HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH ASIA 2000
The Gender Question
Published for The Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris S˜ao Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries © Oxford University Press 2000 The moral rights of the author have been asserted First published 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press. Enquiries concerning reproduction should be sent to Oxford University Press at the address below. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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MAHBUB UL HAQ
Who changed the debate on gender relations by analysing the real issues and asserting that,
‘Human development, if not engendered, is fatally endangered.’ Foreword
I could not but start the Foreword to this Mahbub ul Haq was talking about. With Report on the state of women in South the release of the UNDP Human Asia without quoting some memorable Development Report 1995 the gender words of Mahbub ul Haq, the creator of debate experienced a paradigm shift: it is the 1995 UNDP Human Development equality that is important and not only Report—the Report that changed the equity. debate on gender relations in the world. In 1998, when we were discussing At that time Mahbub ul Haq wrote, ‘As themes for the forthcoming South Asia we approach the 21st century, we hear Human Development Reports, Mahbub the quiet steps of a rising revolution for ul Haq decided that the theme for the gender equality. The basic parameters of year 2000 Report should be ‘The Gender such a revolution have already changed. Question’ in order to assess the progress Women have greatly expanded their made in the region five years after the capabilities over the last few decades Beijing Conference. He not only prepared through a liberal investment in their the outline for the Report that far in education. At the same time, women are advance, he also talked at length about acquiring much greater control over their how he was going to shock the world by lives through dramatic improvements in telling the truth about the inhuman reproductive health. They stand ready and condition of South Asian women. In prepared to assume greater economic and 1997, he had already termed South Asia political responsibilities. And ‘the least gender-sensitive region in the technological advances and democratic world.’ So we had the outline and we had processes are on their side in this struggle. Mahbub ul Haq’s innumerable articles Progress in technology is already and ideas to draw inspiration from. overcoming the handicaps women suffer The earlier Reports on Human in holding jobs in the market, since jobs Development in South Asia 1997, 1998 and in the future industrial societies will be 1999 documented the magnitude of based not on muscular strength but on human deprivation in the region. This skills and discipline. And the democratic year’s Report focuses on the transition that is sweeping the globe will disproportionate share of this burden of make sure that women exercise more deprivation that is borne by the women political power as they begin to realise of South Asia. The Report analyses the real value of the majority votes that gender-discriminatory practices in the they control. It is quite clear that the 21st legal, economic, political and social century will be a century of much greater spheres and it raises the following gender equality than the world has ever questions: How have patriarchal systems seen before.’ These insights of the affected women’s lives? Why are women founder of the Human Development invisible in economic and political Centre set the tone and the substance of spheres? How can women’s capabilities this year’s Report. be enhanced? How can women’s Mahbub ul Haq made visible the issue economic and political opportunities be of women’s invisibility in national enlarged? And what institutional accounting systems, and he wrote gender mechanisms are needed to bridge the into the human development indicators. prevalent gender gaps in South Asia? This was the quiet revolution that The Report contains nine chapters, in
Foreword v addition to the Overview. Chapter one Sri Lanka. The papers on ‘Gender and presents a brief snapshot of South Asia’s Governance’ were written by Bal Gopal socio-economic scenario over the past Baidya of Nepal, Sarala Gopalan of India, half century. Chapter two introduces the Meghna Guhathakurta of Bangladesh and theme of this year’s Report by presenting Kumari Jayawardena of Sri Lanka. My a conceptual framework for analysing heartfelt thanks to all of them for making gender issues in South Asia. Chapter three such important contributions to this assesses the follow-up actions in the Report. region five years after the Beijing In compiling this Report we have Conference. Chapter four focuses on the benefitted enormously from the help invisibility of South Asian women in the extended to us by the field offices of economy. Chapter five analyses legal UNDP in South Asia, particularly Onder systems in South Asia and examines their Yucer and Brenda McSweeney, UNDP impact on women. Chapters six and seven Representatives in Pakistan and India. I analyse South Asian women’s educational, am grateful to Nay Htun, UNDP health and nutritional deprivation. Regional Director for Asia and the Chapter eight gives an overview of the Pacific, for providing UNDP support for systems of governance that perpetuate this project. Nafis Sadik, Executive women’s unequal position everywhere in Director of UNFPA, was particularly society and the state. And finally, in helpful in guiding this project in chapter nine, the Report proposes an numerous ways. Chandni Joshi, UNIFEM agenda that identifies the most pressing Regional Adviser for South Asia, policy and institutional changes required consistently supported this work through to achieve gender equality in South Asia. her network of experts. And Nazir This year we have been very fortunate Ladhani, Chief Executive Officer of the in having some of the best gender experts Aga Khan Foundation Canada, provided in the region write background papers. I the best support the Centre needed—two am extremely grateful to three great legal dedicated professionals from Canada to experts for writing background papers on work with us in the preparation of the ‘Women and the Law’. Savitri Report. This in-kind contribution is much Goonesekere, Vice Chancellor of appreciated. Colombo University, wrote on India, Sri The research team at the Centre Lanka and Nepal; Salma Sobhan from worked hard and for long hours to Ain-o-Salish Kendro in Bangladesh and complete this Report. I must recognise, Shahla Zia from Aurat Foundation in in particular, Virginia Appell and Karen Pakistan wrote on Bangladesh and Moore who came from Canada to work Pakistan respectively. The contributions for this Report. Both of them worked of these legal experts to women’s issues with complete dedication and made are well-known. But what is not known enormous contributions to the outcome is that, despite their heavy commitments of the final product. Our own research elsewhere, each of them readily agreed to team consisting of Aasim Akhtar, Shazra do a paper for the Report. This showed Azhar, Tazeen Fasih, Seemeen Saadat, their commitment to the cause of women and Hyder Yusafzai, young and utterly as well as their willingness to help the committed to the cause of human Centre. development, once again rose to the Other experts from the region were occasion and did whatever was needed to equally committed and professionally be done without complaint. That was the competent. The background papers on tradition set by Mahbub, and each time ‘Women and the Economy’ were written we get a new team it works with the same by Meena Acharya of Nepal, Aasha dedication, idealism and team spirit as the Kapoor Mehta of India, Simeen Mahmud very first team did. They are the best of Bangladesh, and Danny Atapattu of example of the new generation of
vi Human Development in South Asia 2000 professionals that Pakistan can truly be Once again, we dedicate the Report to proud of. I also thank Farhan Haq for Mahbub ul Haq whose ideas and words writing the Overview in his wonderful, dominate every page of this Report. reader-friendly style.
