Gender equality: Most people are biased against women, UN says

A new study shows that almost 90% of people worldwide are biased against women and around half perceive men to make better leaders. And nearly 30% of people think it's justified for a husband to beat his wife.

Women around the world still suffer from widespread gender bias, according to a newly-published report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The study measures how people's social beliefs inhibit gender equality in areas including education, politics and the work force. It contains data from 75 countries, covering over 80% of the world's population.

Pedro Conceicao, director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP, said that while progress has been made in giving women the same access to basic needs as men in education and health, gender gaps remain in areas "that challenge power relations and are most influential in actually achieving true equality."

Read more: Women and security policy: Representation rising, but parity far off

Figures reveal gender divideThe UNDP analysis found that despite decades-long efforts to close the gender divide, around half of the world's population feel that men make better political leaders, while over 40% think men make better business executives and have more right to a job when work availability is limited. Almost 30% of people think it's justified for a husband to beat his wife.

Women hold only 24% of parliamentary seats globally and they make up less than 6% of chief executives in S&P 500 companies, the study showed.

Countries with the highest numbers of people showing any kind of bias against gender equality are Jordan, Qatar, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The countries with the lowest levels of gender bias are Andorra, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

World in Progress: Human rights lawyer Kate Kelly: 'Equality is not a feeling'

Over half of the world's women are restricted by law from certain jobs. In nearly 20 countries they still need permission from their husbands to work. Even in the US, the Constitution doesn't protect women from discrimination based on gender. A Q&A with Kate Kelly, human rights lawyer for Equality Now and host of the podcast "Ordinary Equality," about the state of women's rights across the globe.