Blog 7 - Country Focus Canada

    Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean,covering 9.98 million square kilometers (3.85 million square miles), making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Its southern border with the United States,stretching 8,891 kilometers (5,525 mi), is the world's longest bi-national land border. Canada's capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition, with a monarch and a prime minister who serves as the chair of the Cabinet and head of government.The country is a realm within the Commonwealth of Nations, a member of the Francophonie and officially bilingual at the federal level. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, and education. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries.

    Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture.A developed country, Canada has the seventeenth-highest nominal per-capita income globally as well as the thirteenth-highest ranking in the Human Development Index. Its advanced economy is the tenth-largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade networks. Canada is part of several major international and intergovernmental institutions or groupings including the United Nations, NATO, the G7, the Group of Ten, the G20, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. 

        Canada’s HDI value for 2018 is 0.922— which put the country in the very high human development category—positioning it at 13 out of 189 countries and territories.Between 1990 and 2018, Canada’s HDI value increased from 0.850 to 0.922, an increase of 8.5 percent. Table A reviews Canada’s progress in each of the HDI indicators. Between 1990 and 2018, Canada’s life expectancy at birth increased by 5.0 years, mean years of schooling increased by 3.0 years and expected years of schooling decreased by 0.6 years. Canada’s GNI per capita increased by about 43.5 percent

between 1990 and 2018. 

    While assessing progress relative to other countries, Human development progress, as measured by the HDI, is useful for comparison between two or more countries. For instance, during the period between 1990 and 2018 Canada, Norway and United States experienced different degrees of progress toward increasing their HDIs .

    Canada’s 2018 HDI of 0.922 is above the average of 0.892 for countries in the very high human development group and above the average of 0.895 for countries in OECD. From OECD, countries which are close to Canada in 2018 HDI rank and to some extent in population size are Australia and United States, which have HDIs ranked 6 and 15 respectively (Human Development Report,2019). 

    Unfortunately, in 2019, Canada has fallen three places down the global rankings for gender equality, its first dip since 2017.With a self-proclaimed feminist prime minister and a gender-balanced cabinet, a person could be forgiven for thinking Canada was on the upswing. But on Tuesday, the annual World Economic Forum Gender Parity Report revealed Canada fell from 16th place to 19th — just below Switzerland, South Africa and Denmark. Developing and deploying one-half of the world’s available talent has a huge bearing on the growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of economies and businesses worldwide. Gender parity has a fundamental bearing on whether economies and societies thrive.The 2019 report presents a mixed picture. Overall, the quest for equality has improved, with the report stating it will take 99.5 years to achieve gender parity worldwide, down from 108 years in the 2018 index. Greater political representation for women has contributed to this, but overall, the political arena remains the worst-performing dimension.The report suggests none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and it’s unlikely our children will either.

   Despite the drop in the overall ranking, Canada tied with a number of countries — including Australia, France, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand — for first place in educational attainment.

The report said 25 countries have mostly closed the gender gap in education at 96.1 per cent. Healthcare was also close to parity at 95.7 per cent (Bensadoun, Emerald, 2019). 

   The gender wage gap is perhaps the broadest of issues that need addressing, especially since its repercussions are felt across various ages and social demographics.Especially among Indigenous and racialized women and women with disabilities, who earn even less — 67 cents for every dollar, says Maryam Monsef, Minister for the Status of Women."We know that women who are seniors are at higher rates of poverty because their pensions are lower and they live longer, so they have to stretch their money out for a longer period of time,”says Jessica Mustachi, Ontario coordinator of Campaign 2000, a national educational movement to end child poverty. She points to the wage gap as also impacting women’s ability to enter the housing market, which is made even direr when a woman is in a violent situation and can’t afford to distance herself from an abuser because she can’t pay rent.

“Inequality will impact the violence rates and particular groups of people [i.e. those in a low-income situation] will be impacted by that,” she says (Gender equality in Canada: Where do we stand today? 2018). Below are several gaps to illustrate this inequality. 

