The%20Status%20of%20Women%20in%20Developing%20Asia:%20What%20is%20the%20Role%20of%20Social%20Institutions?

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The Status of Women in Developing Asia What is
the Role of Social Institutions?

• Johannes Jütting
• OECD Development Centre

Casa Asia Barcelona ? 30 March 2006
2
The Centre at the OECD

• Intellectual Autonomy
• Informal Dialogue Framework
• Capacity Building
• Staff 45

Development Assistance Committee (DAC)
Development Centre (DEV)
Development Cluster of the OECD
Sahel and West Africa Club (SAH)
3
Recently Elected Female Heads of State/Government
in the World
Chile M. Bachelet
Finland T. Halonen
Germany A. Merkel
Liberia E. Johnson Sirleaf
4
Words of caution

• This presentation
• - is based on a development economics
  perspective
• - cannot fully do justice to the variety of
  different
• situations between and within Asian
  countries
• - provides food for thought, instead of
  blueprint
• solutions for change

5
Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
6
Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
7
I) Gender equality matters

• Gender equality women and men have equal
  conditions for realising their full human rights
  and for contributing to, and benefiting from
  economic, social, cultural and political
  development.
• Gender equality is an important goal in itself
  (MDG 3)
• and also contributes to the achievement of
  other objectives
• - stimulate growth and reduce poverty
• - reduce inequities
• - contribute to child development

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but what determines it?

• Causalities between development and gender
  inequalities not clear
• 2 main schools of thinking
• - Modernisation-neoclassical approach
• - Feminist thesis
• Measurement problems What? How?

9
Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
10
II) OECD Gender, Institutions and Development
Database (GID)

• A new tool for researchers and policy makers
• Allows an analysis of obstacles to womens
  economic status
• Covers 162 economies and has 50 indicators on
  gender discrimination
• Includes institutional variables that range from
  intrahousehold behaviour to social norms

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Indicators affecting the Economic Role of Women
Source Own Illustration.
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GID-Indicators Social Institutions

• Physical Integrity
• - Legislation punishing acts of violence against
  women
• - Prevalence of female genital mutilation
• Family Code
• - Marriage before the age of 20
• - Acceptance of polygamy within a society
• - Parental authority granted to father and
  mother equally
• - Inheritance practices in favour of male heirs
• Ownership Rights
• - Womens access to land ownership
• - Womens access to bank loans
• - Womens access to property other than land
• Civil Liberties
• - Freedom of movement
• - Obligation to wear a veil in public

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Early Marriages in India
In the Rajgarh district of the Indian state of
Madhya Pradesh, a group of girl brides sit
solemnly during celebrations that will culminate
in their weddings later in the day.
Source Courtesy of the United Nations Children's
Foundation
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Violence against women
Source BBC News
Source AFP
According to a UN report (2000), one in three
woman in the world has been beaten, coerced into
sex or abused in some other way, most often by
someone she knows.
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Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
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III) The Situation of Women in Asia a global,
regional and country perspective

• South Asia - SA (7 economies)
• Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal
  Pakistan Sri Lanka
• East Asia and Pacific - EAP (17 economies)
• China Fiji Hong Kong, China Indonesia
  Cambodia Lao PDR Myanmar Mongolia Malaysia
  Philippines Papua New Guinea Korea, Dem. Rep.
  Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Chinese Taipei
  Viet Nam Australia Japan Korea, Rep. New
  Zealand
• OECD-East Asia and Pacific (4 economies)
• Australia Japan Korea, Rep. New Zealand

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Global perspective employment, education and
health care

• Important divide between
• - East Asia and Pacific, Latin America and OECD
• countries
• - South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENA
• region

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Employment
Source GID Database
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Education
Source GID Database
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Education
Source GID Database
21
Health Care
of 100,000 life births
Source GID Database
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Regional Perspective South Asia versus East Asia
and Pacific

• Employment
• - Female participation in the paid work force in
  South Asia is only half of the rate in East
  Asia and Pacific
• Education
• - Important difference in tertiary education
• Health Care
• - Significantly higher maternal mortality rate

