Paradigm Makers Moonlit Minds Journal: Edition 8

This edition is dedicated to anyone who has experienced gender violence

Jess Price
March 17, 2025

Welcome to the 8th edition of Paradigm Makers Moonlit Minds Journal.

Jess’ Monthly Reflection
What is gender?
Gender discrimination remains deeply embedded glob …
Is it feasible to reach the UN SDG 2030 targets fo …

Jess’ Monthly Reflection

DISCLAIMER: This edition touches on topics of gender violence. If this is something you would prefer to skip, don’t read ‘Speak Out Against Gender-Based Discrimination and Violence’ under Section 3. I have included a similar disclaimer before the content.

This month, I want to talk about gender.

This year’s International Women’s Day theme was accelerate action so that together we can forge gender equality. I thought it was important to take a moment to reflect on why IDW is still necessary 114 years after the first IWD in 1911 and why we still have to:

“Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.” (International Women’s Day)

Bias, stereotypes, and discrimination continue to persist in every facet of life. Perhaps my favourite example is the number one trending search every International Women’s Day.

Based on our current rate of progress, here’s how long the United Nations believe it will take to achieve gender equality if we continue at the current pace:

47 years to achieve equal representation in national parliaments;
140 years for women to be represented equally in positions of power and leadership in the workplace;
286 years to close gaps in legal protection and remove discriminatory laws; and
300 years to end child marriage.

This indicates that despite 114 IWDs, we have objectively made limited progress towards gender equality. I understand this is not a popular opinion as it undermines the progress we have made, but we have to do more if we want to accelerate action and achieve gender equality. We also live in a sad reality where these existing rights are no longer a given, with countries currently seeking to limit rights that are essential for gender equality (eg reproductive rights).

It is also important to remember that gender inequality does not just impact women. Every gender experiences inequality in some capacity, which I have discussed in detail throughout this edition. This is important to acknowledge, as true gender equality means gender equality for all genders.

You might also notice this edition is significantly longer than previous editions. As you know, this journal is my opportunity to share what I am working on. I am currently thinking about how to incorporate my love of research and writing to learn about different topics relevant to the future and how to share these insights in ways others also find engaging. Let me know if you like this format, or have any suggestions for me.

I hope you enjoyed last Friday’s Worm Moon (which was also a blood moon!),

Jess

Jess Price

Founder & Chief Vision Officer

EXPLORING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT

What is gender?

To begin this discussion, I want to clarify the distinction between sex and gender. Although we use these terms interchangeably, they refer to different concepts. A 2023 article published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation provided the following delination:

“Sex usually refers to a person’s biological characteristics, whereas gender refers to socially constructed roles and norms. Although both terms are often treated as binaries, gender is a spectrum and sex may include intersex individuals.”¹

Understanding this nuance is important in the context of gender equality, as achieving equality begins by understanding how our concept of gender has evolved. In the 1300s, gender (noun) was defined as “kind, sort, class, a class or kind of persons or things sharing certain traits.”² In the early 15th century, the male or female definition of gender came into use and by the 20th century, it began to take on erotic qualities, with gender becoming the common English word for ‘sex of a human being’. It was in 1963 that gender and sex became interchangeable, used to describe social attributes as much as biological qualities.

The trends of the use of the word gender give us a sense as to why it feels like gender is a new concept, despite always existing:

From Online Etymology Dictionary

Throughout this edition, you will notice my use of the terms gender-diverse or third genders, which refers to genders outside the binary male or female. While there is nuance between the terms gender and gender identity, the latter refers to "our sense of ourselves as a woman, man, genderqueer or as another gender."³ As gender equality means gender equality for all genders, I thought it was important to highlight their experience with gender inequality.

In addition to tracing the history of the word gender, I was curious to understand how the treatment of gender has evolved throughout history. Surprisingly, I was unable to find one comprehensive timeline that went back to the first humans, so I thought I would create my own. I hoped I could finish it for this edition, but it turns out that trying to trace the treatment of gender throughout history could be a PhD topic on its own! In the interest of sharing my work-in-progress, here’s my first draft.

My goal is to keep adding key historical moments across the 7 themes (Legal Reforms & Policies; Women’s Leadership; Third-Gender Recognition; Cultural Movements; Violence Prevention; Work & Economic Rights; and Reproductive Rights) to create a visual representation of how gender equality has evolved throughout history (if you would like to help let me know!).

