World bodies have defined gender equality as related to human rights, especially women's rights, and economic development. UNICEF defines gender equality as "levelling the playing field for girls and women by ensuring that all children have equal opportunity to develop their talents." The United Nations Population Fund declared gender equality "first and foremost, a human right." "Gender equity" is one of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Project, to end world poverty by 2015; the project claims, "Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner."
Semantics
Many followers of this philosophy would like to see this term come to replace “feminism” or “masculism,” when used to describe a belief in basic equal rights and opportunities for members of both sexes within legal, social, or corporate establishments. They strive for ultimate fairness, and seek cooperative solutions so as to make things better for both males, females and everything in between. While they may share a number of critiques and analyses with self-described feminists and/or masculists, they feel that “egalitarianism” is a better word for a belief in equality than any word that focuses on one of the genders.
See also
General issues
- Complementarianism
- Egalitarianism
- Gender mainstreaming
- Male abortion
- Sex and gender distinction
- List of important publications in sociology of gender
Specific issues
Laws
- Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW (United Nations, 1979)
- Equal Pay Act of 1963 (United States)
- Equality Act 2006 (UK)
- Equality Bill (UK)
- European charter for equality of women and men in local life
- Gender Equity Education Act (Taiwan)
- Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (United States)
- Uniform civil code (India)
- Women's Petition to the National Assembly (France, 1789)
Organizations and ministries
- Afghan Ministry of Women Affairs (Afghanistan)
- Christians for Biblical Equality
- Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (European Parliament)
- Equal Opportunities Commission (UK)
- European Institute for Gender Equality
- Gender Empowerment Measure, a metric used by the United Nations
- Gender-related Development Index, a metric used by the United Nations
- Government Equalities Office (UK)
- International Center for Research on Women
- Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality (Sweden)
- Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (Malaysia)
- National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (Philippines)
References
Dennis O'Brien (May 30, 2008). "Gender gap clues". Baltimore SunExternal links
- GENDERNET, International forum of gender experts working in support of gender equality. Development Co-operation Directorate of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Gender Equality as Smart Economics World Bank
- The Local Gender equality in Sweden (news collection)
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Last updated on Friday July 25, 2008 at 19:26:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
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