The 2020 vision for gender policy

What will be the biggest trends in gender policy in 2020?

That’s the question we asked a select handful of Apolitical members and public servants, who work in a diverse range of roles and organisations, but share a common goal of promoting equality across all genders. From digital equality to feminist leadership and a battle about abortion in Argentina — here are the trends they predict will shape the year ahead.

Trends to watch out for

Tackling structural inequalities. If 2018 and 2019 were the years of lifting the voices of survivors of abuse through MeToo, 2020 will be the year of challenging structural inequalities that prevent accountability. We will see more feminist action on reforming courts, laws and calls for the disclosure of gender-related datasets. — Hera Hussain, founder of Chayn

Feminist foreign policy. I think we’ll hear more discussions and announcements of feminist foreign policy. With the recent announcements by Mexico, Luxembourg and France to adopt feminist foreign policies, we can expect additional states to adopt similar policies, including at the Generation Equality Forum events in Mexico City and Paris in May and July respectively. — Lyric Thompson, Director of Policy and Advocacy_, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)_

READ: How climate change fuels violence against women

From gender issues to a gender approach. I think the debate about women's rights to their own bodies, which we saw in the recent debate about the right to legal abortion in Argentina, will continue to be in focus. There is also increasing recognition of the need for a gender approach in collecting data, as well as a transversal/intersectional approach in many realms in public policy (e.g. migration). We need to count it to make it visible. We will move from just "gender issues" to a "gender approach" in all topics of policy. — Silvana Fumega, research and policy director ILDA

Spotlight on Latin America. I think we’ll see more research and projects focused on gender-based violence and femicide in Latin America as well as other regions. From collecting data to explore innovative ways of using the data to better understand the problem. — Silvana Fumega

What does it mean to be feminist? I think feminist leadership across the board, not just in government, is rising and we need to think about what it means to be a feminist leader, a feminist organisation, a feminist company, a feminist government and how this is different from the patriarchal business-as-usual models that have dominated for such a long time. How this is “operationalised” is important to highlight and share because so many people (men and women) still don’t understand feminism very well. — Dr Anik Gevers, associate at the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI)

Still a long way to go. I think there is likely to be continued backlash and steps taken to control women. For example, many American policies on sexual and reproductive health are not only being felt in the USA but also have a global impact through gag rules and funding restrictions etc. So much as we want to celebrate achievements and maximise strengths, we have to acknowledge just how far we still have to go and how intense the fight for equal rights and respect is. — Anik Gevers

Employers should disclose salary up front. While this is not directly gender related, I think it’s so important for employers to be open about salaries — especially during the negotiation process. For example, the UK government found that "Women are less likely to negotiate their pay... Employers should clearly communicate the salary range on offer for a role to encourage women to negotiate their salary. This helps the applicant know what they can reasonably expect." More research needs to be conducted on this topic. I am noting that Mor Rubinstein and Edafe Onerhime have raised this issue as well. I think targeting direct and indirect policies that affect gender is as important as centering gender in policy. If you are an organizations that currently doesn’t publish these numbers, please change this! Especially if you’re a nonprofit, charity, or fund them — Ana Brandusescu, Professor of Practice and OpenNorth Fellow, McGill University

Will abortion be legal in Argentina in 2020? In 2020, Argentina will again present a legislative project for legalizing abortion under safe and secure conditions. Right now it’s only legal in three circumstances, and in 2019 the project only advanced through the Lower House. Both lower and upper houses have new representatives for 2020-2022, so it would be interesting to see if abortion is finally legal in Argentina. — Rosemary Morgan, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

READ: Why women’s empowerment won’t end gender inequality

Looking back and ahead. In 2020 we’ll see a renewed focus on Beijing +25. What have we achieved? Where are the gaps? How do we advance the agenda given the evidence? In 1995 we focused on reproductive rights and violence against women. These two areas are still a major priority, particularly given the slippage. Beyond 2020, I think we will see greater focus on health as it relates to gender and climate change, wrecked food system, Noncommunicable diseases, pandemics. — Veronica magar

Digital gender equality. Technological change is driving diverse and profound social and economic transformations, but internet access and its benefits have been highly uneven. 50% of the world remains entirely offline. Digital inequality is compounded by a persistent digital gender gap – where just 18% of women across Africa access the internet compared to 25% of men. This persistent, pernicious digital gender gap is worsening — a fact that threatens to deepen existing inequalities and to undermine global development. Even those who have some degree of access may not have meaningful access that would allow them to claim economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights – a great promise of what internet technologies should offer. Digital ‘haves’ enjoy many new avenues for economic advancement, as well as the opportunity to amplify their voice and personal autonomy. But the context of internet access has also driven economic inequality, social polarisation and even authoritarianism. Digital gender equality will continue to be an important trend to watch; especially as digitization is increasingly seen by governments as a “silver bullet” solution to development challenges. — Ingrid Brudvig, World Wide Web Foundation

Back on track. There is a great urgency to re-centre human rights frameworks in the digital economy and in technology policymaking. Failing to do so will further exacerbate gender inequality, especially as governance and economic strategies are increasingly making use of digital platforms with little accountability to legally binding commitments to human and women's rights. — Ingrid Brudvig

I agree with many of the points above. Some key areas I think we should watch out for include: A focus on gender transformative leadership - the idea that we need to change the systems and structures which perpetuate gender inequities as opposed to individuals themselves. Along this line, it is not just about equitable outcomes, but equitable inputs and processes. How can we expect to have equitable health outcomes if the systems which deliver and maintain health are themselves inequitable?

