Closing Gender Gaps: Why It Matters

By Zarrin T. Caldwell
OneWorld.net

Friday 24 February 2006

"Working with other countries to achieve a vision of equality, justice, and opportunity for all is the right and smart thing to do. The full participation and involvement of women in every level of society is important for countries striving to become more open, stable, and self-sufficient."
-- The Women's Edge Coalition

It has become increasingly clear around the world that investments in women pay off many-fold. When women are given opportunities for education, access to resources, and a place at the political table, not only is their quality of life improved, but studies have shown that economies are strengthened, health care is enhanced, and policies that benefit children, families, and marginalized groups are given more attention. Plus, as primary caretakers of the next generation, investments in women provide returns for decades.

Recognizing these benefits - and particularly the strong proven links between gender equality and poverty reduction - the international community has moved gender equality near the top of its priority list over the past two decades. At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000, world leaders endorsed the aim to "promote gender equality and empower women." Support for including this goal in the global compact - among eight to be reached by 2015 - grew out of the recognition that inequalities between men and women would continue to hamper social and economic development worldwide.

The Historical View

When looked at over time, great strides have been made in advancing gender equity. But many challenges remain. In the latter half of the 20th century, for example, women have gained far more access to jobs, family laws have been liberalized in many countries to give women more control over assets, and more women have been winning political office, among other achievements.

An increasing number of laws have also been passed in support of women's equality. At the international level, the UN's Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) stands out. Essentially a bill of rights for women, CEDAW is seen as a milestone in advancing these rights globally. By the second half of 2005, 180 governments - the US being notably absent - had become a party to the convention. Gender is also taken more fully into account when fashioning policies. "More than 118 countries have National Plans of Action for Gender Equality as well as laws and policies to promote women's human rights in specific areas, from education to land ownership," said Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), in a 2004 address.

Some are questioning, however, whether countries' verbal commitments to gender equality have really been matched by implementation of programs on the ground, or whether resources have been adequately tracked or impacts measured. Others point to the powerful cultural barriers to equality that remain as well as persistent disparities in education, employment, and access to health care to argue that gender gaps haven't closed fast enough.

According to a 2005 report from the World Economic Forum, the Nordic countries, followed by New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia, have done the best job of closing these gaps. India, Korea, Jordan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt are among countries making the least progress. The report notes that achieving gender equality is a "grindingly slow process" because changes in the law do not always mean changes in the home, community, and decision-making environments.

Entrenched attitudes about women means that rape goes unpunished in many Arab countries; poor women have significantly higher mortality rates than rich women in Indonesia and many other countries; female infanticide remains a regular practice in places like India and China; female genital mutilation is still practiced extensively in parts of Africa; and violence against women is routine almost everywhere, including the United States. A report from the Women's Environment and Development Organization also cites several global trends that, in their view, have created an environment hostile to the advancement of women. These include growing militarization, market-driven policies that have increased inequalities, and rising fundamentalist movements. Extremist politics in the name of religion are gaining strength in the Arab region, preventing women from participating in an already limited public space, the report notes.

Education for All

Because investing in the education of young girls is seen as one of the most effective long-term ways to reduce poverty - by reducing fertility and increasing marketable skills among others - the UN's member states vowed in 2000's Millennium Declaration to "eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015." Governments have been ensuring that more girls have access to a primary school education, with specialists from the UN Development Program noting that from 1990 to 2002, 75 countries - out of a total of 130 with available data - experienced an increase in the ratio of female to male enrolment in primary school. These include success stories like Uganda, which - after it abolished fees - saw a 20 percent increase in girls' primary school enrolment almost overnight, with a particular surge of girls from the country's poorest families. Despite notable progress, some educators point out that without a dramatic acceleration, 40 percent of countries will still not attain gender equality in enrolments even by 2015.

