UNIT 3

Education

Family life leads the way to the educational institutions which is one of the major institutes
for gender socialization and stereotyping .The family intimacy is replaced by an
environment valuing and rewards based on competition and scholarly success. Schools
plays a significant role in the lives of most people. However schools are not immune to
gender role stereotyping.

Poverty

The relationship between gender and poverty is a complex and controversial

topic .Although much policymaking has been informed by the idea of feminization of
poverty, the precise nature of the nexus between gender and poverty needs to be better
understood and operationalized in policymaking This, in turn, is giving rise to a more
gender-aware approach to poverty elimination strategies.

Health

WHO has defined health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and
not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Yet while gender equality has made the
most progress in areas such as education and labor force participation, health inequality
between men and women continues to plague many societies today. While both males and
females face health disparities, girls and women experience a majority of health disparities.

Employment and Gender

Around the world, finding a job is much tougher for women than it is for men. When
women are employed, they tend to work in low quality job in vulnerable conditions, and
there is little improvement forecast in the near future.

Women constitute 40 per cent of the global workforce, and their active engagement in
productive employment contributes not only to faster economic growth, but also its long-
term sustainability.
Gender and policy making

Every passing year, on international Women’s Day, there is a renewed call to legislate
the women’s reservation bill to enable election of women in legislative assemblies and
parliament.

In spite of efforts to increase the number of women representatives in local governance,

successive governments have done little to bulid capacity or provide support systems to
ensure the fulfillment of core objectives of increased gender participation.

Media and gender

Refers to the relationship between media and gender, and how gender is
represented within media platforms. These platforms include but are
not limited to film, radio, television, advertisement, social media, and video games.
Initiatives and resources exist to promote gender equality and reinforce women's
empowerment in the media industry and representations. For example, UNESCO, in
cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists, elaborated the Gender-
sensitive Indicators for Media contributing to gender equality and women's
empowerment in all forms of media.

MAINSTREAMING

A United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) resolution defines

gender mainstreaming as:“ the process of assessing the implications for women
and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in
any area and at all levels. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”

POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

Political participation simply means is an activity by citizens which is intended to

know who governs (or) how they do so. Political participation refers to a variety of
actions by which the
 citizens take part in the functioning of state machinery. J.S Mill states that participation
represents a process by which goals are set under the means chosen in relation to all kinds
of social institutes.

LACK OF WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION

From the local to the global level, women’s leadership and political participation are
restricted. Women are underrepresented as voters, as well as in leading positions, whether
in elected office, the civil service, the private sector or academia. This occurs despite their
proven abilities as leaders and agents of change, and their right to participate equally in
democratic governance.

Women face several obstacles to participating in political life. Structural barriers through
discriminatory laws and institutions still limit women’s options to run for office. Capacity
gaps mean women are less likely than men to have the education, contacts and resources
needed to become effective leaders.

As the 2011 UN General Assembly resolution on women’s political participation notes,

“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.”

Individual women have overcome these obstacles with great acclaim, and often to the
benefit of society at large. But for women as a whole, the playing field needs to be level,
opening opportunities for all.

WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN NUMBERS- INDIA

State/Union territory Women MLAs/ Total MLAs Percentage

Mizoram 0/40 0
Nagaland 0/60 0

Karnataka 6/224 2.67

Arunachal Pradesh 2/60 3.33

Manipur 2/60 3.33

Jammu and Kashmir 3/89 3.37

Himachal Pradesh 3/68 4.41

Goa 2/40 5

Punjab 6/117 5.12

Kerala 8/140 5.71

Assam 8/126 6.34

Meghalaya 4/60 6.66

Maharashtra 20/288 6.94

Uttarakhand 5/70 7.14

Odisha 11/147 7.48

Telangana 9/120 7.5

Tripura 5/60 8.33

Delhi 6/70 8.5

Gujarat 16/182 8.79

Tamil Nadu 21/235 8.93

Sikkim 3/32 9.37

Jharkhand 8/81 9.87

Uttar Pradesh 42/403 10.42

Andhra Pradesh 19/176 10.79

Chhattisgarh 10/90 11.11

Bihar 28/243 11.5

Madhya Pradesh 30/230 13.04

Puducherry 4/30 13.33

 Rajasthan 28/200 14

West Bengal 42/297 14.14

Haryana 13/90 14.44

Total 364/4128 8.81

The figures on the representation of women in parliament reveal an appalling

state of affairs. According to a study conducted by Inter-Parliamentary Union,
India ranks 149th in a list of 193 countries in terms of women’s representation
in the lower or single house of parliament (Lok Sabha, in the case of India) as of
July 1, 2017. The average percentage of women’s representation globally
stands at about 22%, whereas in case of India it is a mere 11.8%. Countries like
Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Fiji and Ghana rank
higher than India. In South Asia, Nepal (48), Afghanistan (54), Pakistan (90)
and Bangladesh (92) rank much higher than India.

