Twenty-five years ago, a cellular phone was a clunky device that could not fit into a regular pocket or small purse; it did not have a camera or much of a screen. Dial-up internet was still widely used, and the popular websites were Yahoo and MySpace. The Dotcom bubble was in its prime, as there was a rush to start-up or invest in technology companies given the new and ongoing inventions. Of course that bubble burst a short while later, but the technological advancements continued.
By the year 2000, only some seven percent of the world was online, many using broadband to access the internet. Today, approximately 67.5 percent of the global population or 5.52 billion people have access to the internet; practically all of them use WiFi. While the smartphone was invented around 1997, it did not become commercially available until some 10 years later and was initially in limited use owing to its price point. At present, over eight billion smartphones are in use in the world, which has an estimated population of just over eight billion people.
Twenty-five years ago, there were no iPods or iPads, and what was called a tablet computer was vastly different to the ubiquitous touchscreen gadgets placed in the hands of children, including toddlers, for their amusement nowadays. There were no streaming services. While many people had television sets, they still had to go to the cinemas to see the latest productions; unless they were prepared to take a chance on a bootleg copy.
In 2006, Facebook became available for public use and Instagram arrived four years later. Between the two, some six billion people currently interact every day. There are another two billion on WhatsApp, one billion on TikTok, and close to that on Snapchat. There is some amount of overlap. However, clearly, the world went from no social media to what is currently an explosion.
Over the past two decades, there have been massive advancements in the health sector. Going back to 1998, there was the unfolding of emergency contraception. A year later, the World Health Organisation and the United Nations (UN) launched the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), as a means of overcoming the barriers preventing millions of children from receiving vaccines. GAVI was ultimately tested during the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccines some three years ago. The human genome was mapped and there were incredible breakthroughs in stem cells and robotic limbs. Further, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was set up in 2001 and 14 years later, Cuba became the first country in the world to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.
Growth and development have persisted in every other sector: agriculture, food, forestry, energy, mining, manufacturing, commerce, transport, tourism, and media, to name several. In every instance, the progress has been either driven by or linked to technology. There are a great many innovations that Baby Boomers and members of Generation (Gen) X held in awe, which are taken for granted by Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. That being said, there are still some common denominators about which nothing good can ever be said. The one that will be elucidated here is gender-based violence.
Twenty-five years ago, the available statistics told us that globally, every six hours a woman was killed by her intimate partner. Current information has seen that figure revised to every ten minutes.
Twenty-five years ago, the UN General Assembly designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Six years earlier, in December 1993, the UN had adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. This proclamation set out some 18 measures that countries should take to ensure the elimination of all forms of violence against women, whether in the public or private sphere. Unfortunately some of these measures are still being ignored by countries that have signed on to this resolution, ours included. Coincidentally, it was also in 1993 that the World Conference on Human Rights finally recognised women’s rights as human rights.
It has not all been gloom and doom. From then to now, there have been achievements made, though the number of women upon whom violence is inflicted and the number of women killed as a result of gender-based violence appear to be significantly higher. While it is believed that the increase in numbers is because there is more reporting than in the past, it does paint a dire picture and points to copious work still ahead to rid the world of this scourge.
When the UN holds its high-level meeting on Monday in New York to commemorate the 25th anniversary of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, one of the agenda items will be charting a course toward that eradication. One can but hope that positive action follows and women are not in this same position 25 years from now.
