Gender Social Norms Index 2023

Gender Social Norms Index 2023

News: The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) 2023 has been released.

About GSNI:
• It is released by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• The index tracks people’s attitudes towards women across few dimensions - political, educational, economic and physical integrity. It has helped in examining how biased beliefs can obstruct gender equality and human rights.

Key Findings:
• Despite progress in education, gender gaps in economic empowerment persist. The increase in women's education has not translated into better economic outcomes. In 59 countries where adult women are more educated than men, the average income gap is 39%.
• Countries with higher bias in gender social norms witness a significant disparity in domestic chores and care work. Women spend nearly six times more time on these tasks than men, limiting their opportunities for personal and professional growth.
• Around half the world’s population believe that men make better political leaders than women, and two in five believe that men make better business executives than women.
• Countries with greater bias exhibit a lower representation of women in parliament. On average, the share of heads of state or government who are women has remained around 10% worldwide since 1995, and women hold just over a quarter of parliament seats globally.
• Women are grossly underrepresented in leadership in conflict-affected countries, mainly at the negotiation tables in the recent conflicts in Ukraine (0%), Yemen (4%), and Afghanistan (10%).

Are there any hopeful signs?
• Overall progress has been limited. But there is an increase in the share of people with no bias in any indicator in 27 out of 38 surveyed countries.
• The largest improvements were seen in Germany, Uruguay, New Zealand, Singapore, and Japan, with progress greater among men than women. These major improvements in gender social norms were influenced by policies, regulations and scientific breakthroughs.

Which are government schemes for women empowerment in India?
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme – To address declining child sex ratio and promote education and participation of girl child.
• One stop centre scheme - The One Stop Centres are established at various locations in India for providing shelter, police desk, legal, medical and counselling services to victims of violence under one roof integrated with a 24-hour Helpline.
• Mahila E-Haat - direct online marketing platform launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to support women entrepreneurs, SHG’s, NGO’s to showcase products made and services rendered by them.
• SWADHAR Greh – To cater to primary needs of shelter, food, clothing and medical treatment and care of women in distress.
• Mahila Shakti Kendra – To empower rural women through community participation.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana