International Women's Day is an annual celebration of the remarkable efforts made by campaigners to champion gender equality over the decades — and serves as a rallying cry to the world on the progress still to be made.
Much has changed since the day — held on March 8 each year — was first observed more than a century ago.
But what do the raw numbers tell us about where the world stands today in its mission to empower women in all walks of life.
The world of work is a key area that has had a significant upheaval in the status of women, with increases in female participation around the globe.
Gender pay gaps have substantially decreased, at least in wealthier nations, although there are many areas in which campaigners want to see further progress.
Here we highlight metrics that indicate where progress has been made — and others where there is still much to be done.
18 per cent — the approximate gender pay gap in the US
According to figures from the Pew Research Centre in the US, women there earned 82 cents for every $1 earned by men in 2022, only a slight increase on 2002’s figure of 80 cents.
Over the previous two decades, there was a much greater narrowing of the gender pay gap, because in 1982, women in the US earned only 65 cents for every $1 earned by men.
Many developed nations have narrower the gender pay gap. According to OurWorldinData, the figure was 14.3 per cent in Australia in 2016, 13.4 per cent in Sweden, 9.9 per cent in Iceland and 3.3 per cent in Belgium.
The UK's gender pay gap plummeted to 17 per cent in 2016, from 50 per cent in 1970. Figures for developing countries are rarely available.
Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development — an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries — serves to highlight the disparity in pay between the sexes.
In its most recent data collected from its member states, Bulgaria has the smallest gender pay gap, with men earning on average 2.6 per cent more than female colleagues, while the biggest gulf in wages is found in South Korea, at 31 per cent.
Fiona McBride, chief executive of Kaplan Professional Middle East, which provides professional training, said the role of women in the workplace “has gone some distance in the last generation”.
“I’m of an age where there weren’t too many women in the workplace,” said Ms McBride, 55, a Briton who has lived in Dubai for the past three years.
“I would very often find myself where I would be the only woman in a room and in situations where, I have to say, maybe I wasn’t listened to.
“I believe women are the biggest barriers to women. We put our own limitations on what we can do … We can sometimes fall into our own stereotypes: ‘I shouldn’t do that; I should step back from that; I’m being too pushy.’”
While saying this, and adding that things were still “not equal”, Ms McBride said that women now behaved very differently than they did early in her career.
“When I listen to young women in their 20s and the conversations they have with their bosses, it’s amazing,” she said. “They say what they will accept.”
While women still on average earn less than men, the workplace tends to be safer for them, as they accounted for less than 9 per cent of the 5,190 people killed at work in the US in 2021, according to the US Department of Labour.
77 per cent — the proportion of Emirati women who enrol in higher education
Female participation in higher education in the UAE and many other nations is greater than that of men.
According to the UAE Gender Balance Council, at two of the three federal higher education institutions, women account for between 80 and 90 per cent of the student body.
These figures in part reflect the fact that Emirati men are more likely than women to go abroad for higher education, but higher female participation in higher education is also a factor.
It is a pattern seen widely, with women accounting for a majority of people in higher education in 74 per cent of countries for which data is available, according to a 2021 UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) report.
Women in the UAE are showing enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects, making up 56 per cent of the graduates at government universities in these courses.
“[There is] lots of buzz about women in Stem, lots of programmes to encourage women to go into computer science and maths,” said Soraya Beheshti, regional director for Crimson Education and a board member of the New Zealand Business Council – UAE.
Sometimes a high proportion of women in Stem subjects does not translate into representation in the workplace. According to figures from a 2020 UN report, women make up 43 per cent of Stem graduates in India but only 14 per cent of the engineers and scientists at the country’s research institutions.
Figures published by the World Bank indicate that, worldwide, women made up 44 per cent of academic staff in 2020, up from 32 per cent in 1974.
There is huge variation between nations, with only 3 per cent of academic staff in Chad being women (with many other sub-Saharan African countries also having low female participation in academia), compared to 65 per cent in both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
2.3 per cent — the proportion of venture capital funding that goes to businesses led by women only
According to Crunchbase, a business information company, only 2.3 per cent of funding from venture capitalists went to firms with female-only founders in 2020.
This bold statistic suggests that women entrepreneurs may find it much harder than their male counterparts to raise funds to support their start-up businesses.
“Female entrepreneurs get about 2 per cent of funding, despite the fact they make up a lot of the entrepreneurs who seek funding,” Ms Beheshti said.
She said there were also differences in how potential venture capital investors considered male and female-led businesses, with a more sceptical attitude taken towards the latter.
“It places an additional obstacle in the way that simply isn’t there for male founders,” she said.
Women launch businesses with, on average, 53 per cent less capital than men, a UK government-commissioned report on female entrepreneurship indicated.
Now, banks often have specific funds for female entrepreneurs and Ms Beheshti said that many companies in the financial world “have a lot of mandates to increase the representation of women”.
At Kaplan Professional Middle East, Ms McBride recently ran a training programme for the latest graduate intake for a major Saudi bank. She said of those recruited, 21 were women and only three were men.
Emirati Women's Day - in pictures
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
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Results
Catchweight 60kg: Mohammed Al Katheeri (UAE) beat Mostafa El Hamy (EGY) TKO round 3
Light Heavyweight: Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) no contest Kevin Oumar (COM) Unintentional knee by Oumer
Catchweight 73kg: Yazid Chouchane (ALG) beat Ahmad Al Boussairy (KUW) Unanimous decision
Featherweight: Faris Khaleel Asha (JOR) beat Yousef Al Housani (UAE) TKO in round 2 through foot injury
Welterweight: Omar Hussein (JOR) beat Yassin Najid (MAR); Split decision
Middleweight: Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) beat Sallah Eddine Dekhissi (MAR); Round-1 TKO
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammed Ali Musalim (UAE) beat Medhat Hussein (EGY); Triangle choke submission
Welterweight: Abdulla Al Bousheiri (KUW) beat Sofiane Oudina (ALG); Triangle choke Round-1
Lightweight: Mohammad Yahya (UAE) beat Saleem Al Bakri (JOR); Unanimous decision
Bantamweight: Ali Taleb (IRQ) beat Nawras Abzakh (JOR); TKO round-2
Catchweight 63kg: Rany Saadeh (PAL) beat Abdel Ali Hariri (MAR); Unanimous decision
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EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
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Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
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1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 10 wins 387 points
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4 Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 2 wins, 249 points
5 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1 win, 230 points
Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
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- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
Scorebox
Sharjah Wanderers 20-25 Dubai Tigers (After extra-time)
Wanderers
Tries Gormley, Penalty
Cons Flaherty
Pens Flaherty 2
Tigers
Tries O’Donnell, Gibbons, Kelly
Cons Caldwell 2
Pens Caldwell, Cross
UFC Fight Night 2
1am – Early prelims
2am – Prelims
4am-7am – Main card
7:30am-9am – press cons
Director: Paul Weitz
Stars: Kevin Hart
3/5 stars
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.
Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.
Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
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If you go…
Emirates launched a new daily service to Mexico City this week, flying via Barcelona from Dh3,995.
Emirati citizens are among 67 nationalities who do not require a visa to Mexico. Entry is granted on arrival for stays of up to 180 days.
The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
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Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Company profile
Company name: Suraasa
Started: 2018
Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker
Based: India, UAE and the UK
Industry: EdTech
Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