The picture is also less optimistic when considering the number of girls who actually complete primary school. Poverty often prevents many children - but especially girls - from finishing even these basic levels of education. According to the UN Population Fund's "State of the World Population" report for 2005, in South Asia only 69 percent of girls complete primary school and only 47 percent enroll in secondary school. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 49 percent of girls complete primary school and just 30 percent enroll in secondary school, where they could learn the skills they need to compete in the economic and political arenas and wield greater power within the family. (For more on the importance of secondary education, see a 2005 report from the Millennium Project.)

Some women's rights advocates point out that, while the international community's focus on education for girls is a welcome development, this is still setting the bar at the lowest level for achieving gender equality. Even when girls are educated, they argue, they may still face significant discriminations in their lives - in the workplace for example.

Working for a Living

On the whole, opportunities for paid employment available to women have increased worldwide. "In the 1980s and 1990s," says the above-noted report from the Millennium Project, "women's overall economic activity rates increased everywhere, except in Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Europe and Central Asia, and Oceania." The report goes on to note, however, that while improved access to paid work is a crucial barometer of change, the nature, terms, and quality of women's employment have not improved in equal measure.

Ultimately, gender discrepancies in the labor market continue to reflect the value that is placed on a woman's work. In a 2003 report on equality in the workplace, the International Labour Organization notes that "men are more likely to be in core or regular and better remunerated positions, whereas women are often in peripheral, insecure, less-valued positions." Globally, women have a more difficult time entering or re-entering the workplace and are at higher risk of losing jobs than are men. And, segregation by sex according to type of occupation still occurs extensively in all countries. Of course, human trafficking is one of the worst forms of labor discrimination, with hundreds of thousands of women being sold annually for sex or domestic labor. (See our April 2005 edition on human trafficking.)

Women too are often engaged in unpaid responsibilities - like managing the household and caring for dependents - that do not translate into greater legal, economic, or decision-making power. In Zambia, for example, women spend about 800 hours a year collecting water and fuel wood. Worldwide, women face double burdens in caring for children and answering to an employer. The transformation of work environments to support child care responsibilities has a long way to go in many countries.

On the other hand, the boom in microfinance projects has empowered countless working women in developing countries. Organizations like ACCION International, for example, provide women with financial tools - like business training, tiny loans, and savings accounts - giving them a chance to work themselves and their families out of poverty.

Remaining Challenges

In addition to the progress and setbacks that women and girls have seen in fundamental areas such as education and employment, many hurdles remain in other sectors of society. Consider property rights for women, which are still lacking or non-existent in many countries, especially in the Arab world, in parts of Africa, and in Latin America. Many widowed women who vacated their homes to seek supplies after the October 2005 earthquake in the mountains of Pakistan, for example, faced seizure of their property by male relatives. In Iraq and other countries where Shar'iah law has a presence, women continue to struggle to protect their rights with respect to matters like inheritance and child custody.

Where UN indicators are concerned, a country like Iran is a model of social change regarding gender equality. There is over 98 percent literacy in Iran, over 65 percent of university entrants are women, birth rates are now below replacement at the national level, and, overall, women are seen as being at the frontlines of social change. But, these strides are made under a patriarchal system where women continue to face significant barriers to their freedom and political participation. In sum, legal rights haven't kept pace with social changes.

Although women's rights are generally stronger in industrialized countries, even there women continue to suffer alarming levels of rape and domestic violence. Notes the UN Development Fund for Women, "one in three women will suffer some form of violence in her lifetime, becoming part of an epidemic that devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development." Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women campaign is a particularly prominent effort by the citizen sector to bring this problem to light.

The difficulties that women in many parts of the world have in accessing health care services or contraception are also fundamental concerns. Regardless of where one stands on related controversial debates like abortion, UN agencies note that largely preventable reproductive health problems are the leading cause of women's health and death worldwide. And then there is AIDS, which is increasingly infecting and taking the lives of more women than men.

In the final analysis, there are many special challenges still faced by the world's women, but progress has been made when gender equality is viewed over the longer term, and the global community seems - at least rhetorically - to have committed to continuing down this road. Much more can be accomplished, however, when women's contributions are valued by society as a whole, when they have a more prominent role in decision-making, and when women and men work in partnership to achieve these aims.