.png)
Making the case for gender equality
Feminae Carta advocates for a world in which women and girls can not only dream big, but also be able to realize their dreams through investments in their well-being, voices, and participation. It is backed by the stories and perspectives of women and girls in every corner of the world.
Creating a world in which women and girls can not only dream big, but also have their big dreams realized.
Presenting background information, evidence, and research on why investing in women's empowerment is important, and its connection with economic growth in the world.
Stages and progress
Background
Guide
Road Map
.png)
Pledge
of Support
.png)
Think Tank
.png)
Petition
for actions
Impact
Reports
Thank you to our partners
Updates
Watch this space for the latest updates, media features, events, and convenings held as part of our Feminae Carta Initiative.
Feminae Carta global summit 2021
Paris, France
.jpeg)
Speakers
Feminae Carta Research Retreat
An opportunity for our researchers to learn from experts, professors and fellow researchers from universities, institutions, and non-profits globally. All of the individuals also had experience studying at various universities around the world. The focus of this retreat was sparking conversations about the biggest issues that women face, potential solutions, and how research is effectively conducted in an academic and non-profit sector.
Research consultations
To understand the current work that is being done for gender equality by different nonprofits and companies, our researchers had the opportunity to meet with experts and leaders in the field. These closed conversations provided them an opportunity to learn more about the work being done, but also possibilities for the future and potential solutions through collaborations between non-state actors. Below, are the companies/nonprofits whose members we had a chance to consult with:
.png){kind=small}
Background
guide
Scroll Down
Dear reader,
Gender Inequalities have been prevalent throughout our world for so many years, and this is a fact that is known to women all over the world. We all face gender inequality differently in our lives, due to the intersection of our identities, and there is a lot of work which is yet to be done to ensure that women are given equal treatment, and equal opportunities to pursue the goals of their dreams. Our incredible group of researchers share a common belief: that big, bold ideas and policy shifts for gender equality are possible, and needed. We hope that through this background guide, you are able to learn more about this important cause, and gain insights into how to take action.
Research Navigation
Women's Well-Being
Women's Voices
Women's Participation
Meet our researchers
To prepare our background guide, we had an incredible group of more than 20 researchers from 23+ countries work with us, who have collectively studied at more than 30 of the world's leading universities.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Mariel vander schuur
United States
.jpg)
Women's Well-Being
Health
North America | Latin America | Europe |
Middle East and north africa | East asia | South asia | Oceania | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central asia
North America and Latin America
The current status quo kills, harms, and severely injures women and girls all over North and Latin America in multiple forms.
Healthcare requires massive investment, and policymakers who are willing to put it on the top of their agenda.
Access is possible where resources, infrastructure, training, and specialized staff are. Considering the expenses, it would be an intuitive conclusion to suppose wealthier countries would have better healthcare systems. Let us test this assumption.
We have all found ourselves in complicated circumstances because we acted solely guided by the motivation to “be right” or “this is how things are done,” which is true both for individuals and societies. However, the political consequences of this mindset are far more dangerous and impact life or death decisions, mainly for minorities. The dynamics of dominance and reproduction of structural inequalities are the status quo, and they actively hinder advances in women’s health. Therefore, demanding a “conscious focus on social justice” to alter the power relations and move forward on gender equity (George et al. 2020).
In a nutshell: women’s health challenges are intrinsically connected to political and social structures, such as misogyny and racism.
Sub-saharan
Africa
Access to healthcare and medical services is crucial in every part of the world, particularly for women who are the foundation of society and families, and whose choices can affect the future of a community through their children.
There are common challenges that must be addressed for an overall fundamental rethinking of how to approach healthcare
The majority of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are unable to provide adequate access to quality healthcare, especially because most of the healthcare is urban-centered, leaving rural areas severely underserved.
Despite many ongoing trials and tribulations that women in Africa face due to lack of healthcare resources, there are equally as many organizations and initiatives, not to mention governments that are trying their best to bridge this gap. In Kenya, where the period poverty issue is out of hand, many organizations have stepped in to help provide resources. On the coast of Kenya, an organization for women with disabilities, Tunaweza, is making strides. They have designed affordable reusable pads that are environmentally friendly using local materials (Project, 2019).
To improve the responsiveness of health care systems, it is important to increase access to services by removing financial barriers to help make women more independent.
Oceania and East Asia
While it is a basic right of each and every woman, all over the world women are suffering from a lack of basic medical care and supplies.