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Employment
Source GID Database
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Education
Source GID Database
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Health Care
of 100,000 life births
Source GID Database
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Country Perspective Indonesia versus Pakistan

• Indonesia
• - Largest Muslim population in the world (about
  210 million, 2004 88)
• - GDP per capita ( PPP) 3583.47 GDP per
  capita growth 3.7
• - Employment about one third of the total paid
  work force are women
• - Education more than 90 of girls get primary
  education
• - Health Care high maternal mortality
• Pakistan
• - 2nd second most populous Muslim country in the
  world (about 157 million, 2005
• 96)
• - GDP per capita ( PPP) 2209.97 GDP per
  capita growth 4.4
• - Employment about one eighth of the total paid
  work force are women
• - Education only half of the girls get primary
  education, almost none get tertiary
• - Health Care maternal mortality twice as high
  as in Indonesia

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Employment
Source GID Database
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Education
Source GID Database
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Health Care
of 100,000 life births
Source GID Database
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Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
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IV) The Roots of Gender Discrimination in Asia
Social Institutions

• Overall situation
• Ownership Rights
• Family Code
• Early Marriage

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Social Institutions
Scale 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum) level of
discrimination through social institutions
Source GID Database
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Social Institutions and Womens Participation in
the Labour Market
Source GID Database
34
Country Perspective Two cases compared
Scale 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum) level of
discrimination through social institutions
Source GID Database
35
Early Marriages in Asia
Source GID Database
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Mean Age of Women at Marriage in Asian Countries
Source GID Database
37
Ownership Rights
Scale 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum) level of
discrimination through social institutions
Source GID Database
38
Family Code
Scale 0 (minimum) to 1 (maximum) level of
discrimination through social institutions
Source GID Database
39
Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
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V) What can be done?

• Empowerment of women
• - More participation of women in decision making
  on
• community level (example quota in India)
• Sex-disaggregated data collection
• Enforcement reform of legal structures
• - Monitoring systems to ensure changes
• Convince men of benefit of reforms
• - Men should get incentives to accept changes
  and in
• some cases compensation for potential
  losses

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Barriers to change some important caveats

• Depth of tradition
• - Examples polygamy, early marriage
• - Rural population remains attached to such
  traditions despite their legal
• interdiction
• Not in mens interest
• - Examples polygamy, repudiation
• - Inequality provides men with material
  advantages that they lose upon
• reform
• Limited enforcement of reforms
• - Example Widely toleration of violence against
  women by police in
• northern states of India
• - Wide gap in performance between the
  publication of a law and its
• effective implementation

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Gender equality is getting more and more
attention
Bangladeshi women take part in a protest
demanding equal rights in Dhaka.
Photo AFP
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and a voice
Women police officers in India have formed a
national forum to fight sexual harassment and
discrimination from their male colleagues.
Source BBC news
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India's first computer-literate village
At least one member of every family in the
village there are 850 families has completed
basic computer literacy training.
Photo M.S. Vinod
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The Grameen Phone scheme - 'Telephone ladies'
connect Bangladesh
Grameen phone ladies provide villagers with a
vital link to services such as hospitals and to
relatives both at home and abroad, in a country
with the lowest number of phones in South Asia.
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Introduction Why does gender equality matter?
I
A new tool The Gender, Institutions and
Development Database (GID)
II
Applying the GID What is the situation of women
in Asia?
III
The underlying causes for gender (in)equality
Social Institutions
IV
What can be done?
V
Conclusion
VI
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VI) Conclusions

• Gender equality is key to development
• Role of social institutions overlooked
• Changes are possible in different settings
• Need to provide the right incentives
• Strategies should be flexible and adapted to
  levels of development and socio-economic context

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• Gracias por su atención!

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• Contact
• Johannes JüttingOECD Development CentreWeb
  www.oecd.org/dev E-mail Johannes.Jutting_at_oecd.or
  g GID http//www.oecd.org/dev/institutions/GIDda
  tabase