This past Wednesday I attended an event hosted at UNICEF headquarters sponsored by the United Nations. The event was focused on solving the problem of Gender and Ageing in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) and seeing how to better involve women and children and make it a priority. There were panelists from a range of countries such as Morocco, Mexico, Colombia, Turkey, and a few more. Each panelist discussed the role of women in their society and what programs and ideas they had in place to promote women and enhance their lives by engaging in society and creating an atmosphere of complete equality between the sexes.
Morocco focused their efforts on the aspect of social engineering. They established a survey of over 8,000 families and collected data about the lives of Moroccan families. From this data, they hoped to understand why educated women didn’t apply for jobs in Moroccan society. From the data they collected they were even able to determine that girls outperformed boys in schools. So where is the disconnect? Why are women not an equal part of the workforce? Is their ability to be a mother and have a baby limiting them in their careers, or is it a matter of culture?
How can men in Morocco support women and help make that change to create an environment of equality?
More often than not, women have the ambition and desire to be equal to men in the workforce, but they are limited by the male viewpoint on the subject. This culture has to change! But, how can we change it? According to US News the United States is number 9 on the list of numbers where gender equality is valued the most. As a woman working in New York City I have noticed and applauded the number or women I see walking to work, holding CEO positions, and not letting the culture deter them from achieving their goals. But we still have a lot of work to do. Our nation may be in the top 10 countries with progressive beliefs about women and their role in society, but there is still work to be done. We may be oceans apart but we still have the ability to be catalysts for change and promote women in countries all over the world. To learn more, check out the UN's He for She campaign.
