CAIRO: The current global status of women will not improve without positive participation of the men in their lives as fathers, brothers and husbands who play an essential role in achieving gender equality, a report concluded.
The report, “Because I am a Girl,” issued by Plan International, a children’s rights organization, assesses the state of the world’s girls and makes recommendations for action, showing policymakers and planners what can make a real difference in girls’ lives.
The report shows that children are happier when they see their parents sharing household responsibilities, rather than sticking to rigid roles, such as seeing their fathers cooking or doing the laundry, having both parents making decisions and seeing their mothers spend time in and out of the house.
The report also includes primary research with more than 4,000 children, which reveals that many stereotypical beliefs about gender roles in society are still very entrenched among young people.
In Egypt, between 40 percent and 81 percent of women felt beatings were justified for reasons including neglecting the house or children, refusing sex, answering back or disobedience.
The report highlighted the importance of the father’s role in the way he treats his wife and daughters that will either limit or enhance their potential and choices in life. This will also make a difference in his sons’ lives as well, the report said.
“A father who does his fair share of domestic work, who values and educates his children equally, who cuddles his sons and daughters and treats his wife as an equal too will have a powerful impact on how his sons grows to be a man and treats his own family,” according to the report.
Having supportive father figures in the society is also important, as they can play a role in protecting girls’ rights, from early marriages to female genital mutilation (FGM), in a way that is difficult for women.
The report quoted an Egyptian religious scholar, Sheikh Saad, who has become an active campaigner against FGM. “We have decided that our daughter will not go through this bad, inhumane experience … I am enthusiastic to work with families on these issues and feel I am part of the change,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
“Fathers, can play a key role in leaving old ‘machismo’ ideas behind. I call on all men and boys to throw their weight behind this campaign for equality and to challenge those who oppose women’s rights and equality,” said former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who wrote the report’s foreword.
“The complementary skills and qualities of both men and women are needed to tackle the enormous challenges we face. This will not be easy. But we will all gain from such changes. Societies with greater equality between men and women, girls and boys, are healthier, safer, more prosperous and more truly democratic,” he explained.
Furthermore, there are more than 16 million illiterate Egyptian women.
The Global Gender Gap Index 2009, assessing countries on how well they are allocating their resources and opportunities among their male and female populations, ranked Egypt at 126 out of 134 countries.
Egypt has one of the lowest female labor participation rates in the world at 18.5 percent, mainly driven by market conditions, cultural norms, and partly by women’s choices.
“It is widely recognized that empowering girls is a key to unlock families from poverty and deprivation. But since we began monitoring the state of the world’s girls back in 2007 we have rightly been asked: ‘So, what about the boys?’” said Plan International CEO, Nigel Chapman.
“Of course, many boys are affected by poverty, lack of opportunity and also violence. But girls face double discrimination by being young and by being female. Everyone, including boys, benefit from a more just, equal world but it cannot be attained by girls alone – we must all play a more active part,” he added in a statement on the release of the report earlier this week.