Islamabad Khadija Haq 21 June 2000
Team for the preparation of the 2000 Report Team leader: Khadija Haq
HDC Research Team Panel of Consultants Aasim Akhtar Meena Acharya (Nepal) Virginia Appell Danny Atapattu (Sri Lanka) Shazra Azhar Bal Gopal Baidya (Nepal) Tazeen Fasih Sarala Gopalan (India) Cindy Huang Savitri Goonesekere (Sri Lanka) Karen Moore Meghna Guhathakurta (Bangladesh) Seemeen Saadat Kumari Jayawardena (Sri Lanka) Hyder Yusafzai Simeen Mahmud (Bangladesh) Aasha Kapur Mehta (India) With the assistance of Salma Sobhan (Bangladesh) Syed Mohammad Ali Shahla Zia (Pakistan) Malia Asim Nasreen Mahmood
Foreword vii Acknowledgements
The preparation of this Report owes a Institute of Development Economics great deal to many individuals and (PIDE), Institute of Regional Studies organisations. The financial support for (IRS), Shirkat Gah, Orangi Pilot Project, the Report was provided by the Canadian and Women’s Studies Centre of Quaid-e- International Development Agency Azam University. The kind assistance (CIDA), the Norwegian Agency for provided by the librarians of the World Development Cooperation (NORAD), Bank (Pakistan), UNDP (Pakistan), ILO United Nations Development Programme (Pakistan), IRS and PIDE is also (UNDP), United Nations Population acknowledged. Fund (UNFPA), and the Aga Khan The Report is heavily indebted to Foundation-Canada. Without the steady several South Asian scholars who support of CIDA and NORAD for the prepared background papers for the production of this annual Report for the Report. They are: Meena Acharya (Nepal), past four years, it would have been Danny Atapattu (Sri Lanka), Bal Gopal impossible to sustain this important work. Baidya (Nepal), Sarala Gopalan (India), We are particularly grateful to Mark Savitri Goonesekere (Sri Lanka), Meghna Malloch Brown, UNDP Administrator; Guhathakurta (Bangladesh), Kumari Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of Jayawardena (Sri Lanka), Simeen Mahmud UNFPA; Nay Htun, Director of UNDP (Bangladesh), Aasha Kapur Mehta (India), Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific; Salma Sobhan (Bangladesh), and Shahla and Onder Yucer, UNDP Resident Zia (Pakistan). Special assistance was Representative in Pakistan, for their provided by Chandni Joshi (UNIFEM) consistent support for the production of and Wasim Zaman (UNFPA). this Report. We are also grateful to the We would like to thank the following field offices of UNDP in various South individuals for responding to our Asian countries for their invaluable help researchers’ various queries and providing in organising the launch of the Report. materials: Anne Keeling and Marianne The technical, moral and financial support Olesen (UNDP-Pakistan), Wasim Zaman of these individuals and institutions is and Rafiqul Huda Chaudhury (UNFPA- gratefully acknowledged. Nepal), Anjum Riazul Haque (UNESCO- Several national, regional and Pakistan), Farah Ghuznavi (UNDP- international institutions shared their Bangladesh), Abdulla Rasheed (UNDP- research materials and data with the Male), and Noreen Hasan (Ministry of MHHDC team. The Report benefited Women’s Development, Pakistan). from the data provided by the UNFPA The research work for this Report was South Asia Country Support Team, done by the Centre’s team consisting of UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office, Aasim Akhtar, Virginia Appell, Shazra UNESCO Pakistan country office, Azhar, Tazeen Fasih, Cindy Huang, International Labour Organisation, Karen Moore, Seemeen Saadat, and United Nations Children’s Fund, United Hyder Yusafzai. Other members of the Nations Development Programme, team included Syed Mohammad Ali, United Nations Information Centre and Malia Asim and Nasreen Mahmood. The World Bank. We are grateful to the Special thanks are due to Farhan Haq for following Pakistani institutions: Aurat preparing a draft Overview of the Report. Foundation, Federal Bureau of Statistics, We are always thankful to Oxford First Women Bank Ltd., Pakistan University Press, Pakistan for the
viii Human Development in South Asia 2000 professional manner in which they handle our thanks to Rana Ghulam Shabbir, Riaz the publication of our Reports. We wish Tahir and Mohammad Waseem for to thank particularly Ameena Saiyid for continuing to provide logistical support her special commitment to this project. to the Centre. We would also like to place on record
Acknowledgements ix ix About the Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre
Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre was set up in November 1995 in Islamabad, Pakistan by the late Dr Mahbub ul Haq, founder and chief architect of UNDP Human Development Reports. With a special focus on South Asia, the Centre is a policy research institute and think tank, committed to the promotion of the human development paradigm as a powerful tool for informing people-centered development policy nationally and regionally, in order to reduce human deprivation. The Centre organises professional research, policy studies and seminars on issues of economic and social development as they affect people’s well being. Believing in the shared histories of the people of this region and in their shared destinies, Dr Haq was convinced of the need for co-operation among the seven countries of the region. His vision extended to a comparative analysis of the region with the outside world, providing a yardstick for the progress achieved by South Asia in terms of socio-economic development. The Centre’s research work is presented annually through a Report titled, Human Development in South Asia. Continuing Mahbub ul Haq’s legacy, the Centre provides a unique perspective in three ways: first, by analysing the process of human development, the analytical work of the Centre puts people at the centre of economic, political and social policies; second, the South Asia regional focus of the Centre enables a rich examination of issues of regional importance; and third, the Centre’s comparative analysis provides a yardstick for the progress and setbacks of South Asia vis-à-vis the rest of the world. The current activities of the Centre include: preparation of annual reports on Human Development in South Asia; preparation of policy papers and research reports on poverty reduction strategies; organisation of seminars and conferences on global and regional human development issues, South Asian co-operation, peace in the region and women’s empowerment; and publication of a semi-annual journal, Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Review. The Centre also organises an annual Mahbub ul Haq Memorial Seminar and a Mahbub ul Haq Lecture.
President Board of Advisors Khadija Haq Syed Babar Ali Fateh Chaudhri Director of Research Meghnad Desai Sarfraz Qureshi Parvez Hasan Enrique Iglesias Board of Governors Javed Jabbar Shahid Javed Burki Asma Jahangir Sahabzada Yaqub Khan Lal Jayawardena Amir Mohammad Wasim Sajjad Moeen Qureshi Frances Stewart Nafis Sadik Paul Streeten Qaiser Ahmad Shaikh Maurice Strong
Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre 42 Embassy Road, G-6/3, Islamabad, Pakistan. Tel: 92-51-271228. Fax: 92-51-822794. Email: [email protected]
x Human Development in South Asia 2000 Contents
Overview 1 Chapter 1 Human Development in South Asia at the dawn of the 21st century 9 Economic progress 10 Progress in the political sphere 11 Progress in social sectors 13 Poverty and human deprivation 14 Systemic governance crises 17 Regional Cooperation 19 Progress and challenges: their impact on South Asian women 21 Chapter 2 Women and Gender in South Asia 23 Sex, gender, and women’s issues 24 WID, GAD, and rights-based development 27 Feminism(s) 29 Diversity—in theory and practice 30 ‘South Asian women’—a useful category? 33 Chapter 3 Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 35 South Asia’s response to its Beijing commitments 39 Gendered indicators of development 40 Balance sheets of progress and challenges 43 Chapter 4 Women and the Economy 51 Statistical invisibility of women in national income accounts 52 South Asian women in the labour force 56 Women’s labour force patterns 57 Women in agriculture: more work, less pay 58 Women in the informal sector 60 Women in the formal sector 62 Female-male wage-rate differentials in the formal sector 64 Women and micro credit 65 Globalization and its impact on women 67 Annex tables: Distribution of labour force by gender 70 Chapter 5 Women and the Law 75 The reality of constitutional provisions 78 Gender discrimination in law and practice 79 Women and personal laws 79 Criminal law and violence against women 91 Labour and service legislation 99
Contents xi Chapter 6 Education of Girls and Women 103 Constraints to girls’ education 105 Impact of education 108 Women’s access to vocational and technical education 110 Women’s access to higher education 112 Gender gaps in higher education by field of study 114 Government commitments to education for all 115 Chapter 7 Health of Girls and Women 117 Missing women 119 Gender discrepancies in life expectancies 120 The beginnings of a life of neglect—young girls in South Asia 121 Nutritional challenges faced by South Asian women and girls 124 Women’s reproductive health 127 Beyond the International Conference on Population and Development 131 Chapter 8 Gender and Governance 135 Women in governing institutions 136 Women in local governance 142 Female participation in political parties 145 Women in the judiciary 150 Women in the civil service 154 Women in economic management 157 Women in civil society 159 Chapter 9 Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 167 Women’s movements in South Asia 169 An agenda for equality of women with men 170 Equality under the law 171 Equality of access to capability building 172 Equality of economic opportunity 174 Equality in governance 174 Implementing an agenda for equality: the institutional imperative 175 Civil society for women’s equality 177 Relations between women and men 178 Bibliographic Note 179 References 180 Statistical Profile of Gender in South Asia 191 Human Development Indicators for South Asia 201 Key to Indicators 217 Boxes 1.1 The phenomenon of urban slums in South Asia 17 1.2 Leading lights: Women’s initiative for peace in South Asia 21 2.1 ‘The other gender’—men’s issues in the development process 26 2.2 ‘Structure’ and ‘agency’—how Bangladeshi garment workers change the rules 32 3.1 International conferences and agreements with specific relevance to women and girls 36 3.2 Beijing Platform for Action—critical areas for concern 36 3.3 The peak of degradation—trafficking in women and children 38
