Gender equality in the world, quotas in Mexico and busy Japanese women

Goal 5 of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls. Meanwhile, according to data from 2023, in 87 countries worldwide, less than half of women and girls finish secondary school, and the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the situation. Of the 14 Goal 5 indicators, only one or two can be achieved by the deadline (2030) – the number of seats in local government assemblies associated with gender parity and full and equal access to health and sexual and reproductive rights.

In Mexico, half of all parliamentary seats and half of all government positions are held by women. Two candidates – Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez – will face each other in the 2024 presidential elections, which means that for the first time, Mexico will have a woman president. The situation is worse only in governors’ positions – nine out of 32 are women. Moreover, at the beginning of September this year, Mexico’s Supreme Court decriminalized abortion nationwide. This ruling opens the door for the health care system to provide abortions to women who need them.

If women in Japan were paid to do unpaid work in their homes, they would earn $761 billion annually. This is roughly equivalent to ⅕ of the country’s economy. Although Japanese men also perform unpaid housework, it constitutes less than ⅓ of women’s work. Japanese women work an additional 3 hours per day for free.