Rural 21 (engl. Ausgabe 3/2018)

Focus 3/2018: Gender equity
No doubt a lot has happened in terms of gender equity and equality over the last few decades. There are women who head states and hold high positions in international organisations. There are women who successfully lead enterprises and have long ceased limiting their role to that of a caregiver. But progress is extremely slow. And some of it has been reversed, as the 2017 Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum notes. In 27 out of the 144 countries examined, progress towards gender parity is once again regressing. And since the #MeToo movement at the latest, it has become frighteningly clear just how commonplace it continues to be to mercilessly take advantage of the power structure between men and women – in order to inhibit, humiliate, sexually molest, hit and kill them. Whether we are in the Global North or the Global South makes little difference in this context. Gender equality and women`s empowerment represents a topic that is far too complex to be dealt with comprehensively in one single edition. We can only deal briefly with many of the areas that it no doubt encompasses, including both those mentioned above and education, the digital gender divide, reproductive health und female genital mutilation. We nevertheless hope that our selection of themes will make you more aware of this topic.