While I can’t share the version I would have liked with you, here are some early lessons that surprised me:

Between 40,000 and 1,000 BCE, several cultures recognised and valued third genders; women also faced less discrimination and had more rights than in later periods.
The earliest legal protections for women were created between 3000 and 2000 BCE, which aligned with the rise of women in leadership positions in Ancient Egypt and Israel.
Gender pay disparities were first recognised in the UK in 1483, with women paid less than men for the same agricultural work.

I am using ChatGPT’s new Deep Research feature to help with the research and investigating ways I can use AI to streamline the workflow, as I think this will play an important role in Paradigm Makers’ strategic priority to understand the historical context.

_{1. Kaufman, M. R., Eschliman, E. L., & Karver, T. S. (2023). Differentiating sex and gender in health research to achieve gender equity.}_{Bulletin of the World Health Organization}_,₁₀₁_{(10), 666.}_{https://doi.org/10.2471/BLT.22.289310}₎

_{2. Etypology of ‘Gender’ came from: Online Etomology Dictionary:}_{https://www.etymonline.com/word/gender}

_{3. (2023) Recent Work on Gender Identity and Gender.}_Analysis_,₈₃_{(4), 801-820.}_{https://doi.org/10.1093/analys/anad027}₎

IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES FOR TODAY

Gender discrimination remains deeply embedded globally

Last year, UN Women released the Women’s Rights Review Report to outline key priorities and actions needed to accelerate progress. While it is important to acknowledge the progress we have made, substantial systemic barriers and emerging challenges continue to hinder advancement worldwide.

Under the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations has set an ambitious goal to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030. Based on our current actions:

15.4% are on track;
61.5% are at a moderate distance;
23.1% are far or very far off track.

Some of these goals should be considered fundamental human rights, and it is unforgivable that this is a conversation we need to continue advocating for in 2025. These goals include:

eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls,
give women equal rights to economic resources;
ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights; and
ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership.

Initially, I had planned on providing three small steps we could take today to move towards gender equality in these areas. Yet, once I began my research, I knew it was important to include more nuance, as true gender equaility means understanding the inequality all genders currently experience. It is also important to discuss how deeply ingrained gender discrimination remains in our economies and societies. While we can’t remove discrimination from these structures today, there are three areas I believe we should focus on to have the largest systemic impact:

Challenge Gender Stereotypes and Bias
Amplify Voices and Support Participation
Speak Out About Gender-Based Discrimination and Violence

Challenge Gender Stereotypes and Bias

Challenging gender stereotypes and biases is not specific to women. The important nuance is how these stereotypes tend to present. For women, the impact is most pronounced in the workplace, while for men, it is at home. Typically, we frame these impacts through gender, reinforcing these stereotypes and biases. Instead, we should be actively challenging gender stereotypes and unconscious biases in our daily interactions and thoughts. This could involve questioning assumptions about roles, abilities, and interests based on gender and promoting more inclusive language and perspective in conversations and actions. Here are two examples of how these stereotypes and biases are contributing to gender inequality.

That’s a boy’s job

The UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2024 notes the influence of stereotypes, even from a young age, on girls’ perceptions of their interests in fields like engineering and computer science. Nearly all countries have gender gaps in digital skills and STEM, significantly impacting women and girl’s participation in leadership and digital transformation. Globally, the share of female researchers (31.5 per cent) has barely increased since 2011, and in 2022, women made up less than one in four employees in science, engineering, and ICT jobs, limiting their roles in decision-making and technological advancement. The World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report found that LinkedIn data shows that while women’s representation in both STEM and non-STEM workforces has increased since 2016, women remain underrepresented in STEM roles, comprising only 28.2% of the STEM workforce compared to 47.3% in non-STEM sectors. The consequence of this underrepresentation means new technological and scientific discoveries continue to lack the perspective of women. A consequence we are familiar with in other industries, including medical research.