xii Human Development in South Asia 2000 3.4 Transforming media into a tool for women’s empowerment 40 4.1 Missing the point 53 4.2 Rolling to make ends meet 62 4.3 Earning for whom? 65 4.4 NABARD in India 66 4.5 For women, by women 67 5.1 The status of CEDAW in South Asia 80 5.2 Discriminatory property and inheritance laws in Nepal 90 5.3 Dishonourable murder—karo-kari in Pakistan 92 5.4 Unsafe custody 96 5.5 From victim to accused—the Zina Ordinance in Pakistan 99 5.6 Sati, suicide and widowhood in India 100 5.7 Home and away—laws relating to female migrant workers 101 6.1 Traditions that discourage 106 6.2 Altering attitudes: recruiting and retaining women 112 7.1 Female infanticide and foeticide 122 7.2 Quantitative health-related goals of ICPD 132 7.3 Post-ICPD score card in South Asia 133 8.1 A question of reservation 138 8.2 Panchayat Raj: an act of positive discrimination 143 8.3 Anti-liquor struggle in India 150 8.4 Campaign against violence in Bangladesh 163 8.5 Sri Lanka: profiling women’s participation in trade unions 165 Tables 1.1 Economic indicators in South Asia 10 1.2 South Asia’s labour force 11 1.3 Education 13 1.4 Health and Nutrition 14 1.5 Employment trends in South Asia 18 1.6 South Asia intra-area trade 19 3.1 Comparing indicators of human development 41 4.1 Female percentage of labour force 57 4.2 Employment in South Asia by major sectors 58 4.3 Employment status by gender 61 5.1 Minimum age at marriage 81 6.1 State of female education in South Asia 105 6.2 India: Disparities in educational attainment within states 106 6.3 Quality of learning 107 6.4 The impact of women’s schooling 109 6.5 Staff and pupils in teacher training programmes 114 6.6 Female professionals 115 7.1 Sex ratios, illiteracy and income in South Asia 120 7.2 Under-5 mortality rates 124 7.3 HIV infections in South Asia 130 8.1 Women in parliament 137 8.2 Women in cabinets 140 8.3 Women leaders of political parties 145 8.4 Women in High Courts 151 8.5 Women in civil service 154 8.6 Climbing the corporate ladder 158 8.7 Indian trade unions: women in decision-making positions 164 8.8 Female representation on bar councils in Pakistan 165 9.1 Capabilities and opportunities of South Asian women 173
Contents xiii Figures 1.1 Still too many 15 1.2 Human Deprivation in South Asia 16 3.1 GDI and HDI in South Asian countries and the world 41 3.2 Development indicators compared 41 3.3 GDI—Indian States in comparative perspective 42 4.1 Gender contributions to GDP and Households Maintenance Satellite Account 54 5.1 Home is where the hurt is...evidence from studies on the prevalence of domestic violence in South Asia 93 6.1a Illiterate females as a percentage of total illiterate population 104 6.1b Girls out of school as a percentage of total out of school children 104 6.2 Progress in female literacy 104 6.3 Average years of schooling 105 6.4 Pakistan’s rural localities with a primary school within 1 km 107 6.5 Percentage of females enrolled in second level vocational education 111 6.6 India: Decline in female students in secondary vocational education 111 7.1 Missing women of South Asia 120 7.2 Sex ratios in South Asia 120 7.3 Gender differences in life expectancy at birth 121 7.4 Percentage of women aged 20-24 who are first married by exact age 12, 15, 18 and 20 124 7.5 Proportion of infants with low birth weight 126 7.6 Percentage of pregnant women with anaemia in South Asia 126 7.7 Levels and trends in maternal mortality rates by residence, Bangladesh 128 7.8 Percentage of pregnant women receiving ante-natal care 128 7.9 Total fertility rates 130 7.10 Contraceptive knowledge and prevalence in selected countries of South Asia 131 8.1 Women in governance: smallest piece of the pie 136 8.2 Women’s presence in national vs. provincial/state legislature 142 8.3 Women in local governments 142 8.4 Female candidacy for election 147 8.5 Women in lower judiciary 152
xiv Human Development in South Asia 2000 Overview
While growing up in South Asia is a perpetual struggle, to be a woman in this region is to be a non-person. Women bear the greatest burden of human deprivation in South Asia.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Overview 1 Overview
Five years ago, when some 17,000 • As a region, South Asia has both the government delegates and 30,000 civil lowest literacy rates and the largest gap society representatives met for the Fourth between the rates of male and female World Conference on Women in Beijing, literacy—64.1 per cent and 37.2 per cent the situation of South Asian women was respectively in 1997. While South Asian Discrimination one of the bleakest faced by women in women make up about 21 per cent of the any part of the world. That bleak world’s female population, 44 per cent of against South Asian scenario, remarkable in itself, was all the the world’s illiterate women are South women begins at, or more depressing given that, as the Beijing Asian. even before, birth Conference began in 1995, the Prime • Discrimination against South Asian Ministers of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri women begins at, or even before, birth. Lanka, as well as the President of Sri Female foeticide and infanticide, neglect Lanka, were all women. Indeed, these of health, and gender-biased feeding countries were headed by women who practices combined with heavy work proclaimed their whole-hearted support burdens, all are manifestations of son for gender equality. Pakistan’s then Prime preference and the patriarchal structures Minister, Benazir Bhutto, wrote in which prevail across the region. South UNDP’s 1995 Human Development Asia has one of the most distorted sex Report that ‘the trend we have set in ratios in the world—there are only 940 gender equality through emancipation of females for every 1000 males. women is now irreversible.’ Sri Lankan • Official statistics in South Asia show President Chandrika Bandaranaike women’s economic participation as a Kumaratunga asserted that, ‘Women mere fraction of that of men. As the should be empowered to share equal roles majority of South Asian women work in with men in holding positions of power, the informal sector and as unpaid family in participating in decision-making helpers, their work goes unrecognised in processes, in controlling and managing national systems of accounting. scarce resources and also in sharing the • Women’s political representation is very incomes and benefits.’ poor in South Asia: only 7 per cent of Five years after those optimistic words, South Asian parliamentarians are women. however, women in South Asia remain • South Asian women’s real GDP per far behind men in enjoying basic human capita at US$874 is lower than any other rights, let alone in participating on an region in the world, including Sub- equal footing with men in educational Saharan Africa. institutions, the job market or in government. As this year’s Human The Gender Question that this Report Development in South Asia Report—the addresses is: why are women so severely fourth annual Report by the Mahbub ul disadvantaged and how can specific and Haq Centre for Human Development— structural disadvantages be redressed? makes clear, women in South Asia may The pervasive discriminatory practices work from dawn to dusk, but their which result from and perpetuate the economic contribution is scarcely systems of patriarchy are analysed in an acknowledged at the national level and effort to answer the question in their access to health, educational and everyone’s mind: How can a region, so other facilities lags far behind that of rich in culture and tradition and with men. women leaders holding the highest
2 Human Development in South Asia 2000 political positions, be so cruel in its the practice of developing National Plans treatment of the vast majority of women? for Action has fostered increased This is the central question which we try understanding of women’s rights and to answer in this Report. status. On the other, very little progress has been achieved in matters of substance rather than those of process, with Gender discrimination in South Asia discriminatory laws still on the books, is situated within deeply ingrained protective laws weakly enforced and systems of patriarchy which limit and social-sector budgets remaining severely confine women to subordinate roles. inadequate. The overall picture for gender-related Part of the problem is that the structures development is poor in South Asia, even of South Asian patriarchy remain firmly in comparison to the region’s human The gender question in place. The Report explores the key development levels. In every South Asian concepts underpinning gender analysis country, the gender-related development is not just one about and notes Bhasin’s observation that, index (GDI) is lower than the human women, but about although South Asian languages do not development index (HDI). All the South both women and have terms to define ‘gender,’ Hindi, Asian countries except Sri Lanka and the men and how they Urdu and Bangla all have words— Maldives have GDIs of less than 0.500, respectively, pitrasatta, pidarshahi, and subjecting women not only to low overall interact pitratontro—to define patriarchy (see achievement in human development but chapter 2). Small wonder that patriarchy also to lower achievement than men. remains unassailable in South Asia, under Even worse is the gender empowerment the cover of gender-blind policies that measure (GEM), which highlights the take existing gender relations for granted, extent to which women are involved in while women’s particular concerns are economic activities and active in the relegated to ‘women’s issues.’ political realm. The highest any South The culture of patriarchy is deeply Asian country stands is 80th out of 102, entrenched in the region and gender while Pakistan’s GEM ranking is second biases are held not only by men but also to last. by women. Women are often convinced that the work they do for their family is their duty and as such women do not Invisibility of women in the economy expect any recognition, monetary or is a worldwide phenomenon, but in otherwise; while the work that men do is South Asia its impact on women is truly valuable, both socially and pernicious. economically. Similarly, many women do not participate in decision-making, Chapters 4 through 8 of the Report shift believing it to be the realm of men. the focus from the overall lack of gender- Attitude shifts in society as a whole are related development in South Asia to required to break out of this culture of problems faced by the region’s women in patriarchy, and this is why the gender particular fields: respectively, in the question is not just one about women, economy, in the legal system, in but about both women and men and how education, in health and in government. they interact. Underlying the inequalities faced by As nations this year review the women in all those arenas is one progress made in the five years since the fundamental dilemma: the economic Beijing Summit, the record of South invisibility of South Asian women. Asian governments is mixed. In chapter Because their labour—in such activities 3, the accomplishments and the persistent as family care, household maintenance challenges and policy gaps remaining and the informal-sector market—is since the Beijing conference are detailed. excluded from systems of national On the one hand, over the past five years, accounts, the work they do remains
