Artists4ERA

Inspiring equality for everyone!

International

“How do we compare to other countries?”

Download stats and quotes for Intl Womens Day, March 8Download
  • Gender equality is included in 168 international constitutions but not in ours (source, Southern Legal Counsel). Our state department required Afghanistan to add gender equality to their constitution despite it missing in ours.
  • In 2018, the United States was ranked as the 10th most dangerous country in the world for women. We tied for third with Syria for countries where women most risked sexual violence, harassment and coercion into sex, and sixth regarding non-sexual violence such as domestic and mental abuse (source, Reuters). For more information on gender violence please see our FAQ “Gender Violence.”
  • Every year the World Economic Forum measures gender equality in countries around the world and America recently dropped below the top third. 
    • In 2020 America ranked 53rd of 153 countries (source, World Economic Forum)
      • RANK 26: Economic Participation and Opportunity
      • RANK 34: Educational Attainment
      • RANK 70: Health and Survival
      • RANK 86: Political Power
    • This major drop in less than a decade is less about a devolving situation in America but is better described as lack of progress / stagnation as other countries have made tremendous efforts and progress. However, with COVID-19 hitting American women so hard, the gender gap and associated rankings will likely be much worse in the coming years. For more information on how COVID-19 is impacting gender equality, please see our FAQ “COVID-19.” 
  • Similarly, when the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law examined laws and regulations affecting women’s prospects as entrepreneurs and employees in 2019, again the United States fell just out of the top third for women across 187 economies. (source, World Bank Group).
  • America ranked below the group average inThe Economist’s 2021 Glass Ceiling Index. Of the 29 members of OECD ranked in the index, America was ranked 18th. (source, summary in Axios / details in The Economist (subscription required).
Below average on your report card = there’s work to do / more effort to put in!
  • The gender equality gap is expected to close (on average, across all countries) in 99.5 years, the gender equality gap in America is not expected to close for 208 years (source, Equality Can’t Wait). Although nobody living today will see gender equality in their lifetime, we can work to ensure constitutional gender equality now.

208 is a damning, daunting number.
What it’s not, however, is destiny.

World Economic Forum
  • Political gender parity in the United States is ranked 11th from the bottom for all countries in the Americas and Europe. The U.S. ranked 72 out of 82 countries in total (source, The Council on Foreign Relations). Gate-keeper institutions such as political parties practice explicit and implicit biases that reduce opportunities for women candidates (source, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).
  • Eighty-five percent of U.N. member states have constitutions that explicitly guarantee equality for women and girls. The United States is not one of these countries. Constitutional guarantees of gender equality have enabled national legal reforms that eliminated discriminatory statutes and have facilitated laws that protect women and girls. (source, Equality Now amicus brief filed in Virginia v Ferriero)
  • For more information on how the 28th Amendment (Equal Rights) would shore up our international standing and bring us into compliance(!?!) with international treaties we have signed, please review the Equality Now amicus brief filed in the Virginia v Ferriero case.

ADDITIONAL FAQs

Contracts

“Won’t women contractors lose enhanced status for contract bids?”

COVID-19

“What kind of impact is COVID-19 having on gender equality?”

Draft

“Does constitutional equality mean women will be drafted?”

History

“What is the history of the 28th Amendment (Equal Rights)?”