15 strategies helping to close the gender gap around the world

There is still a huge amount of work to do to achieve gender equality around the world.

The time it will take to close the gender gap grew by 36 years in just 12 months, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021. This means it will now take an estimated 135.6 years for men and women to reach parity, according to the report, which assesses areas including economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and political empowerment.

Nevertheless, there are significant pockets of progress.

This selection of archive articles highlights how and where that progress has been made, and offers some strategies to help us keep addressing the imbalance.

Recognizing a problem is often seen as an important part of solving it. These 2015-20 data visualizations from UN Women show how women are represented in different professions around the world.

Women have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with more leaving the workforce and taking on unpaid caregiving or domestic duties. Governments will need to invest in specific policies to change this, for example by improving care leave or providing more preschools.

Diversity is good for business. More female role models and mentors can ensure greater representation, according to digital transparency firm Everledger.

Companies with more women in leadership roles hire more women right across the board, according to data from LinkedIn. Being aware of unconscious bias and building strong internal pipelines for promotion will improve hiring rates for women in leadership positions.

Rwanda has made significant progress in getting more women into politics. It boasts the highest share of women in parliament in the world, according to statistics from the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Quotas have been key to this, and are used in many electoral systems that have more women as legislators and MPs.

Without access to a formal bank account, women are often left without insurance, credit facilities or loans. New technology and products should be designed with these women in mind so that more low-income women are included in financial systems.

Some countries are taking great leaps on paternity leave. However, several wealthy nations are still failing to provide adequate government-supported leave, according to the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF.

One explanation of the gender pay gap is that women tend to be less competitive than men in workplace settings. However, new research suggests that women are likely to be more competitive if they can share their winnings as they are often team players. More research in this field could help inform thinking about how best to close the gender pay gap.

Women’s extra efforts to support colleagues are being overlooked, according to McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2021 report. Women often intervene to manage the wellbeing or inclusion of fellow workers. But this work is rarely noticed or rewarded.

The pandemic has caused companies to default to hiring male CEOs, according to global research. Firms have tended to opt for leaders with a proven track record, or experience as a CEO – a trend that favours men. Being mindful of this will help ensure the progress made pre-pandemic is not reversed.

Efforts need to be made at government, academic and corporate levels to address the gender imbalance in scientific fields, says UNESCO. One example of this is to check that AI systems are not biased against women candidates for technical roles. Some technology companies are already taking a lead in this area.

The share of female inventors named in Patent Cooperation Treaty applications filed in 2020 was just 16%, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. Mentoring and advising less-experienced female inventors so they can identify patent-worthy ideas will help address the imbalance and propel more women into leadership positions.

Women around the world only have three-quarters of the legal rights of men, on average, according to the World Bank. And fewer than half of the world’s countries have equal pay. A legal environment that encourages women’s economic inclusion will help make progress in many areas, including narrowing the gender pay gap.

Violence against women and girls is “still so deeply embedded in cultures around the world that it is almost invisible”, according to a UN human rights expert. And the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020 found that between a fifth and nearly half of women globally suffer physical or sexual abuse from their male partners. The UN expert is calling for countries to set up prevention bodies and to monitor the violence, rather than leaving this work to human rights or women’s groups.

Start-ups with a diverse workforce report almost 20% higher innovation revenues, or proceeds from recently launched products and services, according to the Boston Consulting Group. However, a separate report highlights that few start-ups are actively trying to increase diversity within their leadership teams.