Women Work Longer Hours Than Men

How far has the world’s countries achieved equality between men and women? Not much. Report says that women work 39 days more in a year compared to men for the same compensation.

This translated to an extra 50 minutes in a work day for women. Men on the other hand put in a little over eight hours of work a day. This is according to Global Gender Gap Report 2016.

Paid and Unpaid Work

Involving 144 countries, the report looked at trends in gender equality in several areas such as work and political participation. One observation dealt with the ratio of paid and unpaid work done by men and women in a day. Domestic chores and childcare fall under unpaid work.

According to the report, on the average a man’s eight-hour day consists of seven hours and 47 minutes paid work and one hour and 30 minutes unpaid work. Compare this to a woman’s nearly nine-hour day, half of which (four hours and 47 minutes) is devoted to unpaid work.

Women In Leadership and Better Salaries Needed

According to an NBC News report, unequal salaries or compensation became a major factor in the results. In 2016, a woman on the average earned around US$11,000 while a man earned much more, at US$20,000.

Another area mentioned in the report is the lack of women in higher decision-making positions in companies or businesses. Senior executive positions are dominated by men, but this does mean that women are not qualified. Women executives may simply not have access to such positions which is why there are so few of them.

Much Gains In Education and Political Empowerment

The report however touted that much gain has been achieved in gender equality when it comes to educational attainment and political empowerment. In educational attainment, young men and women who enter the workforce have the same set of educational qualifications. Both girls and boys have near equal access to primary and secondary education and only a 7% gap exists in tertiary education.

The report cited that political empowerment of women has improved. Female heads of state and more women in high political positions manifest this.

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