Overview 3 unappreciated and inadequately workers. Nor do they have an appropriate compensated. Because legislation has legal share in ownership of the means of codified male privilege, women remain production. In some instances, unable to gain equal access to inheritance technological change has reduced or or property and face other restrictions— eliminated much of the agricultural labour from purdah to so-called honour killings— traditionally performed by women, that effectively maintain their invisibility including weeding in paddy-producing in society as a whole while subjecting areas in Sri Lanka, or the hand-pounding them to terror and to violations of their of rice in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The basic human rights. new and rapid forces of globalization, left Similarly, the ingrained preference for unchecked, have put further pressures on boys ensures that girls do not have the the women of the region, who have as A gendered division same access to education; that they do yet benefited only minimally from open not receive the same levels of nutrition; markets. of labour reinforces or the same consideration in the political Ultimately, the Report proposes that unequal and sphere. Invisibility in this case becomes women’s labour be included in systems discriminatory the recipe for exclusion and therefore for of national accounting. Until that practices the maintenance of continued inequality. happens, the true impact of their labour In chapter 4 the Report argues that will never be fully compensated, nor will invisibility in the economic sphere is development strategies accurately account perhaps the most acute problem faced by for the work that is actually being done women. It is clear that women participate by women in South Asia. Women have a in and contribute to household and right to equal recognition, opportunity, market economies; it is also clear that and compensation; the continued women’s contributions are rendered economic marginalization of women and invisible. A gendered division of labour their work retards the economic progress reinforces unequal and discriminatory of the region. practices. Although women perform some of the heaviest, dirtiest and most labour-intensive work, much of that The legal system as it is practiced in labour remains invisible as it occurs either the region is heavily biased against within the household or in the women and often victimizes rather unregulated informal-sector. One Indian than protects them. study estimates the amount of work outside the home by married women to Chapter 5 takes the problem of women’s be between 6.15 and 7.53 hours each day. invisibility into the legal arena, where a In Bangladesh, some studies estimate that complex network of religious and cultural women spend between 70 and 88 per cent practices interacts with the traditions of of their time in non-market work. The British jurisprudence to create a terrain vast majority of South Asian women work which is particularly treacherous for in the informal sector or in unpaid family women. Many legal structures are also assistance, with the informal sector simply ad hoc, reflecting the proliferation accounting for the employment of 96 per of personal laws—civil laws that largely cent of economically-active women in focus on the family—which enshrine India, 75 per cent in Nepal and religious traditions but are not always Bangladesh and nearly 65 per cent in codified. (Indian Muslims, for example, Pakistan. lack codified personal laws, although Women also endure a heavy workload India’s Hindus and Christians have them). in the agricultural sector, notably in crop The end result is that although women’s farming, livestock husbandry and off- legal equality with men is constitutionally farm activities, but even in these activities, guaranteed throughout South Asia, in much of their work is not recognised. many cases, those guarantees are Women are not counted as agricultural contradicted by other laws or by customs.
4 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Similarly, although all of South Asia’s girls receive on average less than 1.2 years governments have ratified the of schooling. Convention on the Elimination of All Educational opportunities for girls vary Forms of Discrimination against Women, dramatically between urban and rural four of them—India, Pakistan, areas and among different states and Bangladesh and the Maldives—have provinces. In India, for example, females entered reservations to their ratification. in urban areas have a literacy rate above The Report notes some positive legal 72 per cent, while rural females have a steps that are being taken, including literacy rate less than half that, at 34 per India’s legislation to combat sexual cent. In some cases, the problems stem harassment, Bangladesh’s special from a shortage of female teachers; in provisions against cruelty to women and others, from the shortage of single-sex children and the efforts by Pakistan to schools or from the distances required to At an early age, treat ‘honour killings’ as murder. But travel to school. But the bottom line overall, the laws on the books—including remains that, at an early age, girls in South girls in South Asia Pakistan’s Hudood Ordinance and its Asia continue to face barriers to obtaining continue to face Law of Evidence—continue to relegate an education, which worsen at every level barriers to obtaining women’s rights to the shadows, enforcing through to higher education and most an education, which instead traditions under which a women’s types of vocational and technical testimony is only worth half that of a education. worsen at every level man’s while violence against women is Women constitute only 17 per cent of barely dealt with in the legal system. technical students, and South Asian governments spend approximately 4.4 per cent of their education budgets Educational indicators of South on technical/scientific education. Asian women, although recording Expenditure on female vocational improvement in recent years, are some students comprises less than one per cent of the worst in the world, especially at of the education budget. These figures technical and higher levels. highlight how limited and constrained women are, and explain much of their The importance of legal protection for invisibility in the economic sphere in women is tied to their awareness of their particular. own rights and indeed to education in general. Despite some improvements, South Asia continues to lag far behind The vast majority of South Asian the developing world in providing equal women lack even the most educational opportunities for women (see rudimentary health facilities, resulting chapter 6). Between 1970 and 1997, the in high maternal and infant mortality average rate of female literacy in rates. developing countries as a whole rose from 32 to 63 per cent; in South Asia, however, Women’s access to health, described in it rose only from 17 to 37 per cent. Three chapter 7, is scarcely better. While in out of every five South Asian women are industrialised countries, maternal mortality illiterate, including three-quarters of is rare, and can be as low as 13 deaths per Pakistani women and nearly four-fifths of 100,000 births, in developing regions such Nepalese women. Only Sri Lanka has met as South Asia, this rate is extremely high, the minimum target of universal primary averaging 480 deaths per 100,000 live education for all, although Bangladesh births. An estimated 208,000 women die and India have made progress in bringing each year in South Asia due to pregnancy school enrolments for girls nearly in line and birth-related complications. with the level for boys. However, in India, Meanwhile, South Asian girls and women Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan, continue to lack what they need for basic
