- The very mention of gender disparity is bound to make most of us cringe and wring out our hands in despair as the matter keeps hitting headlines but consistently fails to deliver on expected lines. Despite the modern-day governments leaving no stone unturned in introducing pathbreaking measures to ring in gender parity, equal opportunities, unbiased treatment, a level-playing field, and equitable disposition, men mostly receive prominence as compared to women is an inalienable fact. The reason for the as-yet-unchanged societal preferences still leaning toward men only shows how deeply embedded our misogynistic and patriarchal mindset pervades.
PC: Dr. Sophy K.J
- Yes, concerted efforts to change the same have yielded limited results. And it shows on several fronts too. But is it enough? No way. Take for instance how gender disparity has influenced wealth creation within society even as efforts to usher in equality gain momentum around the world. Even though this is not a novel finding, what makes WTW’s 2022 global gender wealth equity report interesting is that it tries to isolate the causes using a sample of 39 countries. No surprises as to what the report mentions. On average, women are expected to accumulate 74% of wealth as compared to men at the time of retirement.
- Needless to mention, the main causes for the difference are a gender pay gap and women’s delayed career trajectories on account of caregiving. You see, women are not only expected to bear and rear children but also provide undivided attention all through. Men barely manage to join hands in sharing these responsibilities with women. As such, the onus squarely rests on women who are expected to juggle between domestic and professional commitments. Ask any career-oriented woman how challenging it is to sail in two different boats. Moreover, a stop-start career for women because of social attitudes means that it’s in senior positions, where the pyramid narrows and most wealth is created, that there are the largest gender gaps.
PC: Vanya Umranikar
- There’s no silver bullet to change things. Where do the Indian women figure in all this? As it is, Indian society is too heavily loaded in favour of the male gender and considers women to be relegated to essaying not more than a second-fiddle role most often than not. Let’s consider two examples here. With women expected to accumulate only 64% of wealth as compared to men, India is the worst performer among the 12 Asia-Pacific countries studied. The trade-off between a smooth career trajectory and caregiving has an outsized influence in India, where only 3% of women in the workforce occupy senior positions.
- In comparison, even though Argentina has highly qualified women, with a relatively high proportion in leadership roles, it fares a shade worse than India. As reported, the Argentinian economy is prone to bouts of hyperinflation. Thanks to insufficient financial literacy, has a bigger impact on women’s accumulated wealth. Gender-wise wealth disparity is a product of deeper inequalities that are not easily remedied. Did someone say the tectonic shift is warranted to change the perspective of society toward gender equality? You bet. It’s time concrete steps are initiated on this front.
