Introduction
The world around us is undergoing numerous changes every decade and even year. This applies to many areas of society, where the primary goals are to create equality and an honest attitude to all people, regardless of economic and social status. Moreover, this aspect also concerns such items as international law, hegemony, terrorism, political deals, poverty, and gender relations. Hence, the main question that this scientific work asks is whether the world is becoming a fairer and more equal place.
The establishment of an equal position between people is one of the most critical forces that will help the organic and stable development of society and the surrounding world. However, despite the successes of the current stage, the world still cannot ultimately limit such problems as inequality, which causes such negative consequences as poverty, issues related to humanity, and gender discrimination (Sjoberg, 2014). In order to gain the best understanding of these problems, it is necessary to conduct research, which will further help in spreading awareness among the public.
Various literary and online sources provided special assistance in the preparation of this work. Therefore, one of them noted that “inequality is growing for more than 70 percent of the global population, exacerbating the risks of divisions and hampering economic and social development” (“Rising inequality,” 2020, para. 1). It also supports the view of the importance of finding solutions to establish equality and fairness in the world. The need is due to the fact that this will significantly improve the relationship between people, as well as the economic and political spheres of activity of individuals. At the same time, it is worth noting that this process is characterized by a high level of complexity due to its scale. Therefore, it is valuable to thoroughly study it and create policies to limit the problem.
International Law
One of the most critical forces that will help establish equality and fair treatment at the global level is international law. This phenomenon consists of the representation of the sovereignty of each state and governs its actions (Heywood, 2014). Therefore, this law implies following the general rules that must be followed by countries to reduce the possibility of negative consequences. Such undesirable outcomes may be an armed conflict or genocide. However, the factor that stops international law from ensuring equality is the absence of a single body that would monitor the implementation of its postulates and rules. This leads to the opinion that this kind of legislation does not make sense. Despite this, with the help of international law, these rules are followed in some countries (Jackson and Sørensen, 2016). Hence, when particularly acute conflicts and difficult situations arise, governments make decisions by observing and respecting the established rules and procedures.
International humanitarian law is becoming one of the components of international law. This legislative act deals with the consideration and protection of the population and combats the consequences and subsequent possible occurrences of armed conflict (Baylis, Smith, and Owens, 2017; Evans and Newnham 1999). Under the protection and support of this law in countries fall people who do not take part in the increased conflict and those who have received physical or psychological damage during the conflict (Heywood, 2014). A vital characteristic of this law is its effect only in relation to armed conflicts (Jeong, 2007). Therefore, international humanitarian law becomes one of the steps that help in maintaining fair treatment in relation to such severe legal problems as wars.
Another aspect of international law that is being criticized for its effectiveness is the international criminal court. This court considers and punishes illegal acts that are a critical concern to the international community. Examples of such crimes are genocide and, acts that endanger humanity, war crimes (Wallensteen, 2002). The type of court in question is being criticized, especially by African countries. This negative attitude is due to the fact that these states, in many cases, emphasized the inappropriate political of the international criminal court. This is supported by the fact that this part of international law focuses heavily on this particular part of the world, losing sight of others. Moreover, without proper assistance from the governments of the countries, the court may lose sponsorship, which will prevent the entire functioning of this body. This circumstance is a significant drawback of the international criminal court.
Human Rights and Gender Inequality
The next aspect that should be considered in the framework of this scientific paper is human rights and gender inequality. Both of these aspects have reached a reasonable level of fairness but still have many areas for improvement. Consequently, human rights are fundamental for every person and are the basis for the formation of international human rights law (Dunne and Wheeler, 1999). In other words, this concept is attached to individuals from birth and cannot be taken away from them or violated. Human rights affect such aspects of society as gender, ethnicity, class, culture, and other personal differences.
Nevertheless, at this stage of society’s development, the problem of violation of fundamental human rights is still relevant, which does not prevent the establishment of equality and fairness for all individuals in the world. This is due to the fact that many countries neglect the concept under study, which can lead to serious internal and sometimes external conflicts. Examples of such adverse decisions taken by States are the restriction of the rights and freedoms of the female population and political freedom of thought and speech in Islamic countries. Hence, despite this, there are still restrictions on human rights in the modern world, which mainly concern gender.
