2023 Gender Social Norms Index: breaking down gender biases: Shifting social norms towards gender equality

Social norms biased against women limit women’s choices on what they can do and who they can be. Such biased norms hinder progress towards achievement of the fifth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of gender equality.

The report notes that biases prevent women from taking up leadership roles. This is reflected in the underrepresentation of women in politics. According to 2022 data, only 11 per cent of the state heads and nine per cent of government heads are women. Further, only 22 per cent of ministerial positions across the world are held by women.

Globally, almost 90 per cent people showed at least one bias against women. Moreover, considerable bias was recorded among both men and women. The report also states that biased responses were found in countries with lower HDI (human development index) scores as well as countries with higher HDI scores.

In 59 of the 80 countries evaluated in the index, where adult women are more educated than men, the average income gap was still 39 per cent.

Within the ‘political’ dimension, 61 per cent of people showed bias – 27 per cent had the opinion that women and men having equal rights was essential for democracy but 49 per cent believed that men were better political leaders compared to women.

Around 28 per cent people were biased against women in the ‘educational’ dimension believing that university was more important for men than women. Likewise, 60 per cent people showed ‘economic’ biases with opinions like men should have more rights to a job and that men made better business executives.

According to data from 2010-14, 99.2 per cent people in India had at least one bias whereas 86.26 per cent had at least two biases. The share of people with no biases was miniscule – 0.78 per cent.

Bias in India was recorded highest in the dimension of ‘physical integrity’ at 92.39 per cent. It was followed by bias in the ‘economic’ (75.09 per cent), ‘political’ (68.91 per cent) and ‘educational’ (38.5 per cent) dimensions.

Social norms have been so persistent that the index value for the past decade has shown little to no improvement. Across 38 countries, between 2010-2014 and 2017-2022, recorded bias fell only slightly (86.9 per cent to 84.6 per cent).

Biased opinions and social norms can directly or indirectly lead to violence against women. As per 2022 UNDP data, 26 per cent of women aged 15 years and above have experienced violence from an intimate partner. Such norms can even make it difficult for women to stand up against violence by promoting victim-blaming behaviour and making violence seem acceptable.

It is largely beneficial to have women in positions of power and responsibility as they pay more attention to children, women and marginalised communities, the report notes. Women diversify policy agendas, help improve the outcomes of development projects and positively impact policy outcomes in areas including health, environment, taxation and military engagement.

Education can be a powerful tool in correcting biases since negative beliefs or attitudes about women stem from an early age. Tackling these early through curricula and schooling can be effective in mitigating bias, the report suggests.

Having women in positions of leadership has been shown to reduce biases against women and change social norms for both men and women. In the previous decade, the percentage of people showing no gender bias grew on average by 7.6 percentage points in countries with a female head of state. In countries without a female head, it only grew by 2.7 percentage points.

Changing perceptions and feminist movements deeply impact the volume of gender bias present in a country. As per the index, countries with fewer such movements have higher biases against women and their empowerment.

Focus and Factoids by Yaajushi Hulgundi.