treatment and fairness.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is feminism equality or equity?
Feminism is more about gender equity than equality. It is about providing equal access to means and resources for women to ensure similar outcomes.
How do you promote gender equity in the classroom?
You can promote gender equity in classroom by ensuring fairness in the right to education and learning, to all irrespective of their gender, social, or financial status.
Can you have equity without equality?
No, equity is about taking steps to pave the way for equality.
References
- “Closing the Gender Gap” World Economic Forum
- “Progress on the Gender Pay Gap: 2019” Glassdoor.com
- “If There’s Only One Woman in Your Candidate Pool, There’s Statistically No Chance She’ll Be Hired” Harvard Business Review
- “It’s Time for Companies to Try a New Gender-Equality Playbook” The Wall Street Journal
- “More people called David and Steve lead FTSE 100 companies…” Independent
- “Killer facts on gender equality” Oxfam New Zealand
Key Takeaways
- Gender equity refers to the fairness of treatment for all genders according to their respective needs.
- It asks for different legal rights for men and women in some cases due to certain inevitable biological differences.
- Women all over the world are still often denied equal access to health, education, political and economic participation.