This type of discrimination based on gender characteristics has long been firmly entrenched in society. It is expressed in a biased attitude towards one of the sexes and becomes the reason for the predominance of one sex over the other. Sources note that “gender is not accurately captured by the traditional male and female dichotomy of sex. Instead, it is a complex social system that structures the life experience of all human beings” (Heise et al., 2019, p. 2440). Most often, in modern society, there is a dominance of men over women and is expressed especially strongly in such areas as political, professional, or economic.
One of the consequences of this phenomenon is the lack of access to education, and the lack of equality in employment and in the workplace. Moreover, acts as an obstacle to obtaining medical services and protection from the state (Cornwall and Rivas, 2015). It is worth noting that these factors often relate to less developed and progressive countries. Therefore, in order to achieve equality, it is necessary to adopt a met to limit gender stereotypes and spread awareness about the importance of fair treatment of all people.
Gender Lenses
The next aspect that still remains unresolved in the context of equality and fairness in the world is the gender lens. Because the previous section discussed the problem of gender inequality, the first aspect of studying will be gender lenses. This concept aims to spread a more detailed understanding and development of gender as a social phenomenon. Furthermore, there will be a limitation of negative consequences in such conditions, such as discrimination. In addition, the phenomenon under study implies the prevention of stigma around conversations and discussions regarding gender definition and the provision of knowledge about this concept from an early age.
Moreover, the gender lens helps in gaining an understanding that bias and discrimination against genders are directly related to other areas of inequality. Thus, the concept emphasizes the need to transform the entire society and its spheres of life in order to limit unfairness in relation to individuals. As already mentioned, an essential step for States and the whole world is the application of effective policies and strategies to improve the situation in relation to the topic under discussion. This approach may include providing jobs and equal conditions for women and men in the workplace. It is also critical to give women the right to vote and to give more value to women in areas such as politics.
Poverty
The last problem that becomes a barrier to achieving equality around the world is not the falling level of poverty. This aspect is a global problem and particularly affects countries with a low level of development. It is worth noting that poverty implies not only a lack of financial resources to lead to a satisfactory standard of living (). In addition to this factor, the concept under study includes such negative consequences as hunger, poor health, lack of access to education, social division, and a growing crime rate. Sources point out that “85% of the world live on less than $30 per day, two-thirds live on less than $10 per day, and every tenth person lives on less than $1.90 per day” (Roser and Ortiz-Ospina, 2019, para. 1). Additionally, there is an opinion that those individuals who were born in conditions of poverty will continue to live in them. This circumstance is especially facilitated by the slow development of the state or its absence.
To get rid of this negative influencing factor, it is important to develop actions to get rid of poverty. In memory of the programs for social and economic support of the population living below the poverty line, it is important to focus efforts on improving the overall situation in the country and in the world. Thus, in order to establish equality in the world, programs for international support and interaction with those countries that cannot independently solve the analyzed problem are being successfully implemented.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this work was engaged in finding the question of whether the world is becoming a fairer and more equal place. This topic is quite controversial since it is impossible to entirely accurately assert either the full achievement or the failure of the rooting of these aspects. This is since at this stage of the development of society, such a phenomenon as equality takes place in almost all aspects of people’s lives. This concerns the provision of education for women and men, holding positions of equal complexity and qualifications, or participating in political activities such as elections. At the same time, these aspects do not apply to all countries since there is still a high level of discrimination in a relatively large number of them. To gain a better understanding, this research paper explored concepts such as gender inequality and gender lenses. These aspects help in gaining awareness of the criticality of the problem, which can be observed both locally and globally.
Other global problems that hinder the formation of global equality and fair relations are poverty and disregard for human rights. The first mentioned aspect is one of the most difficult to resolve, as it causes a cycle of poverty. It is expressed in the fact that individuals born in poverty are also likely to live in poverty, thanks not only to the environment but also to the situation in the country. The problem of living below the poverty line is particularly acute in underdeveloped countries. This circumstance should have a timely solution, as it carries a lot of negative consequences both for the country in which it is localized and for the global development of society.
Violation of human rights is a vital contradiction of established norms since they are essential for each individual and cannot be violated. However, there are still countries that restrict the freedoms of their residents in every possible way, which can lead to the emergence of various kinds of problems and conflicts. This factor is in close interaction with international law and the laws that are related to it and have been studied in this academic work. Thus, this scientific paper concluded that the feast is at the stage of achieving equality and becoming a fairer place. To solve this problem, it is necessary to implement programs and strategies, as well as systems of global interaction that contribute to the prompt resolution of this issue.
Reference List
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