Europe Backslides on Respect for Women

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- People's perceptions of the way women are treated haven't changed much in most countries since before the pandemic, based on an analysis of Gallup surveys in 118 countries and territories in 2019 and 2021. However, in countries where these perceptions have changed, it has been mostly for the worse rather than for the better.

European countries led the declines between 2019 and 2021, making up more than half of the 31 countries with declines of six percentage points or more and accounting for nearly all of the countries with the largest declines of 10 points or more.

	2019	2021	Decline
	%	%	Pct. pts.
Poland	79	59	-20
Slovakia	76	59	-17
Bulgaria	67	51	-16
Lithuania	80	66	-14
Greece	68	55	-13
Afghanistan	44	31	-13
Myanmar	76	65	-11
Croatia	61	50	-11
Italy	68	58	-10
Do you believe that women in this country are treated with respect and dignity, or not?
Gallup

The substantial drops in these countries highlight the array of challenges that women have been facing over the past few years -- some related to the pandemic and some not.

In Poland and Slovakia, for example, the large declines may reflect perceived backsliding on gender equality policies at the national level. Thousands of Poles took to the streets in 2020 and 2021 to protest a near-total ban on abortion. A similar situation played out in Slovakia as well, but the new law restricting access to abortion was narrowly rejected.

In Lithuania, which ranks among five countries with the highest levels of femicide in the European Union, the declines may reflect the dramatic increase in domestic violence reports during COVID-19 lockdowns. Italy and Greece are also seeing increases in domestic violence and femicide amid the pandemic, which has prompted Italian legislators to tackle gender-based violence and pressured Greece to declare femicide a separate crime.

And in Afghanistan and Myanmar, the drops likely had more to do with the upheaval that took place in both countries in 2021. The futures of women in Afghanistan, which has consistently ranked last on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index, are again in question since the Taliban's takeover. Women in Myanmar, which also scores poorly on the index, also face questions about their freedoms under the military junta.

Smaller Declines Evident in Other Parts of the Globe

Perceptions of women's treatment also suffered, but to a lesser degree, in other parts of Europe and elsewhere around the world. These places notably include countries that score high on the Global Gender Gap Index, such as the United Kingdom (declining six points) and New Zealand (six points), as well as other high-income countries that score much lower on the index, such as Japan (eight points).

	2019	2021	Decline
	%	%	Pct. pts.
Thailand	71	62	-9
Serbia	62	53	-9
Armenia	77	69	-8
Hungary	75	67	-8
Japan	67	59	-8
Mozambique	75	67	-8
Georgia	67	60	-7
Austria	95	88	-7
Israel	74	67	-7
Bosnia and Herzegovina	55	48	-7
Turkey	24	17	-7
Sri Lanka	63	56	-7
Lebanon	45	38	-7
Kazakhstan	84	78	-6
United Kingdom	84	78	-6
Australia	75	69	-6
Denmark	94	88	-6
Jamaica	25	19	-6
Malta	81	75	-6
New Zealand	83	77	-6
Vietnam	86	80	-6
Uzbekistan	96	90	-6
Do you believe that women in this country are treated with respect and dignity, or not?
Gallup

Perceived Treatment of Women Improves in Far Fewer Countries

The list of countries where perceptions about the treatment of women improved is much shorter -- and less than a handful of countries saw large increases. Just four countries saw double-digit increases between 2019 and 2021: Pakistan, Portugal, Argentina and Namibia.

	2019	2021	Increase
	%	%	Pct. pts.
Pakistan	73	86	+13
Argentina	25	37	+12
Portugal	48	60	+12
Namibia	47	57	+10
Do you believe that women in this country are treated with respect and dignity, or not?
Gallup

The situations for women in these four countries are different and complex, but there is recent evidence of some progress for women in each of them. In Pakistan, for example, which remains one of the most dangerous places to be a woman, the government passed an anti-rape law in 2021 and, just this year, a law that strengthens protections for women in the workplace.

Even with the 12-point increase between 2019 and 2021, just 37% of Argentine adults say women are treated with respect and dignity -- reflecting the country's entrenched culture of machismo. However, in 2020, Argentina became the largest Latin American country to legalize abortion, which some may see as a positive step for women's reproductive rights.

Portugal bucked the trend among many of its European neighbors and saw a large increase in perceived respect and dignity for women over the same period. Although it is not the highest-ranking country in the EU when it comes to gender equality, the country has been progressing faster than other EU member states.

Lastly, although considerable progress still needs to be made in Namibia, the increase may reflect the country's success in instituting legal frameworks that "promote, enforce and monitor equality," which are part of the United Nations' sustainable development goal to achieve gender equality. As of 2021, women occupied more than 40% of seats in the country's Parliament.

Smaller Improvements Observed in Other Countries

Perceptions of women's treatment also improved, but on a smaller scale, elsewhere around the world. These places notably included countries that typically score lower on the Global Gender Gap Index, such as Indonesia (increasing eight points) and Morocco and Algeria (each seven points).

	2019	2021	Increase
	%	%	Pct. pts.
Togo	62	71	+9
Uruguay	39	47	+8
Albania	36	44	+8
Indonesia	80	88	+8
Russian Federation	63	70	+7
Moldova	49	56	+7
Costa Rica	44	51	+7
Morocco	29	36	+7
Latvia	71	78	+7
Algeria	50	57	+7
Hong Kong, S.A.R. of China	84	90	+6
South Korea	65	71	+6
Estonia	75	81	+6
Zambia	60	66	+6
Ghana	64	70	+6
Do you believe that women in this country are treated with respect and dignity, or not?
Gallup

Implications

As the world enters the third year of the pandemic, the list of countries where measurably fewer people now see women treated with respect and dignity is worth monitoring. This list includes not just those countries that were struggling with gender equality heading into the pandemic, but also those that had made considerable progress toward achieving it.

The silver lining may be that these numbers did not fall precipitously in every country. Gallup's data show that people in most countries didn't perceive the treatment of women getting measurably worse -- or better -- than they did before the pandemic. However, this status quo also may add to existing concerns that the pandemic has slowed women's progress and may not bode well for the way forward.

Find out how women and men around the world answer this question -- and the differences between them -- on Gallup's International Women's Day page.

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