Gender inequality in the world

In 1970 Esther Boserup identified women as having been left behind in the development process. Has this changed over time and are the gender inequalities she identified still there? To assess this I will be looking at various areas of the social, economic, cultural and political status of women in a variety of countries.

The status of women in a country is mostly based on the religion and culture of that country. However, one of the factors that mainly influences status is the economic status of the country. In more developed countries such as Iceland (which is run by a female minister) there is very good gender equality, whereas in places like Chad, Mali and Niger, are poor and do not have any women in parliament. These three countries have on average a gender development rate of about 0.250 in comparison to Norway’s 0.941. Norway is currently the highest in gender development rate but Iceland is first overall. Niger is presently the lowest.

Gender inequality has many relations to education because around the world there are women that are not allowed to go to school. Not being allowed to go to school can cause them to be forced to go to work at a young age and be less educated in situations, which could lead to children and diseases among other things. In Pakistan the Taliban have ordered young women not to go to school. This has led to many violent problems in Pakistan and has also led to the uncertainty of the future education of 125,000 young girls. Yemen on the other hand is a different case, because they have been given funds to help send 30,000 girls to school but they still have problems with parents wanting to send their girls to school after they have hit puberty because they do not want a male teacher to be teaching their young daughter. This causes many of the parents to pull their girls out of school once they hit puberty. Around there world there are many similar problems related to education. Two-thirds of the world’s children that receive less than 4 years of schooling are girls and 70% of the 855 million illiterate adults in the world are female. In countries where there are less resources and school facilities, the overall enrolments are low, forcing families to choose to send either their girl or boy to school and will generally always send the boy to school instead of the girl. Only 18% of women between the ages of 15 and 24 in Afghanistan are literate. It is said that if you were to educate a girl in Africa, everything would change for them. She would be three times less likely to get HIV/AIDS, earn 25% more income and have a smaller healthier family.

People in China prefer boys over girls. In China there are more men than women because the Chinese believe that boys are better than girls for a number of reasons. Two of these reasons is because in rural areas, men would be a greater benefit for working the land and they can better support their parents in their when they are older. China has 32,000,000 more men who are younger than 20 years old than women. This gap is greater in provinces that allow couples to have a second child if the first is a girl. According to the 2005 census, boys outnumbered girls by 143 to 100. The main reason that there is such a great gender imbalance in China is the One-Child Policy.

Traditionally in India, boys are seen as to be superior to girls. Latest government data shows there were 1,004 females born in Delhi for every 1,000 males in 2008. Officials also put the turnaround down to a number of schemes started by the Delhi government, including financial incentives for parents to register the births of female children. In Indian society boys are seen as superior to girls and therefore mothers would have abortions if they found out that their child was a girl.

There are pay gaps between men and women when it comes to unemployment. Men get 39% higher basic pay, their total earning is 47% more, full-time employment is 55% more, and the performance related pay is 80% more. While a man’s average yearly performance related pay is £14,554, a woman’s is only £2,875. There are 1,000,000 women who are self-employed and that number had increased by 18% during the following 5 years. The number of female chief executives and full-time chairwomen has risen from one to three, while the number of female executive committee members has risen from 11 to 18.

66% of all children shut outside school gates are girls. Only 28 countries have achieved the 30% target for women in decision-making positions set in the early 1990’s.There are many organizations fighting for women's empowerment such as the World Organization For Women Empowerment (WOWE) and UNwomen. Women in sub-Saharan Africa are 23% less likely to own a mobile phone, 24% less likely in the Middle East and 37% in South Asia. 300,000,000 more men than women in developing countries owned a mobile phone. mWomen wants to halve the “gender gap” within three years by providing 150,000,000 women worldwide with phone access. Phones are beneficial because they can help with literacy, health programs and projects and help develop small businesses and allow women to get financial independence. With phones women are able to earn their own money and build up their own business without relying on anyone but themselves. More than 50% of all female business owners in poor countries reported that they earned more money due to their mobile phone. 85% of women feel more independent because of their mobile phones, and 93% feel safer.

In Kuwait the women can now vote for the first time and stand in parliamentary and local elections. Finally achieving political rights. Islamic law prohibits women from positions of leadership which caused the 1999 decree giving women full political rights to be blocked due to the majority of tribal and Islamic members of parliament. Less than 16% of the worlds parliamentarians are women. In early 2010, only 15 Heads of State or Government were women.

According to UNAIDS and WHO global estimates, women comprise 50% of people living with HIV in 2008. In sub- Saharan Africa, women constitute 60% of people living with HIV. In the world, women live 4 years longer than men. Women develop these problems usually in their 70s and 80s, about 20 years later than men, who develop them in their 50s and 60s. Only 38% of young women have accurate knowledge of HIV/AIDS according to the 2008 UNAIDS global figures. Norms related to femininity can prevent women – especially young women – from accessing HIV services and information. In some settings, this contributes to higher infection rates among young women (15-24 years) compared to young men. Women may face barriers due to their limited decision-making power, restricted mobility, child-care responsibilities and lack of access to and control over resources. Many women, especially those living with HIV, lose their possessions, livelihoods, homes, inheritance and even their children when their partners die. Educating girls makes them more equipped to make safer decisions concerning sex. Lack of economic security and education affects millions of women and girls, whose literacy levels are generally lower than men and boys. Only 52% of countries who reported to the UN General Assembly included specific, budgeted support for women-focused HIV/AIDS programmes.

In Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive. However, recently, the Committee of Demanders of Women’s Right to Drive are opposing the ban openly, although it is said that there is little immediate chance of it succeeding. Activists circulating the petition by email and on websites are relying on government statements and the fact that no law explicitly states that women may not drive.

In Gola Kabele, women were not given much more than a sack of grain from their husbands when they divorced. Now they are entitled to half of the property. Women were also not allowed to own land, but now that they have land certificates, they can now own land and take care of them, becoming more productive. Land insecurity, which was present since Ethiopia was ruled by the monarchy, worsened among farmers when the Marxist Derg regime nationalized all land and redistributed it in the 1970s and ‘80s. In 1991, the Ethiopia People's Revolutionary Democratic Front took power and has since introduced a number of policy and legal reforms aimed at improving land management and tenure security. The overall goal of the project is to halt land degradation, which costs Ethiopia 2-3% of gross domestic product (GDP) each year—a major hit in a country where agriculture accounts for nearly 90% of export revenue, 50% of GDP, and is a source of revenue for more than 85% of the country’s 70 million people.

United Nations Population Division estimates that 49% of all international migrants are women or girls, and the number of women migrating to more developed regions is 51%. Some women migrate voluntarily, but most are forced due to circumstances such as persecution, natural disasters, conflict, or other situations that are affecting their habitat and security. Migration of women is limited due to their lack of connections in the destination country that would provide resources or information to make the move possible. More than 800,000 women and girls are trafficked across borders against their will and these women are usually forced into prostitution and other exploitations that are similar to slavery. Females are becoming more educated. More opportunities are available, for example better jobs. Due to the better education, the female working rate goes up and so does the amount of money they receive which they can then use to support their family. In Pakistan, for example, they have micro financing and it helps women start their own business. Women are learning new skills and can than bring the skills they have learned back with them to the source country and teach others. In rural villages in Pakistan, girls from families who have a migrant abroad tend to go to school for two years more on average than those who do not.

To conclude, I think that gender inequality exists worldwide and something should be done about it. Women are being discriminated in their jobs, at home, and it even affects their lifestyle. Little girls are forced to sell their bodies just so they can support their families when they leave school. Gender inequality must be stopped now before it gets so bad that it gets out of control.