Sixty-two percent of people in the country believe that there are more advantages in being a man in Argentina than there are to being a woman, according to a new study conducted by Ipsos.
Feelings on the issue vary across other Latin American countries that participated in the study, however, peaking in Chile at 71 percent and dipping to only 45 percent in Brazil.
The data, released via a report that was created in collaboration with the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and King’s College London, also showed that 59 percent of Argentines agreed that women today in Argentina will have a better life than the women from their parent’s generation.
The survey, titled Global Attitudes Towards Gender Equality, questioned citizens of 27 different countries across the globe between December 21, 2018 and January 4, 2019. And It covered a sample of 18,800 adults of all genders between the ages of 18 and 64 in the United States and Canada and the ages of 16 and 64 in all other participating countries.
Other Latin American countries that participated in the survey are Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. In Argentina, approximately 500 individuals were surveyed.
In the study’s final release, the data was divided into six sections: Women in Society Today, Attitudes to Gender Equality, Men’s Role in Equality, Issues Facing Women, Actions for Change and Achieving Equality. The section Men’s Role in Equality, was a new addition, appearing for the first time in the 2019 survey.
As a part of this new addition, the survey found that 64 percent of local residents agree that “women won’t achieve equality in Argentina unless men take actions to support women’s rights too.” But despite this discovery, 48 percent of respondents said that “men are being expected to do too much to support women’s equality in Argentina.”
Another surprising finding is that 82 percent of Argentine respondents disagreed with the sentiment that “a man who stays at home to look after his children is less of a man,” evidence of a growing generational shift in attitudes toward parenting.
This conclusion coincides with the 47 percent of Argentines who are confident that discrimination in regard to looking after children at home will be eliminated within the next 20 years.
'Long road ahead'
Arriving in the same week as International Women’s Day, the survey conducted attempted to define a global perspective of what gender equality looks like today and its prospects in the future.
“The study shows there is still a long road ahead to achieving gender equality globally. What’s more, we know from previous work that people underestimate the scale of the task in hand,” said Kelly Beaver, Managing Director of Ipsos MORI’s Social Research Institute, in a press release.
Although the study found that only 32 percent of Argentines identify themselves as feminists, a decrease from last year, some 66 percent of respondents said that “achieving equality between men and women is important to me personally.”
As perceived by Argentine respondents, the three most prevalent issues currently faced by women and girls are sexual harassment, sexual violence and physical violence.
To best combat these threats, 47 percent of Argentine participants contended that tougher laws need to be enacted to prevent violence and harassment against women. Whereas 37 percent said that boys and girls need to be educated about the importance of gender equality in school and 36 percent said that men and women need to be paid the same for the same work.
In response to recent attempts for change, 47 percent agreed that not enough is being done to achieve equal rights in politics and government. And 43 percent said that not enough is being done to promote gender equality through education.
But even with the general acknowledgement that more needs to be done to achieve gender equality, more Argentines responded as confident than as not confident that within the next 20 years gender inequality can be eliminated in varying sectors of society.
“A balanced world is a better world,” said Glenda Slingsby, International Women’s Day, in a press release. “The findings of the study highlight that everyone can play a role in forging gender parity. Gender balance is not a women's issue, it's an economic issue - so advocacy, inclusive mindsets and tangible action are needed from all.”
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