Helen Tyte

Why does Gender Equality Matter?

Today we observed International Women’s Day. The first time this was celebrated was in 1911 and was supported by over a million people.

According to data from the World Economic Forum, if progress continues at the current rate, it will take until 2158, roughly five generations from now, to reach full gender parity.

This year’s theme is Accelerate Action, recognising that progress has been made, but emphasising the importance of taking faster and more decisive steps to achieve gender equality.
It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.

Throughout history people have been treated differently based on their gender. Women were seen as ‘the weaker sex’, the homemaker, often having the responsibility for taking care of the children. Evolution played a huge role in this, dividing the roles of early human life when women birthed babies and men went out to find food and protect the tribe from attack. Men’s bodies naturally evolved to become physically stronger.

The dictionary definition of equality is: the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities.

Looking back, we can see that women have not always had the same rights and opportunities as men. Even into the 20th century, female authors were often published under pseudonyms or anonymously due to their position in society and fears that their work would be judged more harshly because of their gender. This included the Brontë sisters, and the books Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

The law banning women from wearing trousers wasn’t actually officially revoked in France until January 31st, 2013!

In 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst started the Women’s Social and Political Union, and members became known as ‘suffragettes’. The suffragettes believed in taking action so that people would listen to them. Many thought that they were criminals because of this. Emmeline Pankhurst was arrested several times for speaking out. In the UK in June 1913, one suffragette, Emily Davison, was fatally injured after stepping in front of the king’s horse during the Epsom Derby. Her death was a landmark event in British political history and became a milestone in the struggle for women’s suffrage.

At the outbreak of World War One, the suffragettes agreed to suspend their campaigns and support the war effort. In 1918, just before World War One ended, the government finally passed a law giving some women the right to vote for the first time. The British government introduced a law allowing all men over the age of 21 and all women over 30 who owned a home, or were married to a homeowner, to be able to vote in elections. For the first time, some women had the right to vote in British elections. As this allowance was afforded to only a minority of women, many continued to fight for equality. In 1918, women were allowed to stand as MPs for the first time in the UK, and Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to Parliament. The suffragettes believed that female representatives in Parliament would help in the fight for equality.

In 1928, all women over the age of 21, regardless of whether or not they owned a home, were given the right to vote on the same terms as men. The Representation of the People Act 1969 lowered the voting age for both men and women to 18 years old.

Historical gender inequality is carefully documented, but we often think of ourselves as more modern, and find it difficult to believe that we can still treat people with prejudice or discrimination. Are women still treated unequally?

In the majority of organised sports, women do not compete against, or alongside, men. There can be physical reasons why they don’t compete directly against each other in many sports, but motor racing is not one of them. There’s no anatomical difference stopping women from beating men when driving a car around a track. Since its inception in 1950, only three women have qualified and started a Formula One World Championship race. Maria Teresa de Filippis was the first woman to qualify for a Grand Prix. The only time she was prevented from racing was at the French Grand Prix. The race director refused to let her race saying, “The only helmet a woman should wear is the one at the hairdresser’s.” Since 1992, no female driver has even competed in Formula One.

When you search for results of the English National football team, the internet consistently brings up the men’s team, ignoring the fact that the women’s team has recently been more successful.

Here in Bermuda, Loreta Packwood and Jennie Foster Skelton became the first women ordained for ministry in the Anglican Church of Bermuda as recently as 2022. The first.

I have taught at many different primary schools and the majority of my teaching colleagues have been women. The majority of the headteachers have been male.

In politics, since the office was established in 1789, all 47 US presidencies have been held by men, we have yet to see a female president.

On a more personal note, my grandfather became an amazing bus driver after the war, but refused to teach my mum how to drive a car. However, he happily taught my uncle. The difference? Mum was female, and grandad expected her husband to drive her around. It’s a good job that mum paid for her own driving lessons, as my dad no longer has a licence due to blindness!

As Christians we look to the Bible for a deeper understanding of the world. In Galatians 3:28 we learn that, ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’

Romans 2:11 tells us that, ‘God shows no partiality.’
We should be looking to empower all people and treating them like Jesus would have.

In Matthew 28:19 Jesus tells his disciples to ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ God was sending them with the Holy Spirit to all people.

Throughout the Bible, and wherever he went, Jesus showed God’s love and compassion for everyone. He met people ‘where they were at’, especially the marginalised. We too, should aim to share God’s love with everybody, regardless of our differences.

Our Bible reading today, where Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well, showed that Jesus crossed cultural, social, and gender boundaries.

Jesus was travelling through Samaria, which most Jews would have avoided. The woman was a Samaritan, ‘living in sin’ with a man who was not her husband, and Jesus met her at Jacob’s well and asked her for water.

In those times, no respectable Jewish man would have talked to a woman under such circumstances, but Jesus did. The woman’s living arrangements would have been seen as ‘markedly immoral’.

She was alone at the well at the hottest part of the day. The well would have been a general meeting point for people, but they would only make the walk for water in the cooler parts of the day. The woman had specifically chosen the time when she stood the best chance of being alone. Yet she met Jesus, a Jewish man of impeccable character, with whom she should not have had a conversation.

We know that the event shocked the disciples, for when they returned from buying food and saw the two chatting, they were ‘astonished’.

Jesus asked the woman for water and told her that if she had known with whom she was chatting, she would have asked for the ‘living water’.

Jesus crossed cultural, social, and gender boundaries to show the Samaritan woman that the gospel is for every person, no matter what his or her race, social position, past sins, or gender. Like Jesus, we too must be prepared to share the gospel at any time and in any place.

Recent research by UNICEF tells us that adolescent girls face higher burdens of domestic work, disproportionate risks of child marriage, and greater threats of gender-based violence.

They also face more severe consequences when cut off from critical care. Girls typically receive less support than boys to pursue studies such as science and mathematics. In low-income countries, many miss out because their schools cannot meet girls’ safety and hygiene needs, or because families living in poverty tend to favour boys when investing in their children’s futures.

As a result, twice as many girls as boys globally are not in any form of education, employment or training by the time they reach late adolescence.

There are 129 million girls out of school because of challenges like poverty, child marriage, and violence.

Statistics like this show us that we need to work together to end gender inequality by focusing on persistent issues like the gender pay gap, lack of representation in leadership roles, gender-based violence, and unequal access to education and opportunities.

We need to be like Jesus and break down the gender barrier, and we need to do it quickly. We need to Accelerate our Action.