Gender equality, as defined by Dictionary.com, is the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender. Women makeup about half of the population, which makes gender equality such a crucial topic to discuss (Worldbank.org). Many countries have their own beliefs and traditions that may conflict with a new set of laws being introduced. Despite this animosity, the question is still up to debate as to whether or not a universal body of laws should be created to achieve gender equality, or if countries should simply be allowed to create gender equality laws that coincide with their beliefs.
Inequalities between men and women have been occurring around the world since the beginning of time. Despite this being a major issue, gender equality did not become a global topic of discussion until the group, United Nations, was formed in the mid-1940s. The establishment of the UN helped the feminist movement gain momentum, and in the 1970s led to the general assembly of the UN pronouncing an International Women’s Year as well as holding the first World Conference on Women in 1975. Following this trend of increasing gender equality, in 1979, the United Nations enacted the CEDAW, which is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The CEDAW played a major part in constructing the International Women’s Bill of Rights which formulates a plan to eliminate discrimination (UN.org). The assembling of these new policies and groups helped lessen the number of gender discrepancies, however, gender inequality is still prevalent in the present day. The UN is aware of these continuous gender disparities and has continued to make progress towards gaining full gender equality around the world. There is now an entire division of the UN solely designated to achieving both gender equality and women’s empowerment. Gender equality is also recognized as one of the United Nations' 17 sustainable development goals (DESA, UN.org).
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The main reason this crucial problem is being discussed a lot more now than in the past is because of the new issues women are facing. The COVID-19 pandemic has been around for over one year now and is continuing to cause gender-related issues. According to the United Nations, the economic crises caused by the pandemic are affecting women significantly more than men. This is because women tend to earn less money, have fewer savings, make up a majority of single-parent households, etc. There is also the issue of job loss. A majority of the jobs being lost are those in which women make up a majority of the workforce. For example, domestic jobs, which are retail, entertainment, and food service jobs, are made up of about 80 percent of women. This is taking a harmful toll on women because around 72 percent of those workers have lost their jobs (UNwomen.org). Therefore, an introduction to a global set of laws that focus on pushing for gender equality may be a way to lessen this substantial difference between the way women and men are affected by global events that occur.
There are many different reasons as to why universal laws addressing gender equality should not be put into place. Two main reasons are traditional societal expectations, as well as religious beliefs that have been passed on throughout history.
“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24). This is an example of how religion can go against modern beliefs. People have taken part in religion throughout history, meaning that their scriptures and beliefs have been passed down through many generations. For this reason, several people believe that their religion should continue to be practiced identically to how it was in the past. The age-old scriptures may contain principles that go against modern gender norms; but does that give lawmakers the right to ignore the well-established traditions and force people of faith into complying with laws that do not correspond with that of their scriptures?
Societal roles are another justification commonly given for why a universal set of laws should not be set in stone. Many countries around the world have a traditional set of social expectations that can force women and men to follow unfair gender expectations. These roles can include beliefs such as the men having to be “protectors,” the women having to always be appealing to their husbands, and many other ideals. One place where this is the case is Yemen. In Yemen, any straying from the strict societal norms can put you in harm's way. Societal roles have been around for about 13 years meaning that people are very accustomed to them (Amnesty.org). Instituting a universal set of gender equality laws that may contradict the traditional roles could cause danger to men and women, and even more danger to those in places with extremely strict gender roles. Many women and men also may be against the need to stray from the social rules that they have always been taught. These laws will introduce foreign ideas and likely lead to violence and neglect to follow the laws put in place altogether.
There are also valid reasons given for why a set of laws should be installed globally. The main reason is that women make up half of the population, and therefore should be treated equally to their male counterparts. It is also proven that the laws being put into place are working to achieve equality between the genders. Places such as Canada and Belgium, have introduced gender equality laws and seen favorable results. The UN also developed a document called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document is a list of goals that countries should be striving to reach because the UN is trying to attain what is in everyone’s best interest. The goals focus on equality across all races and genders, and many countries are making laws similar to this declaration to achieve what is best for everyone.
Canada has been instating gender equality laws throughout the 1900s. This plays a main factor in why Canada is one of the countries rated 100.0 on the 2021 Women, Business, and Law Index (Wbl.worldbank.org). This index is one of seven studies that measure the laws and regulations about women’s economic opportunity across 190 countries as well as helping to identify drawbacks in women’s economic presence and advocating for revisions of discriminatory laws (Ibis). Many gender equality laws have been passed by the Canadian government, with one of the earliest being the Married Women’s Property Act. This act was established as early as 1884 in some provinces, with the last act being passed in 1900 by Manitoba (International.gc.ca). This law granted women the access to enter legal agreements and own property which men already had the right to do. This act led to many other gender equality procedures evolving; many of them being derived from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sections 15 and 28 are two of the main sections that came from this charter. Section 15 ensures that equal protection and benefits of the law are upheld with no discrimination. Section 28 includes the Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 which states that all Canadians have the right to equality, an equal amount of opportunity, fair treatment, and a discrimination-free environment (Ibis). Every four years, for Canada to further help the advancement of women’s rights, they submit a report to the UN about things they have done regarding gender equality. This report aids in reaching the goal for women to be treated the same as the other 50 percent of the population.
The United Nations is one of the major international groups that is actively trying to plan out solutions to settle the issue of gender equality. One step they have taken to encourage equality between genders is the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This Declaration is made up of 30 articles all of which bring up equality and use inclusive language such as “everyone” and “men and women” (UN.org). The UN created this document to advocate for the making of a universal set of laws and intended for readers of the document to interpret it as a list of laws that everyone should be making an effort to introduce and enforce. The world needs to take action when advised by the United Nations because the UN does what is best for the greater good and therefore the world will become a better and more peaceful place to live in than what it is currently (70, UN.org).
Before my research, I strongly sided with the opinion that a universal set of laws should be put into place, however, the more research I did on the opposing side, the more I understood why a global set of laws may hurt traditions and beliefs. Many people are very attached to their traditions because it connects them with their family and ancestors. Despite this newly found insight into other people’s perspectives, I still think that a universal set of gender equality laws needs to be put into place. I feel that women and men are equal in everything they do. Women also make up around 50 percent of the population, meaning they should be given the same opportunities as every other person who inhabits this planet (Data.worldbank.org). The amount of rights a woman can receive should not be dependent on where they live. All opportunities should be equalized globally so that a person’s amount of freedom does not depend on where they were born. A person born in Yemen should have the same amount of freedom as someone born in Canada or Belgium. By instating a universal set of laws that pertain to gender equality it would ensure that both women and men have the same amount of freedoms throughout the world. Societal expectations and religious beliefs should not be allowed to influence how many rights a human being is allowed to have.
Society should continue to look into the different justifications for why a universal set of laws should be put into place and also why there should not. This topic is still widely debated around the world and many people will continue to push their side of the argument to be carried out, whether it is the establishment of gender equality laws, or not. Both arguments’ pros and cons should be compared with each other and action should be taken upon the argument whose benefits outweigh the contrary. Both debates give valid reasons as to why their ideas should be instated, it is just dependent on what argument has the best interest in mind for the greater good. I suspect that a universal set of laws about gender equality will eventually be introduced to the world because of the constant advances that are being made toward achieving equality.
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