An empirical study of the members of legislative assemblies reveals how skewed

the gender representation is in state legislatures. Out of 4,128 legislative
constituencies, only 364 are represented by women legislators.

RESERVATION OF WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN POLITICAL PARTIES AND GOVERNMENT

In order to ensure adequate representation of women in local bodies,

parliament passed the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments in 1993,
reserving one-third of the seats in all local bodies for women. In addition, some
legislative bodies, like Bihar and Delhi, have reserved more than one-third of the
total seats for women. Notwithstanding the object and purpose of the above-
mentioned amendments, there has hardly been any improvement on the
ground. This was reflected in the recently-held local body elections in Mumbai
and Delhi.

In the BMC elections, only 15 out of 113 unreserved constituencies were won by
women. Similarly, in Delhi’s municipal corporation election, 138 out of 272
constituencies were reserved for women. Major political parties like AAP,
Congress and BJP offered seven, six and two tickets respectively to women
in unreserved constituencies. Ironically, most of the tickets given to women
candidates in reserved constituencies were prompted not by their personal
stature, but for their husbands or other male relatives.

This dismal state of affairs is replicated even at the national and state levels,
where there is no reservation for women candidates. During the 16th Lok Sabha
elections, the largest party, the BJP, gave only 38 of 428 tickets to women
candidates, while the Congress gave 60 tickets. Similarly, other national parties
like the Bahujan Samaj Party fielded 21 women, Communist Party of India
fielded six, Communist Party of India (Marxist) fielded 11 and Nationalist
Congress Party fielded four.

Women in Parliament

The 16th Lok Sabha has had the highest number of women MPs – in all 63
women MPs represent various parties and constituencies. A year-wise chart of
womens’ representation in Parliament shows that there has been a very small
but consistent increase in the number of women MPs. The chart looks like this:
 Total number of women MPs stood at 11.58% in 2014. This is way less than the
33% reservation promised in the unimplemented Women’s Reservations Bill.
The female voters who formed 47.6% of voters in India in 2014 elections remain
terribly under-represented at the Parliament.**

This brings us to the next question: Which party has more women at the
parliament?

Political parties led by woman leaders too have been guilty of continuing with the
underrepresentation of women. In the last legislative assembly elections in West
Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress gave only 43 tickets to women out
of a total of 293 seats; in UP, Mayawati’s BSP gave 21 tickets to women out of
403; in Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK then led by

J. Jayalalithaa gave 29 out of 234 seats to women. Given the centrality of

political parties in Indian politics, it becomes immensely difficult for candidates
to contest independently. None of the 206 women candidates who contested
the 16th LokSabha elections independently were able to win their seats.

GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

GENDER EQUALITY

Gender equality is the absence of discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex in

 opportunities, the allocation of resources and benefits, or access to services.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

The term ‘‘ empowerment of women ’’ refers to the process of providing power

to women to become free from the control of others ,that is, to assume power to
control her own life and to determine her own conditions.

The term of empowerment of women could also be understood as the process of

providing equal rights , opportunities ,responsibilities and power positions to
women so that they are able to play a role on par with men in society.

Goal 5 : Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and women’s
empowerment under the Millennium Development Goals (including equal access
to primary education between girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer
discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary

foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Unfortunately, at
the current time, 1 in 5 women and girls between the ages of 15-49 have
reported experiencing physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner within a
12-month period and 49 countries currently have no laws protecting women
from domestic violence. Progress is occurring regarding harmful practices such as
child marriage and FGM (Female Genital Mutilation), which has declined by 30%
in the past decade, but there is still much work to be done to complete eliminate
such practices.

Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent
work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes
will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large.
Implementing new legal frameworks regarding female equality in the workplace
and the eradication of harmful practices targeted at women is crucial to ending
the gender-based discrimination prevalent in many countries around the world.
WHY IT MATTERS: GENDER EQUALITY

FACTS AND FIGURES

 Globally, 750 million women and girls were married before the age of 18
and at least 200 million women and girls in 30 countries have undergone
FGM.

 The rates of girls between 15-19 who are subjected to FGM (female
genital mutilation) in the 30 countries where the practice is concentrated
have dropped from 1 in 2 girls in 2000 to 1 in 3 girls by 2017.

 In 18 countries, husbands can legally prevent their wives from working; in

39 countries, daughters and sons do not have equal inheritance rights;
and 49 countries lack laws protecting women from domestic violence.

 One in five women and girls, including 19 per cent of women and girls
aged 15 to 49, have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an
intimate partner with the last 12 months. Yet, 49 countries have no laws
that specifically protect women from such violence.

 While women have made important inroads into political office across the
world, their representation in national parliaments at 23.7 per cent is still
far from parity.

 In 46 countries, women now hold more than 30 per cent of seats in

national parliament in at least one chamber.

