FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

Transcription

1 BUILDING BLOCK FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES BLOCK 5 This building block will walk you through some striking gender inequalities in various domains. Although progress has been made towards gender equality, there is still a long way to go. Women and girls still face huge discrimination and disadvantages, being deprived of equal access to health care, higher education, jobs, resources and decision making powers. This calls for a specific focus on gender equality when designing development interventions of any kind. Each section of this building block offers references to further reading and the most recent publications on the topic. Women in every part of the world continue to be largely marginalized from the political sphere, often as a result of discriminatory laws, practices, attitudes and gender stereotypes, low levels of education, lack of access to health care and the disproportionate effect of poverty on women (United Nations General Assembly, 2011) Index Leadership and political participation...3 Economic empowerment and the world of work...4 The Gender Pay Gap...6 Gender, unpaid care work, domestic work and the informal economy...7 Gender and Social Protection...9 Gender in agriculture and rural economies Education More girls are out-of-school than boys Illiteracy Gender dimensions of Child Labour Child Labour in Rural Areas EU RESOURCE PACKAGE 1

2 Gender Based Violence and Health Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM) HIV AIDS Maternal mortality Child Marriage Gender and Justice Access to Justice Social barriers Institutional barriers Other barriers Gender discrimination in legal systems Gender, Peace and Security Women in peace negotiations and agreements Justice and security Sexual violence in contexts of conflict BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

3 Who can use this building block? Every stakeholder involved in development cooperation. Leadership and political participation The percentage of women in national legislatures can be considered as a measure of the country's achievement in the area of female political participation. The figures below show that the global average is still far from reflecting women's share in society. This disparity impacts directly on women's political rights and their voice in the formulation of laws and policies, in the implementation and monitoring of those laws and the national (or local) budgets. The Inter-Parliamentary Union collects data on female participation in national parliaments. The data below show that the global average for female participation in both houses is 21.8% on the 1 st of October Regional averages show that Nordic European countries perform best with a 41.6%. The Arab States and the Pacific have the lowest representation levels, respectively 15.9% and 15.3% for both houses combined. World Average, both houses combined Total MPs 45'013 Gender breakdown known for 45'013 Men 35'187 Women 9'826 Percentage of women 21.8% Source: This data has been compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the basis of information provided by National Parliaments by 1st October Regional Averages Single house or lower house (Percentage of women) Upper house or Senate (Percentage of women) Both houses combined Nordic countries 41.6% America s 25.6% 26.0% 25.7% Europe OSCE (member countries including Nordic countries) Europe OSCE (member countries excluding Nordic countries) 25.3% 23.2% 24.9% 23.7% 23.2% 23.6% Sub-saharan Africa 22.5% 19.8% 22.2% Asia 18.8% 13.9% 18.3% Arab States 17.8% 7.7% 15.9% Pacific 12.6% 36.0% 15.3% 3 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

4 Regional Averages Single house or lower house (Percentage of women) Upper house or Senate (Percentage of women) Both houses combined Source: This data has been compiled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union on the basis of information provided by National Parliaments by 1st October More information on Leadership and Political Participation See our Thematic Note on Gender, Public Sector, Good Governance and Decentralisation for quick guidance on the most important issues in development relating to this topic. Search our Knowledge Bank by selecting Governance, Decentralization and/or Public Sector in the thematic area and browse recent resources on this theme. Inter-Parliamentary Union, Data on Women in Parliaments: The Women in Politics Map 2014, found at: UNDP, 2014, Gender Equality in Public Administration. UN Women, n.d., In Brief. Women s Leadership and Political Participation. IPU, IDEA, NDI, UNDP, UN Women, 2014, iknow Politics Portal. International Knowledge Network of Women in Politics. An interactive network of women in politics who share experiences, resources, advice and collaboration issues of interest. Available at: Economic empowerment and the world of work Women carry a fundamental role in the global economy, being active in businesses, rural economies, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by managing whole households and doing unpaid care work at home. Nonetheless, women are more affected by poverty and discrimination than men. Gender inequality in the world of work means that women are more likely to end up in insecure, low-wage jobs, and are underrepresented in leadership positions. Despite the fact that substantial progress has been made in promoting gender equality and in narrowing the existing gaps in the world of work, most of women s work remains in gender-stereotyped occupations that are more precarious and vulnerable, and with less pay than men s, all over the world (ILO, 2012). Consequently, women are still disproportionately more affected by deficits in decent work, and hence poverty, than man. Women are also the main care-takers in society, although this work is largely unpaid, statistically unrecognized and unaccounted for in national accounts (ILO, 2014). Gender parity in employment has also been addressed by millennium development goal 3, with its 3.2 indicator on the share of women in wage employment in the non- 4 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