Unpaid Labour

At home, the 2024 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey found that in 2022, on average, individuals aged 18 to 64 spent 8.8 hours per week on housework, 4.0 hours on household errands, and 3.0 hours on outdoor tasks. They also spent an average of 6.6 hours per week caring for their children and 1.5 hours caring for elderly and disabled relatives. Men spent an average of 12.8 hours on housework in 2022, the same as in 2002. However, their time spent on care increased from 5.0 hours per week in 2002 to 5.5 hours in 2022. Women averaged 18.4 hours on housework in 2022, and their time spent on care increased from 10.1 hours per week in 2002 to 10.7 hours in 2022. Even without a partner or dependent child, women spent about 1.7 hours more on housework and 0.5 hours more on care than men. The fact that women consistently spend more time on housework and care activities than men indicates an underlying stereotype that associates these tasks with the female gender. This aligns with the stereotypical traits often associated with women, including warmth, helpfulness and nurturing. While men’s involvement in care has seen a slight increase over the two decades examined by the HIDLA survey, the overall disparity remains substantial, indicating a slower pace of change in the division of labor compared to shifts in female employment. Despite this discrepancy, some studies have referenced the concept of ‘household production in an egalitarian society’, indicating there are homes where gender equality is emphasised in the division of tasks.

Conclusion

These are two examples of where we continue to see gender stereotypes and bias persist. They demonstrate how ingrained these biases are, yet they also provide us an opportunity to shift societal norms that hinder gender equality for the next generation.

Amplify Voices and Support Participation

The Women’s Rights Review emphasises the importance of elevating women’s voices and achieving equal participation in decision-making at all levels. This is particularly important in circumstances where these groups may have lived experience of discrimination. We can do this by actively listening to and amplifying the voices of those around us. While the emphasis is predominately on women and gender-diverse people, there are also opportunities to amplify male voices, as the research indicates men are also negatively impacted by gender stereotypes and bias. Here are two examples of where we can amplify voices and support participation for all genders in work and education.

Work

According to the International Labour Organisation, the current global labour force participation rate for women is just under 47% and 72% for men. In some regions, this gap extends to more than 50 percentage points. In the context of work, there are opportunities to amplify the voices and support participation for all genders. For this section, I have intentionally chosen to ignore the usual inequality we discuss, the gender pay gap (for every $1 on average a man makes, women earn 78c), because I believe if we start by addressing the underrepresentation in leadership roles and flexible working arrangements, we will ultimately resolve these challenges.

Women are still significantly underrepresented in leadership and political roles. According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, women’s hiring into leadership began to deteriorate from 37.5% to 36.9% in 2023, continuing to drop in early 2024 to 26.4%, below 2021 levels. In government, gender parity in parliamentary representation reached a record high of 33% in 2024, nearly doubling since 2006 (18.8%). Another metric used to track women at the CEO level is the ‘John Index’. In 2023, women CEOs outnumbered S&P 500 company CEOs with the first name John. In 2018, the New York Times highlighted why this index exists - John’s make up 3.3% of the male population, while women represented 50.8%.

Men are underrepresented in flexible working arrangements and parental leave entitlements. According to 2019-2020 Workplace Gender Equaility Agency data, men account for 6.5% of people who take primary carer parental leave, and only 2.2% of organisations have set targets to improve men’s participation in flexible work. This likely stems from the gender stereotypes discussed above. A 2024 report found men were more likely to request flexible arrangements in workplaces where they felt less judged. Women were also three times more likely than men to report using part-time working arrangements, despite men increasingly seeking flexible work to play more active roles as caregivers. This underrepresentation may also contribute to why women spend more time on average on unpaid labour.

There is limited research on the gender-diverse experience at work, with one study attributing this to the emphasis on a binary understanding of gender (male/female). This leads to a lack of acknowledgement and invisibility, limiting their voices. One Victorian Public Sector Report identified that gender-diverse people report lower salaries and are least likely of any gender identity to agree that recruitment and promotion processes are fair. The lack of recognition of gender diversity today can mean these negative experiences can silence individuals and impede their participation.

Education

Examining education from the gender equality perspective was interesting, as it amplifies the tension of our existing approach to achieve gender equality. While women and girls broadly experience more gender inequaility, in the context of education, men and boys are falling behind.

According to UNESCO, an estimated 129 million boys and 122 million girls were out of school. This trend began in the early 2000’s with boys’ disadvantage in education more noticeable in higher- or upper-middle-income countries. However, the situation has shifted, and boys are now lagging behind girls in several low- and lower-middle-income countries as well. This shift includes reversals in gender gaps where previously girls were more disadvantaged. Last year, UNESCO released the No Child Left Behind Report to investigate why boys are disengaged from education. In many countries, boys are at greater risk of repeating grades, failing to complete different education levels, and having poorer learning outcomes compared to girls. The Report highlights that these differences may be attributed to prevailing social norms and stereotypes that negatively impact boys’ participation and engagement. Traditional gender norms and societal expectations can also negatively impact boys’ motivation and desire to learn. Certain subjects and school activities, like English, might be seen as conflicting with traditional expressions of masculinity, making boys less likely to succeed in these subjects.