READ: The path to 2030 isn’t gender-neutral

A focus on the gendered nature of the global health workforce - there is a huge shortage of health workers worldwide, many in low- and middle-income countries, and many of the positions will be filled by women. There is both horizontal and vertical disaggregation of men and women within the health workforce (in terms of types of positions and leadership) and we need to ensure that the spaces that health workers are employed are gender equitable. This includes a recognition of the importance of the unpaid workforce and how much of this is delivered by women.

Intersectionality - gender cannot be considered in isolation. All gender policy must consider the ways in which gender intersects with other social stratifiers (i.e. race, age, disability, sexuality, income, etc.) to create different experiences of inclusion and exclusion and/or marginalization. Gender is not just about women - we must continue to push our work beyond the binary. Gender affects women, men, and people of non-binary identities in different ways. We must make sure those who identify as non-binary are included in our discussions, programmes, and interventions. Gender equity benefits all!. — Rosemary Morgan

People (and organisations) on your radar

Callisto and Rise in the US changing laws and supporting sexual assault survivors; The Equality Fund, OpenHeroines and Vital Voices in diversifying the open government and activism space; thinkOLGA in Brazil; AI for Good in South Africa; Feminism In India in India and Digital Rights Foundation in Pakistan. — Hera Hussain

Society of Gender Professionals, and the training that the Global Women’s Institute just developed for UNICEF. There is a growing appreciation that “not everyone who talks about gender is equally skilled,” and of the need for some sort of professionalization of gender-integration work. — Margaret Greene, Senior Advisor for Gender and Health at Promundo

Not a particular person or organisation but women globally standing up, speaking out, and refusing to be small or hidden or a low priority: I hope to see more collective action not necessarily driven by organisations or leaders, but by everyday women rising up (and men listening and following) — I think we are seeing this more for example in the protests in Lebanon and the gender-based violence protests in South Africa — Anik Gevers

READ: How to design cities for and by women

MenEngage and the men for gender equality movement. Gender equality is very much in their interest and they are increasingly finding ways to show their solidarity with those who fare less well under patriarchy. — Margaret Greene

The Foundation for a Just Society, Open Society Foundations, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation — four private U.S. foundations are providing at least $20 million in a combined effort to strengthen women’s funds around the world. Particularly interested in the philanthropic shift towards directly supporting and funding local organisations as opposed to INGOs.

Women in Global Health seek to achieve gender equality in global health leadership, and I think their work is important to highlight. — Rosemary Morgan

Open Heroines — a global group of over 600 members who work in the fields of open government, open data and civic tech. The group is a safe virtual space where women can meet like-minded women, share their experiences, get advice and words of encouragement. The blog is a place to bring women together to form a powerful collective voice by showcasing their capabilities, which shine and make this world a better place. — Ana Brandusescu

CHAYN is a global volunteer network addressing gender-based violence by creating intersectional survivor-led resources online. We started in 2013, and have since reached more than 300,000 people and 1.2 million views across the world. CHAYN offers Open and free resources crowdsourced with love from survivors, experts & people who give a damn around the world. — Ana Brandusescu

Women in Motion is an organization formed by female leaders in different areas of mobility and transport, both public and private sector, united to enhance capacities, knowledge, efforts and skills.Their main goal is to empower other women in the sector, which is male-dominated/oriented. They are committed to the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN, and have experience in its design and execution.

Events

CSW 2020 and Beijing+25 — Anik Gevers and Lyric Thompson

US to host G7 in June 2020. However the schedule has yet to be announced with impeachment and national elections dominating 2020 in the United States. — Lyric Thompson

Generation Equality Forum, starting 7-8 May 2020 in Mexico City and ending IN Paris, France, on 7-10 July 2020. — Lyric Thompson

International Open Data Conference (IODC), November, 2020. Even though this is a conference on open data, look for the debates on gender approach to data production. — Silvana Fumega

Thomson Reuter’s annual Trust conference

Health System Research Conference November 2020 - Rosemary Morgan

High Level Political Forum SDGs, July 2020 New York

World Health Summit, Oct 2020, Germany

The Women’s Economic Forum will host an event in October Buenos Aires city regarding the gender gap, focusing on economic and power inequalities.

Women 20 will be hosted by Japan in March 2020.