Gender issues and evidence of gender discrimination-Key indicators: sex ratio, infant mortality

rates, age at marriage, literacy rate: enrolment and dropout rates in schools, education of
women at different levels. Employment: organized and unorganized sectors, gender index,
improved self-esteem of girls and women.

Gender Issues Definition

The term gender issue (s) refers to any issue or concern determined by gender-based and/or sex-
based differences between women and men.

Gender issues include all aspects and concerns related to women’s and men’s lives and situation
in society, to the way they interrelate, their differences in access to and use of resources, their
activities, and how they react to changes, interventions and policies

Gender Issues in Malawi (Source: Gender Issues in Malawi: Selected findings from the 2016
Malawi Local Government Perception Index)

1. Political representation, participation

Women consider the low number of women holding political office in Malawi a more important
issue than men. The difference between men’s and women’s views on this is small, but
statistically significant. Men and women do not differ significantly in their support for electoral
gender quotas. Despite the resistance in Parliament to passing a law containing provisions for
gender quotas in politics, 76 percent of Malawian men and 78 percent of women support such
initiatives to increase gender balance in decision-making.

Malawians also report voting in high numbers, and men and women reported to have voted
equally in the last election in 2014. Overall, 87 percent of men and 84 percent of women have
ever voted in an election.

But reported voting levels vary by education level and are highest at the lowest education level
[no Schooling]. Surprisingly, among those with no schooling, 92 percent of men and 88 percent
of women reported that they had voted in the last elections. This finding suggests over reporting
in terms of who actually cast their ballot on the election day, with figures from the Malawi
Electoral Commission showing a voter turnout of 71 percent in the 2014 elections.
 In other forms of formal and informal participation, our data show significant a gender
differences. Men participated more in the national tree planting campaign and in neighborhood
watch activities while more women than men contributed to a village bank. Men are significantly
more likely than women to engage with community and political groups to discuss potential
solutions to community problems and to be members of a political party. The patterns of
community involvement are, to some extent, gendered.

2. Health, antenatal care

Malawian women perceive themselves to be in better health than men. The poor also rate their
health more positively than the wealthy, possibly because the wealthy have more resources to
access doctors and be diagnosed with illnesses. However, women report higher incidence of
most physical diseases and are more likely to suffer from mental-health problems than are men.

Women are more likely to visit a clinic than men. This may be due to cultural traditions that
emphasize macho characteristics in men, and also, in part, to childbearing.

Nationally, 33 percent of the female population has given birth in the past three years, and 89
percent received antenatal care. But wealthier women have better access to antenatal care. There
were no significant differences in the location of birth across wealth or education levels. Where
health is concerned, the Northern Region of Malawi seems to do better than the Southern and
Central regions. The tendency to see a doctor before giving birth varies by district. In Mulanje in
the Southern Region, about 79 percent of pregnant women reported to have received care from a
doctor, compared to about 96 percent of pregnant women in Kasungu, [in the] Central Region.

3. Education quality, dropouts

Malawian population as a whole, women do not have equal access to education and gender gaps
in attainment are larger for older Malawians than for younger ones. But the size of the gender
gap does not differ significantly across matrilineal and patrilineal respondents. Despite
substantial inequities between rural and urban areas and between richer and poorer citizens, we
find no substantive differences in enrollment with regard to gender. Dropout rates do not differ
by gender but the timing and the reasons for dropping out do. Girls are twice as likely as boys to
drop out of school because they need to help with household work. Girls also drop out later than
do boys.

4. Access to land

Women are less likely than men to buy or rent land. Land owned by households with a female
head is generally smaller, produces less maize, and possesses fewer livestock. Consistent with
land ownership patterns by kinship systems, our findings show that men in matrilineal villages,
women in patrilineal villages, and orphans suffer the most from tenure insecurity.

A majority of Malawians see fertiliser subsidies as being unequally distributed, and there is no
gender difference in this sentiment. Men and women did not differ significantly in terms of
whether they see unequal access to land as a very serious issue when considering support for new
laws that would ensure gender equality in land access.

5. Security issues, community conflicts

There is no significant difference in terms of whether men and women feel safe in their home
and neighborhood or village, except for walking in their neighborhood at night. We find that
women are more susceptible to assault inside the home (that is, domestic violence). Whereas
roughly 3 percent of men and women have been beaten by someone outside the home in the past
year (2.9 percent of men and 3.2 percent of women, a nonsignificant difference), only 1 percent
of men and 4 percent of women said they were hit or assaulted by someone living in their house.

