8M: the gender gap in numbers

In a world where gender equality remains a distant goal, a study by the World Economic Forum¹ reminds us that closing the total gap will still take 131 years at the current pace. But what does “closing the gender gap” really entail? What is the palpable impact of this disparity on women's daily lives? And why, year after year, do we continue to make this issue visible, especially every March 8th?

I think that, often, immersed in discussions about the gender gap, we lose sight of the concrete repercussions that this inequality has on the lives of women. The gender gap is not just an abstraction; It has tangible and material consequences that deeply affect women in all aspects of their lives.

As an engineer with a particular taste for data analysis, I am convinced that there is no better way to illustrate these consequences than through numbers and statistics. Therefore, I would like to highlight some indicators that summarize this structural inequality at a global level and specifically in Uruguay. In this analysis, I will address 5 key dimensions: gender-based violence, wage disparity, unequal distribution of care responsibilities, political representation, and participation in the information technology (IT) sector.

Gender violence 

In this area, I suggest consulting a study by UN Women² that analyzes violence against women from different perspectives. I will highlight some numbers:

• In 2022, about 48,800 women and girls were killed by their partners or other family members around the world. This means that, on average, over 5 women or girls are murdered every hour by someone in their own family. While 55% of homicides of women are committed by their partners or other family members, only 12% of homicides of men occur in the private sphere.
• Worldwide, 736 million women – nearly one in three (30%) – have been victims of physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, non-partner sexual violence, or both, at least once. in their life.
  
  
  
  
• Of those women who have maintained a relationship, almost 1 in 4 adolescents aged 15 to 19 (24%) has suffered physical or sexual violence by their spouse or partner.
• 91% of traffic victims with purposes of sexual exploitation detected, are women. 
• According to CEPAL³,  Uruguay is the fourth country in Latin America with the highest rate of femicides, with 1.6 femicides per 100,000 women, a place it shares with El Salvador and is only preceded by the Dominican Republic (2.9), Trinidad and Tobago (5.5)  and Honduras (6.0).
  
  

• In Uruguay, the official data from the Ministerio del Interior (MI) (Home Office)⁴, shows that between 2012 and 2022, 273 women were murdered for gender reasons in Uruguay. On average, that is 25 femicides per year during this decade alone. From that total, 79% were intimate femicides, this means, commited by a partner or former partner of said woman. In addition, the Ministerio del Interior received a complaint for gender violence every 12 minutes⁵.

Wage inequality

• Wage gap:
  • According to the World Bank⁶, in Uruguay, women earn 75% of what their male counterparts earn for the same work.

• Maternity penalty:
  • In Uruguay, according to a study by CEPAL⁷, based on data from the Social Security Bank, after ten years of having their first child, women experience a 42% reduction in their monthly salary compared to women with similar characteristics, but who did not have children. This difference is not observed in men.
• Crystal ceilings:
  • According to a study by the International Labor Organization (Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT))⁸ less than 30% of managing roles are occupied by women.
  
   
  • According to a study conducted by Harvard University⁹, only 9% of people that serve as CEOs in companies present in Fortune 500, are women. In other executive positions this number increases, but there is still underrepresentation. For example, at the CFO level only 18% are women, and as CTO/CIOs only 21%. The executive positions with the greatest female presence are CMOs with 47% female representation and CHROs with 67%.
    
    

Inequality in the distribution of care tasks:

• According to the UN¹⁰, at a global level, it is estimated that women invest three times more hours than men in performing unpaid domestic work and care tasks. 
• According to the UN¹¹, ethe value of unpaid care work and domestic work represents between 10 and 39 percent of gross domestic product (GDP); It can weigh more on a country's economy than the manufacturing industry, the commerce or the transportation sector.
• In regards to a study from CEPAL and the UN¹², in Uruguay, women dedicate an average of 37 hours per week to unpaid work, while men dedicate 20 hours per week. Furthermore, 64% of women's time is allocated to unpaid work and a third to paid work.
  
  

Political representation:

• According to a report from the United Nations Programme to Development (PNUD)¹³, less than 24% of parliament seats worldwide, are occupied by women, and less than a third of UN countries have had at least once in their history a women chief of state or President.
• Data collected by UN Women¹⁴ at global scale, reveals that, as of January 1st, 2023, women represent 22.8% of cabinet members directing Ministries that lead a political area. 
• In Uruguay, the last national elections held (October 2019)¹⁵  have left a parliament with 26.6% female representation in the Senate and 19% in the House of Representatives. At the level of the Executive Branch, the cabinet is made up of only 3 ministers out of a total of 14 (Economy and Finance, Public Health and Industry, Energy and Mining)

