GENDER DISCRIMINATION

Issues related to women-their unequal status, deprivation, abuse etc. have been dealt differently in different times. In fact, these inequalities are a global phenomenon, only the types and intensities vary from culture to culture and time to time. Women have travelled a long hazardous way to come to their present level. In this context Ester Boserup’s book ”Women’s Role in Economic Development” (1970), was one of the first to bring to the attention of development practitioners the gaps in knowledge with far- reaching impact in the lives of third world women. In 1970, the UN published its “International Developmental Strategy” for the second UN Development Decade and thereafter declared the decade of 1975—1985 as the International Decade for Women’. Following this the conceptual link between women’s issues and economic development was gradually established. The conceptual link between women’s issues and economic development gave support to the idea about the connection between women’s issues and developmental policy. As pointed out by Mayra Buvinic (1983) in Women and Poverty in the Third World starting with Women in Development (WID) to Women and Development (WAD) and finally to Gender and Development (GAD) is a long journey. Today, when the human face of development has become centre stage, one cannot avoid talking about Human Development Index (HDI) &Gender Development Index (GDI).

The HDI takes into account vital development indicators like Life expectancy, Education and Income. The GDI reveals that gender gaps in human development are pervasive. Since women constitute almost 50% of the world population, no real development can take place with half the population existing as “lesser human being”. All international bodies, especially the UN reports, take note of GDI as one most important criteria for assessing any country’s progress in development. According to the UN Human Development Report (2011) “On average, at the global level, female HDI value is about 8% lower than male HDI but disparities do exist across countries, human development groups and regions”.

The UN statistics puts it as

• Women perform 2/3rd of worlds work
• Women earn 1/10th of worlds income
• Women are 2/3rd of worlds illiterate
• Women own less than 1/100th of worlds property

How to understand or analyse inequality

The framework for analysing the global trends in inequality can be based on the following premises.

1. Equality of capabilities: All women and men are to be on equal footing in terms of core functioning (education, health, and nutrition) — one of the major key conditions for gender equality in other domains.
2. Economic equality: In order to achieve economic equality, women should be at par with men in their ability to convert capabilities into the ability to generate livelihoods, that is, there should be progress towards gender equity in economic well-being.
3. Empowerment and voice in decision-making: An important indicator in understanding the major sites of resource allocation in society i.e. the household, the workplace and in governing bodies. With voice in these arenas, women might be able to influence the factors that lead to inequality in the capabilities or livelihoods domain. Unequal investments in girls’ education at the household level, for example, can be rectified with increased voice that ensures that government resources are allocated to improve girls’ access to schooling.