Celebrating International Women’s Day
Regardless of how the world is evolving with innovative technology like artificial intelligence, people have been still living up to the society’s stereotypes for a long time. Stereotypes can be classified as a wide range of categories such as race, culture, ethnicity, gender, social or economic status and religion. According to United Nations, “a gender stereotype is a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to be possessed by, or performed by, women and men. A gender stereotype is harmful when it limits women’s and men’s capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and/or make choices about their lives”.
Despite growing awareness, global indices keep showing gender inequality in Myanmar. According to Global Gender Report 2022 published by World Economic Forum, Myanmar has been placed 106 out of 145 countries. The index value varies from 0 to 1, with a value closer to 1 indicating high equality and a value of 0 indicating extreme inequality. In 2022, Myanmar’s value was 0.677, ranked 16th out of 19th in East Asia and the Pacific Countries.
Global Gender Gap Index 2022 – East Asia and the Pacific Countries
Women’s share in senior and leadership jobs has steadily increased globally over the last five years. As par the Global Gender Report 2022 (World Economic Forum), Myanmar has also improved and been ranked 58th out of 145 countries for women in leadership positions (0.556 scores), while the female representative in politics remains low (114th or 0.181 for women in parliament and 136th or 0.042 for women in ministerial positions).
When it comes to gender equality and stereotypes, International Women’s Day (IWD) plays a critical role. IWD is celebrated on every 8th March. It is an annual global celebration day of women’s social, economic, cultural and political achievements. It serves as a reminder for all of us to create awareness about women’s equality. This year, the United Nations has proposed a campaign topic for 2023 called #EmbraceEquity. The official theme of this year’s IWD is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.”
According to the United Nation Women (2023):
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Women make up only 22 per cent of artificial intelligence workers globally.
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A global analysis of 133 AI systems across industries found that 44.2 per cent demonstrate gender bias.
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A survey of women journalists from 125 countries found that 73 per cent had suffered online violence in the course of their work.
- Equality means each person or group of people is provided with the same resources or opportunities.
- Equity recognizes that everyone’s circumstances are unique and allocates the exact resources and opportunities required to achieve an equal outcome.
Image source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
ASGB also celebrated “International Women’s Day” on 8th March 2023. We believe Microfinance plays a crucial part in women empowerment through affordable loans solving the financial difficulties of women. We are committed to continue to support and empower our female clients through our services. 70% of our clients are women leading key small businesses in Myanmar.
Check out our female clients’ success stories: Customer Success Story | ASG Bancorp Microfinance (the-asgroup.com.mm)
Red color represents strength, independence, confidence and passion.
It’s all our responsibilities to create a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.
Fairness means everyone gets what they need.”
― Rick Riordan ―
American Author
About ASG Bancorp Microfinance Limited
ASG Bancorp Microfinance Limited (ASGB), as part of the Asia Sustainability Group, was founded in 2016, provide individuals and entrepreneurs in Myanmar with useful and affordable financial services that meet their needs in the way they need and when they need. Our vision is to become the most efficient and innovative microfinance institution in Myanmar and provide the best service, most flexibility and most client-orientated financial services.
Headquarter Address
No.(B2), Second Floor, Bo Myat Tun Housing, Corner of Maha Bandoola Road & Bo Myat Tun Street, Pazundaung Township, Yangon Region, Myanmar.
+95 9 408555110, +95 9 40855115