Presentation on

Gender as a

development

issue

Objectives of the

presentation:Try to understand what is Gender & development

Gender discriminations & Inequalities in different

perspectives in the society

Understanding the importance of gender issues for

development & poverty.

Understanding the importance of MDG.

Introducing the worldwide situation of women in MDG as

well as in the context of Bangladesh.

Policy gaps, policy recommendation and Conclusion

Gender refers to the social construction of male &

female. Whereas biological sex is determined by

genetic & anatomical characteristics, gender is an

acquired identity based in socio – cultural sphere.

“It is not simply a question of economic growth,

food production, modern equipment or

technology transfer. Development is about

people. It is humanity in all its dimensions, in

full possession of dignity, and individual

rights…Michael P. Todaro’s three Core Values of Development

Sustenance: The Ability to Meet Basic Needs

Self-Esteem: To Be a Person

Freedom from Servitude: To Be Able to Choose

Men Women

equal empowerment

equal basic needs

equal decision making power

equal right in property

equal opportunity to express their ability

Globally, 10 million more girls are out of school than boys (Calculated from data

contained in the UN’s The Millennium Development Goals report 2007, New York:

2007, p11)

•41 million girls worldwide are still denied a primary education. (UNESCO,

Education for all: Global monitoring report 2008, Oxford University Press, Oxford:

2007, p184.)

•Women account for nearly two thirds of the world’s 780 million people who cannot

read. (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, “Adult Literacy Rates and Illiterate

Population by Region and Gender,” 2006)

Educational inequalities for women

Gender Inequality in Health

•WHO studies in Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa show that women who have

experienced violence are three times more likely to be at risk from HIV

infection. (Source: World Health Organisation briefing)

•99% of maternal deaths occur in developing countries, with women continuing to die

of pregnancy-related causes at the rate of one a minute. (UNPF: Maternal mortality

figures show limited progress in making motherhood safer, October 2007)

•About 14 million adolescent girls become mothers every year. More than 90% of

them are in developing countries.

Economic inequality

women of the north America get the highest opportunity to participate

in economic activities 80 % where middle east & north African women

are the worst less than 40%.

Political disparity of women

Globally, women make up just 17% of parliamentarians. Only 22 countries do women

represent 25 percent or more of elected legislators (UNICEF, The State of the World’s Children 2007, UNICEF, New York: 2006, p.56) The situation of Asia is also poor only 18.2 %

parliament seats for women.

Women produce up to 80% of food in developing countries, but are more likely to be

hungry than men, and are often denied the right to own land (Food and Agriculture

Organization, The feminisation of hunger what do the surveys tell us? 2001, and The

state of food insecurity in the world 2005, Rome: 2005, p17)

Women and poverty

Religious violence against women world wide perspective

Jewish Community

■ An estimate by the organization Jewish Women International indicates

that 15 to 25% of all Jewish households experience domestic violence

Muslim Community

■ According to estimates by Muslim activists in the United States,

approximately ten percent of Muslim women are abused emotionally,

psychologically, and/or physically by their husbands. [Faizi, N. (2001).

Violence against women worldwide perspective•On average, 30% of women experienced some form of physical or

sexual violence by their partner.

•Globally, as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an

intimate partner.

Source : WHO 2013

Source : CEDAW Participation.svg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Where is the female position

to the rung of the development

ladder in the context of

Bangladesh?

It is encouraging to note that Bangladesh has made remarkable progress

in reducing the prevalence of underweight children, increasing enrollment at

primary schools, lowering the infant mortality rate and maternal mortality

ratio, improving immunization coverage and reducing the incidence of

communicable diseases.

0 20 40

male

female

secondary school attainment

secondaryschoolattainment

40 60 80

male

female

primary school attainment

primaryschoolattainment

Source : The World Bank, 2010 Source: BBS 2006 & 2011

0 50 100

male

female

students enrolled at university level ( public university )

students enrolled atuniversity level (public university )

In primary level of education there was always the dominance percentage of

female students than male students. You can see still their difference is more

than 6% in 2010.But in secondary education attainment the number of male is larger than female &

the current difference is near about 9 % !!!!!!. In 2001 the number of the enrolled

students at university level was 75% male & 25 % female & now it is 70%

male & 30% female . Although the rate is increasing but in slow pace.

BANBEIS 2011

Economic inequality Women Empowerment: Women’s position in work force

If we look at the figure, we can see that there is great inequality in labour

force participation of male and female. Female participation rate is much

lower whereas male participation is much higher than that of national

participation rate

labour force participation

men

women

the rate of under weight children

male

female

parliamentary seats of Bangladesh

malemembers

femalemembers

Nutritional & health inequality Political disparity of women

Source: BDHS 2011Source :BANBEIS 2012

The rate of underweight children shows that the percentage of female child

were always more than the male . Still it is 42.1 % for female where 39.9 % for

male.

Again Our honorable prime minister, honorable opposite party leader &

former prime minister , our speaker of the parliament are women. But it doesn’t

show the real picture of the political participation & rights of the women in BD.

We have only 20% representative female members in the parliament which is

so poor according to the male members.

Source ;Bangladesh Protidin

Decreasing trend of inequalities inPrimary , secondary & tertiary education enrollment

Labour force participation

Political participation

Nutrition & health

Violence against women

Increasing GDP (Gross domestic products)

Increasing Contraceptive use

Decreasing TFR

Decreasing child & maternal death

increasing age at marriage

Increasing life expectancy specially of

women

Decreasing poverty gap ratio

Decreasing Proportion of people below

Did you notice that although there are so many inequalities still exist between

male & female but this slow decreasing trend of the inequality is pushing our

development wheel with its full force.

Still developing?

Only Developed ??

More developed???

Most developed !!!

Existing policy gaps

Inadequacy of policy guidance to incorporate gender issues in

development process.

Inadequate resources to undertake gender focused/ women

development program/project.

Inadequate institutional measure to amend the relevant item of

allocation of business of sector ministries to include gender concern

into them.

Lack of awareness about international treaties or convention that

appreciate the need of integrating gender issues into sectoral

activities.

Lack of partnership of the Government with the civil society

organizations

Policy Recommendation

•Foster awareness and confidence among women and to strengthen

women's outlook in favour of demanding equal rights.

•Women education should be given more priority. A special allocation

for women's education should kept in the budget.

Motivate women at all levels to acquire skills in order to participate in

the affairs of running the country.

Ensure women's participation in poverty alleviation and socio-

economic development programs.

Strengthen them in a way that they can play their roles in the socio-

economic development of the country through self-employment or

being employed in various positions.

Change their existing subordinate position and to empower them to

take strong steps to ensure equal rights and to resist dowry as well as

violence against women.

Gender inequality has been long recognized both as

the cause and as the effect of underdevelopment.

No development process can not ensured in isolated

way, so avoid and neglect discrimination against

women for better development for a better society,

community as well as a peaceful world.