March 8 was International Women's Day and I'm writing this 5 days later now I've had a bit of a chance to think about it. Organisers asked that we 'Celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. Yet ... also be aware progress has slowed in many places across the world.' They say that 'urgent action is needed to accelerate gender parity' and that 'Leaders across the world are pledging to take action as champions of gender parity.'
Gender parity in the workplace means addressing the fact that 'Women are overrepresented in informal, temporary, and low-productivity jobs with low pay and limited opportunities for advancement' and that they 'continue to lag behind men in economic participation and opportunity by 15 to 25 percent in even the most gender-equal societies.' (McKinsey)
The McKinsey video The Power of Parity is powerful in quantifying the economic opportunities that lack of gender parity means. But as other commentators point out economic value is only part of the gender parity puzzle. Gender parity is lacking on many fronts where it could add value – politics, child and elder care, everyday sexism, tax regulations, employment policies (e.g. around family leave), land and inheritance laws and so on.