There are common challenges that must be addressed for an overall fundamental rethinking of how to approach healthcare
While Australia is one of the leaders in healthcare in the world, there is a section of the country that suffers from severe health problems.
An organisation called Reach Out has been started to help people cope with their addiction to alcohol or any other addiction that they are facing. This will be an enormous help to them as it will provide them with tools they can use to help not only themselves but also a loved one who may be going through hard times. It provides its services free and anonymous so that individuals are more comfortable with sharing their circumstances and reaching out for help.
As we have seen above, there are many organisations that are dedicated to helping women in Oceania and East Asia have healthy and safe lives. While their work is admirable, there is much more that could be done.
Women's Well-Being
Gender-based
violence
North America | Latin America | Europe |
Middle East and north africa | East asia | South asia | Oceania | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central asia
East Asia
And Central Asia
The consequences of gender-based violence are devastating and can have life-long repercussions for survivors. It can even lead to death.
Most women remain vulnerable to gender based violence and are excluded from decision-making processes both locally and at the national level, which contributes to social and economic disadvantages for these women, and the countries as a whole.
Although many countries in Central Asia have adopted policies to address violence against women, the problem still remains. Countries like Kyrgyzstan have cited that gender based violence has no borders and it exposes everyone regardless of the age, gender or nationality. The Republic of Kyrgyzstan has set up legal protection and policies that recognize family violence as a dangerous and unacceptable phenomenon that should be fought at all levels.
An affirmative action and raising of educational awareness on issues dealing with women and girls rights is needed, in order to build a cohesive society that enables women and girls to thrive.
Education
Women's Voices
North America | Latin America | Europe |
Middle East and north africa | East asia | South asia | Oceania | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central asia
Europe
Numbers are always indicative of progress, but they are also indicative of the work that needs to be done.
The fast rate of technological advancements has increased risks for threats, intimidation and harassment. In EU countries, one in five 18-29 year-olds reported having experienced cyber harassment.
There are a number of treaties and mechanisms established within an EU level that aim to address gender disparity. A lot of gender based data that concerns participation in various levels of education include countries such as Turkey, Albania and Bosnia Herzegovina that do not belong in the EU but are located in Europe. Therefore, governments, organizations and the public can have a comparative understanding of the conditions in the region.
There was a rise of women’s transnational organizing at the European level and the most prominent organization of that rise was the umbrella organization European Women’s Lobby (Revillard and Bereni).
Oceania, Middle East and North Africa
Education is one of the most valuable investments a State can make to ensure a sustainable and healthy future for its people.
Poverty is a pervasive issue in the Oceania and MENA region that not only impacts girls’ lives but everyones. However, society tends to place most burdens on their female populations because they are neither valued or respected.
The regions of Oceania have progressed to minimize the gender disparity in their educational systems. However, the rate at which changes are occurring is extremely slow to match the changing needs of women and girls in the region.
The Secretariat of the Pacfic Community’s report on women’s rights in the Pacfic stated that many promises have been made by governments to enhance women’s access to human rights through institutional mechanisms.
Girls education is necessary for acquiring sustainable and healthy futures for everyone. Giving girls access to equitable education is a vital investment for our world. When girls thrive by learning and developing their own passions in life, the world becomes more peaceful and sustainable as new ideas and perspectives are shared. Multiple studies and research has shown the economic, political, social, and environmental benefits of having educated women and girls. Oceania and MENA countries have definitely progressed in making improvements to their female population’s access to education, however, many structural and societal barriers block girls from achieving education they feel respected, included, and celebrated in.
Sub-saharan Africa
By Mariel Vander Schuur
According to UNESCO, there are 132 million young girls out of school globally. Just 66 percent of countries have achieved gender equality in primary education, 45 percent in lower secondary education, and 25 percent in upper secondary education.
In Cameroon, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 70 percent of women are illiterate. A variety of factors have led to the lack of education for women. Traditional values and inadequate family support are a cause for lack of success.
In addition to CAMFED, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (or FAWE for short) has run a sexual reproductive health and rights project over the duration of three years that has reached over 28,000 children in Kenya and Uganda. Education on sexual reproductive health is essential in these countries, as it encompasses information on the dangers of unprotected sex (such as HIV and early pregnancy) which are some of the leading factors that cause girls to drop out of school.
