Leger is proud to be a part of the Worldwide Independent Network of Market Research (WIN), an organization of different market researchers around the world that develops quality insights around the world. Multiple times a year, all WIN members conduct research on various subjects that interest the global population. International Women’s Day is March 8th and WIN, along with Leger, conducted surveys on gender equality, safety and violence, to track and understand if there are any improvements in terms of equal opportunities and rights. Leger conducted the study in the United States and Canada.
To download the worldwide report, click here.
To download Leger’s USA report, click here.
In the United States, highlights of the report include…
- 53% of U.S. women think that gender equality has been achieved at work, 40% in politics, 66% at home, 52% in the arts, and 40% in sports.
- 50% of U.S. women think that women have less career opportunities than men, while 35% think they have the same opportunities, and 7% say they have more opportunities.
- 36% of U.S. women think that women earn less than men, while 22% say they earn an equal salary to men, and 3% say they earn more than men.
- 51% of U.S. women feel safe walking alone in their neighborhood at night. 40% say they do not feel safe.
Worldwide, the general trends are as follows:
- Safety concerns
46% of women globally do not feel confident or safe when walking alone at night in their neighborhood. Numbers are even more critical in certain geographical areas: 64% of women in the Americas report not feeling safe, 47% in Africa and 45% in Europe. However, in the MENA region only 28% of women share the same feeling.
Zooming into specific countries, Latin America regions are perceived as the least safe: 83% of women in Chile don’t feel safe walking alone, followed by 81% in Mexico and 75% in Ecuador. In Europe, Italy (63%), Greece (62%) and Ireland (58%) report the highest percentage of women feeling unsafe, but even in France (54%) and the United Kingdom (50%) the situation is concerning.
In APAC, Malaysia (56%) and South Korea (51%) are the two countries with the highest percentage, while in Vietnam and in the Philippines only 9% and 15% report feeling unsafe.
- Violence against women is on the rise
An increasing number of women globally (+4% from 2019) answered positively when asked if they suffered any kind of violence (physical or psychological), totaling to 20%. Regionally, the number changes significantly. In Africa the number is particularly high, with 49% of women saying they suffered a form of violence in the last year, followed by the MENA region (27%) and the Americas (24%).
Younger women globally seem to be particularly affected: between the ages of 18 and 24, 27% say they have suffered some kind of violence, between the ages of 25 and 34 the figure is 23%. This is also true when looking at sexual harassment specifically, with 19% of women aged 18-24, and 14% aged 25-34 confirming they have been a victim of sexual harassment.
Once again Africa is the most affected region, where overall 28% of women say they have been victims; specifically in Nigeria, where 47% of women say they have suffered sexual harassment. Other countries with a high percentage of sexual harassment against women are Mexico (25%) and Brazil (20%).
- Improvements on achievements in Gender Equality at work
Although men are generally more optimistic than women, compared to 2019 there’s an improvement in the perception of gender equality in several areas. After two years of stagnation at 26%, now 28% of the global population believes that gender equality has been achieved at work – with 20% of women and 36% of men believing this.
In contrast, 44% of the global population still believe that women have fewer job opportunities than men. In Europe (66%) and the Americas (54%) this percentage is the highest, with Croatia (81%), Italy (80%), and France (75%) perceived as the countries with the fewest job opportunities for women.
Politics is also an area flagging a slow improvement. From 2% in 2019, now 13% of the global population believes that gender equality has been achieved in this area. Once again there’s a strong disconnect between men’s (21%) and women’s (13%) perceptions. There are also strong geographical differences, in the MENA region 45% still believe that gender equality in politics has not been achieved, followed by 41% in APAC.
An area which sees a decline in perceived equality is “at home”. While 48% of people in 2019 believed that gender equality was achieved within the home environment, now only 40% had that perception. In Africa this feeling is stronger than in other regions with 55% of people reporting that gender equality has not been achieved at home.
Vilma Scarpino, President of WIN International Association, said:
“These findings underscore the urgent need for progress in ensuring safety and equal opportunities for all. The unsettling figures on the general sense of unsafety for women, and the increase in violence against them can’t be ignored. At WIN our mission is to shed light on pressuring issues such as these in the hope that one day we’ll see radical improvements in the findings of our global survey, signaling a safer, kinder, and flourishing world for all.”