Daily Times

Restricted choices and power imbalances-a lifecycle perspective.

Gender inequality within households and communities is characterized by inequality across multiple dimensions, with a vicious cycle of powerlessness, stigmatization, discrimination, exclusion and material deprivation all reinforcing each other. Human development is about expanding substantive freedoms and choices, and too often women face heavily restricted or even “tragic” choices.

Examples of restricted choices can be identified in a lifecycle approach. Some represent blatant limits to basic freedoms and human rights, and others, subtle manifestations of gender biases. Social norms can affect girls even before they are born since some countries deeply prefer bearing sons over daughters. In 1990, when only few countries had access to technology to determine a baby’s gender, only 6 countries had imbalanced sex rations at birth-today it is 21 countries.

Discrimination continues through the way households share resources. Girls and women sometimes eat last and least in the household. The gender politics of food-nurtured by assumptions, norms and practices about women needing fewer calories-can push women into perpetual malnutrition and protein deficiency.

Since gender remains one of the most prevalent bases of discrimination, policies addressing deep-seated discriminatory norms and harmful gender stereotypes, prejudices and practices are key for the full realization of women’s human rights

Among children attending school, determinants of occupational choices appear very early. Girls are less likely to study subjects such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, while boys are a minority of those studying health and education.

Likewise, early marriage condemns girls to live a life with heavily restricted choices-every year 12 million girls are victims of forced marriage. By region, the highest rates are registered in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 36 percent of women marrying before their 18th birthday, and South Asia, with 29 percent.

The disparities of childhood and adolescence are amplified when women reach adulthood. For unpaid care work, women bear a bigger burden, on average spending about 2.5 times more than men do. This affects women’s labor force participation, which is consistently lower than for men, both globally and by human development grouping. In 2018 the global labour force participation rate was around 75 percent for men and 48 percent for women.

Professional women mostly have two options for their personal partners-a super-supportive partner or no partner at all. Husbands are considered a key factor in two-thirds of women’s decisions to quit the workforce, often because women had to fill the parenting vacuum. In other instances, the struggle to reconcile care work with paid work can lead women to occupational downgrading.

Additionally, skilled women, who are more likely to participate in the labor market, face social norms that make them less attractive potential partners in the marriage market. This contributes towards a lower marriage rate for skilled women, and might induce a nonlinear relationship between their labor market prospects and their marriage outcomes.

Policies to tackle social norms-Game Changers

Universal policies can provide basic floors but may not be enough to eliminate horizontal inequalities rooted in social exclusion and longstanding social norms. Social exclusion happens when people are unable to fully participate in economic, social and political life because they are excluded based on cultural, religious, racial or other reasons. This may mean a lack of voice, lack of recognition or lack of capacity for active participation. It may also mean exclusion from decent work, assets, land, opportunities, access to social services or political representation.

Since gender remains one of the most prevalent bases of discrimination, policies addressing deep-seated discriminatory norms and harmful gender stereotypes, prejudices and practices are key for the full realization of women’s human rights.

Policies can target social norms directly. Changing unequal power relationships among individuals within a community or challenging deeply rooted gender roles can be achieved through education, by raising awareness or by changing incentives.

Education and raising awareness are both based on providing individuals with new information and knowledge that can foster different values and behaviors. Such initiatives might include formal education, workplace training or media campaigns against gender stereotyping. To change incentives, protective mechanisms can confront possible harm due to traditional gender norms or a backlash, such as school bullying or workplace harassment.

Changing incentives can also be introduced to delay early marriage and reduce teenage pregnancies. The three dimensions (education, awareness, & incentives) often reinforce each other.

Policies can also increase the representation of girls in STEM. Laboratoria, a nonprofit organization established in Latin America in 2014, combines applied coding education, socio-emotional training and job placement services to create opportunities for girls from low-income families. It operates in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru, and has graduated more than 820 girls and aims to reach 5,000 young women by 2021. Other examples include the Costa Rican Technological Institute, which set up a specialized training centre to build women’s capacity in STEM and entrepreneurship.

In Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, the government, with support from the United Nations Population Fund, is implementing a national module for comprehensive sexuality education in all schools to empower girls and women through awareness of health assistance and family planning services-and to provide the community a platform for dialogue on education and reproductive rights (Concluded).

Saud Bin Ahsen is an old Ravian, can be reached at saudzafar5@gmil.com