07. What is gender equality and gender equity? /

Building a fair society involves putting the principles of justice and equality into practice in order to attain and achieve sustainable human development. One of these principles is equity, which is based on the desire to understand people and to give them what they need to flourish. Equality is based on the desire to offer the same thing to everyone so that they can live healthy lives.

Gender should not determine law

Gender equality is the state in which access to rights or opportunities is not affected by sexual identity, sexual expression, or sexual orientation.

The concept of gender equality is therefore difficult and often contested.

A basic definition of equality is the idea of equal treatment and respect. Legally, this means that equality is a principle whereby all citizens have the same rights. It seeks to provide the same conditions of access and control to resources and opportunities for women and men.

Equality is therefore both a goal, an objective to be achieved, as well as the means deployed to ensure that people benefit from equal treatment under the law, and equal chances to enjoy and exercise their rights.

These rights should enable them to nurture their talents and abilities so that they can participate in and benefit from the political, economic, social, and cultural development of their country.

Equality is a fundamental human right, regardless of a person’s gender or sexual orientation, and irrespective of the differences between people.

 In 1948, states committed to ensuring this equality by adopting the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. Its first article stipulates that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

Equal rights does not automatically lead to de facto equality, hence the need to create an equity approach.

When we talk about having equality as an objective, that means introducing policies in favour of equal opportunities for both men and women. 

More opportunities, more equality 

Equal opportunities must enable women and men to benefit from the same conditions, and have the same access to the same resources in their daily life, with their families, on the labour market, and in terms of political responsibilities, etc.

The saying ‘more than luck’ must be understood through the notion of equal opportunities.  Professional equality, for example, is the fact of women and men having the same rights and advantages in terms of access to jobs, vocational training, qualifications, classification, promotion, and work conditions. Equal pay is thus compulsory for women and men doing jobs or work of equal value.

The equity approach aims to correct any inequalities in order to ensure an equivalence of chances or opportunities between women and men, in line with their specific needs and interests.

For example: temporary measures may be introduced to redistribute power more equitably until equality is achieved. This is called ‘positive discrimination’ or ‘affirmative action’.  It is authorised by the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and imposes compulsory quotas to favour a disadvantaged population group.

 Quotas or various temporary special measures have proved to be effective: women now occupy nearly 30% of parliamentary seats in countries which have applied electoral quotas, compared with around 14.7% in countries with no quotas.

Thanks to quotas, 48.8% of those elected to the Rwandan National Assembly are women. Rwanda is now the country that comes closest to gender parity in politics, overtaking Sweden, the country that previously had the highest percentage of female politicians, 45%.

An apparent injustice to restore justice

Gender equity carries a notion of justice, wherein each is given what is theirs, considering the conditions and characteristics of each gender. It is a process which establishes greater justice between women and men, and ensures that women, men, boys and girls participate in the development process while taking into account their specificities.

Equity concerns the equality of outcomes and the benefits for men and women.

Gender equity is just one step that needs to be taken in order to achieve the objective of equality between women and men.

‘Gender equality’ means providing women and men with the same rights, opportunities and resources in all areas.

‘Gender equity’ is about having differential treatment between women and men to correct the initial inequalities and thus achieve ‘equality’.

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