Overview 5 nutrition, with a majority of women in portfolios—such as finance, defence and the region suffering from chronic energy foreign affairs—that are still male deficit because their daily caloric intake is bastions. The largest concentration of well below the daily adult minimum female civil servants throughout South requirement of 2250 calories. Asia is in the social sectors such as health In South Asia, women’s inequality and education. begins at birth, with the ratio of women The role of civil society in increasing to men abnormally low compared to the women’s participation in public life is one rest of the world. Excluding South Asia, of the few positive factors amidst the the ratio of females to males in the world general gloom. Civil society initiatives have is 106 to 100; in South Asia, it is only 94 helped to organise women and to create to 100, a discrepancy suggesting that 79 awareness on a range of issues from health The overall picture, million women are simply ‘missing’— to education to basic rights. A significant never born, or dying of chronic number of women work for civil society is one of overlapping malnutrition, or never receiving medical organisations, either on a voluntary basis and complementary care. or as paid employees. This means that forms of exclusion • In India, 18 per cent more girls than development-oriented initiatives reach boys die before their fifth birthday. more women in both urban and rural • In Maldives, female children are 51 per areas. The role of trade unions however cent more likely than males to die before has been less positive. They have failed to their fifth birthday. organise working women, with only a small • In Bombay, where 84 per cent of minority actually joining unions. The result gynaecologists admit that they perform is that women’s employment-related issues sex-determination tests, there were 40,000 and concerns are usually not a priority known cases of foeticide in 1984 alone. within the unions. The overall picture, then, is one of overlapping and complementary forms of Discrimination in all of the above exclusion. Because the traditionalism of areas has resulted in invisibility of South Asian cultural and religious women in governance structures and practices is enshrined in legal codes, in decision-making bodies. measures which discriminate against women are normalised in the legal sphere. Gender exclusion is no less prevalent in Because such discrimination is seen as political governance, in a region which normal, the work women do—regardless has boasted women heads of government of how much it actually contributes to in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri South Asian societies—is uncounted and Lanka—and yet in which women hold largely uncompensated. Because little only 7 per cent of parliamentary seats and monetary benefit is expected to result 9 per cent of the seats in government from women’s labour, families spend less cabinets. Only 6 per cent of the region’s effort in feeding or educating girls, and judges are women, and only 9 per cent of governments offer few facilities to ensure civil services posts are held by women, that their schooling and health is on par with less than 1 per cent of all female with boys. Because mothers realise that civil servants in decision-making positions their girl children will face such in all countries of the region but Sri discrimination all their lives, many of Lanka. Of South Asian countries, only them make the painful decision to abort Bangladesh can boast a proportion of the foetuses of girls rather than subject female parliamentarians that is on par them to lives of hardship. Up and down with the world average. Even when the line, the network of invisibility, women lead political parties, they face exclusion and inequality is constantly tokenism and exclusion from certain reinforced.
6 Human Development in South Asia 2000 in governance structures: the critical Each South Asian country must threshold of 33 per cent of seats must be formulate and implement its own reserved for women in all executive, agenda for the equality of women with legislative and judicial bodies; political men. This is a sine qua non for both parties must have minimum quotas for development and peace in the region. women candidates in decision-making bodies and in contesting elections; In chapter 9 the Report provides the women must hold powerful cabinet and framework of an agenda for women’s high-ranking jobs in the public sector; complete equality with men in critical women’s capacity to work in decision- areas such as building capabilities through making jobs must be enhanced through education and health and providing training; and gender-sensitisation training economic and political opportunities. The of male officials at all levels must be To implement the agenda identifies achieving gender undertaken. equality in at least four areas as imperative To implement the agenda for women’s agenda for women’s from the point of view of sustainable equality outlined in the Report, it is equality, it is economic growth, human development imperative that strong and dedicated imperative that and gender equity. These are: equality institutional structures be in place at the strong and dedicated under the law, equality in access to national as well as global levels. At the capability building, equality in economic national level, the Report advocates for a institutional opportunity, and equality in governance. stronger women’s ministry with authority structures be in To achieve legal equality, action is and human and financial resources as the place at the national required in at least seven areas: ministry of finance or foreign affairs. At enforcement of women’s constitutional the global level, the Report asserts that as well as global rights; review and repeal of discriminatory without a strong UN agency for women levels laws; application of the principle of women’s equality in this century will affirmative action; treatment of rape as a remain elusive. Women need a powerful crime against humanity, and so-called advocate at the United Nations to provide ‘honour killing’ as murder; equitable leadership to national level bodies to fight application of family laws; and gender- for their rights. sensitive legal education across the board. The founder of the Human To achieve equality in access to Development Centre, Mahbub ul Haq, education and health services, coined a deceptively simple phrase prior governments must implement the to the Beijing Summit in 1995 to sum up National Plans of Action prepared after the effect that gender-based exclusion the Jomtien and Cairo Conferences. Some would have on the cause of development of the targets and timetables have been as a whole: If development is not reset at the UN Special Session on Beijing engendered, it is endangered. Simply put, plus Five. However, there is an no society has ever developed—or overwhelming urgency to eliminate indeed, can ever develop—unless women gender disparities in education and health are fully part of the process and unless if governments are to honour any of the they are at least firmly on their way to global commitments made in the 1990s. achieving an equal footing with men. The For economic equality, a combination fact that South Asia lags so far behind in of enlightened legislation, affirmative this area is a worrying sign that it will action, macro and micro-economic remain mired in poverty, as the poorest, policies, research and gender- most illiterate and most malnourished disaggregated data collection is needed. region in the world, as well as the least In South Asia, women’s role in the gender-sensitive. The vast majority of the economy is probably the most neglected deprived in South Asia are women and area of research. girls, and until policy planners in the Actions in five areas have been region see their empowerment as the key identified as vital for empowering women to the region’s development, their unequal
Overview 7 status will guarantee the region’s inequality and free themselves from continuing misery. centuries of patriarchy. Otherwise, the At the turn of the last century, South years ahead will be just as desolate for Asia was just beginning the battle that millions upon millions of South Asians eventually freed the region of British as those that followed the end of colonialism. Now, at the turn of this colonialism, with true freedom and century, South Asians—men and women prosperity still out of reach. alike—must break the shackles of gender
8 Human Development in South Asia 2000 1 Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century
South Asia’s real wealth is its people. We can completely change the economic and political destiny of the South Asian countries if we show the imagination to invest in these people.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 9 Chapter 1 Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century
At the beginning of the new millenium, pages before turning to the central theme South Asia stands at the crossroads of the Report. between hope and despair: hope because tremendous progress has been made since PROGRESS the region became independent; despair Economic progress South Asia stands at because this progress has been neither adequate nor equitable. As documented During the last half century, there has been the crossroads in the previous reports published by this significant economic growth in South Asia. between hope and Centre, South Asia has emerged as the Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita despair poorest, most illiterate, most has almost tripled since 1960. All three malnourished, and least gender sensitive major sectors—agriculture, industry and region. It has also emerged as one of the service—have witnessed reasonable most poorly governed regions in the growth rates over the last 30-35 years. In world. South Asia enters the 21st century particular, the service sector has expanded with 515 million people in absolute greatly; in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and poverty, some 400 million illiterate Bangladesh, it now contributes over 45 per adults, and approximately 80 million cent of GDP. Table 1.1 highlights the malnourished children. Preventable structural transformation that has taken diseases kill 3.2 million children each year. place in South Asian economies over the Girls and women form the vast majority last few decades. of these deprived millions. The contribution of agriculture to The balance sheet of the region must GDP has decreased steadily over time, as be put in proper perspective to primary product prices have gone down objectively assess the real successes and in world markets. At the same time, the failures in the context of the last 50 years. industrial and service sectors have This we attempt to do in the following become more important contributors to
Table 1.1 Economic indicators in South Asia
India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Bhutan Maldives South Asia Lanka (weighted average) Real GDP per capita per annum (PPP, US$) 1960 617 820 621 584 1,389 n/a n/a 648 1997 1,670 1,560 1,050 1,090 2,490 1,467 3,690 1,598 GNP per capita annual growth rate (%) 1965-80 1.5 1.8 -0.3 n/a 2.8 0.6 1.8 1.3 1980-95 3.2 2.7 2.2 2.2 3.2 4.8 n/a 3.0 Agriculture as % of GDP 1977 38.2 32.3 37.5 63.9 30.7 46.0* 27.4* 37.9 1998 27.5 26.4 22.4 40.5 21.1 38.2 16.4 27.0 Industry as % of GDP 1977 23.0 22.9 25.0 11.2 20.7 27.4* 15.6* 23.0 1998 26.1 24.7 28.2 22.2 27.5 36.5 18.8 26.1 Services as % of GDP 1977 38.9 44.8 37.5 24.9 40.6 26.6* 57.0* 39.1 1998 46.4 48.9 49.4 32.3 51.4 25.4 64.7 46.6 *The first figure is for 1987 as opposed to 1977 due to lack of data Sources: HDSA 2000 Background Tables; UNDP 1998a; http://www.worldbank.org.
