Dealing with a backlash against gender equality

OVERVIEW

Gender politics – more polarizing than ever- can be portrayed as a zero-sum game, where supporting one gender is seen as harming another. Women still earn less than men, are underrepresented in government and most legislatures, suffer child marriage and increasing gender-based violence. Youth across the world recognize gender equality as a primary concern. So it is startling to see that some believe gender equality efforts have gone far enough. 60% of Gen Z men in 31 countries believe women’s equality discriminates against men. This backlash is partly due to outdated societal norms around masculinity and gender that reinforce sexist attitudes. The digital world exacerbates the problem by creating echo chambers and safe spaces for abuse, mirroring real-world gender-based violence.

SIGNALS

Not a single indicator for SDG5, gender equality, has been met. A quarter of people worldwide believe it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife. Women earn only 51 cents to every man’s dollar (2019). Women spend three times more hours than men on unpaid care work. Nearly 9 out of 10 men and women still hold fundamental biases against women. Given the dismal state of progress towards gender equality, it is startling that 60% of Gen Z men in 31 countries believe women’s equality discriminates against men; and even more shocking that 40% of Gen Z women think so too.  

Why is this happening? There are ways in which boys are struggling. In some contexts, boys are falling behind in education; 72,000 more girls than boys graduated high school in South Africa in 2023. In 114 countries, more women than men are in higher education. Added to that, societies expect different things of men and women. Boys are often taught to repress their emotions, which restricts relationships and reinforces sexist attitudes. It’s a point of comment when a TV show portrays emotional expression among men. Worldwide, the ideological gap between young men and women is growing, with young women increasingly more liberal than men. Online communities denigrate women and fuel the idea that progress towards gender equality is a zero-sum game where women’s gain is men’s loss.

New forms of exploitation of women are emerging with the growth of digital platforms that popularize misogynistic narratives. Chatbot abuse often has a gendered component, with men creating digital girlfriends to punish them with words and aggression. The newest emotionally expressive AI chatbots have the potential to mirror even more vividly such real-world domestic violence. Inadequate controls on social media platforms allow hate speech to spread.

Online behaviour can have a chilling effect on women’s political participation. A survey found 77% of women in the UK are not comfortable expressing political opinions online because they fear misogyny, trolling or threats in response. UNDP is piloting an online monitoring tool to track hate speech against women.

SO WHAT FOR DEVELOPMENT?

Men believe more strongly than women that gender equality is a zero-sum game in which they have the most to lose. But to build healthy, resilient societies, both women and men must able to flourish; progress towards gender equality ultimately benefits all genders. Gender equality is not a women’s issue, it’s a human one. Women and men have to come together to build the future we want.

Differentiated approaches may be needed, though. The consequences of girls or boys not going to school, for example, are different. Boys falling behind or out of school could lead to more violence and crime, possibly extremism; for girls out of school, the impacts are more likely to be domestic abuse, lower lifetime earnings, political marginalization. Differentiated policies are needed to address cumulative inequalities, too; for example, 65% of old people without pensions are women.

There are particular dangers to society that come from boys becoming isolated, being raised differently and held to traditional expectations of “masculinity”. Models encouraging positive masculinity do exist. Bogotá’s “Manzanas de Cuidado” program includes a virtual school for men, to teach caregiving skills and promote fair sharing of unpaid care work. The Global Boyhood Initiative aims to break the pattern of harmful masculine norms, handed down through generations. The Babe Locotfo campaign in Eswatini promotes positive fatherhood by encouraging fathers to be present and supportive, reaching over 230,000 people. The National Football League’s “Men against Violence” campaign in Cabo Verde mobilizes men and boys as ambassadors of gender equality.