Mar 8, 2009

International Women's Day 2009 - Gender facts

Networking ...

  • Women use 20,000 words a day while men only use 7,000

Global Issues ...

  • Females in developing countries on average carry 20 litres of water per day over 6 km
  • Globally women account for the majority of people aged over 60 and over 80
  • Pregnant women in Africa are 180 times more likely to die than in Western Europe
  • 530,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth each year
  • World population hit 6,872,741,131 on 1 January 2009
  • Of 1.2 billion people living in poverty worldwide, 70% are women
  • 80% of the world's 27 million refugees are women
  • Women own around only 1% of the world's land
  • AIDS sees women's life expectancy of 43 in Uganda and Zambia
  • 5 people are added to the world's population every 2 seconds
  • Women are 2/3 of the 1 billion+ illiterate adults who have no access to basic education

Innovation ...

  • Globally women comprise 42% internet users (Italy 37% ... US & Canada 51%)
  • In OECD countries women comrpise only 30 per cent of degrees in science and technology
  • Women's representation in computer and information sciences workforce is around 30% globally
  • Female inventors still only account for around 10% of the US inventor population

Business / Finance ...

  • Women control $14 trillion in assets and this should grow to $22 trillion over next 10 years
  • Women comprise 21 of the 37 million people living below the poverty line in the US
  • Only in Japan and Peru are women more active in starting a business than men
  • Women spend more time researching before they invest than men do

Media / Arts ...

  • Only 21% of all news subjects (people interviewed or whom the news is about) are female
  • Women less than 1% department heads, editors, media owners but third of working journalists
  • 80% of UK purchasing decisions are made by women but 83% of 'creatives' are men

Work ...

  • Women do two-thirds of the world's work but receive only 10% of the world's income
  • Women's education is the most powerful predictor of lower fertility rates
  • One year out of college women earn 20% less than men and 10 years later 31% less
  • Women on average are away from workforce for 14.7 years compared to 1.6 years for men
  • The biggest EU gender pay gap is in Cyprus and Estonia at 25% then Slovakia at 24%

Government ...

  • 56% of women who voted supported Obama compared to only 49% of men voted for Obama
  • Until 20 years ago there had never been more than 5% women MPs globally
  • Benazir Bhutto was the first woman prime minister of a muslim country (assassinated 27/12/07)
  • From the 27 EU member states, UK ranks 15 for women's representation in national Parliaments
  • From 1945 to 1995 the percentage of women MPs worldwide increased four-fold