10 Human Development in South Asia 2000 the economy. The trend towards compete in the world market with most increasing industrialisation has been other players. In addition, it is diversifying largely responsible for improved growth rapidly into markets such as computer rates and has been matched by an increase software. Bangalore for example is one in employment opportunities (see table of the world’s largest software production 1.2). Countries such as Bangladesh have centres. These markets and others like recently embarked on industry-led growth them are driven by new and innovative policies in such areas as garments, entrepreneurial initiative. However, just as following in the footsteps of the more critical have been the expanding middle industrialised countries in the region such classes that create the appropriate as India and Sri Lanka. The result has consumer market for these new sectors been a large increase in the labour force, to emerge. This is perhaps the largest and a burgeoning of urban centres. This single positive impact of South Asia’s The political history increase in the labour force is expected economic development in the post-War of South Asia in the to gain momentum over the next few era. In India, the middle class is estimated years as well. Increased female to be about 200 million people, and while post-independence employment has also been witnessed in it is considerably smaller in other era has been all countries of South Asia. countries, the potential for its expansion turbulent Significant productivity gains and parallel growth is enormous. accompanied these structural transformations. Across the board, there Progress in the political sphere have been improvements in output per worker, including in agriculture. In The political history of South Asia in the Pakistan, for example, during 1995-97 the post-independence era has been a agricultural value added per worker in turbulent one. Independence, the breakup constant 1995 US$ was 585, compared to of Pakistan and the subsequent formation 392 in 1979-81 (World Bank 1999). This of Bangladesh, are the most conspicuous is still low compared to Sri Lanka where, examples of this turbulence. Nevertheless, in 1995-97, agricultural value added per over the last 50 years South Asia has worker was US$732. Industrial value added made strides toward stability and peace. per worker also increased significantly, Most South Asians are now citizens of particularly in Sri Lanka and India. From democratic states. There has been 1980 to 1994, the net increase was 65.5 increased decentralisation in political per cent and 48 per cent respectively power. These are important steps forward (World Bank 1999). These gains are also for a region characterised by diversity of reflected in the regions’ increasing shares religion, ethnicity, class, caste and in certain world markets. language. South Asia is one of the world’s largest Currently, South Asia can boast of two exporters of textiles and is able to long-standing democracies—including the world’s largest—and Table 1.2 South Asia’s labour force one recently established democracy. Between the India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri other countries, there is a Lanka constitutional monarchy, a Total Labour traditional monarchy, and Force (millions) an interim military 1980 302 29 41 7 5 1997 423 48 63 10 8 government, which has Labour force pledged to restore the average and democratic process in due growth rate (%) course. 1980-97 20 29 26 23 22 India, Pakistan and 1997-2010 1.8 3.1 2.1 2.5 1.6 Bangladesh comprise over Source: World Bank 1999. 95 per cent of South Asia’s
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 11 total population. This large majority of examples include the Aga Khan Rural South Asians was given the opportunity Support Program (AKRSP) in Pakistan, to establish representative political Bangladesh Rural Advancement systems only from 1947 onwards Committee (BRAC) in Bangladesh, the following the end of British rule. It is Self-Employed Women’s Association therefore worth noting, that both (SEWA) in India, and the Sarvodaya Bangladesh and India are now Sharamadana Movement (SSM) in Sri democratically ruled, and Pakistan, having Lanka. The success of these public- recently reverted to military rule after 11 interest groups has been due to their years of elected governments, hopes to ability to organise people at the local level be heading back towards democracy in and thereby fill the institutional vacuum the near future. India and Sri Lanka have that has become apparent over the years. The compact never had any form of government that In many ways, for there to be a between the state, was not democratically elected. representative political system, traditional Conversely, Pakistan has been ruled by decision-making institutions at the local civil society, and the the military for 26 of its 52 years as an level need to be revitalised in the shape private sector which independent country, while Bangladesh of more democratic and egalitarian underpins effective has been under military rule for 17 of its structures. This has been done in India in 28 years of independence. Nevertheless, the shape of the panchayat system. CSO governance is weak these countries too have spent the initiatives have been instrumental in in the region majority of the last decade under some helping this transformation come about. form of democratically elected The result has been the formation of government. many supra-village level groups often The existence of elected governments called community-based organisations alone is not the sole criterion for judging (CBOs) that are able to effectively act as the exent of political progress. Indeed, all independent bodies advocating for the South Asian countries have been witness needs and rights of common people. to a growth of institutions of governance The compact between the state, civil that promise to articulate the demands of society, and the private sector which people from the grassroots. These underpins effective governance is weak include, for example, the panchayats in in the region. However, there are signs India, and the elected provincial councils that many important coalitions are being, in Sri Lanka. These institutions are and will continue to be, formed. In representative bodies at the local level addition, established civil society that allow people to take an active role in initiatives are being strengthened addressing their own concerns. However, significantly. The fact that there is the main threat to the efficient working institutional progress at all levels indicates of these institutions is the pervasive that an ethic is developing—however inequalities that persist in South Asian slowly—to ensure that the democratic societies, manifested through powerful process permeates society, not only in the elite groups which often use these form of federal level elections, but at the institutions to serve their personal local and provincial levels too. In this interests. But the great importance of regard, other important steps made these fledgling local level institutions of towards progressive political set-ups in governance should not be understated— the region include the fact that there have they are the critical link between the been increasing opportunities for women power structure and the citizen. and underrepresented minorities, once Another vital element in the maturing again not necessarily through seats of of the political process in the region has government per se, but through CSOs been civil society organisations (CSOs). and the private sector. These are responsible for numerous, Indicators of political progress are innovative initiatives to improve local considerably different across different level governance. Among the oft-quoted parts of each country. For example, the
12 Human Development in South Asia 2000 panchayat system has been operational 1970 and 1997. The region’s average and successful in Karnataka and West literacy rate has increased from 32 per cent Bengal, while relatively weak in other to 51 per cent. These improvements reflect states of India. Similarly, CSOs have been great enhancements in the quality of life much more successful in mobilising for the majority of South Asians. Indeed, people and creating local level institutions the magnitude of these changes is only in the North West Frontier Province and slightly less impressive than how quickly North and Central Punjab than in they have come about. No single era of Southern Punjab and interior Sindh in South Asian history has been witness to Pakistan. This is because the social, such rapid advances in health, education, cultural and economic barriers to such nutrition and human development in initiatives are much more powerful in the general. latter areas—these areas are commonly As always, when discussing human The larger number associated with the persistence of the development in the region, Sri Lanka and of people who are traditional feudal system characterised by the Maldives stand out due to their a few large landholding estates and impressive initiatives in the social sectors. educated in the masses of smallholding farmers and Particularly impressive is the extent to region promise that landless peasants. In any case, the which education has been prioritised in the emphasis on prospects for continuing progress are these two countries. With over 90 per good, so long as the successful efforts cent of adults literate, these countries education will are acknowledged and continue to be have achieved one of the primary continue to grow used as benchmarks for other initiatives. prerequisites to long-term and pervasive over time The spread of these types of institutions economic and human development, as is promise real development through a evidenced by the initial experience of East healthy and free political system. Asia and other newly-industrialising economies (NIEs) such as Malaysia. The Progress in social sectors other countries in the region, while still far from having adequate education Political and economic progress in the facilities and attainment levels, have post-War era has been complemented at managed to make substantial headway times by healthy progress in social into the problem of reducing illiteracy. In indicators. Indeed, there have been Pakistan, adult female literacy has startling improvements in certain areas: increased by almost five times in the between 1960 and 1997, life expectancy period 1970-95 (Haq and Haq 1998). The has increased from a minimum of 11 years larger number of people who are in Sri Lanka to a maximum of 24 years in educated in the region promise that the Bhutan, with the average increasing from emphasis on education will continue to 44 years to 63 years. Similarly, adult literacy grow over time. Table 1.3 summarises rates have increased dramatically—by as some of the impressive strides that South much as 25 per cent in Nepal—between Asia has made.
