Global Poll shows Strong Support for Gender Equality by Inter Press Service 5:09pm 8th Mar, 2008   Washington, Mar 6, 2008 (IPS)    Large majorities of people around the world agree that women should enjoy full equality of rights compared to men, according to a survey of nearly 15,000 respondents in 16 developed and developing countries released here Thursday by WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO).    The poll, which was released on the eve of International Women"s Day Saturday, found little difference in the aspiration for gender equality between predominantly Muslim countries and western nations.    In Turkey, for example, 80 percent of respondents said they considered equality between men and women to be "very important", compared to 77 percent who took that position in the United States.    Overall, 86 percent of all respondents said they considered gender equality important; 59 percent said they considered it "very important". The survey found some difference between men and women. While, across all countries, 84 percent of men and 88 percent of women said equality was important, 64 percent of women said it was "very important", compared to 54 percent of men who agreed.    With the exception of India, majorities of 75 percent or more of respondents in the 16 countries also said they believed their governments should make an effort to prevent gender discrimination and promote equality for women, according to the poll.    Leading the pack on this position were two developing countries. More than nine out of 10 respondents Mexico (96 percent) and Indonesia (93 percent) said governments should take responsibility for eliminating discrimination.    "The idea that women should have equal rights is fairly new," noted WorldPublicOpinion director Steven Kull, who also runs its parent organisation, the University of Maryland"s Programme on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).    "It is quite extraordinary that there is now such a global consensus across all cultures not only that women should have equal rights, but also that it is the responsibility of the government to prevent discrimination."    As to whether respondents thought that their governments should do more to prevent gender discrimination, Mexico and Indonesia again led the pack. More than four out of five Mexicans (83 percent) said their government should do more to prevent gender discrimination, while seven out of 10 Indonesians, Chinese, and South Koreans took the same position.    In all 16 countries, 53 percent of respondents said their governments should be more aggressive in promoting women"s equality, while 24 percent said they believed their governments were doing enough.    On the other hand, 15 percent said the government should not be involved, with the highest percentages taking that position found in India (38 percent), Egypt and Nigeria (23 percent), Iran (18 percent), and the U.S. and the Palestinian Territories (17 percent).    The survey, which was conducted by research centres in the 16 countries in January and early February, included most of the world"s most populous nations. In addition to the U.S., Mexico, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey, the survey covered France, Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iran, the Palestinian Territories, and Nigeria.    With the exception of China and Egypt, where interviews were confined to major urban areas, all of the polls were national in scope.    Respondents were initially asked to rank their sense of the importance of women having full equality of rights compared to men. They could choose among "very important", "somewhat important" "not very important", "not important at all", "depends", or "don"t know".    While 86 percent of respondents one of the first two options, the highest percentage of respondents who chose "very important" were found in Mexico and Britain (89 percent), followed by Turkey (80 percent), the U.S. (77 percent), China (76 percent), France (75 percent), and Indonesia (71 percent).    On the other end of the scale, only 31 percent of Egyptians said equality was "very important" (although 59 percent said "somewhat important"); 35 percent of Russians (41 percent "somewhat"); 41 percent of Indians (19 percent "somewhat" and 26 percent "depends"); 43 percent of South Koreans, and 44 percent of Iranians and Ukrainians (34 percent and 35 percent "somewhat", respectively).    Forty-four percent of respondents in Nigeria, the one sub-Saharan African nation included in the survey, said they also considered gender equality "very important" (32 percent "somewhat"). Nearly one in four Nigerians -- by far the highest percentage among the 16 nations -- selected either "not very important" or "not very important at all".    Respondents were also asked to consider whether women had achieved more or less equality in their lifetimes or whether there had been no change.    Leaders in this category included Egypt, where 57 percent of respondents said women had gained "much more equality" in the course of their own lives; Britain (52 percent "much more"); Iran (39 percent "much more"); the U.S. (37 percent); and China (32 percent).    By contrast, only nine percent of Nigerian respondents and 11 percent of Palestinian respondents said women had achieved "much more equality" in their societies. Indeed, 46 percent of Nigerians and 51 percent of Palestinians said women were less equitably treated than they were at a younger stage in their lives.    The three countries which had the highest proportion of respondents who said there had been no change in the status of women during their lifetimes were the three former Soviet states: Russia (19 percent), Ukraine (21 percent), and Azerbaijan (18 percent).    For all 16 countries, an average of 71 percent of respondents said women had gained either "much more equality" (29 percent) or "a little more equality" (42 percent) during their lifetimes.    The survey also found strong support for greater involvement by the United Nations in promoting women"s rights. An average of 64 percent of all respondents approve of such efforts by the world body, while 28 percent said the U.N."s involvement would constitute "improper interference in (their) country"s internal affairs".    Support for greater U.N. involvement was highest in Mexico (88 percent), China (86 percent), and South Korea (78 percent). Conversely, the belief that U.N. efforts would be improper were by far the highest in Egypt (70 percent), followed by the Palestinian Territories (48 percent), the United States (38 percent), and Iran (36 percent). Visit the related web page
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