This finding underscores the need to address issues of domestic violence, which are also likely to
go underreported. One explanation for underreporting is that individuals tend to use a more strict
definition of domestic violence when it comes to their own experiences than what the law
identifies as domestic violence. An identical proportion (91 percent) of boys and girls identified
in the survey felt safe while going to school. Girls are more likely to be perceived to be
threatened by rape when going to school.

Men and women also differ in their perceptions of the issue that causes most conflict in their
area, with men more often than women citing land as the primary issue, but women citing
concerns such as nonviolent domestic disputes more often than men.
Gender Profile of Malawi

Malawi is characterized by a high prevalence of Gender Based Violence (GBV) against women
and girls nationaly.

Over a third of women aged 15-49 years old report having experienced physical violence, and
nearly a quarter of children aged 9-18 years old experience forced se.

(Refer to Malawi National Genders Statistics assessment

https://data.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/documents/Publications/Assessment%20of
%20Malawi%20National%20Gender%20Statistics%20System.pdf)

Gender Equality

Gender equality definition is the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by
gender.

It implies that women, men, boys and girls of all classes and races participate as equals and have
equal value.

Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination is when someone is treated unequally or disadvantageously based on their

gender but not necessarily in a sexual nature. This includes harassment/discrimination based on
sex, gender identity, or gender expression.

With the prevalence of gender discrimination, and social norms and practices, girls become
exposed to the possibility of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, child domestic work, poor
education and health, sexual abuse, exploitation and violence.

Key indicators

Sex ratio

The population sex ratio depends on three factors: the sex ratio at birth, differential mortality
rates between the sexes at different ages, and losses and gains through migration.
Gender-biased sex selection can be measured using sex ratio at birth, a comparison of the
number of boys born versus the number of girls born in a given period.

Infant mortality rates

Age at marriage

Literacy rate

Enrolment and dropout rates in schools

Education of women at different levels

Education

Lifelong learning increases our competitiveness in the labour market. Irrespective of both
genders having equal access to the education, there still are some differences between the
educational attainment thereof.

Employment

Equal earnings are one of the key gender equality indicators, since they serve as the basis for
benefits and pensions received in future. Regardless the fact that gender equality in the European
Union (EU) is stipulated by several regulatory enactments and Latvian legislation provides for
equal rights to both genders, gender inequality in the labour market may be observed.

DEFINING GENDER INDICATORS

An indicator can be described as a reference point against which changes over time can be
assessed. Specifically, a gender-sensitive/responsive indicator is one that measures gender-
related changes—that is the situation of men and women and the resulting gap between women
and men—in a given society/setting over time. Gender-responsive indicators are an attempt at
reflecting an understanding of gender roles and inequalities to encourage equal participation,
including equal and fair distribution of benefits. The need for high-quality, timely and reliable
disaggregated data, including by sex, and therefore the need for measuring the progress in
achieving gender equality, is dictated by the evidence that sex-disaggregated data, especially in
the water sector, are among the least available across the national-level indicators. Investing in
“engendering” water would contribute to the strengthening of social inclusion, eradicating
poverty, and advancing environmental sustainability.

TYPES OF GENDER INDICATORS

Gender indicators can be generally categorized into two groups:

(1) quantitative, sex-disaggregated statistical data (facts and figures that provide separate
measures for men and women)

(2) on qualitative changes (for example, increases in women's levels of empowerment or in

attitude changes about gender equality).

Given that gender indicators are not merely statistics on men and women, and should rather
capture the contributions of men and women to the society, their different needs and problems, a
set of both quantitative and qualitative indicators should ideally be devised that cover all relevant
aspects. Whereas in isolation the interpretation of some indicators may be misleading, a rich set
of combined indicators (as well as mixed-method approaches) could generate richer data and act
as strategic levers for gender mainstreaming.

Importance of gender indicators

 Indicators can be used for advocacy and can help make the case for action by
highlighting key issues, backed up with statistics and/or qualitative evidence
 They enable better planning and implementation
 Help reveal barriers to achieving success
 Can be used to hold policy makers accountable for their actions, or lack of action
 Can provide vital information for adjusting programmes and activities so that they better
achieve gender equality goals and do not create adverse impacts on women and men.
 They can also be used to measure the extent of gender equality within development
organizations at all levels, including the gender-sensitivity of policies and programmes,
as well as internal organizational structure, procedures, culture and human resources.

