Focusing on Gender

Equality in
Development WHY IT MATTERS

Violence
35% of women worldwide have experienced intimate partner violence or
non-partner sexual violence
Roughly 38% of women that are murdered are murdered by an intimate
partner
More than 125 million girls and women have experienced female genital
mutilation

Why it matters
Women who experience violence are twice as likely to be depressed, twice as
likely to have alcohol use disorders, and 1.5 times as likely to have HIV or
another STI

Gender Preference
The preference for male children in many societies has led
to the rise of
Sex-selective abortions
Sex-selective abortion is symptomatic of societies in which women are
sufficiently marginalised, socially, economically, or politically, that people
believe it is better for them not to be born (The Economist)
Female

infanticide

Girls are seen as an economic liability for families

Neglect

of daughters in favor of sons in terms of food and

medical care
Choosing

to educate sons instead of daughters when resources

to do so are limited
Boys are viewed as a greater return on investment

Why It Matters
These practices contribute to poor health, low educational
achievement, and unnecessary suffering and death for girls,

HIV and AIDS

In 2011 820,000 individuals aged 15 to 24 were infected with HIV in low
and middle income countries

More than 60% were women

Young girls (15 to 24) are twice as likely to be infected with HIV than
their male counterparts

Why It Matters
HIV and AIDS in women in developing countries is often the result of forced,
unsafe sex. For women aged 15 to 44 AIDS is the leading cause of death
worldwide. HIV and AIDS are also linked to Tuberculosis (one of the top five
leading causes of death in developing countries).

Child
Marriage

Every year, 15 millions girls are married before age 18 (1 girl

every 2 seconds)
720 million women in the world today, or 10% of the worlds
population, were married before age 18 (250 million married
before age 15)
1/3 girls in the developing world marry before age 18
1/9 girlsWHY
in the
ITdeveloping
MATTERS: world marry before age 15
Child brides are more likely to face
violence and sexual abuse, more
likely to become infected with HIV,
and more likely to face maternal
complications including maternal
mortality.
Marriage makes it likely that a child
bride will drop out of school.
Children of child brides are more
likely to live in poverty.

Source: http://girlsnotbrides.theideabureau.netdna-cdn.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/10/GNB-factsheet-on-child-marriagenumbers-Oct-2014.pdf

Maternal Health
Often girls are seen as less valuable and do not receive
medical treatment as quickly
Womens health is not a mans concern is a commonly
held myth
99% of maternal deaths each year occur in the developing
world
16 million girls aged between 15 and 19 give birth each
year, accounting for more than 10% of all births
In poor countries, complications from pregnancy
and childbirth are the leading cause of death
among girls 15-19
Approx. 800 women die from preventable causes related to
pregnancy and childbirth every day
Why it Matters

Human Trafficking
20.9 million: The number of adults and children bought in sold
as slaves worldwide
2 million: The number of children exploited in global
commercial sex trade
98%: The percentage of victims who are female
Risk factors for becoming a victim of trafficking include: lack of
access to resources(housing, land property), poverty, sex tourism in
area, gender discriminatory laws, lack of protection
from genderWHY IT MATTERS
based violence
Victims of sex trafficking
face high risk for STIs,
including HIV/AIDS, as well
as high risk for pregnancy
and unsafe abortions
HUMAN RIGHTS

Source:
http://www.equalitynow.org/node/1010

They forced me to sleep with as many as 50

customers a day. I had to give [the pimp] all my
money. If I did not [earn a set amount] they
punished me by removing my clothes and
beating me with a stick until I fainted,
electrocuting me, cutting me.

Globalization
Globalization presents both challenges and opportunities
for gender equality
--Has led to low-wage labor and poor working conditions in some places
--Increased limits on safety net policies that are utilized primarily by women
and children
--Many of the new opportunities require education, which women are
frequently denied
Increased employment opportunities for women
Wages can give them greater ability to negotiate their role in society
In a globalized world, gender inequality can cost countries and
companies their reputation and their money, making it more likely for
them to respect the rights of women
Increased access to media such as television can positively affect
attitudes towards women
Greater exposure to media is associated with weaker son preference
in India

Why it Matters

Economic
Empowerment

Women now represent more than 40% of the worlds workforce, yet
women in all countries tend to earn less than men
Women are more likely than men to be complete unpaid household
labor or work in the informal sector
Women are usually designated for cultivating less profitable crops or
working is less lucrative business sectors
In developing countries, women are 20% less likely than men to have
formal bank accounts and 17% less likely than men to have
borrowed formally in the past year
Womens access to financial services is often restricted by
requirements that male family members give permission
Even when women formally own financial resources, men often
control the money and make the decisions
WHY IT MATTERS:
Agricultural output in developing countries could increase by
2.5 4 percent if women could access as much land and
fertilizers as men.
Households where women control household finances tend to
spend in ways that benefit children (health, education, i.e.)

Access to Education
More than 30 million girls worldwide are not in school
Girls belong in marriage, not school is a commonly held
myth
1 in 5 girls in developing countries who enroll in primary
school never finish
A womans earnings will be 10-20% higher for every year of
school completed
A child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to
survive past the age of 5
Children with educated mothers are 2x as likely to go to
school
Why it Matters
When women and girls have equal access to education, their success
and that of their children and communities is substantially increased.