In this C! Podcast Corinne M. Flick speaks with Linda Scott, author of “The Double X Economy” and founder of the Oxford Power Shift Forum for Women in the World Economy, about:
How the Discrimination of Women is Built into the Global Economy
Here’s what she said:
More than 80% of the world’s arable surface is being controlled by men. In Western countries, the percentage of land owned by women is even smaller than the global average. In Germany, it’s about 8% – that is comparable to the Middle East.
It’s clearly a global pattern. The mechanisms that produce discrimination against women are consistent from culture to culture.
Classic economic theory makes us think that women being observably unequal in every country, in every industry, in every occupation, is a result of their own inadequacies and poor choices. This is implausible at best.
The most important and impactful problem is the lack of childcare. This is the number one barrier to women’s economic participation all over the world and in every aspect of the world economy.
People who do studies that claim that the gender pay gap is not real can only do so by manipulating the data.
All across the world the majority of the population, including men, believe that gender equality is important. It’s a very small percentage of men who still hold out against it. We just need to have the courage to stand up to them.