gender

Gender Issues

Gender and education Resources Work and women Maternal mortality ratio Declining sex ratio Gendered patterns of migration Gender and violence

Gender is a social construct

In contrast to sex, which refers to biological differences between males and females, gender is a social or cultural construct of the differences between women and men.

People are born female or male, but they acquire a gender identity that shapes socially acceptable activities for women and men, their relations, and their relative power.

Gender and education

Gender differences in education exist in many parts of the world

Education and development Reduction in child mortality Improvement in nutrition Decrease in fertility rates

Educating Women Reduces National Infant Mortality

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

70 90 11050

Infant mortality (deaths per 1,000 births)

Secondary education (females per 100 males)

Sub-Saharan AfricaSouth Asia

Middle East& North Africa

Latin America& Caribbean

East Asia

OECD

Educated Women Have Healthier Children

0

50

100

150

200

250

Africa Latin America &Caribbean

Asia

0 Yrs.4-6 Yrs.7+ Yrs.

Under 5 mortality per 1,000

Years of education of mother(Average of household survey results)

Calculat ion of Net Social Benefits to Gir ls ’ Education for Representative Countries

Cost of one additional year of primary schoolingfor 1,000 women $32,000 $58,000

Benefits of an additional year of schooling:

Child mortality reduced by:Child mortality reduced by: 7.5% 7.5%Alternative cost per child death $750 $750Total value of averted deaths $32,000 $36,000

Births avertedBirths averted:Percentage reduction in total fertility rate 7.5% 7.5%Alternative cost per birth averted $250 $300Value of averted births $75,000 $98,000

Maternal mortality:Maternal mortality:Maternal deaths averted 2 2Alternative cost per averted maternal death $1,500 $1,500Value of averted maternal deaths 2,300 2,600

Discounted social benefits (15 years, 5%) $52,000 $66,000

India KenyaIndia Kenya

Resources

Women have poor command over land, information and financial resources.

In South-east Asia female resource possession is low and female autonomy is very low.

In developing countries women rarely possess land Female headed households Female headed enterprises

Declining sex-ratio

There are at least 60 to 100 million missing women.

Female infanticide and sex-selective foeticide Declining child sex-ratios Relation of declining sex-ratios to the

population policies and son preference Example

Where is there anti-girl discrimination and a resulting shortage of girls?

East Asia: China, Taiwan, South Korea South Asia: India, Nepal, Pakistan Not in most Muslim countries of Arab Middle East,

North Africa, Southeast Asia, or Central Asia. Not in most of Latin America, Africa, Middle East,

Less Developed, or Least Developed Countries. Not in Europe, North America, Russia. Only certain cultures have such strong traditional

anti-daughter bias that is now exacerbated by declining and low fertility, leading to sex-selective abortion and/or excess mortality of daughters.

Maternal Mortality Ratio(MMR)

MMR measures the number of deaths to women per 100,000 lives births due to pregnancy-related complications, 400 per 100,000 live births globally in 2000. By region, it was highest in Africa (830), followed by Asia

- excluding Japan (330), Oceania - excluding Australia and New Zealand (240), Latin America and the Caribbean (190) and the developed countries (20).

Worldwide, 13 developing countries accounted for 70 per cent of all maternal deaths.

Work and Women

Women work considerably longer hours than men in many countries.

Division of labor (mostly household job at the expense of education, leisure and health)

Common in the absence of adequate infrastructure for water, energy and transport

Participation

Women still earn less than men in the labor market

On average in developed countries, women in the wage sector earn 77% of what men earn; in developing countries 73%

In politics, women continue to be vastly unrepresentative

Equality index

Gender inequalities are costly for development Societies that discriminate on the basis of

gender pay a significant price- in more poverty, slower economic growth, weaker governance and in lower quality of life.

Gender inequalities in basic rights, education, access to productive resources, participation in public life- all have detrimental impacts on development

Infant and child mortality

Impact of gender gap in education on infant and child mortality can be observed in countries where girls are only half likely to go to school as boys have 21 more infant deaths per 1,000 live births than countries with no gender gap Sub-Saharan Africa (under five mortality would

have been 25 percent lower)

Nutritional status

Mothers education, health and income are key determinants of child nutrition in developing countries Study that observed child malnutrition pattern from 63

countries between 1970 and 1995 In Brazil, the positive impact on children’s nutritional

indicators of additional income in mothers’ hands is 4-8 times larger than the impact of additional income in fathers’ hands.

Economic growth and gender equality Income growth promotes gender equality in the long

run by increasing women’s education, investment in girls human development and for women to participate in the labor force. Ghana, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Tanzania, Turkey

and Vietnam More investment in rural infrastructure like water,

transportation and fuel eases the burden of females Nepal and Pakistan- water and energy infrastructure Morocco- pipes water increases girls school attendance

Adolescent child bearingMore than 15 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth

each year. Motherhood at a very young age entails

complications during pregnancy and delivery and a risk of maternal death that is much greater than average.

The children of young mothers have higher levels of morbidity and mortality.

Early child-bearing continues to be an impediment to improvements in the educational, economic and social status of women in all parts of the world.

Gender and violence

Sexual and gender-based violence, including physical and psychological abuse, trafficking in women and girls, and other forms of abuse and sexual exploitation place girls and women at high risk of physical and mental trauma, disease and unwanted pregnancy. Such situations often deter women from using health and other services.

Gender and developmentAll societies have established a clear-cut division of labor by

sex, although what is considered a male or female task varies cross-culturally, implying that there is no natural and fixed gender division of labor.

Second, research has shown that, in order to comprehend gender roles in production, we also need to understand gender roles within the household.

The third fundamental finding is that economic development has been shown to have a differential impact on men and women and the impact on women has both positive and negative results. .

Three-part strategy

Reforming institutions Implementing policies for sustained

economic growth and development Taking active measures to improve women’s

command of resources and political voice

Conclusion

After three decades of Women in Development and Gender and Development policies the work of redressing gender inequalities has only just begun…

Investing in women will not put an end to poverty but it will make a critical contribution to improving household well-being.

Furthermore, it will help to create the basis for future generations to make better use of both resource and opportunities