    The effects of gender-based violence are far reaching. A survey conducted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation in May found that four out of five Canadians believe the next generation of women is likely or more likely to experience sexual assault, and 49 per cent of respondents feared

 that the country will not make more progress in the area of gender equality.There could be a number of things happening to result in this,” Senior says. “It could be influenced by what’s happening in the United States, or it could be what’s happening in our own society. We still have judges in Canada who say outrageous things like you should keep your knees together to avoid being raped. It is perhaps a realization that we’ve taken things for granted in Canada.” *****Graph 13

   So how can Canada effect more change? With more women graduating from higher learning institutions, the hope is that they’ll begin to populate the decision-making roles that can truly influence gender parity. We need to have more women on boards and heading up corporations,” Senior says. “This is also a huge opportunity for Canada to take the lead globally on issues of gender equality. Our prime minister has declared himself a feminist and now he needs to back it up with action through public policy and resources to address these issues.” It’s also an opportunity for the country to put more women in political positions.“If you know a woman who would make a terrific representative for your community or municipality, ask her to run,” Monsef says. “And then ask her 14 more times, because that’s how long it could take to convince her she has what is needed.” (Gender equality in Canada: Where do we stand today? 2018)

References:

Human Development Report, 2019.Inequalities in Human Development in the 21st Century. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/all/themes/hdr_theme/country-notes/CAN.pdf

Bensadoun, Emerald, 2019.Mind the gap: Canada falls 3 spots in global gender parity rankings to 19th place. retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/6306965/canada-gender-parity-report/

Gender equality in Canada: Where do we stand today? 2018. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/3574060/gender-equality-in-canada-where-do-we-stand-today/

Blog 6 -Country focus South Korea

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo, which was one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, parts of the Russian Far Eastand Inner Mongolia under Gwanggaeto the Great.Its capital, Seoul, is a major global city and half of South Korea's over 51 million people live in the Seoul Capital Area, the fourth largest metropolitan economy in the world(CIA World Fact Book, 2019).The June Struggle led to the end of authoritarian rule in 1987 and the country is now the most advanced democracy with the highest level of press freedom in Asia. It has the 10th highest socialmobility in the world, with 17% of children born to parents in the bottom half of educational attainment ending up in the top quarter.

  South Korea is a member of the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, the G20 and the Paris Club. South Korea is a highly developed country and the world's 12th-largest economy by nominal GDP. Its citizens enjoy the world's fastest Internet connection speeds and the densest high-speed railway network. It was named the second-best country in the world to raise kids in the 2020 UN Child Flourishing Index, with the best chance at survival, thriving and well-being due to good healthcare, education and nutrition. The world's 5th largest exporter and 8th largest importer, South Korea is a global leader in many technology and innovation driven fields (Human Development Report, 2019).

Gender inequality in South Korea refers to the unequal opportunities and treatment men and women face in South Korea. Derived from deep-rooted patriarchal ideologies and practices, gender inequality in South Korea is consistently ranked as one of the highest in the world. While gender inequality remains especially prevalent in South Korea's economy and politics, it has improved in healthcare and education.

Due to the various methods of calculating and measuring gender inequality, South Korea's gender inequality rankings vary across different reports. While the 2017 UNDP Gender Inequality Index ranks South Korea 10th out of 160 countries, the World Economic Forum ranks South Korea 118th out of 144 countries in its 2017 Global Gender Gap Report. In their 2013 study (Branisa et al.), explain that indices like the Global Gender Gap Index tend to be "outcome-focused", which means they focus on gender inequalities in agency and in well-being. Indices like the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) focus on the origins of gender inequalities, such as laws and norms. South Korea is one of three OECD countries that did not receive a perfect SIGI score. While the SIGI did not give South Korea an overall ranking, the country was reported to have very low levels of discriminatory family code, low levels of restricted civil liberties, and medium levels of restricted resources and assets (Human Development Reports, 2018).

In 2010, 93% of South Koreans surveyed believed women should have equal rights to men, and among them, 71% believe more changes are needed before that goal is achieved. Gender inequality" in South Korea has been perpetuated and deepened by historical practices and events, such as military sexual slavery and Park Geun-Hye's scandal. However, contemporary South Korea has made

 great strides in attempting to reduce gender inequality through legislation and policymaking

Throughout modern history, South Korean women have been subjected to military sexual slavery.During World War II, thousands of young Korean women were forced to become "comfort women" for the Japanese Imperial Army. During the Korean War, the United States enlisted more than one million South Korean women into military prostitution. According to the Journal of Korean Studies authors Han and Chu, military establishments have depended upon and justified the systematic discrimination of women by promoting gendered notions of femininity and masculinity, weakness and strength, conquered and conqueror. Han and Chu believe that military sexual slavery has contributed to the patriarchal ideologies that perpetuate gender inequality in South Korea (Han, Ju Hui Judy; Chun, Jennifer Jihye, 2014).

