* This article contains potentially graphic topics: violence and sexual harassment 

Please be aware of your mental state before reading.

As many know March is Women’s History Month for the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, a time to celebrate the accomplishments of women and remember those who fought for the rights so many women have now. Much progress has been made in gender equality and many opportunities have opened up but it is definitely not the end of the fight for many women. 

Some of the biggest problems globally include, violence, economic rights, and participation of women in leadership roles. Around the world, every 1 in 3 women experience violence. Women are more at risk to violence and discrimination during times of conflict. In terms of economic rights, 2.7 billion women don’t have the same opportunities as men in the workplace.

As of 2023, there are only 14 countries in the world that are considered to have full equal rights and legal protections of women. Those countries included Iceland, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Ireland and many other European countries.

In more recent data from 2024, Iceland has ranked 1st in closing the gender gap with 93.5%. Iceland has many laws in place protecting women’s rights, including the equal pay for equal work law introduced in 2018, which has contributed to getting rid of the wage gap. 

However Iceland was not always this way, only 2%-5% of Iceland’s members of Parliament were women from 1915 to 1983. The 60s and 70s saw a rise in feminism and many women were fighting for equal rights. In 1982 the Women’s Alliance was founded and promoted the need for childcare to give women equal participation in workplaces. By 1999, the struggles women were facing were taken more seriously and Iceland has continued to improve from there. 48% of the representatives in Iceland’s parliament were women by 2016.

Finland was ranked 2nd with 87.5% of the gender gap closed. Women’s rights are a big focus in Finland, mostly working on women’s participation in decision-making and reproductive health. Finland was the first country to elect women to Parliament in 1907 meaning that women in Finland have had active political rights and roles for more than 100 years. In recent years 46% of Finland’s parliament was women. In 1917, women were given 4 weeks of parental leave but now the parental leave is almost one year. 

At the other end of the ranking, for 13 consecutive years Yemen has ranked last in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index. There are many challenges in Yemen that have prevented progress in women’s rights including conflict, the pandemic and natural disasters. Conflict is believed to increase the amount of child marriage and gender-based violence. In Yemen, about two thirds of the girls are married before age 18. Yemen also has a very high maternal death rate, every two hours one Yemeni woman dies in childbirth from preventable causes. 

However, UN Women is working to help solve some of these issues in Yemen by addressing the needs and providing support. They also plan on creating more opportunities for women to be in leadership positions to promote peace.

In 2023, the United States of America ranked 43rd on the World Economic Forum’s gender parity index. One of the most important turning points for women in the United States was when the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920. Since then the United States has made some improvements but many still believe there is work to be done. Calah Kaufman, a sophomore at Brunswick said “I think that compared to how it first started women have more value, but there’s still a lot of progress to be made.”

Sexual harassment is one of the problems most brought up by those fighting for equality. This is a problem in the United States regardless of gender, a survey of 3,300 adults in the U.S. found that 82% of women and 42% of men have been sexually harassed in their lifetime. 

Following harassment, people also consider women’s legal rights compared to men’s and expectations from society as other big obstacles.

A Brunswick sophomore, Torin Connor said, “One of the biggest problems is overall respect…We still don’t have any female presidents. People just assume women won’t be strong enough for the job.” 

The pay gap is also an inequality issue in the U.S. because for every dollar earned by men, women make just 78 cents and the amounts are even lower for women of color. Another big topic is abortion ban and reproductive rights. Abortion bans are in effect in 41 states, and 12 of those states have completely banned abortion. The United States is also one of the only 4 countries to have taken back the legality of abortion.

Looking at the Global Gender Gap Index 2023, it’s clear that many countries still have a lot of progress to make to close the gender gap. At their current pace Latin America and the Caribbean will be the first to close the gap in 53 years. Europe is next with 67 years and North America follows at 95 years. East Asia and the Pacific are moving the slowest with 189 years until the gap is closed.

Despite the difficulty, women across the world will always be fighting for their rights.