 Only 52 per cent of women married or in a union freely make their own
decisions about sexual relations, contraceptive use and health care.

 Globally, women are just 13 per cent of agricultural land holders.

 Women in Northern Africa hold less than one in five paid jobs in the non-
agricultural sector. The proportion of women in paid employment outside
 the agriculture sector has increased from 35 per cent in 1990 to 41 per
cent in 2015.

 More than 100 countries have taken action to track budget allocations for gender
equality.

 In Southern Asia, a girl’s risk of marrying in childhood has dropped by over

40% since 2000.

Why women's empowerment is essential for sustainable development?

Gender equality is rightly seen as crucial to sustainable development, with its

own Sustainable Development Goal (Goal 5). Yet the interconnections between
environmental sustainability and women's empowerment have often been
overlooked in practice – particularly in the environmental movement.

Now a new collection of essays by researchers, politicians, campaigners and

senior business figures puts forward a powerful argument for change. Why
Women Will Save the Planet argues that these interconnections must be fully
reflected not only in programmes on the ground, but also within our own
organisations and by working across sectors and disciplines.

Three good reasons why

First, gender equality is a moral imperative whether you're in government,

business, non- governmental organisations (NGOs) or research institutions – it's
simply the 'right thing to do'.

Gender bias is still deeply embedded in cultures, economies, political and social
institutions around the world. Women and girls face unacceptable levels of
discrimination and abuse, which is not only wrong, but also prevents them from
playing a full part in society and decision- making.

There has been some progress – such as IIED's own gender review and audit –
but nowhere near enough. More organisations need to understand and address
internal imbalances and proactively seek to do so in delivering their business.
 Barbara Stocking, former chief executive of Oxfam GB, writes in the book:
"Leadership from the top is essential but the values of gender equality have to
permeate the whole organisation."

Secondly, women are key managers of natural resources and powerful agents of
change. Nidhi Tandon's research with rural women in Liberia and Fatima Jibrell's
work in Somalia show how women are often more directly dependent on natural
resources, with responsibility for the unpaid work of securing food, water, fuel
and shelter for their household.

"Not just victims, women have been and can be central actors in pathways to
sustainability and green transformation," according to the contribution from Lyla
Mehta and Melissa Leach.

Women bring a different perspective

Women are more vulnerable to environmental degradation and climate change

but also have different perspectives, concerns and ideas for change. Until these
are taken on board, with women empowered to play a full part in decision-
making at all levels, environmental sustainability will remain a distant goal.

Yet women's empowerment must not mean simply adding to their burdens of
responsibilities or building expectations of women as 'sustainability saviours'.
Diane Elson, an adviser to UN Women, argues in her contribution that "the
disproportionate responsibility that women bear for carrying out unpaid work is
an important constraint on their capacity to realise their rights... Both women
and men need time to care for their families and communities, and time free
from such care."

Counting the invisible contribution

This leads us to the third reason for integrating women's empowerment into
sustainable development, and it reaches deeper down to the underlying causes
of both issues: in most societies and economies, women's unpaid work and
nature's services are not accounted for and therefore not valued properly in our
economic, political or social systems.

Julie Nelson argues that "Women and nature are largely invisible in
mainstream economics... One would search in vain in the core models of
economics for any inkling of where the materials used in production came from,
or where the waste goes... for a discussion of where people come from, or where
they go when they are broken or used up. When considered at all, women and
nature are treated as passive 'resources'."

Parallels between the treatment of women and nature are no coincidence, but
have an ancient history in mythology and religion, with powerful concepts such
as 'Mother Earth'. Nelson and others argue that this encourages unhelpful
perceptions of women and nature as endlessly (re)productive and nurturing.

She argues: "They are assumed to possess an infinite capacity for self-
maintenance and self- regeneration". So, in a world where we measure wellbeing
and progress by GDP and economic growth, the goods and services that women
and nature provide remain unaccounted for.

Diane Elson, Vandana Shiva and other contributors argue that we need a
transformation in our economic thinking and new definitions of progress. Across
politics, business and the media, we need to create a system based on different
values, with equality and sustainability at its core. "GDP is now widely recognized
as inadequate measures of happiness and wellbeing are both now credible
alternatives", writes Fiona Reynolds, former head of the UK's National Trust.

IIED's research, advice and advocacy has long recognized the gender dimensions of
sustainable development but there is more to be done to influence wider policy and
practice.

Targets for SDG 5

1. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.

2. Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public
and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of
 exploitation.

3. Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage
and female genital mutilation.

4. Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision
of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the
promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family as
nationally appropriate.

5. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities

for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and
public life.

6. Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and

reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action
of the International Conference on Population and Development and the
Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review
conferences.

7. Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as

well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of
property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in
accordance with national laws.

8. Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and

communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.

9. Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the
promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and
girls at all levels.

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