More women receive primary education and better healthcare, says study

Thankfully today people are aware that women need to have equal workplace rights and opportunities for us to succeed together as a society. Taking a step in this direction, Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton recently joined Gates Foundation Co-Chair Melinda Gates and Clinton Foundation Vice Chair Chelsea Clinton for the release of the ‘No Ceilings Full Participation Report’ that revealed some interesting facts about women equality around the world.

“Progress is possible, and the data provides us a roadmap for the unfinished business that remains… We’re not there yet,” announced Clinton as she addressed the gathering in New York, yesterday. Twenty years after the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, according to TIME, even though there have been major gains for women in the education and health sector; a lot of effort is required in terms of safety, economic opportunity, and leadership.

According to the report, in the health sector, there has been a huge improvement in the maternal mortality rate and the use of contraceptives.  However, Chelsea Clinton pointed out that there are still 220 million women around the world, who don’t have access to modern family planning. According to the data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), 800 women still die from preventable pregnancy complications, everyday.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Picture By: The Huffington Post

On the brighter side, the report reveals that the global gender gap for primary education has closed everywhere barring Sub Saharan Africa. However even there, the primary education rates have improved to 93 girls for every 100 boys. Sadly, these figures come down awfully when it comes to secondary education.

The most disheartening findings reveal that that sexual violence around the world is still prevalent and is widely tolerated in many cultures. According to the report by TIME, 55% women compared to 82% men, work for money. The report states that “The GDP of the USA would rise by 5% of women were equally represented. In Egypt, women’s participation would boost the GDP by a whopping 34%.”

ORIGINAL SOURCE: TIME

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