1. Our society has gender gaps not because of the different innate abilities of males and females but because we expect boys and girls and men and women to also have different desires, to behave differently and to be capable of different achievements. When we have expectations or feelings about people based on sex or gender, we may reinforce inequality without even realising it.

Discrimination on the basis of sex or gender (or both characteristics at the same time) can be direct, indirect or structural. It is direct when, for example, men and women receive different pay for the same work, or when boys aren’t given the same opportunities as girls in the classroom. It is indirect when an act, practice or policy that is applied to everyone puts a particular group at an unfair disadvantage. This could occur, for example, if an employer does not allow employees to take their lunch hour after 2:00PM without a valid business reason, because women are more likely to use their lunch hour to pick their children up from school in the afternoon.

2. Concerned about the gender gap:

1. It saves lives

2. It results in better healthcare

3. It helps businesses

4. It’s good for the economy

5. Children are healthier

6. It leads to better legal protections

7. It leads to better racial equality

8. It reduces poverty

9. It reduces human trafficking

10. It can lead to peace