Across all Sub-Saharan countries, the Covid-19 global pandemic has taken a toll on young women in their pursuit of education at all levels. Time has shown that when crises strike their countries, local communities, and families, women are the ones who step up to do what is needed for themselves and their families — whether that means working jobs during a public health crisis or leaving school to care for their younger siblings. These young girls all across Africa need support, such as internet access, meals, or portable radios, in order to be successful in school.
South and
East Asia
Inspiring progress has been made in the past few decades to close the school enrolment gender gap in the developing world, yet this progress does not reflect the true state of girls’ education.
Food or literacy, safety or violence, comfort or discomfort; these are choices that must be made when girls want an education in some countries. This is more prevalent in South Asia than in East Asia, however, both regions can improve girls’ education.
NGOs and governments have stepped up in recent years to campaign for girls’ education, provide support and incentives to send girls to school. It is important to note that enrolment is not an indicator of true progress, as educational inequality still exists within schools. Albeit at a slower rate, educational reform is occurring as well to combat gender inequality within schools. This section will look at promising initiatives by communities, NGOs and governments to educate girls effectively.
The immense progress made in recent years for girls’ education should serve as an optimistic reminder that bringing various parts of society together meaningfully can initiate much change. It should also remind us how fragile this change is; a brief pause in the collaboration between governments, NGOs and community members on girls’ education will be detrimental. Under the scope of the COVID-19 pandemic, the focus of policymakers in many countries has largely shifted to dealing with the direct impacts of the pandemic, putting the progress made on girls’ education at risk. There are many opportunities to improve girls' education, some of which will be discussed in this section in the context of COVID-19 and the post-pandemic world.
Empowerment
Women's Voices
North America | Latin America | Europe |
Middle East and north africa | East asia | South asia | Oceania | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central asia
North America and Latin America
Empowerment can take many forms: including economic, political, and social just to name a few. It guarantees that women and girls have control over their lives and can participate actively in all spheres of society.
The right to vote was a first step in modern history and it paved the way towards the inclusion of women in the political sphera as well as the educational one.
Increasing women empowerment is beneficial for all of us. One way we can do this is by continuing to implement policies and supporting organizations that aim to reduce inequalities among men and women with an intersectional perspective. It has been proven that lowering gender inequality by 10 percentage points could boost growth by 2 percentage points over five years (Kolovich, 2018).
The COVID pandemic is one of the many factors that poses a threat to women empowerment. The augmentation of domestic violence puts women’s and girl's life’s at risk.Women are also on the front lines in the battle against the pandemic, making up over 70% of workers in the health sector and facing higher infection risks than men in the workplace (UNDESA 2020)
Europe, Middle East and North AfriCa
By Rosella Cottam
Empowerment has a “transformative ability to affect power relations in societies”, and therefore the empowerment of women is an essential component of the development and interests of nations around the world (Moghadam, 2016).
Insufficient progress has been made to empower women to deal with the changing burdens and deepening inequalities within society, including in challenges to caregiving burdens, healthcare access, power, health, discrimination and violence
There have been efforts towards improving empowerment through raising the voices of women in policy making roles, and increasing opportunities to influence laws and debates. An example of this can be seen in Algeria, where there have been efforts to increase women’s empowerment in national parliaments, and by 2013, this has led to 31.6% of women in parliament. This example shows that efforts have had success, yet progress is still needed to reach greater empowerment.
Change can also be created through increasing public knowledge through innovative processes and research suggestions, which creates opportunities for more inclusive solutions for women. On the ground, young activists have also needed resources in order to deliver change, and this includes technology, networks, skills, and collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations to empower women within their communities (UNGEI, 2014).
Government Recommendations:
In Europe, the key recommendations for developing women’s empowerment through governments is to make empowerment a central issue, and to develop initiatives which are accessible to all. This will help to ensure that all girls and women are empowered to make their own decisions and live in a more inclusive society.
In the MENA region, the key recommendations for developing women’s empowerment through governments is to focus on aspects of empowerment outside of solely economic empowerment. This could be enhanced through industry-specific initiatives to improve the confidence and opportunities open to women, and to consider the motivations and distribution of empowerment benefits.
Through these policies, governments will become equipped to empower women, and to make gender equality a policy priority in the world today.
In the
Workplace
Women's Participation
North America | Latin America | Europe |
Middle East and north africa | East asia | South asia | Oceania | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central asia
North america and Latin America
Whether or not we knew this downfall was coming; whether or not the world was prepared for this emergency, we are the few who are willing and able to stand up and stop the cyclical disenfranchising of women and minorities.