5 agricultural sector. The focus on the non-agricultural sector reflects the benefits of women s integration into the monetary economy, in terms of greater autonomy, control over household decision-making and personal development (OECD, 2010). According to the Millennium Development Report of 2014, women s access to paid employment in non-agricultural sectors has been increasing slowly over the past two decades. Women s share increased globally from 35 per cent in 1990 to 40 per cent in 2012, with increases, although unequal, observed in almost all regions. The most impressive progress has been registered in sub-saharan Africa, an increase of 10 percentage points over the period Northern Africa, in contrast, had one of the lowest proportions of women in paid employment in 1990, and showed no noticeable increase by 2012 (United Nations, 2014). The ILO 2012 report on Global Trends in Employment for Women offers data on five key gender gaps in the labour market: in unemployment, employment, in labour force participation, in vulnerability, and in sectoral and occupational segregation (ILO, 2012). Quantitative aspects are addressed by analysing data on unemployment, employment and labour force participation. More qualitative aspects are examined through indicators of job quality such as vulnerability, occupational segregation and sectoral segregation. The report shows that the global financial and economic crisis has had a visible impact on women s unemployment, which slightly increased after being on the decrease before the crisis between 2004 and At a global level, the report concludes that women have a greater likelihood to be unemployed than men. As shown in the table below, vulnerable employment 1 women than among men. is more widespread among Own account workers Contributing family workers VULNERABLE EMPLOYMENT MEN 48.1% WOMEN 50.4% Source: ILO. (2012). Global Employment Trends for Women. It is interesting to make an additional distinction: in the category of the vulnerable, men are more frequently own account workers, while women are mostly contributing family workers. The higher share of women in contributing family labour overrode the higher share of men in own account work, resulting in the gender gap in vulnerability (ILO, 2012). Furthermore, women have far less mobility across employment sectors than men. Over time, the report speaks of a trend showing how women are moving out of agriculture (in developing countries), and out of industry (in developed countries) into the services. 1 Vulnerable employment is defined as the sum of the employment status groups of own-account workers and contributing family workers. Own-account workers are those workers who, working on their own account or with one or more partners, hold the type of jobs defined as a self-employment jobs (i.e. remuneration is directly dependent upon the profits derived from the goods and services produced), and have not engaged on a continuous basis any employees to work for them during the reference period. Contributing family workers, also known as unpaid family workers, are those workers who are self-employed, as own-account workers in a market-oriented establishment operated by a related person living in the same household (ILO, 2010). 5 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

6 Regarding occupational segregation (also called vertical segregation), in a sample from both advanced and developing countries, men were over-represented in high-skill occupations in crafts, trades, plant and machine operations, and managerial and legislative occupations. In contrast women were over-represented in mid-skill occupations like clerks, service workers, and shop and sales workers (ILO, 2012). Globally speaking, full gender equality in terms of labour market access and conditions of employment has not been attained and remains an important challenge. The Gender Pay Gap In 2015, 171 countries have ratified the ILO s Convention n. 100 asserting the right to equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Nevertheless, globally the gender pay gap is estimated to be 22.9 per cent. This means that women earn 77.1 per cent of what men earn (ILO, 2011). The size of the gender pay gap varies, and depends on the sector, occupation, on the country, the group of workers taken into consideration. The gap is usually smaller in the public sector than in the private sector and is highest among older workers (ILO,2011). The reasons behind a gender gap are complex. Data analysts divide the gender gap into an explained part, and an unexplained part. The explained part considers observable variables, such as the level of education, that influence the level of remuneration. The unexplained part captures what remains after adjusting for these observable elements, and is the part that suggests discrimination. Unexplained earnings gaps are largest among part-time workers and those with low levels of education. Analysis of 64 developing countries reveals that women in part-time work (20 hours or fewer per week) and with low levels of education (less than complete primary) are significantly more likely to earn less than men with similar profiles. We also know that women are heavily concentrated into part-time work and, in developing countries, are more likely to have lower levels of education (World Bank, 2014). The gender pay gap exists and persists also at European level. According to Eurostat, in 2013, women's gross hourly earnings were on average 16.4 % below those of men in the European Union (EU-28) and 16.6 % in the euro area (EA-17) for the economy as a whole 2. Across Member States, the gender pay gap varied by 26.7 percentage points, ranging from 3.2 % in Slovenia to 29.9 % in Estonia (Eurostat, 2015). Women s earnings decline when they have children. Data gathered for ITUC shows that among women younger than 30, 71% experiences lower wages after having children against 43% of men. In the age group 30-39, women with children are twice as likely as men with children to have a reduced pay (Tijdens & Van Klaveren, 2012). There has been some progress towards more equal earnings between men and women, though it is estimated that at the current rate of progress, it would take more than 75 years to bridge the gap (ILO, 2011). Access to credit and economic assets Women s access to all financial services, including savings, insurance, remittance transfers and credit, is essential to allow them to benefit fully from economic 2 Here defined as industry, construction and services except public administration and defence and compulsory social security 6 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