Table 1.3 Education
India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Bhutan Maldives South Asia Lanka (weighted average) Combined 1st 2nd and 3rd level gross enrolment ratio (%) 1980 40 19 30 28 58 7 n/a 37 1997 55 43 55 59 66 12 74 52 Combined adult literacy rate (%) 1970 34 21 24 13 77 n/a 91 32 1997 54 41 39 38 91 44 96 51 Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables.
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 13 Health status in South Asia has also policies directed towards achieving human improved across the board. A person development goals. As is evidenced by the born in South Asia can now expect to facts, there has been a much stronger live almost twice as long as someone born commitment in some countries than in 50 years ago. Once again, Sri Lanka offers others. It is also the case that many of the a great example of appropriate people- basic policies have been put into place in centred policies: life expectancy in Sri all countries. For example, primary Lanka at 62 years in 1960 was education and basic immunisation are two approximately what India’s life of the most straightforward and important expectancy was in 1998. Sri Lankans can ways of enhancing education and health now expect to live for 73 years—only 4 outcomes amongst the majority of people. years less on average than those living in It is therefore important to recognise that Health status in the industrial world (UNDP 1999c). some inroads have been made in these Access to basic preventive healthcare areas because of appropriate people- South Asia has has also resulted in dramatically reducing centred policies. improved across the mortality rates. Child immunisation against board. A person preventable diseases is not quite universal CHALLENGES born in South Asia across the region yet, but great gains have been made. In 1980, the South Asian Poverty and human deprivation can now expect to average for one-year olds that had been live almost twice as fully immunised against tuberculosis and Yet colossal human deprivation pervades long as someone measles was 13 per cent and 1 per cent South Asia. Progress in some areas, as respectively, and in 1997 these figures were mentioned above, has been made born 50 years ago 95 per cent and 79 per cent (MHHDC compared to the initial conditions at 1999a). Infant mortality rates have Independence. But high population dropped by 65 per cent in Nepal and 51 growth rates in some countries have per cent in India. In 1998, all South Asian neutralised progress achieved earlier. Also countries had succeeded in reducing infant concern for human development has not mortality rates to below 100 per 1000 live been enough of a priority for most policy births, compared to 1960 when only Sri makers in the region. The result is that Lanka at 90, had such a rate. Table 1.4 there are now increasing absolute illustrates the improvements in health numbers of people without adequate made in the region. health and sanitation, more under- The dramatic improvements made by nourished children, and more and more South Asian countries are the result of people who are functionally illiterate. Also increasingly important is the Table 1.4 Health & nutrition withering away of traditional India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Bhutan Maldives South Asia livelihoods due to unsustainable Lanka (weighted environmental practices. A average) prosperous future for South Life Expectancy at birth Asia is dependent on the (years) 1960 44 43 40 38 62 37 44 44 solution of these problems, and 1998 63 64 58 58 73 61 65 63 a commitment to ensuring that Infant mortality rate all South Asians attain a decent (per live 1000 births) 1960 144 139 151 212 90 175 158 144 and dignified standard of living. 1998 69 95 79 72 17 84 62 72 While South Asia has not Daily calorie supply enjoyed growth rates as (as a % of requirement) 1966 89 76 91 87 100 n/a n/a n/a spectacular as those of the East 1997 114 107 97 108 99 n/a 82 111 Asian economies over the past Under-weight children under age 5 (%) 30-40 years, there is no doubt 1975 71 47 84 63 58 n/a n/a 69 that the region has made 1997 53 38 56 47 34 38 43 51 progress in expanding its Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables; MHHDC 1999a; UNDP 1999c and UNDP 1990. economic frontiers.
14 Human Development in South Asia 2000 The annual growth rate of GNP in South secondary level. Both of these figures are Asia between 1975 and 1995 was 3 per well below the least developed country cent, which is second in the world only averages of 60.4 per cent and 31.2 per to East Asia (see table 1.1). However, cent respectively (UNDP 1999c). Adult when one looks beyond these basic literacy has only increased from 17 per figures, it is clear that there has been little cent to 49 per cent between 1970 and in the way of actual improvements in 1995 compared to 71 per cent for standards of living for the majority of developing countries as a whole (MHHDC people. With the exception of India, 1999a). Dropout rates are also high. Many which has been relatively successful in South Asians—often pressed by acute poverty reduction efforts, and continues economic need—decide not to invest in to be so, the rest of South Asia has education because there seems to be little witnessed increasing poverty since the late reward to doing so. In particular, the What growth has 1980s. Indeed, the growth rate quoted current employment situation in countries above falls drastically to 2.2 per cent like Pakistan and Sri Lanka is worst for been experienced when India is excluded, and in fact, in educated youth. In this regard, vocational has been largely real terms (1987 US$), excluding India and technical training is essential to limited to the elites again, South Asia’s per capita annual ensure that South Asian youths are in the region growth rate in the same time frame is trained in job-oriented skills to meet the actually -0.3 per cent (UNDP 1999c). challenges of the new century. Unfortunately this is just the tip of the Child and maternal mortality rates in iceberg. the region are still high, in particular for What growth has been experienced has Bhutan (see figure 1.1). Diseases such as been largely limited to the elites in the malaria and tuberculosis are staging a region. Income inequality has increased comeback, and the new, frightening AIDS significantly. As Human Development in epidemic is becoming a major health South Asia 1999 pointed out, the numbers problem. Unfortunately, there is limited of absolute poor in the region have documentation of AIDS cases in South increased from 270 million people in the Asia, primarily because there is little 1960s to approximately 515 million awareness among large parts of the people in 1995. 90 per cent of rural population about the disease, its Bhutanese live below the poverty line symptoms, and its treatment. There is also (ILO 1998). Pakistan has witnessed an a serious social taboo associated with the increase in the Gini coefficient of disease, which ensures that it is rarely inequality from 0.35 in 1987 to 0.42 in talked about in public. In India, which 1994, with its lowest income group has the largest number of HIV positive suffering a decline in real income to the cases in the region at a reported 4 million, tune of 56 per cent since the late 1980s there seem to be more concrete measures (MHHDC 1999a). The reasons for this Figure 1.1 Still too many continuing anti-poor growth are many, Bhutan 1600 but most can be attributed to wholly 116 inappropriate policies and poor Nepal 1500 100 governance, which have resulted in Bangladesh 850 corruption, fiscal irresponsibility, and 106 India 440 increasing poverty and unemployment. 105 The education problem promises to be Pakistan 340 136 just as threatening if not countered Maldives 202 immediately. South Asia is home to most 87 Sri Lanka 30 of the out-of-school children in the world 19 South Asia 484 (Haq and Haq 1998). Bhutan’s net 107 enrolment ratio at the primary level is a Under-5 mortality rate (per 1000 live births) dismal 13.2 per cent, while Bangladesh Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) has 21.6 per cent enrolled at the Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables.