Whether for themselves, their families or for others, women caring for the basic necessities of survival should not be worth nothing because it becomes a massive barrier for women to request payment for any work.
Although the issues that women face are widespread and pervasive throughout every step of a woman’s career, programs exist that are currently helping to create the opportunities and awareness that women need to change the system rigged against them. These programs are one step in the right direction however, they cannot address every issue by themselves.
Corporations have a multitude of opportunities to change their ways, for example universities who have offered tenure-clock deadline extensions due to the pandemic are actually exacerbating the issues between men and women.
Oceania and East Asia
The traditional division of labour by gender and gender stereotypes persists. It is still difficult for women to access leadership in the workplace. Countries share these common issues in the region.
The wide gender pay gap has been prevalent in East Asia due to unequal access to the job market and statistical discrimination against women. There are limitations on the types of jobs that women have access to.
Gender equality in employment was incorporated into the South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s policy agenda in 2017. He announced ‘no irregular workers in the public sector’ which pushed forward the conversion of irregular workers into regular workers with their working conditions significantly improved.
The UN emphasizes the need for a gender-responsive economic and social policies which place women’s economic lives at the heart of the pandemic recovery plans.
Middle East, North Africa and South Asia
The inclusion of women in professional and technical jobs can contribute to drastic changes across all sectors and industries, it can turbo-charge economic growth in regions that will be significantly impacted by the Fourth Industrial Revolution—making their participation all the more critical.
Integration into employment is not limited only to the will of individuals but to a set of factors that are often interlinked, preventing women from unleashing their talent and full potential.
Although there is still much ground to cover in terms of creating more favourable conditions for the development and strengthening of women’s economic activity, there appears to be commitment at the highest levels of governments to elevate the status of women in society and expand their economic opportunities.
Build the most critical infrastructure to enable women to access work: for example, remote work facilities, subsidized rent for private-sector companies to set up offices in remote areas, and female-friendly public transportation systems (International Labour Organization Regional Office for Arab States, 2016).
Peace building
Women's Participation
North America | Latin America | Europe |
Middle East and north africa | East asia | South asia | Oceania | Sub-Saharan Africa | Central asia
Europe and Central
Asia
When faced with the destruction of conflicts and wars, the importance of achievement of a sustainable peace is understood. At this point, women's participation in the peacebuilding process comes into prominence.
Women have participated more actively to civil society organizations, which have been working for peace building dialogue and cooperation, rather than formal processes. However, unfortunately, these organizations are stigmatized (WILPF et al. 2017).
Peace agreements have a crucial role in terms of rebuilding and shaping better environments in post-conflict societies. The rise of emphasis on women in those documents gives important clues about better conditions for women’s participation in peace building activities and processes.
The construction of sustainable development, peace and more importantly gender equality in post-conflict societies is possible with the inclusion of women. Thus, it needs to bear in mind that putting feminist perspectives in peace building processes cannot be evaluated as an option, it should be considered as mandatory.
Sub-Saharan Africa
“Women are leading change in small ways that matter for their societies and communities – advancing quality education and access to health care, fighting for rights, struggling for full participation in political life, promoting peace, reconciliation and development.” - Mrs. Irina Bokova
Without active political representation to combat the militia, threats to the safety of women, and instability in the region, women will continue to suffer disproportionately from the impacts of this conflict.
The effectiveness of national and regional frameworks can be observed in the 2015 Millennium Development Goals report, which found that women in Sub-saharan Africa are gaining more power in the realm of politics and civil life.
To promote women's economic empowerment and political participation, it is imperative that microfinance, local savings groups, and community banks support women in Subsaharan Africa who may not possess collateral for loans from advanced financial institutions.
North America and Latin America
Over the last decade, there have been significant changes in the status of women, the level of peace, and the role of women in peace building in the North America and Latin America regions as a whole as well as within various nations in these regions.
Guatemalan women activists have also acted to both reduce negative gender perceptions of men towards women within the country and to positively influence women’s rights worldwide (Inclusivepeace.org, 2021).
While the report so far seems focused on South and Central America as opposed to North America (defined in the GPI as Canada and the US), this is because different overarching problems face these nations, usually developing nations with recent histories of civil conflict, which are different from those facing North America.
Political and legal empowerment reform has been significant not only for ensuring equal access to the mechanisms of power and increasing female civic engagement but also in strengthening democratic norms and the legitimacy of governments in fragile states.