7 opportunities. However, legal, institutional and sociocultural barriers often limit women s access to these services (UN DESA, 2009). Women tend to have less access to formal financial institutions and saving mechanisms. While 55 per cent of men report having an account at a formal financial institution, only 47 per cent of women do worldwide. This gap is largest among lower middle-income economies as well as in South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (World Bank, 2015). The Global Findex is a database developed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It measures how people save, borrow, and manage risk in 148 countries. The index reveals that in developing economies women are 20 percent less likely than men to have an account at a formal financial institution and 17 percent less likely to have borrowed formally in the past year. Even if they can gain access to a loan, women often lack access to other financial services, such as savings, digital payment methods, and insurance. Restrictions on opening a bank account, such as requirements for a male family member s permission, restrict women s access to accounts. Lack of financial education can also limit women from gaining access to and benefitting from financial services. Even when women have an account on their name, it often happens that the account is de facto controlled by a male family member (World Bank, 2014). Gender, unpaid care work, domestic work and the informal economy Unpaid care work As discussed previously, gender disparities in the division of labour are persistent. This touches also the division between paid and unpaid work. When we talk about unpaid care work, we refer to tasks such as housework, cleaning, cooking, caring for children, elderly people and/or sick people, where the person carrying out these tasks is not paid. More specifically, the three words composing the term unpaid care work are important: Unpaid : the person who undertakes the activity receives no wage; Care : the activity serves people and their wellbeing; Work : the activity has a cost in terms of time and energy. (Budlender, 2002) It is important to address the issue of gender equality and unpaid care work in the context of development policies, strategies and other interventions, because of its large implications for the well-being of women, households and for the economic development of nations (Antonopoulos, 2008). The main problem with unpaid care work is that it remains highly unevenly distributed between women and men. Women s unpaid care work remains unrecognized and undervalued, while men receive a larger share of income and recognition for their economic contributions (Fålth & Blackden, 2008). Unpaid care work limits access to paid work. Of course, the time spent on household tasks cannot be spent on paid activities. That is why we speak of women suffering from time poverty. Since unpaid care offers no monetary remuneration it reduces the 7 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

8 exercice of voice over decision making. It also means that women are very limited in their ability to accumulate savings and assets (Antonopoulos, 2008). In many societies it is regarded as natural for a women to carry out these tasks in the private sphere of the family. This essentializes women s unpaid care work and strips it from its socioeconomic dimensions and contributions (Antonopoulos, 2008). Unpaid care remains largely invisible in national statistical accounts, but there is a way of measuring it and collecting data about it, with time-use surveys. This way, the time spent on unpaid care work is calculated. To value unpaid work, a market occupational value is the applied to that time which results in the economic value of unpaid work (source). Some facts and figures on unpaid care work: In Latin America and the Caribbean, over half of women aged cited their unpaid care work as their main reason for not seeking a job outside the home (more than the number of their peers in the education system) (ECLAC, 2008) 80 percent of family caregivers in South Africa have reported that their income is reduced because of their care work (Makina, 2009). A survey in 16 countries found that 10 percent of girls aged 5-14 perform household chores for 28 hours or more weekly (approximately twice the hours spent by boys), with a measurable impact on their school attendance (ILO, 2009) The distribution of care work exacerbates the gendered power imbalances that make women vulnerable to violence. Caring responsibilities can also isolate women who experience domestic violence, thereby constraining their access to services, support or opportunities to secure their rights (Woodroffe & Donald, 2014). Domestic Work and the Informal Economy Unpaid care work has a strong link and direct implications for paid care work. In the same way as unpaid care work, domestic work is considered an unskilled job, and involves low pay and no social protection. ILO Convention No. 189 defines domestic workers as any person engaged in domestic work within an employment relationship. Domestic work is defined as work performed in or for a household or households (ILO, 2013). The exploitation and abuse that many domestic workers face derives from the nonrecognition of domestic work as work, from the hidden nature of the workplace and from the informality of the employment relationship. In the case of female domestic workers, it is grounded on gender discrimination, replacing as it does women s unpaid work in the home. A strong tendency to undervalue this kind of work is very common. Given the often clandestine and unregulated nature of domestic work, it is very difficult to estimate the number of domestic workers worldwide or the economic value of the services they provide. With the exception of Latin American nations, few countries have labour force statistics for domestic workers (ILO, 2010). Nevertheless, some global estimates are available: There are approximately 52.6 million domestic workers worldwide 8 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