At the higher education level, the OCED’s 2024 Education at a Glance Report notes there has been a significant shift in higher education favouring women, yet persistent gender segregation in fields of study. In almost all OECD and partner countries, the share of women enrolled in tertiary education is higher than that of men. In Australian higher education, female students comprise 60.3% while male students comprise 39.7% of total enrolments. The gender breakdown for graduate fields provides an interesting example of how gender stereotypes continue to persist:

From the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report (pg 96)

Conclusion

These two examples explain why it is important to challenge gender stereotypes and bias. These societal norms are impacting the experience of all genders in work and educational contexts. Understanding that all genders experience inequality is important, as true gender equality only happens when all genders experience equality.

Speak Out Against Gender-Based Discrimination and Violence

Disclaimer: This section discusses violence against women. The last section - Creating New Paradigms for Tomorrow - does not discuss violence.

When we talk about gender-based discrimination and violence, we generally speak in the context of violence against women. It turns out there is a reason. The Women’s Rights Review Report attributes violence against women and girls to deeply entrenched gender inequality and discriminatory norms, with 1 in 3 women globally subjected to physical or sexual violence across their lifetime. It is easy to become complacent to violence against women when we hear another report on the news about a woman or child being killed or assaulted. Yet, speaking out is important if we want to achieve gender equality.

A 2024 Australian Government Report on gender-based violence in Australia provided this educational summary of gender-based violence in Australia:

From: Unlocking the Prevention Potential: Report of the Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches (pg 27)

You may notice the role of societal norms in the first column, which perpetuate and contribute to the high rates of violence against women we continue to see today.

The Gender Snapshot 2024 calls for a whole-of-society approach to end violence. One of the reasons these norms persist is the media’s portrayal of these cases. The Australian Government Review noted that media plays a critical role in shaping attitudes and reporting ethically on violence against women to avoid victim-blaming and to hold perpetrators accountable. As with every opportunity for today, education is key. Ensuring journalists understand and are educated on the critical role they play in reducing violence against women is essential if we want to achieve gender equality. For any men reading this who wants to speak out, I highly recommend the comedy show X by Daniel Sloss, where he shares his personal experience of learning his best friend was sexually assaulted by another friend and how he responded.

I wish I could optimistically tie this one up with a bow, but the reality is that violence against women is going to be one of the most difficult aspects of gender inequality to overcome. According to the Australian Femicide Watch tally, in 2024, 103 Australian women and 16 children were killed, and the 2025 toll currently stands at 14 women and four children. One of these women was my aunt. It makes me angry knowing she will always be a statistic that gets thrown out every time another woman or child is added to the list. The system let these women and children down, and the sad reality is that if it can happen to them, it can happen to any of us.

CREATING A NEW PARADIGM FOR TOMORROW

Is it feasible to reach the UN SDG 2030 targets for gender equality?

According to the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Global Gender Gap Report, 50.1% of economies in the Global Gender Gap Index reported increases in gender parity scores. However, the report also predicted that it will take 134 years (2158) to reach full global gender parity at the current rate of progress. To put this in perspective, 134(ish) years ago, New Zealand became the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote. If we continue at this pace, it will take another five generations, significantly beyond our lifetimes, to experience gender equality.

The good news is that we still have time to make meaningful, widespread changes to accelerate progress and hopefully achieve at least one of the 2030 targets. Acknowledging that we will not reach all targets and that some countries are determined to remove women’s rights does not mean we have failed - rather, it demonstrates our commitment to achieving some version of gender equality within our lifetime.

I believe the key way we can all accelerate action is by challenging the societal norms and gender stereotypes that continue to persist. We need to acknowledge that gender equality requires everyone to work together instead of making it a competition. It is a fact that women have historically experienced inequality, yet in our attempts to overcome this, the research indicates we are creating new inequalities. Our current approaches are not working, so using Paradigm Makers Elements - People, Innovation, Technology, Economics and Norms - here are 5 mindset shifts that might help us reach a couple of the 2030 targets:

People

Instead of viewing women, girls and gender diverse people as passive recipients or primarily defined by vulnerability, recognise and empower them as active agents of change (in the way we have historically done for men).