Thread by @tectonicSZ

Today (11 October), we mark the UN International Day of the Girl Child.

Although there are many things to celebrate, equally there are many things to reflect upon.

🧵 A thread.

There are more than 1.1 billion girls under the age of 18 in the world. That is about 15% of the global population.

World Health Org: 1 in 3 women experience physical of sexual violence in their lifetimes.

State of the World Population 2000 UN Report: At least 60 million girls who would be expected to be alive, are “missing” from populations as a result of sex-selective abortions. Not an indictment on women, but an indictment on patriarchal systems.

In many places in the world, including most recently Texas, women do not have full authority over their body or access to safe abortions.

World Health Org: 800 women die every day from preventable pregnancy-related causes. (~300,000 per year) who.int/en/news-room/f…

About 95% of countries have a male head of state. unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/…

For the same work, women earn less than men. In the US, women earn $0.77 for every $1 earned by men.

Across developing countries, 75% of women are literate, while 86% of men are literate.

Even in the OECD, by the age of 6, about 38% of boys have used a computer, while only 29% of girls have.

Every three seconds a girl as young as eight years old becomes a bride. unicef.org/eca/press-rele…

Currently, 168 million children are involved in child labour.

In Australia, on average, one woman is murdered by her current or former partner. (Bryant and Bricknall 2017)

In Australia, only 18 out of the 300 top companies have a female CEO. (ABC)

In Australia, First Nations peoples between 15 and 24 are about four times more likely to commit suicide than other people their age. (Aus Bureau of Stats)

In Australia, as a result of COVID, 98,000 fewer university-educated women had work (37,000 fewer men). (ABC, ABS)

In Australia, gender pay gap has risen by 0.8% in the last 6 months, leading to a $261 per week gap between men and women working full time. (Workplace Gender Equality Agency)

In Australian Earth science, there are about 35 female professors, and about 150 male professors. (Handley et al. 2020)

In geology, Marie Tharp made incredible discoveries, which were dismissed by her male colleague as “girl talk”. I believe this held back progress in our discipline by about a decade. How many other Marie Tharps have there been?

Both of my grandmothers signed with an X because they were illiterate. Men from that generation had a basic education, and most were literate.

As a former refugee, I witnessed women and girls being chosen to be taken to rape camps. During the Bosnian War in the 1990s, up to 50,000 women were raped, and rape was used as a systematic and brutal “weapon of war”.

Would love to hear your ideas on how to fix these massive challenges, but here are some of my ideas for Australia…

First, tie ALL politician pay rises to metrics and performance in reducing gender pay gap, reducing domestic violence, etc.

Second, provide affordable child care to better support more women in their careers.

Third, continue paying women superannuation while they are on maternity leave.

Fourth, when hiring (especially for senior positions), two out of three must be APPOINTABLE women candidates.

Fifth, make online and workplace bullying and harassment a crime.

Sixth, fundamentally re-evaluate the Australian justice system, and protect women from domestic violence.

Eighth, for the love of all that is good, please end all-male panels. @nomanels

And there would be many, many more things that ought to be done. (Twitter won't let me write any more!)

Thankfully, there are some positive things to celebrate.

What are some of your thoughts on ways to achieve gender equality?

Seventh, force change in the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council to ensure that these issues are dealt with the seriousness and urgency that they deserve.

* physical or sexual violence (apologies for the typo)