9 83 percent of them are women 29.9 percent are excluded from national labour legislation 45 percent have no entitlement to weekly rest periods/paid annual leave More than a third of women domestic workers have no maternity protection (ILO, 2013) The vulnerable working conditions of domestic workers is the overall reality for the high share of women employed in the informal economy. The informal economy has a strong gender segmentation, with employers being predominately male and contributing family workers predominantly female. In developing countries six out of ten women work in the informal economy often as self-employed. Many of these women are domestic workers or informal factory workers, while others are unpaid workers in family enterprises and family farms. The poorer the region, the greater the likelihood that women work in the informal economy as unpaid contributing family members or lowincome own-account workers (ILO, 2010a) ILO estimates from 2002 reveal that, other than in North Africa where 43 percent of women workers are in informal employment, 60 percent of women in developing countries are in non-agricultural informal employment. In sub-saharan Africa 84 percent of women non-agricultural workers are informally employed compared to 63 percent of male non-agricultural workers; in Latin America 58 percent of women in comparison to 48 percent for men. In Asia, the proportion of men and women non agricultural employment is roughly equivalent (ILO, 2002a). Not only are women more likely to be in the informal economy than men, they tend to be in the more precarious segments of it. Some figures illustrate this: Women tend to be concentrated in certain segments of the informal economy, making up 80 percent or more of homeworkers (industrial outworkers) and percent of street vendors (except in societies that restrict women s mobility) (Chen, 2008) The link between working in the informal economy and being poor is stronger for women than men, not only because of their concentration in the survivalist end of the informal economy but because of significant wage gaps even where they do the same type of work. In the higher-income segments of the informal economy, women tend to be engaged in smaller-scale operations with less growth potential compared to those performed by men (ILO, 2002b). Women are more likely than men to be in those informal activities that are undercounted, such as production for own consumption, paid domestic work in private households and homework (ILO, 2002b). Women are also more likely than men to be in small-scale economic units where their economic contributions are invisible and therefore not counted (ILO, 2002b). Gender and Social Protection The situation outlined above, with women having a lower labour participation rate then men, gendered employment patterns and women s high representation in vulnerable employment and the informal economy has an important impact on social protection. 9 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

10 Since social protection schemes are often linked to formal employment, women tend to benefit less from coverage of contributory social security schemes (Tessier et al., 2013). There are two main obstacles to women s equitable acces to social security schemes: 1) Women are over-represented in low productivity, low paid and poorly protected jobs. They are more likely than men to work in the informal economy, in casual, temporary or part-time employment and tend to earn less. Formal employment is found in those sectors where men are overrepresented, while women are mostly active in sectors prone to precariousness (Tessier et al., 2013). 2) The uneven distribution of unpaid care work, of which women bear the overwhelming responsibility. Time poverty is a great obstacle to female participation in paid work, linked to contributory social security schemes (Tessier et al., 2013). It is of critical importance to guarantee equitable access to social protection, and the UN promotes the social protection floor as a universal human right. Equally important is the mainstreaming of a gender perspective throughout social protection schemes. On the one hand, women and men face specific and different risks throughout their lives (such as pregnancy and child-birth for women), on the other hand are they affected differently by the same risks (women have less access to resources to cope with environmental-related shocks with accompanying food security, pollution and diseases. They usually have to make the greates sacrifices in terms of reduced quantity and quality of food consumption) (Holmes & Jones, 2010; Tessier et al., 2013). Economic and social gender-specific vulnerabilities ask for social protection with a gender perspective. More information on female economic empowerment and gender equality in the world of work See our Thematic Note on Gender, Decent Work and Employment for quick guidance on the most important issues in development relating to gender, decent work and employment. Search our Knowledge Bank by selecting Employment in the thematic area and browse recent resources on Gender and Emplyment issues. Antounopoulos, R., 2008, The Unpaid Care Work - Paid Work Connection. ILO, Geneva. Budlender, 2002, Why should we care about unpaid care work?. UNIFEM, Harare - Zimbabwe. Chen, 2008, Addressing informality, Reducing Poverty, Poverty in Focus 16. International Poverty Centre, Brasilia Brasil. ECLAC, 2008, Women s Contribution to Equality in Latin America and the Caribbean. Eurostat. (2015, April 15). Eurostat Statistics Explained. Retrieved April 19, 2015 from Gender Pay Gap Statistics: Fålth, A., and M. Blackden, 2008, Unpaid Care Work. UNDP Policy Brief Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction. UNDP, New York. 10 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

