It has recently been confirmed that the UK has fallen out of the top 20 most gender-equal countries in the world. Last year, the UK was ranked at 18th in the Global Gap Report, but this year fell to a disappointing 26th. This also means that the average earning for women has dropped from £18,000 to £15,400, indicating that the gender gap between men and women is becoming increasingly wider on a national level.
Eva Neitzert, the Deputy Chief-Executive of Fawcett Society, explained that over the past five years, the UK has seen a range of key markers of gender equality go backwards. Indeed, this is further supported by the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, Gloria De Piero. She said the analysis was a “damning indictment of David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s record for women…Their policies have meant that women’s wages are lower this year than last year and the gender pay gap is back on the rise after years of falling under Labour.”
Iceland gained first place in the gender-equal states, followed by Finland and Norway. In contrast, Yemen was the least equal country but ahead of Pakistan and Chad.
But what does this mean for women’s rights in the UK? Feminists have certainly become more outspoken and stronger in their vision for gender equality recently, but this seems to be mainly directed at the exploitation of women as sexual symbols. For example, Dr Matt Taylor recently made a very tearful apology for wearing a shirt which featured cartoon images of women wearing bondage gear and firing guns. But this is not the only issue we should be addressing.
What about the ever growing pay-gap in the workplace? In a report carried out by Fawcett Society in August 2014, it was found that the gender pay gap is currently 19.1%, but this increases considerably over the course of a working woman’s life. The report showed that women aged 20-29 have a pay gap of 4%; at age 30-39 it rises to 11.2% and for those aged 40-49 the pay gap hits a massive 24.1%.
With the gender gap getting increasingly bigger, and the UK slipping down the equality ladder, it is understandable that women – and men – are beginning to stand up and voice how unfair this is. Gender equality should be going forward, not backwards, and with the general elections happening in 2015, many will want to know what the government are going to do about this national problem. The elections will provide leaders of all the parties with the opportunity to walk the talk of their commitments to furthering equality between men and women, and it will be interesting to see how they do this over the next six months.
Feminism is simply the desire for gender equality – for women not deemed to be less value than men. In a country where pay and life opportunities show this still has not been obtained, it can be safely said that feminism is still strongly needed.