Gender equality still has far to go, but global change is happening.

INTERNATIONAL Women's Day has trained peoples' minds on the question of progress. Where are we on women's rights? How far away is gender equality? Are we in the grip of a feminist revolution or a sexist backlash? It's hard to shake the feeling that we are slipping backwards. Last year the World Economic Forum warned that economic equality is a shocking 170 years away. In the US — and worldwide — there are growing threats to women's reproductive freedoms, while in the UK, campaigners are concerned that Brexit could undo legal protections for part-time workers, the majority of whom are women. Looking back on my own life throws up more bleak examples. When the Equal Pay Act came into force in 1975, I assumed that pay inequality would be 'fixed' in a matter of years. Beware the optimism of youth. Government figures show that at today's rate of progress, parity won't be reached until 2069. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]