By Ellen Wulfhorst
Prejudice against women includes thinking that university education is more important for men or that they deserve jobs more
Nine in 10 people are prejudiced against women, such as thinking university education is more important for men or that men deserve jobs more if work is scarce, the United Nations said on Thursday.
More than a quarter of men and women also think it is justified for a husband to beat his wife, found the Gender Social Norms Index by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), designed to measure how social beliefs obstruct gender equality.
“Today the fight about gender equality is a story of bias and prejudices,” Pedro Conceicao, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office, said in a statement ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday.
Using data from more than 80% of the global population, the index found some progress, including an increase in girls enrolled in primary school and a drop in maternal deaths, but also deeply ingrained prejudices. Read more…