     After the democratization of Korea, the number of feminist movements greatly increased. The Korean government began to address gender equality issues in the late 20th century with the following legislative acts:

Sexual Equality Employment Act (1987)

Act on Equal Employment and Reconciliation of Work and Family (1989)

Mother-Child Welfare Act (1991)

Punishment of Sexual Violence and Protection of the Victim Act (1993)

Women’s Development Act (1995)

Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of the Victim Act (1997)

In 2005, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family was established and the patrilineal family register (hoju) was abolished. While gender equality in policymaking and governance has improved over the last few decades, gender equality in labor markets and the division of labor has remained stagnant (UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1998).

    Although women gained the rights to vote and run for election in 1948, women have historically been underrepresented in South Korean politics. When Park Geun-Hye became South Korea's first female president in 2012, many viewed her election as a victory for gender equality in South Korea. Four years later, her scandal and impeachment nullified any progress made by her election and left many convinced that women are not fit to lead their country. The professional inequality in South Korea is atypically high among developed countries. This type of inequality can be seen in statistics concerning South Korea's wage gap, employment rates, occupational segregation, and parental leave.

In their 2001 article, Monk-Turner and Turner report that "all else equal, men earn from 33.6 percent to 46.9 percent more than women with comparable skills. In 2017, the OECD placed Korea in the last position of all OECD countries for gender pay gap, a position that has not improved since the OECD first published this ranking in 2000.The gender pay gap in Korea is 34.6%, while the OECD average is 13.1%.The gap has improved by 7% since 2000, though the rate of improvement has been slower than in other OECD countries. The Korean gender pay gap has been called "the worst... among the industrialized countries.

 Korea also ranked the lowest on the glass-ceiling index published by The Economist in 2014.The glass-ceiling index was determined by the country's performance on nine indicators such as wage gap, labor force participation, representation in senior jobs, paid maternity leave, etc. Women tend to occupy low-paying, non-regular jobs and are less likely to be promoted to higher managerial positions in the workplace; however, employment opportunities for women in South Korea have steadily

 increased in the past few decades. Before the Korean War, the employment rate of women was less than 30%. In their 2018 Economic Survey for Korea, the OECD recorded the female employment rate to be around 56.1%, which is below the average (59.3%) for all OECD countries. The male employment rate is 75.9%, which is slightly higher than the OECD average (74.7%). In addition to the societal and familial expectations of women to be primary caregivers, the OECD report explains that "women tend to withdraw from the labor force once they have children, in part due to shortages of high-quality early childhood education and care institutions. During the 1970s and 1980s, women left the workforce at a very "early stage in family formation. Currently, they are leaving the workforce later, usually right before or during their pregnancy. May notes that this trend could be due to women's growing financial independence ( Ma, Li, 2013).

   The Korean Ministry of Gender Equality & Family is focusing on ways of ensuring people can fully benefit from the different policies and systems we have in place to achieve work-life balance for both men and women. One example of how they are doing this is with “Best Family Friendly Management” certifications, which provide various incentives and government certifications for companies that have family-friendly policies for both men and women. It started with 14 companies back in 2008, and today they have 956 companies involved. And it’s not just for big companies, but also local government bodies along with small and medium enterprises. Certified companies are already doing a lot to make sure their policies are family-friendly. There has been a shift in mentality, and women in Korea are now considered as essential to the long-term development and success of companies. The successful cases of female employment and work-life balance, which are tailored for each company, are becoming the driving force for larger changes in society. National laws can be a burden for many companies, due to their uniform application, but these cases are easy to apply to all companies (How is South Korea closing the gender gap, 2015).

References:

CIA World Fact Book, (2019). Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Human Development Report ,(2019).2019 Human Development Index Ranking. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/2019-human-development-index-ranking

Human Development Reports, 2018. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII

Han, Ju Hui Judy; Chun, Jennifer Jihye (2014). "Introduction: Gender and Politics in Contemporary Korea". The Journal of Korean Studies. 19 (2): 245–255

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, 1998. "Concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Republic of Korea"

MA, Li (2013). "Employment and Motherhood Entry in South Korea, 1978-2006". Population (English Edition, 2002-). 68 (3): 419–446.

