by James Stewart

International women's day presents a good opportunity to consider how far we've come towards achieving gender equality, and to recognize how far we still have to go.

The gender pay gap remains high around the world – much work still needed to achieve equal pay



Women's representation in national parliaments is improving - but we still have a long way to go to achieve parity



Primary school enrollment is a bright spot - a consistent move towards parity over the years, with girls even out-enrolling boys in some regions



Women's participation in the labour market has been consistently growing, but remains troublingly small in some areas



To read more about UNU-WIDER's work on gender see the following projects: The politics of group-based inequalities - measurement, implications, and possibilities for change, Disadvantaged groups and social mobility, Discrimination and affirmative action - what have we learnt so far, Gender and development.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute or the United Nations University, nor the programme/project donors.

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