This report was written by Chimaraoke Izugbara, Heather Marlow, Laura Hinson, Elizabeth Anderson, Erin Leasure & Connor Roth, and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Report name

The U.S. in Search of Gender Equity: Policy Lessons from Around the World

Who wrote this report?

In this article, Apolitical presents ‘The U.S. in search of gender equity: Policy lessons from around the world’, a report produced earlier this year by the International Center for Research on Women.

The report presents the results of a "global scan of effective and promising gender equity policies" that can inform and inspire current efforts in the United States but are also applicable elsewhere.

Consequently, it makes for important and timely reading for public servants. The recent overturning of Roe vs. Wade also calls for a renewed focus on women’s rights in healthcare, and indeed gender equity more broadly.

Best quote

To succeed, gender equity policies must be anchored on an integrated policy approach.

Key recommendations:

  • Gender equity policies were most effective when situated in a wider national framework for advancing equality. An integrated approach is key, and policymakers must try to avoid "patchworks of unconnected public policies".
  • Women’s political representation facilitates effective gender policies. U.S. policymakers should focus on promoting women’s representation at all levels of government.
  • Effective gender equity policy making "combines top-down and bottom-up approaches". The policies reported generally required the participation of "multiple levels of governments, local communities, socio-political movements, businesses, and citizens".

What’s in this report?

The report identifies multiple effective gender equity policies in other countries and contexts that can act as best practice examples in a U.S. context.

It examines how such policies "define and frame gender equity" and its intersections with other factors. It also analyses how these policies "operationalise gender equity", measure and monitor progress toward it and ensure sustainability in outcomes’. Ultimately, this is synthesised into several key lessons for gender equity policy making in the U.S.

Policies in eleven countries were analysed: Canada, Estonia, Iceland, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia, and the U.K. These policies concerned either political participation, economic participation and opportunity, or health and education.

Some particularly inspiring examples are as follows:

  • Thanks to initiatives like Usura Cero, a microcredit program, women now own 54 per cent of Nicaragua’s micro, small and medium enterprises (p22).
  • Both Iceland and Rwanda have achieved "near equal participation and representation of women in top political positions" by using electoral gender quotas policies (p19).
  • Women make up half of the researchers in STEM fields in Tunisia. Girls and women are "systematically and steadily tracked into science and math throughout their early education", unlike in many other countries. (p33)

Why should you read this report?

Crucially, most research has focused on highlighting why and how gender equity policies have failed. This report chooses instead to examine effective and promising gender equity policy initiatives - thereby responding to the need to support global learning, inspire action and guide additional policy making.

This is particularly important in the U.S. context, where progress towards gender equity has stalled in recent decades. In 2020, the U.S. placed 53rd in the Global Gender Gap ranking, which benchmarks countries according to their progress with achieving gender equity.

As the report explains, "gender-based norms, expectations and practices that disadvantage girls and women, including both cis- and transgender women, persist along with binary interpretations of gender in policy making, resource allocation and service provision" (p7).

Moreover, the pandemic "further unravelled and intensified the intersection of inequities with, and their compounding by, disability, race, chronic illness, gender roles, sexual orientation, gender identity and poverty" (p7).

Who is this report for?

Anyone involved in the creation, promotion or implementation of gender equity policies - whether they work in government, business, the non-profit sector, or elsewhere.

However, it is especially relevant to those in the U.S. who are hoping to learn from global approaches.

🔗 Read the full report here. 🔗

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(Image Credit: Unsplash)