How is South Korea closing the gender gap, 2015.World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/03/qa-how-is-south-korea-closing-the-gender-gap/

Blog 5- Country Focus New Zealand

     New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country has two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. It has a total land area of 268,000 square kilometers (103,500 sq mi). New Zealand is about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and 1,000 kilometers (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland (New Zealand Land Cover Database, July 2009).

         The 2018 New Zealand census enumerated a resident population of 4,699,755, an increase of 10.8% over the 2013 figure. New Zealand is a predominantly urban country, with 73.7% of the population living in the seventeen main urban areas and 54.4% living in the four largest cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Hamilton. New Zealand cities generally rank highly on international livability measures. For instance, in 2016 Auckland was ranked the world's third most livable city and Wellington the twelfth by the Mercer Quality of Living Survey. Life expectancy for New Zealanders in 2012 was 84 years for females, and 80.2 years for males. Life expectancy at birth is forecast to increase from 80 years to 85 years in 2050 and infant mortality is expected to decline. New Zealand's fertility rate of 2.1 is relatively high for a developed country, and natural births account for a significant proportion of population growth. Consequently, the country has a young population compared to most industrialized nations, with 20% of New Zealanders being 14 years old or younger. In 2018 the median age of the New Zealand population was 38.1 years. By 2050 the median age is projected to rise to 43 years and the percentage of people 60 years of age and older to rise from 18% to 29%.In 2008 the leading cause of premature death was cancer, at 29.8%, followed by ischemic heart disease, 19.7%, and then cerebrovascular disease, 9.2%. As of 2016, total expenditure on health care is 9.2% of GDP (Statistics New Zealand, June 2007).

    Not too long-ago New Zealand once led in gender equality. In the World Economic Forum’s annual report on the global gender gap, New Zealand was ranked in 9th place in 2016. The Global Gender Gap Index ranks countries on how far women are behind men in regards to health, education and economic and political indicators. Instances, where women have rated ahead of men, are not counted as inequality. New Zealand is a party to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In the OECD's final report on Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship it was found that women in New Zealand do more unpaid work than paid work, gain more tertiary qualifications than men and women-owned new enterprises outperform men-owned enterprises. Nonetheless, despite the gap between wage equality slowly closing in, the report found that the government funding allocated to reduce gender inequality in New Zealand is on the low side in comparison to other countries in the OECD(Gender inequality in New Zealand, April 2012).

    Throughout history, gender inequality has generally affected women more so than men. As a result, there has been a lot of controversy in respect of the matter and activism since the 19th century. New Zealand has had a long history of promoting women's equality. It was the first nation in the world to give women the right to vote in the 19th century. Previously, women were unable to vote until 1893 and were not able to stand for parliament until 1919. The first woman to win an election was Elizabeth McCombs in 1933. Iriaka Ratana was the first Maori woman MP in 1949 and Dame Jenny Shipley was the first woman to be prime minister in New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. Historical inequalities for men include the prohibition of homosexuality for men until the homosexual law reform bill in 1986 and military conscription. 

   The legal framework in New Zealand provides comprehensive protection against all forms of discrimination covered by the CEDAW. In 1973 The Domestic Purpose Benefit was introduced for all parents caring for dependent children without the support of a partner (mainly women). The Accident Compensation Amendment Act 2010 also extended compensation to non-earners, benefiting women who do full-time unpaid work in the domestic home. New Zealand has also enacted a number of legislative means to provide for equal pay for women, outlawing sexual discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace and proposes to set out rights in regards to equal employment for career progression in the workplace. Legislation in respect of gender equality in the workplace include the Equal Pay Act 1972, the State Sector Act 1988and the Human Rights Act 1993.The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 protects all New Zealand citizens from discrimination on the basis of sex(Legislation for gender equity, n.d.).