11 Holmes, R., and Jones N., 2010, Rethinking social protection using a gender lens. ODI, London. ILO, 2014, Resource guide on Gender issues in employment and labour market policies ILO, 2013, Snapshot: ILO in action. Domestic workers. ILO, 2012, Global Employment Trends for Women. ILO, 2011, A New Era of Social Justice, Report of the Director-General International Labour Conference 100th Session, Geneva. ILO, 2010, Moving Towards Decent Work for Domestic Workers. ILO, 2010a, Women in Labour Markets: Measuring Pogress and identifying challenges. ILO, 2009, Give Girls a Change Tackling Child Labour, a Key to the Future. ILO, 2002a, Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A statistical picture. ILO, 2002b, International Labour Conference 90 th Session Report VI Decent Work and the Informal Economy. ILO and UN Women, 2012, Decent Work and Women s Economic Empowerment: Good Policy and Practice. International Monetary fund (2013), Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity. IWPRC, 2014, The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation and by Race and Ethnicity Makina a., 2009, Caring for people with HIV: States policies and their dependence on women s unpaid work. Gender and Development 17:2, pp OECD, 2010, Thematic paper on MDG 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women. Tessier, L., et al., 2013, Social Protection Floors and gender equality: A brief overview. ILO, Geneva. Tijdens, K., and M. Van Klaveren, 2012, Frozen in Time: Gender Pay Gap Unchanged for 10 Years. ITUC CSI IGB, Brussels. United Nations, 2014, Millennium Development Goals Report. Woodroffe and Donald, 2014, Unpaid care: A priority for the post-2015 development goals and beyond. Gender and Development Network, London. World Bank, 2014, Gender at Work A Companion to the World Development Report on Jobs. 11 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

12 Gender in agriculture and rural economies Women are essential to the rural economy to the rural economy of all developing country regions. They contribute as farmers, labourers and entrepreneurs. Their roles are diverse, according to the region and specific activity. Yet one fact is strikingly consistent across countries and contexts: women have less access than men to agricultural assets, inputs and services and to rural employment opportunities (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2011). The State of Food and Agriculture report : Women in Agriculture. Closing the gender gap in agriculture provides solid empirical evidence on the gender gaps women face in agriculture and rural employment. Compared with their male counterparts, women: operate smaller farms, on average only half to two-thirds as large; keep fewer livestock, typically of smaller breeds, and earn less from the livestock they do own; have a greater overall workload that includes a heavy burden of lowproductivity activities like fetching water and firewood; have less education and less access to agricultural information and extension services; use less credit and other financial services; are much less likely to purchase inputs such as fertilizers, improved seeds and mechanical equipment; if employed, are more likely to be in part-time, seasonal and low-paying jobs; and receive lower wages for the same work, even when they have the same experience and qualifications. Source: FAO (2011). State of Food and Agriculture Women in Agriculture - Closing the gender gap for development. Executive Summary. FAO, Rome. 12 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

13 LAND Domain LIVESTOCK LABOUR EDUCATION & HUMAN CAPITAL EXTENSION SERVICES Gender Gap Women across all developing regions are consistently less likely to own or operate land; they are also less likely to have access to rented land, and they generally operate smaller plots than men do. Improving women's access to land and garanteeing security of tenure will have a direct (positive) impact on farm productivity. Evidence shows systematic gender inequalities in livestock breeders. For countries covered by the RIGA data set 3, maleheaded households have larger livestock holdings, on average, than female-headed households. Women farmers cannot farm as productively as men. This is caused by gender specific labour constraints (due to household and community responsibilities) and gender-specific labour requirements. Female-headed households face more severe labour constraints than male-headed households because they typically have fewer members but more dependents. In some areas, male out-migration adds to the constraint already imposed by gender specific farming tasks. Gender differences in education are significant and widespread and reflect a history of bias against girls in education. Despite this bias, human capital accumulation is one asset category for which the gender gap has clearly narrowed in recent decades. Although progress has been uneven across regions and important gaps persist, significant gains have been made in primary school enrolment rates for girls, and the gap between boys and girls has narrowed. Of the 106 countries committed to MDG 3 on gender parity in access to education, 83 had met the target by The provision of extension services in developing economies remains low for both women and men, and women tend to make less use of them than men. Even when women have access to extension services, the benefits may not be obvious. The way in which extension services are delivered can constrain the way women farmers receive information on innovations. Women tend to have lower levels of education than men, which may limit their active participation in training that uses a lot of written materials. Time constraints and cultural reservations may hinder women from participating in extension activities, like field days, outside their village or within mixed groups. 3 RIGA data set: Rural Income Generating Activities (RIGA) is an FAO project that has created an internationally comparable database of rural household income sources from existing household living standards surveys for more than 27 countries. Most of the surveys used by the RIGA project were developed by national statistical offices in conjunction with the World Bank as part of its Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS). For more information see 13 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

