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"Women's empowerment involves a radical shift towards knowing our gifts and strengths and then fully embracing them to boldly show up in the world," Logan, author of the 'Self-Love Workbook For Women: Release Self-Doubt, Build Self-Compassion, and Embrace Who You Are', told Bored Panda.
"No longer playing small to make others comfortable or holding back due to internalized negative beliefs about ourselves as women in society."
According to Logan, who has developed strong clinical skills providing therapy in a variety of mental health settings for over two decades, it's important to remember that fully embracing yourself does not happen magically overnight.
"It takes consistency and intention," she said. "The first step involves believing you matter enough to learn, grow, and create a self-love practice. This repetition allows us to rewire our belief system and change the way we see ourselves, creating a new pathway for authenticity and living in your whole truth."
"Challenging and releasing negative self-doubt and critical self-talk makes space for self-compassion. Learning to set healthier boundaries, talking more kindly to ourselves, prioritizing self-care, and digging in deep to heal those wounded parts allows for the resiliency and consistency that it takes to show up and share your light in the world," Logan added.
Since 2006, the Global Gender Gap Index has been measuring the extent of gender-based gaps among four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Tracking the progress towards closing these gaps over time, it reports benchmarks and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across and within regional peers.
According to its 2020 findings, there is still a 31.4% average gender gap that remains to be closed globally.
Across the four characteristics, on average, the largest gender disparity lies within political empowerment. Despite being the most improved dimension that year, the gap on this subindex has only been closed by 25%, meaning there are still not enough women occupying seats in government across the world.
However, it's important to note that the political empowerment subindex fails to measure the legal rights of women and girls in comparison to those of men, which plays a significant role in determining the extent to which a society is equal.
The economic and labor market gender gap has been closed by 58%. This is due to the fact that, on average, only 55% of women are participating in the global workforce, and their presence in higher-yielding positions is even lower.
Plus, this disparity is exacerbated by the global wage gap, which affects women across all industries and backgrounds, and has remained relatively stagnant throughout the last five years or so. These components highlight the challenges women face to escape poverty and become financially and economically independent.