    Despite these strides in the legal framework New Zealand still has some old laws which have not been repealed or replaced. Abortion is still listed under the Crimes Act 1961. Two certifying consultants (doctors) must agree that continuing the pregnancy would result in serious danger to a woman's mental or physical health in order for women to access abortion. Rape is not a grounds in itself for abortion in New Zealand. Secondly, the Crimes Act, ‘assault on a child, or by a male on a female’, sets the maximum penalty for a male assaulting a female at two years and such assaults are not covered by the less restrictive 'bail as of right' provisions. The equivalent charge of common assault has a maximum one-year penalty and is covered by 'bail as of right' provisions. The Law Commission reviewed the Crimes Act in 2009 and recommended a repeal of this law and suggested that the maximum penalty for common assault be increased so that the more serious cases can still be dealt with appropriately. The proposed Family and Whānau Violence Legislation Bill seeks to address the limitations of using ‘male assaults female’ as a mechanism to address domestic violence. There are some other laws refer to ‘male assaults female’ which creates further gender inequalities. The Accident Compensation Act 2001 allows victims of certain crimes the ability to make claims for compensation for mental injury. Male assault female is one of those crimes. Thirdly, A woman can be charged with the lesser crime of infanticide if she kills her child and "the balance of her mind was disturbed". There is no equivalent for men.

    In New Zealand, there is at least one case of a man being charged with murder where if he was a woman he would have been charged with infanticide (Prosecuting family violence, 2000). Although New Zealand consistently ranks in the top half dozen of countries in the world when it comes to equality between men and women, it is not complacent in terms of gender equality. New Zealand women still do not experience the full equality guaranteed by the law. Across the economy, women's skills are under-used in leadership and women continue to earn less than men – even if they have the same qualifications, and similar job descriptions. Family violence also continues to be a cause of considerable disquiet. Firstly, New Zealand has had a high level of participation by women in public life and this is evident from the modest female representation in politics and the judiciary. However, women continue to be under represented in parliament. Currently, there is a 40.8% female representation in parliament. At present there are no adopted quotas and targets to increase the number of women to ensure the equal representation of women in all publicly appointed bodies by the New Zealand Government. Rather, the government has developed a policy of ‘soft targets’ to promote equal representation. This was criticized by the Human Rights Commission as being insufficient as there is no dedicated machinery to guide it.  The government's current goals and priorities in terms of employment equality for New Zealand women are linked to its broader goal of improving New Zealand's prosperity in the economy. This is to allow women to have more choices and opportunities to use their strengths to maximize social and economic success.  The New Zealand workforce shows a pattern of occupational segregation. For example, women tend to work in lower paying jobs, which contributes, in part, to the wage gap. Dangerous jobs are tend to be mainly male occupations, leading to significantly more workplace injuries and deaths among men. With regard to pay equity, the domestic gender pay gap in New Zealand when comparing full-time workers is rather low in comparison to other countries. The gender pay gap in New Zealand was calculated to be 9.9% in 2014, which was the lowest in the Asia Pacific Region. In terms of education, generally, women tend to outperform men and women tend to fare better in participation.

       New Zealand women have the right to non-discrimination in the ownership and access to land. The Maori Land Act 1993 provides for gender equality in the control and use of land and resources. In terms of non-land assets, there are no restrictions on their equal rights to property, regardless of marital status. Women also have the equal right to financial services pursuant to the Human Rights 1993.Women can access the same comprehensive range of health services as men, as well as having a range of services in place specifically designed for women's health needs – such as maternity services and population screening programs. On average, women have better health outcomes than men and women generally have a higher life expectancy. However, there are areas in which New Zealand does not fare so well in terms of health. New Zealand has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the OECD with the Māori teen pregnancy rate being rather high.

    New Zealand is making great strides to reclaim its place as the top nation in gender equality.

References:

New Zealand Land Cover Database, July 2009.Ministry for the Environment Retrieved from https://www.mfe.govt.nz/more/science-and-data/classification-systems/land-classification-systems

Subnational population estimates at 30 June 2009. Statistics New Zealand. 30 June 2007. Retrieved from http://archive.stats.govt.nz/

Gender inequality in New Zealand, OECD report 22/04/2012. retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/newsroom/tacklegendergaptoboostgrowthsaysoecd.htm

Legislation for gender equity,(n.d.), National Equal Opportunities Network. Retrieved from http://www.neon.org.nz/payequitymonitoringtool/legislationgenderequity/

Cabinet Social Policy Committee REFORM OF FAMILY VIOLENCE LAW Paper Three, 2000.Prosecuting family violence. Retrieved from https://www.justice.govt.nz/assets/documents/publications/fv-reform-paper-3-prosecuting.pdf