What are the origins of this fun-filled festive custom?
There are only eight countries in the world that do not provide paid maternity leave, and the United States is one of them. The others include low-income nations such as Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland).
Around the world, 44% of girls aged 14-19 believe that a husband is entitled to beat his wife due to the societal norms in their homes and countries.
In 18 countries men are allowed to prohibit their wives from working. These countries are split between Africa and the Middle East.
One in three women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. The most common form of violence against women is perpetrated by a romantic partner.
In December alone there were 140,000 job losses in the US. However, the most shocking part is that they were all women. In fact, it was 156,000 women who lost their jobs, but men gained 16,000 jobs so it balanced out at 140,000.
Gender is a major cause of poverty and hunger. The UN estimates that 60% of chronically hungry people in the world are female.
There are 29 countries that restrict the hours that women are allowed to work. In Bahrain, Nigeria, and Malaysia, women are not allowed to perform certain jobs at night.
In Qatar, single women under the age of 25 require the permission of a male guardian to travel outside of the country.
There are 36 countries with laws that limit what a wife can inherit from her husband. In Africa it often occurs that a woman inherits her husband’s land after his death but her in-laws take it or sell it and she will not be able to regain it or receive compensation.
Women are 47% more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men.
Sources: (Pan MacMillan) (CNN) (UN Women) (United Nations) (One) (The Lily)
See also: Malala Yousafzai and other young activists changing the world
There are 39 countries where a daughter cannot legally inherit the same proportion of assets as a son. In the UK, an estate must be passed down to the firstborn son, skipping the eldest daughter.
There are 17 countries that put restrictions on women’s freedom to travel outside of their homes without permission or escort by a male relative.
More than one billion women in the world do not have access to a bank account.
Over 100 countries make certain jobs off-limits for women. For example, women in Belarus are not allowed to drive buses, and in Pakistan women are not allowed to repair machinery.
There are still 117 nations that allow child marriage. It’s estimated that 33,000 girls are married each day. There are approximately 650 million women in the world who were married as children. That’s twice the population of the US.
There are 130 million girls who are not receiving an education. There are half a billion women who cannot read.
Girls in low-income countries still face massive barriers to education. It’s estimated that for every 100 boys that attend school in these countries there are only 55 girls.
In India, women spend an average of six hours on unpaid labor each day, while men spend only one. In the US, women spend four hours, while men spend two and half. There is no country in the world where the time spent is equal.
Women across the world still bear the majority of the responsibility for childcare in their families. Studies show that when men contribute to 40% of the childcare or more, the children get better test scores, have higher self-esteem, and fewer behavioral problems. The men themselves are proven to be less likely to suffer from depression or drug abuse.
That being said, women were more likely to be working part-time because of domestic responsibilities and they were still at the mercy of the gender pay gap. At the time, they were earning 81 cents for every dollar their male colleagues received.
Sadly, the imbalance worsened once the pandemic hit in early 2020. At the end of the year there were 5.4 million less women in the workforce due to job losses. Men lost 4.4 million jobs.
According to the UN, as of 2020 less than half of working-age women were in the labor market. This is a statistic that has barely changed over the last 25 years.
Renowned activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban when she was 15 years old for campaigning for the educational rights of girls in Pakistan. In many countries there is strong resistance to female empowerment.
On average, women all over the world spend twice as much time performing unpaid labor than men. This includes household chores, cooking, childcare, and caring for aging relatives.
Around the world, women make up only around 25% of parliamentary positions. This has doubled since 1995, but it would need to double again in order to be representative of the population.
In 2019 in the US, women were actually gaining a foothold in the job market. The official statistics stated that women held more jobs than men. This had only happened once in history for a very short period between 2009 and 2010.
Women's rights have come a long way over the past decades, but there's still a long way left to go. This is clear in countries that allow child marriage and require women to have male chaperones when they leave the house, but even the most developed nations in the world still harbor archaic laws and prejudices.
Some people believe that gender inequality no longer exists. This list will prove that they are very, very wrong. Click through this gallery to discover the shocking facts and statistics that show just how much progress is left to be made.
Shocking facts about gender inequality
Out of all the countries worldwide, only eight do not offer paid maternity leave, and the United States is among them
LIFESTYLE Feminism
Women's rights have come a long way over the past decades, but there's still a long way left to go. This is clear in countries that allow child marriage and require women to have male chaperones when they leave the house, but even the most developed nations in the world still harbor archaic laws and prejudices.
Some people believe that gender inequality no longer exists. This list will prove that they are very, very wrong. Click through this gallery to discover the shocking facts and statistics that show just how much progress is left to be made.