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Committed to Gender Equality: A synthesis of experiences of women and girls around the world

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World Vision
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To gain a global understanding of how gender inequality impacts communities where we work, World Vision Canada reviewed 18 gender assessments and 7 project baseline studies that were conducted over the past three years (2016 to 2019) in 18 countries: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Kenya, Mozambique, Myanmar, Pakistan, Peru, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Through listening to women, girls, men, boys and community leaders, we found that despite some glimmers of hope, many women and girls are not able to access the necessary resources and protections they need to enjoy a life in all its fullness. In many settings, women and girls are disproportionately affected by gender inequality in all its forms.

In particular, the major themes raised by women, girls, men, boys and community leaders when discussing their needs are listed below. These themes are often interconnected and reinforce one another:

  1. Unequal decision making
  2. Unequal access to resources
  3. Gendered cultural norms and beliefs
  4. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
  5. Early marriage and early pregnancy
  6. Menstrual hygiene management

In this report we have summarized what we heard and how each theme influences access to and experiences of education; sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); maternal, newborn and child health; and livelihoods for women and girls.