Key gender indicators for Malawi

Malawi’s gender indicators are discussed in the table below

 Key gender Meani Mala
Indicator ng wi
Human This index measures Malawi has a low HDI of 0,483 in 2019, well-below the
Development average achievement in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) average of 0,547. The country is
Index human development in ranked 174th out of 189 countries on the HDI. Malawi’s HDI
three dimensions: a long and has increased from 0,235 in 1975 because of increasing life
(HDI)2
healthy life (health), expectancy rates and increasing number of mean years of
knowledge (education), schooling for adults. 3
and a decent standard of
living (command over
economic resources).
The higher the value to 1,
the higher the country’s
level of
human development.
Gender This index exposes the With a GII value of 0,565 (56%) GII in 2019, Malawi
Inequality human development costs ranks 142nd out of 162 countries and has the 3rd highest
Index (GII) 4 of gender disparities in gender inequality index among the participating SGCI
three areas of human countries.
development: reproductive Illustrative contributing factors:
health (maternal mortality
 The adolescent birth rate for 2015-2020 is 132,7 births
ratio and adolescent birth
per 1000 women ages 15-19, significantly higher than the
rate), empowerment
SSA average of 104 and the least developed countries
(population with at least
average of 94,8.
some secondary education,
 Women held only 22,9% of parliamentary seats, lower
share of seats in
than the SSA average of 24% and the same as least
parliament), and the
developed countries.
labour market (labour
 Only 17,6% of women ages 25 and older have some
force participation rate).
form of secondary education compared with 26,1% of
The higher the score men, well below the SSA average of 28,8% and
towards 1, the more
 39,8% respectively.
disparities between men
 Women are less active in the labour force than men
and women and the
(72,6% and 81,8%) but more active than SSA
greater loss to human
counterparts at 63,3% and 72,7%.
development.
Key gender Meaning Malawi
indicater

Social Measures discriminatory At 41% Malawi has a high level of discrimination against
Institutions social institutions (the women in 2019 resulting from discriminatory laws,
& Gender gaps between women and attitudes and practices.
Index (SIGI) men in terms of rights and o Discrimination in the family, 41,4%
6 opportunities as reflected
o Restricted physical integrity, 24,1%
in legislation, practices
o Restricted access to productive and financial
and attitudes) on four
resources, 37,4%
dimensions.
o Restricted civil liberties, 62%

A SIGI value of 0 Illustrative contributing factors:

indicates no discrimination  By the age of 15, 9% of girls are married and by the
and 100% very high age of 18, 42% of girls are married (2015).5
discrimination in social  Women spend more time on household
institutions. responsibilities and unpaid care work than men
 during a 24-hour period at a female to male ratio of
6,9 hours to one hour.
 36 % of ever-partnered women experience some form
of intimate partner physical and or sexual violence.
 16,3% of women aged 15-49 years believe a husband
is justified in hitting his wife for specific reasons.
 20% of the Malawian population believe it is not
acceptable for a woman in their family to work
outside the home for pay.
 Less women (38%) than men (62%) have an account
at a financial institution.
 Less women (32%) than men (68%) have secure
landholder assets.
 Almost two-thirds of women have limited
confidence in the justice system.
The Global Measures gender-based At 0,671 in 2021 resources and opportunities remain
Gender Gap inequalities in access to unequally divided between men and women. When this
Index resources and value is disaggregated by the sub-indices a more nuanced
(GGG)7 opportunities across four picture emerges.
sub-indices; economic
participation and o Educational attainment value of 0,980 (2% gap)
opportunity, educational
o Health and survival value of 0,915 (8,5% gap)
attainment, Health and
o Economic participation and opportunity value of
survival, and political
0,624 (~37% gap)
empowerment. The closer
o Political empowerment value of 0,164 (~83 % gap)
the score to 1 the higher
the gender parity.
Illustrative contributing factors:
 The literacy rate for women is 55,2% (69,8 % for
men); the primary school enrolment rate is higher for
women at 97,1% (92,0% for men) as is the secondary
 enrolment rate at 34,8% (33,7% for men). The tertiary
education enrolment drops to 0,6% for women (1,0%
for men).
 The labour force participation rate is lower for women
at 73,9% compared to 80,9% for men and the parity
gap widens further for women in the area of senior
officials, and managers at 15,6% compared to 84,4%
for men, and in the professional and technical
workforce at 35,3% for women and 64,7% for men.
 The greatest parity gap for women is in political
empowerment with women holding only 22,9% seats
in parliament (77,1% for men), only 17,4% of
ministerial positions (82,6% for men) and with
women serving as head of state for 2,2 years over the
past 50 years.

Employment: organized and unorganized sectors, gender index, improved self-esteem of girls
and women.