ISSUE IN FOCUS
Gender equality is a basic human right and its achievement has immense socioeconomic implications. Yet, gender inequalities are deeply rooted in every society.
Sustainable Development Goal No. 5 is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. While progress has been made, no country in the world has achieved gender equality.
- Nearly 40% of women and girls, or 1.4 billion people, live in countries that are “failing on gender equality.”
- According to recent data from some 90 countries, women devote on average roughly three times more hours a day to unpaid care and domestic work than men, limiting the time available for paid work, education and leisure and further reinforcing gender-based socioeconomic disadvantages.
- Women are paid approximately 81 cents for every dollar a man makes.
- Women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of political leadership. As of 1 January 2019, women’s representation in national Parliaments ranged from 0 to 61.3%, with the average standing at 24.2%.
- While women represented 39% of world employment, only 27% of managerial positions in the world were occupied by women in 2018.
- 35% of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
- Globally, one in five girls were married before age 18.
ZONTA IN ACTION
In 2019, the SDG Gender Index found that not one country is on track to attain gender equality by 2030. The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 estimates it could take 99 1/2 years. Zonta International has spent 100 years advocating for gender equality and continues to fight for the cause.
Zonta and its clubs advocate on a variety of issues related to gender equality and women’s empowerment through:
- The United Nations and the Commission on the Status of Women
- The Council of Europe
- USA Advocacy Action Center
- Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women
In addition to our advocacy efforts, Zonta’s education programs and international service projects work to empower women and provide them opportunities to live on an equal basis as men.
Recent advocacy/service projects:
Installation of billboard highlighting Zonta’s campaign against domestic violence and providing phone numbers for National Domestic Violence hotline and National Human Trafficking hotline. This billboard was located in Austin from 2015 – 2018 and, will, hopefully, be up again soon.
The Zonta Club of Austin participates in many service areas such as: volunteering for GirlStart, GEN Austin, Girl Scouts, TruthBeTold, sending requests for congress members to pass child marriage regulatory changes and the Equal Rights Amendment. Bringing awareness of human trafficking thru our annual Poetry Slam to bring Awareness of Human Trafficking. Supporting females in the film industry by partnering with LunaFest and Chicken & Egg Productions.
https://zontausa.org/about-zonta/usa-caucus/ For more information on Advocacy