14 Domain FINANCIAL SERVICES TECHNOLOGY Gender Gap Savings, credit and insurance all provide opportunities for improving agricultural output, food security and economic vitality at all levels. Evidence shows that there is a significant gender gap in the access to credit in many developing countries. Women also often get smaller loans and may not retain control over the use and/or income generated by the loan. Improving women s direct access to financial resources leads to higher investments in human capital in the form of children s health, nutrition and education. Access to new technology is crucial in maintaining and improving agricultural productivity. The use of purchased inputs depends on the availability of complementary assets such as land, credit, education and labour, all of which tend to be more constrained for female-headed than for male-headed households. Evidence points to significant gender differences in the adoption of improved technologies and the use of purchased inputs, such as fertilizer, across regions. Adapted from: Food and Agriculture Organization (2011), The Vital Role of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, pp. 7.9, FAO, Rome, Italy. More information on Gender in Agriculture and Rural Economies See our Thematic Note on Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development for quick guidance on the most important issues in development relating to gender, agriculture and rural economies. Search our Knowledge Bank by selecting Agriculture in the thematic area and browse recent resources on Gender and Agriculture. A comprehensive library with resources on Gender and Agriculture is available at: Budlender, D., and Alma E., Women and Land. Securing Rights for Better Lives. International Development Research Centre, Ottawa. FAO (2011). State of Food and Agriculture Women in Agriculture - Closing the gender gap for development. Executive Summary. FAO, Rome. Food and Agriculture Organization (2011), The Vital Role of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, pp. 7.9, FAO, Rome, Italy. FAO, IFAD and World Bank, 2008, Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook. FAO, IFAD and ILO, 2010, Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out of poverty Status, trends and gaps. FAO, 2011, FAO At Work: Women Key to Food Security. 14 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

15 Education The elimination of gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education no later than 2015 was target number 3.A under MDG3. The MDG Report of 2014 states that in 2012, all developing regions achieved, or were close to achieving, gender parity in primary education. However, gender disparities become more prevalent at higher levels of education, with greater variances among developing regions (United Nations, 2014). Gender-based inequality in education is both a cause and a consequence of disparities in society. A series of factors prevent girls from exercising their rights and hold them back from enrolling in school and/or completing their education. These factors are for example poverty, geographical isolation, traditional attitudes about their status and roles, early marriage and pregnancy, gender-based violence and discriminatory laws, policies and practices. More girls are out-of-school than boys Girls make up 54% of the global population of children out of school. In the Arab States, the share is 60%, unchanged since In South and West Asia, by contrast, the percentage of girls in the out-of-school population fell steadily, from 64% in 1999 to 57% in Almost half the children out of school globally are expected never to make it to school, and the same is true for almost two of three girls in the Arab States and sub-saharan Africa (UNESCO, 2014). Three countries have over a million girls not in school: in Nigeria there are almost five and a half million, in Pakistan, over three million, and in Ethiopia, over one million girls are out of school (UNESCO, 2013). In Dakar, Senegal, in April 2000, the participants in the World Education Forum committed to the achievement of six internationally agreed education goals. These goals aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015 (UNESCO, 2000). The 5 th Education for All goal is to achieve total gender parity in enrolment (UNESCO, 2014). It is important to keep in mind that equality in enrolment is a quantitative indicator that doesn t give information on the quality of the educational path. For instance, enrolment rates can be equal between girls and boys, but girls often tend to drop out of school earlier or spend much more time than their male counterparts in school because they stay behind. Therefore, gender equality in education also needs to be assessed at the level of learning outcomes and subject choices (UNESCO Bangkok, 2009). Important indicators for this are for example the completion rates disaggregated by sex, as well as sex-disaggregated enrollment rates in secondary education. Illiteracy Adult illiterate are mostly women. According to the Unesco Institute for Statistics, in 2014 women still make up for 63.5% - more than two thirds - of the total illeterate population. Unfortunately, there has been no progress in reducing this share since 1990 (UIS, 2014). 15 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