Inequality in IT

Finally, I would like to highlight some numbers about the gender gap in IT. To this end, I recommend a report presented by the Interinstitutional Women in Science, Innovation and Technology Roundtable of Uruguay (formed by the ANII, Ceibal, University of the Republic, CUTI, among other members) during 2020¹⁶. From said report, I highlight the following indicators :

• In the 5th year of high school, 40.5% of adolescents who opt for Scientific Diversification are women. In the 6th year of high school, adolescent girls represent only 34% of those who opted for Physics-Mathematics.
• At UTU, this lower presence of women is repeated in areas linked to STEM, with Computer Science and Industry and Production being the areas in which they have the lowest participation, with 15.2% and 12% respectively.
• At the UTEC, women represent 29,5% of the registered classmates.
• At UdelaR (University of the Republic), although student enrollment is made up mainly of women (63% of admissions), in STEM areas this is noticeably reduced. In these areas, female students constitute 44%, and in the Faculty of Engineering, particularly, 23%.
• In Uruguay, data from the CUTI indicate that women represent 32% of people employed in the sector. When disaggregated by occupational category, they constituted 24% of specialist positions, 30% of managerial positions, and only 9% of management positions.
• In the SNI (National System of Researchers) women represent 42% of this population and their participation tends to decrease at the highest levels of the system.
• Care responsibilities also constitute one of the main limitations to the continuity of women's educational and work trajectories. In this sense, it is observed that 46% of the researchers have interrupted their study and/or work for 6 or more months, a situation that drops to 38% in men. When analyzing the reasons, while 41% of these researchers have interrupted their studies due to caring for girls, boys or dependent people, and pregnancy, this only happens in 5% of men.

With these numbers in front of us, it is evident that although we have made progress, there is still a long way to go to close the gender gap. It is crucial to recognize that, while individual actions are important, true transformation towards a more equal society requires a collective commitment, both at the level of organizations, companies and states. In this #8M, we invite you to reflect and commit together in the search for equality. Hopefully we don't have to wait 131 years to achieve it!

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References:

1. https://www.weforum.org/press/2023/06/gender-equality-is-stalling-131-years-to-close-the-gap/ 
2. https://www.unwomen.org/es/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures 
3. https://oig.cepal.org/es/indicadores/feminicidio 
4.https://ladiaria.com.uy/feminismos/articulo/2023/12/otro-ano-marcado-por-la-violencia-femicida-en-que-estamos-fallando-y-que-nuevas-estrategias-se-pueden-activar-para-paliar-la-situacion/ 
5.https://ladiaria.com.uy/feminismos/articulo/2023/11/ministerio-del-interior-recibio-una-denuncia-por-violencia-de-genero-cada-12-minutos-en-los-primeros-diez-meses-de-2023/  
6. https://www.bancomundial.org/es/country/uruguay/publication/mujeresuruguay#:~:text=La%20desigualdad%20entre%20las%20mujeres,laboral%20igual%20que%20los%20hombres. 
7. https://www.cepal.org/es/publicaciones/45792-brechas-genero-ingresos-laborales-uruguay 
8. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---act_emp/documents/briefingnote/wcms_754631.pdf 
9. https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2023/02/22/gender-diversity-in-the-c-suite/ 
10.https://onuhabitat.org.mx/index.php/labores-de-cuidado-y-trabajo-domestico-no-remunerado#:~:text=De%20acuerdo%20con%20la%20Organizaci%C3%B3n,se%20realiza%20sin%20pago%20alguno. 
11.https://onuhabitat.org.mx/index.php/labores-de-cuidado-y-trabajo-domestico-no-remunerado#:~:text=De%20acuerdo%20con%20la%20Organizaci%C3%B3n,se%20realiza%20sin%20pago%20alguno. 
12. https://lac.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Field%20Office%20Americas/Documentos/Publicaciones/2020/07/Brechas%20de%20genero%20en%20los%20ingresos%20laborales%20en%20Uruguay%20-%20Mayo%202020%20ONU%20Mujeres%20%20%281%29.pdf 
13.https://www.undp.org/es/uruguay/news/nuevo-an%C3%A1lisis-del-pnud-ofrece-claves-sobre-el-%E2%80%9Ctecho-de-cristal%E2%80%9D-y-herramientas-para-romperlo 
14. https://www.unwomen.org/es/digital-library/publications/2023/03/women-in-politics-map-2023 
15.https://ladiaria.com.uy/feminismos/articulo/2020/10/mujeres-politicas-de-distintos-partidos-analizaron-desafios-y-oportunidades-en-el-camino-hacia-una-democracia-feminista/ 
16. https://www.anii.org.uy/upcms/files/listado-documentos/documentos/informe-pa-s-vf.pdf