International Women’s Day 2015: Four shocking facts about gender equality at work and in business
On International Women's Day, and 20 years after the Bejing declaration on women's rights, the UN concluded that "despite marginal progress, we have years, even decades to go until women enjoy the same rights and benefits as men at work."
Here are five shocking facts about gender equality in work and business.
1.
The gap between the number of men and women working across the globe has fallen only slightly over the last two decades.
In 1995 labour market participation was at 80 per cent for men and 52 per cent for women. Now, that stands at 77 per cent for men and 50 per cent for women.
That closed the gap by just one single percentage point in 20 years.
A 25 per cent reduction in the gap between men and women in G20 countries by 2025 would add more than a 100m women to the global labour force.
2.
A 14-week minimum maternity leave is offered by just over half the countries in the world.
That is an increase from the 38 per cent of countries which offered that back in 1995, however 41 per cent of women – around 800m – still don’t have adequate maternity protection.
Just under half of countries offer some form of paternity leave compared to 28 per cent in 1994
3.
For every tenner earned by a man, a woman makes £7.70.
At this rate, the gap in pay according to gender won't be eliminated until 2086 unless there's targeted action, the UN says.
4.
This chart.
Just five per cent of CEO's in the world are female, while 30 per cent of all businesses around the world are owned and managed by women.