In no region of the world today do women and men have equal social, economic and legal rights, write daughter and father duo Ciara and Colm Regan

Ciara writes:

My parents often tell a story about my sister and I from our childhood. They laugh fondly when they remember how we often asked, “do you have to be a woman to be president?”

My first memory of any sort of awareness of politics as a child was that of having a female president of Ireland – Mary Robinson. For us, it was very much the norm; however, I do have a distinct memory of it feeling like a very important thing at the time. There was much ado about her election and the threat it might represent. 

This idea remains important, and increasingly so, in today’s world where International Women’s Day is a cause for celebration of the progress made but also, a time to reflect on so much that still remains to be done. 

I was reminded of the significance of this by a comment from a 25-year-old Saudi woman who noted that “We all have to live in the borders of the boxes our dads or husbands draw for us”.

I am a 36-year-old woman who – by accident of birth – was born in Ireland. I am fortunate enough to have received a third level education (two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women, a figure that has not changed in over two decades). I have had two healthy pregnancies supported by a team of midwives and doctors resulting in healthy babies and I am lucky to be in a caring relationship with their father. 

Borders have never been drawn for me by anyone (my father or my partner), perhaps other than myself. By accident of birth, my borders have been limitless. I am highly aware that this is far from the norm for many millions of women worldwide. 

Ciara and Colm write:

We are father and daughter. We were both born in a place and at a time when completing secondary education was a given (as it is today in Malta). We were both born into families and communities where all children, regardless of gender, were deemed to be entitled to equality of treatment and opportunity at all levels.

We have also both worked (often together) in circumstances where many of the above contexts were anything but the norm. We have witnessed first-hand the consequences of inequality, especially that affecting women and young girls. We have also both come to recognise that what we take for granted in Europe (in education, health and basic needs) is not the norm worldwide particularly as regards women and their most basic rights.

Despite areas of significant improvement (e.g. women’s life expectancy has increased worldwide by almost 20 years in five decades and the primary school enrolment rates for girls is, at last growing faster than for boys albeit from a lower starting point – Unesco figures) significant gender inequalities remain pervasive. 

According to World Bank research, it is a startling reality that in no region of the world today do women and men have equal social, economic and legal rights. Gender-based inequalities in rights, resource access and in voice continue to damage women and the societies in which they live. Two key areas where this is life limiting are in maternal mortality and education.

In 2015, it was estimated that approximately 303,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth – that’s 830 women each day. According to the World Health Organisation, almost all of these deaths occurred in the context of poverty and lack of access to resources and most could have been prevented. To cite but one example, in Ethiopia just 41 per cent of pregnant women have access to at least one visit with trained medical staff through their pregnancy. 

Domestic violence continues to be a constant in the lives of women across the globe

Inequality in maternal mortality is not simply a matter of poverty. While maternal mortality rates continue to drop almost everywhere in the world, they have (according to official figures) almost doubled in the United States since the 1980s and the rate among black American women is three times that for white women. 

Such figures are important for a number of reasons, not least of all being women’s control over the decision on whether or not to have children in the first place. This decision, as well as how many to have, when to have them, how to get access to contraceptives and managing reproductive choices are a significant aspect of a majority of women’s lives. And yet, routinely women do not have control over these decisions based on cultural norms and legal structures, all too often designed and controlled by men. 

There are now more girls in primary school than ever before, yet for too many even basic education is beyond reach. It is still the case that fewer girls are enrolled in school than boys and they are also removed at an earlier age in many countries. It is also, all too common an occurrence that girls continue to leave school at puberty due to inadequate sanitation facilities. 

According to UNWomen, one of the most important gains in equality and women’s rights has been the rapid increase in girls’ education over the last 60 years. This increase has a range of positive knock-on effects for women and girls in other dimensions of their lives. These include greater awareness of the existence of women’s rights, greater participation in decision-making, reduced probability of early marriage and child bearing and a reduced likelihood of dying during childbirth. 

A mother’s education remains the most powerful determinant of inequality; children of mothers with a secondary or higher education are almost three times as likely to survive as children of mothers with no education (WHO, 2015). 

Improvements in women’s health and education are crucial to women’s overall well-being and life chances. Yet, in too many contexts they remain fraught with economic, cultural, religious and political obstacles and taboos.

It remains a sad reflection on society that domestic violence continues to be a constant in the lives of women across the globe. Violence against women is not a function of poverty or underdevelopment; it pervades all classes, professions, countries and cultures (this is documented in report after report from a wide variety of international organisations). 

International Women’s Day offers each of us a chance to reflect on this in our own families, communities and countries.

International Women’s Day is, rightly an occasion to mark and celebrate the role and achievements of women in the world. It is also an occasion for reflection on continuing gender-based inequalities in all societies including Malta and Ireland to name but two. 

It is also an opportunity to reflect on why too many people (both men and women) remain so resistant to, and threatened by, women asserting their rights. 

Ciara Regan is an Irish women’s rights activist while Colm Regan is a human rights activist and teacher living in Gozo.