16 More information on Gender Inequalities in Education See our Thematic Note on Gender, Education, TVET and skills development for quick guidance on the most important issues in development relating to gender and education. Search our Knowledge Bank by selecting Education in the thematic area and browse recent resources on Gender and Education. World Inequality Database on Education: UNESCO Insitute of Statistics, Data on Gender Equality in Education: UNESCO Education For All Monitoring Reports: Gender dimensions of Child Labour The ILO report Marking progress against child labour - Global estimates and trends (2013) stated that in 2012, the global number of child labourers had declined by one third. In this period of time, the fall in child labour of girls was particularly pronounced. The number of girls in child labour was reduced by 40 per cent as opposed to 25 per cent for boys. This particular progress for girls may be due to the UN-wide emphasis on girls education during this period and other progress in gender equality. The total number of child labourers (5-17 years age group) in 2012 was much higher among boys than girls (99.8 million boys versus 68.2 million girls). While little difference was noted by sex in the number of 5-14 year-olds in child labour (51 per cent are boys and 49 per cent girls), there is a considerable gender gap in the years age group (81 per cent are boys and only 19 per cent are girls) (ILO, 2013). Child Labour in Rural Areas Agriculture remains by far the most important sector for child labour. The ILO Global Report on Child Labour (2010) revealed that out of the 215 million child labourers around the world, 60 percent work in agriculture (129 million between 5 and 14 years of age). In this sector, regulations on child labour are more easily ignored, particularly for farming and rural employment systems which are far from labour inspectors and plagued by poverty and subsistence-oriented livelihood strategies. According to ILO, working girls and boys face different types of hazards based on the different types of work in which they engage (ILO-IPEC, 2006). In the Ghanaian cocoa sector, in addition to working without appropriate protective equipment, boys are more likely than girls to be involved in hazardous activities such as spraying pesticides (de Lange, 2009). 16 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

17 More information on Gender and Child Labour De Lange, Albertine, 2009, Gender dimensions of rural child labour in Africa, FAO Regional Office for Africa. ILO, IPEC, 2006, Tackling Hazardous Child Labour in Agriculture: Guidance on Policy and Practice, Accra. ILO, 2013, Marking progress against child labour. Global estimates and trends Gender Based Violence and Health Gender Based Violence Violence against women is unfortunately a widespread and global problem, that has severe consequences to women s physical, mental and reproductive health. The World Health Organization published in 2013 a report with global and regional estimates of violence against women. This is the first time such data has been compiled, and the first summary of the violent life events that many women experience. The report reconfirms an important aspect of the issue: that acts of violence against women are not isolated, but are a pattern of behavior that violates the rights of women and girls. Violence against women is a global public health problem that affects approximately one third of women globally. The collected data are striking: Overall, 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence. While there are many other forms of violence that women may be exposed to, this already represents a large proportion of the world s women; most of this violence is intimate partner violence. Worldwide, almost one third (30%) of all women who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner. In some regions, 38% of women have experienced intimate partner violence; globally, as many as 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners; women who have been physically or sexually abused by their partners report higher rates of a number of important health problems. For example, they are 16% more likely to have a low-birth-weight baby. They are more than twice as likely to have an abortion, almost twice as likely to experience depression, and, in some regions, are 1.5 times more likely to acquire HIV, as compared to women who have not experienced partner violence; globally, 7% of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner. Source: WHO, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, South African Medical Research Council (2013), "Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence". 17 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

18 There are fewer data available on the health effects of non-partner sexual violence. However, the evidence that does exist reveals that women who have experienced this form of violence are 2.3 times more likely to have alcohol use disorders and 2.6 times more likely to experience depression or anxiety. Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM) Female genital mutilation, also known as female genital cutting or female circumcision, refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. (WHO, 2008). These terms describe a broad range of practices, mostly performed before the age of 15 and often during infancy. For precise anatomical descriptions, please refer to the typologies developed by the World Health Organization and published in the Interagency statement on the elimination of female genital mutilation in 2008 (WHO, 2008). FGM/C is considered to be a human rights violation. Since the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, FGM/C is classified as a form of violence against women (VAW), and VAW is acknowledged to fall under the purview of international human rights law. Data More than 125 million girls and women today have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, where the practice of FGM/C is concentrated. Of these women and girls, around 1/5 th lives in just one country: Egypt. In Somalia, 98% of the female population has undergone FGM/C, of which 63% had their genitalia sewn closed. In half of the countries, the majority of girls were cut before age 5. In Mauritania, on average girls are cut when they are just 1 month old. In the rest of the countries, most cutting occurs between 5 and 14 years of age. In nearly all countries where FGM/C is concentrated, traditional practitioners perform most of the procedures. In Egypt 77% of girls who have undergone FGM/C were cut by a medical professional (UNICEF, 2013). Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Mali, Sierra Leone and Sudan are the countries where more than 80% of the female population has underhone FGM/C. FGM/C remains widespread also among women in other African states, such as Gambia (76%), Burkina Faso (76%), Ethiopia (74%), Mauritania (69%) and Liberia (66%) (UNICEF, 2013). The actual figures remain unknown, as reliable data on the magnitude of the phenomenon in these population groups is unavailable. A relationship exists between the level of education and the practice of FGM/C: in Sudan, girls and women with no education are nearly four times more likely to support the continuation of FGM/C than girls and women with secondary or higher education. In Ethiopia, 41% of girls and women with no education support the continuation of FGM/C compared to 5% of girls and women with secondary or higher education. The most frequently cited reason for supporting the continuation of the practice is social acceptance (UNICEF, 2013). 18 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

