China News Service, Beijing, March 8th (Zhang Huandi) On March 8, 2021, the "March 8" International Women's Day will arrive as scheduled.
The United Nations announced that the theme of this year's Women's Day is "Women Leaders: Achieving an Equal Future in the World of COVID-19", focusing on how women can shine in their fields during the new crown epidemic.
United Nations Secretary-General Guterres said in his speech that day: “Women have always been on the front line of responding to the pandemic. They are essential workers who sustain people’s lives and sustain the economy, communities and families. They live in One of the leaders in reducing the incidence of the epidemic and putting countries on the road to recovery. This year’s International Women’s Day highlights the transformative power of women’s equal participation."
Fimzile Mlambo-Nuka, Executive Director of UN Women, pointed out that “the only way for us to achieve real social change” is to show more “in all cultural, social, economic and political fields, A female representative of the diversity and abilities unique to women and girls."
The International Women’s Day website chose another theme for this year’s festival-"Choose Challenge", to call on people to "raise their hands to signal that you promise to choose a challenge and eliminate inequality."
Regardless of the topic, the focus of attention cannot avoid the word "equality".
A UN Women’s report released in November last year showed that the pandemic of the new crown epidemic may erase the 25 years of growing gender equality.
According to this report, the number of unpaid work and housework performed by women has soared compared to before the outbreak.
In Egypt, on average, every woman has to do 9.2 times more work than before.
In this regard, the Deputy Executive Director of UN Women said: "All our efforts for gender equality in the past 25 years may disappear within a year."
This concern is not groundless.
According to a report in the British "Guardian" on March 8, more than half of women in the UK worry that gender equality will regress to the level of the 1870s.
According to a survey report cited by the report, 73% of married British women said that they had to do most of the housework during the lockdown of the epidemic, 70% of British women completed their children’s family education alone after school was closed, and 25% Women reduce their paid work hours for the education of their children.
And more work and housework are not the only problems faced by housewives in the epidemic era.
According to the article "Women's Struggle in the Workplace" published by Time magazine on March 8th, since February last year, more than 2.3 million women in the United States have withdrawn from the labor market.
Studies have found that mothers with children 12 years and younger are three times more likely to lose their jobs than fathers.
This may be due to the traditional view that among heterosexual couples, it is more cost-effective for women to leave work or take the risk of unemployment because they take care of their children.
According to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, the overall income of American women is only 82% of that of men, and the incomes of African American, Latino and Native American women are even lower.
In addition, according to a research report released by the United Nations in March, only 22 countries and regions include women among key government officials. At the current rate of progress, it will take at least 130 years to achieve gender equality among key government officials.
More jobs, higher unemployment, lower remuneration, less voice... In some countries, there is still a long way to go before true gender equality.
As UN Secretary-General Guterres said in his speech on Women’s Day, “Building an equal future is everyone’s responsibility and everyone benefits”, and women are an indispensable part of this equal future.
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