Equality within Our Lifetimes: How Laws and Policies Can Close―or Widen―Gender Gaps in Economies Worldwide

329 Pages·2023·14.543 MB·English

by  Jody Heymann, Aleta Sprague, Amy Raub

6 × 9 SPINE: 0.811 FLAPS: 0
well into the twenty-first century, achieving gender equality in Heymann EQUALIT Y
the economy remains unfinished business. Worldwide, women’s employment, income,
Sprague
and leadership opportunities lag men’s. Building and using a one-of-a-kind database
that covers 193 countries, this book systematically analyzes how far we’ve come Raub WITHIN OUR
and how far we have to go in adopting evidence-based solutions to close the gaps.
Spanning topics including girls’ education, employment discrimination of all kinds,
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sexual harassment, and caregiving needs across the life course, the authors bring the LIFETIMES
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findings to life through global maps, stories of laws’ impact in courts and beyond, w Q
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and case studies of making change. A powerful call to action, Equality within Our a U
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Lifetimes reveals how gender equality is both feasible and urgently needed to address
some of the greatest challenges of our generation. s a A
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P I How Laws and Policies
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“An inspirational title to further the advancement of comprehensive gender equality, ies Y Can Close—or Widen—
which goes beyond formal and protective equality to substantive equality that C

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underpins transformative laws, policies, and, above all, results on the ground.” n W Gender Gaps in
—Virginia Bras Gomes, Former Chairperson of the UN Committee on C
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Economic, Social and Cultural Rights os I Economies
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“This book makes a compelling case, based on both quantitative and qualitative data, o H
r Worldwide
for how and why gender equality benefits everyone. Governments would be wise to W
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heed this lesson.”—Yasmeen Hassan, Global Executive Director, Equality Now de N
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“This book is an essential handbook for those invested in gender equality law and
G O Jody Heymann
policy.”—Catherine Fisk, Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law, e
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University of California, Berkeley School of Law d U
e Aleta Sprague
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Jody Heymann is Founding Director of the WORLD Policy Analysis Center; p Amy Raub
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Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles; and an in L
elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. E I
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Aleta Sprague is Senior Legal Analyst at WORLD and an attorney with over a o E
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decade of experience working on social policy and inequality. i T
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Amy Raub is Principal Research Analyst at WORLD and an economist with M
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two decades of experience working on discrimination and inequality. l
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A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, e

University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program.
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Cover design: Michelle Black.
Cover illustration: PeopleImages, “Faces from Within,”
iStockphoto.
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Equality within Our Lifetimes

Equality within Our Lifetimes
How Laws and Policies Can Close—or Widen—
Gender Gaps in Economies Worldwide
Jody Heymann, Aleta Sprague, and Amy Raub
Foreword by
Hema Swaminathan
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2023 by S. Jody Heymann, Aleta Sprague, and Amy Raub
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY NC ND license.
To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses.
Suggested citation: Heymann, J., Sprague, A. and Raub, A. Equality within
Our Lifetimes: How Laws and Policies Can Close—or Widen—Gender Gaps
in Economies Worldwide. Oakland: University of California Press, 2023.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.147
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Heymann, Jody, 1959- author. | Sprague, Aleta, 1986- author. |
Raub, Amy, 1981- author. | Swaminathan, Hema, writer of foreword.
Title: Equality within our lifetimes : how laws and policies can close-or
widen-gender gaps in economies worldwide / Jody Heymann,
Aleta Sprague, Amy Raub ; foreword by Hema Swaminathan.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2023] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022028223 (print) | LCCN 2022028224 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780520392311 (paperback) | ISBN 9780520392304 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Equality before the law. | Equality—Economic aspects. |
Sex discrimination—Economic aspects. | Sex discrimination in
employment.
Classification: LCC K3250 .H494 2023 (print) | LCC K3250 (ebook) |
DDC 342.08/5—dc23/eng/20220924
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028223
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022028224
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To Jennifer Scott, whose immense gifts, inner strength,
and deep commitment made this work possible.
And to everyone who finds a path to advancing equality.

Gender equality is the goal that will help abolish poverty, that will
create more equal economies, fairer societies, and happier men,
women, and children.
—Graça Machel