19 HIV AIDS HIV continues to be driven by gender inequalities and harmful gender norms that promote unsafe sex and reduce access to HIV and sexual and reproductive health services for men, women and transgender persons. The epidemic imposes a particular burden on women and girls. In addition to their greater physiological susceptibility to HIV acquisition, the pervasive social, legal and economic disadvantages faced by women reduce their ability to protect themselves from HIV infection, and diminish access to essential HIV and reproductive health services, in particular for women living with HIV. Women and girls also shoulder the primary care-giving burden, typically providing such vital services without compensation (UNAIDS, 2013). Some facts and figures: Globally, 50% of all people living with HIV are women. In sub-saharan Africa, 61% of all people living with HIV are women. Young women (15 24 years) are three to six times more likely to be infected than men in the same age group. HIV prevalence is high among sex workers, a great majority of whom are young and female ranging from 6% in Viet Nam to 73% in urban parts of Ethiopia. In some Asian countries, e.g. Cambodia and India, women are increasingly infected with HIV within the context of marriage. Fewer than 50% of young people have comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS. In all but three countries recently surveyed, young women consistently had less knowledge than young men. Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in several countries show that the percentage of men having sex with non-regular partners in those countries was higher than that for women. In contrast, the percentage of women using condoms with non-regular partners was lower than that of men. In 2007, 18% of pregnant women in low- and middle-income countries received an HIV test, and 33% of pregnant women living with HIV received antiretrovirals (ARV) to prevent transmission to their children, a substantial increase compared with only 10% in Access to ARV therapy (ART) quadrupled from 7% in 2003 to 31% in In many countries, women have access to treatment in proportion to their expected need. Although in most parts of the world women live longer than men, AIDS has driven women s life expectancy below that of men in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Source: UNAIDS (2006), 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic: A UNAIDS 10th anniversary special edition; UNAIDS and WHO (2007), 2007 AIDS epidemic update; UNAIDS, WHO and UNICEF (2008), Towards universal access: Scaling up priority interventions in the health sector: Progress report; UNAIDS (2009), 2009 Aids epidimec update. 19 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES

20 Maternal mortality A series of UN agencies, part of the Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group (MMEIG), collects data on maternal mortality. The most recent report of the group, published in 2014, shows the trends in maternal mortality rates (MMR) since Globally, there were an estimated maternal deaths in 2013, a decline of 45% from The sub-saharan Africa region alone accounted for 62% ( ) of global deaths followed by Southern Asia at 24%. At the country level, the two countries that accounted for one third of all global maternal deaths are India at 17% (50 000) and Nigeria at 14% (40 000). The global MMR in 2013 was 210 maternal deaths per live births, down from 380 maternal deaths per live births in The MMR in developing regions (230) was 14 times higher than in developed regions (16). Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest MMR (510). Of the remaining MDG developing regions, five had low MMR: Eastern Asia (33); Caucasus and Central Asia (39); Northern Africa (69); Western Asia (74); and Latin America and the Caribbean (85). Three had moderate MMR: South-eastern Asia (140); Southern Asia (190); and Oceania (190). Of the 40 countries with the highest MMR in 2013, Sierra Leone is estimated to have the highest MMR at A further 15 countries in sub-saharan Africa have very high MMR: Chad (980); Central African Republic (880); Somalia (850); Burundi (740); Democratic Republic of the Congo (730); South Sudan (730); Côte d Ivoire (720); Guinea (650); Liberia (640); Niger (630); Cameroon (590); Guinea-Bissau (560); Nigeria (560); Mali (550); and Malawi (510). Only two countries outside sub-saharan African region had high MMR: Afghanistan (400) and Haiti (380). In contrast, Cabo Verde and Mauritius were the only two sub-saharan African countries that had low MMR at 53 and 73 maternal deaths per live births respectively. Source: WHO (2014), Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to Child Marriage Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights. Yet worldwide, more than 700 million women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. More than one in three (about 250 million) entered into union before age 15. Boys are also married as children, but girls are disproportionately affected. In Niger, for instance, 77 per cent of women aged 20 to 49 were married before age 18 in contrast to 5 per cent of men in the same age group (UNICEF, 2014). Child marriage often compromises a girl s development by excluding her from education. By interrupting her schooling, her opportunities for career and vocational advancement are drastically limited, placing her at increased risk of domestic violence and social exclusion. Additionally, there is a strong correlation between early marriage and early pregnancy. Most newly-wed couples start trying to conceive right away. Adolescents aged less than 16 years face four times the risk of maternal death than women aged in their 20s, and 20 BUILDING BLOCK 5 FACTS ABOUT GENDER INEQUALITIES