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 15 being taken to deal with the problem have been limited improvements in through the setting up of counselling environmental practices in South Asia centres, emergency facilities and the like. with the exception of initiatives of the Pakistan and Bangladesh, not yet as severely non-government sector such as the affected—at least officially—are likely to Chipco movement in India. Unsustainable face a growing AIDS problem in the practices can be attributed to two basic coming years because of the high incidence factors. First, there is the scant disregard of sex workers and poor blood transfusion that some interest groups pay to the practices. environment. For example, land mafias, Public expenditure on the social timber mafias and large scale industrialists sectors continues to be insufficient. The are often unconcerned about how their lack of political will demonstrated by profiteering will affect present and future Urban overcrowding those making policies can not be generations who rely on natural resources understated. Sri Lanka, long noted for its for their livelihoods. They also ignore the is becoming a superior human development record, has very basic problem of depletion of the major problem due also cut social sector expenditure in natural resource base. in part to massive recent years: its public expenditure on The other reason for ecological levels of rural to health as a percentage of GDP has degradation is poverty. The vast numbers decreased from 2 per cent to 1.4 per cent of poor people in the region are starved urban migration between 1960 and 1995 (UNDP 1999c). for sustainable livelihoods and a This is representative of a major trend combination of this basic need and a lack across the region, which means that there of awareness leads to their engagement are still vast numbers of people without in practices that harm the environment. access to proper health, education, and This vicious cycle of poverty and sanitation facilities. Figure 1.2 highlights environmental degradation is lethal: it is this acute situation. The fact that basic indeed one of South Asia’s major human needs are not being met is concerns that long-term pressures on indicative of how the problem of grasslands due to rapid growth in human underdevelopment still persists, and that and livestock populations is resulting in too, in massive proportions. biodiversity loss (UNEP 1999). Land is Alongside human deprivation, there is not the only natural resource in danger: the frightening prospect of deterioration coastal areas are also suffering from of the environment, which if allowed to neglect as a result of inappropriate continue, threatens to permanently policies that favour large resource- damage ecological systems. Pakistan has extraction enterprises over small ones, the eighth worst annual rate of and industrial tycoons over small deforestation in the world at 2.9 per cent entrepreneurs. (UNDP 1999c). Since the 1980s, there Urban overcrowding is also becoming a major problem due in part to massive Figure 1.2 Human deprivation in South Asia (%) levels of rural to urban migration and the Not expected No safe No health No inability of current metropolitan centres to survive to 40 water services sanitation to cope. The result has been the 20 40 40 80 mushrooming of slums and squatter settlements—50 per cent of Colombo’s 15 30 30 60 population resides in slums (UNEP South Asia 1999). The figure for cities such as Dhaka ...... Developing World 10 20 20 40 and Karachi are not very different. Among other social and economic ills, these slum areas are often breeding 5 10 10 20 grounds for diseases due to poor health and sanitation facilities. Unfortunately, 0 0 0 0 there have been very limited attempts to Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables; and UNDP 1999c. deal with urban squatters except for
16 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Box 1.1 The phenomenon of urban slums in South Asia
Labour surplus in rural areas in South Asia phenomenon is the large vote bank that has led to a constant flow of migrants to these slums represent. As these are urban areas. This has resulted in the concentrated settlements comprising large explosion of mega-cities in the region. In proportions of city populations, they can large cities such as Calcutta, Dhaka, be great sources of political power. This Mumbai, and Karachi, millions of people means that politicians will cater to the needs reside in illegal squatter settlements, of the slum-dwellers only when it is in their predominantly on government-owned land. interest to do so. These slum areas are provided with basic The responses from slum dwellers to amenities arbitrarily and often through an reactionary policies on the part of the intricate web of corrupt government government have varied. There have been officials and land mafias. These settlements large-scale rallies and demonstrations in then expand rapidly as these are the only Dhaka against forced evictions, resulting in real viable housing options for new low- a High Court decision decreeing that The poor have not income migrants. At the same time, later evictions defied basic principles of human only been excluded generations of slum dwellers also need to rights and dignity. On the other hand, find space for increasingly large families. evictions in Pakistan have hardly met with from the benefits of The state’s failure to meet the needs of any public opposition as the poor have little growth but have poor people is conveniently hidden from voice in an elite dominated culture. time to time by large-scale demolitions of Efforts to truly address this problem also failed to gain these slums. This has happened across the have rested primarily with civil society political region. The reason behind such demolitions groups. The well documented successes of is unclear—while on the one hand, these the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in Pakistan empowerment operations may temporarily clear the city of and SSM in Sri Lanka stand out. However settlements, they do not address the long- there have been some government term issue of inadequate housing facilities initiatives such as the Sindh Katchi Abadi for the poor. Government policies with Authority (SKAA) which has been quite regard to such settlements are often successful in organising slum residents and inconsistent—they are left alone, even working towards long-term housing encouraged to flourish for decades, and settlement. This proves that if there is then they are arbitrarily torn down when it political will and commitment to fulfilling is thought appropriate with no thought for the state’s commitment to the poor, the human cost. Another interesting solutions can be identified.
Source: MHHDC staff. sporadic efforts to destroy settlements several fronts. For example, the formal when they become too conspicuous (see institutions of governance in the region box 1.1). This is hardly a desirable or often bypass the many unfortunate people humane solution to the problem of urban who suffer from multiple deprivations on congestion, and it definitely does not account of their income, religion, gender address the root cause of the problem. and ethnicity. The poor have not only The other threats to the environment, been excluded from the benefits of which result from congestion and growth but have also failed to gain overcrowding, include increasing political empowerment. Some of the quantities of solid waste, often worst consequences of their exclusion are inadequately managed, and uncontrolled seen in the high rates of crime and pollution. violence throughout the region. Income disparities in South Asia are Systemic governance crises amongst the largest in the world. The richest one-fifth of South Asians earn As discussed in Human Development in almost 40 per cent of the region’s income, South Asia 1999, South Asia is one of the while the poorest one-fifth earns less than most poorly governed regions in the 10 per cent. All the countries in the region world. That Report highlights the have a dramatic concentration of wealth governance failures in South Asia on and power among their richest members.
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 17 Women in South Asia are worst off, in the last decade, while huge sectors of contending with exclusionary practices society—most notably agriculture— embedded in society from the time they remain under-taxed or untaxed. are born. Much of the informal sector has no In many South Asian countries, access to formal credit, even though democracy is fast turning into an empty businesses with strong political ritual. Elections are often the only bridge connections manage to get huge loans between the state and society. People from public banks without paying them continually feel excluded from the larger back. This has led to a large stock of political process through which decisions non-performing loans. that directly affect their livelihoods are Even the low levels of revenue that made. the South Asian governments collect Pervasive corruption The dominance of a narrow band of largely fail to materialise into pro-poor elite reflects the concentrated nature of expenditures. The bulk of public spending in South Asia has political power. The concentration and in South Asia goes to providing non-merit led to a shift in personalisation of state power has subsidies, making up the losses of public government coincided with the parallel erosion of corporations, and maintaining a large priorities away from institutions of governance. Institutional force of civil servants and the military. decay is evident in parliaments that Total public debt as a percentage of GDP crucial services and cannot protect peoples’ interests, in civil is over 60 per cent in Pakistan, Nepal, Sri towards areas that services that are heavily politicised and Lanka and India, although most of India’s afford greater unable to provide basic public services, debt is domestic rather than external. and in judiciaries that fail to deliver social Pervasive corruption in South Asia has rent-seeking justice. led to a shift in government priorities opportunities Most South Asians also suffer from away from crucial services and towards inefficient and unjust systems of areas that afford greater rent-seeking economic management. Governments are opportunities. Evidence of corruption in large in size but low in efficiency. Most South Asia is widespread: in reduced taxes are regressive, falling far more on availability and increased cost of basic the poor and the middle class than on social services, in allocation of resources the rich, because nearly 70 per cent of for mega-projects, and in the breakdown the region’s total tax revenue is obtained of the rule of law. There is a growing through levying indirect taxes. This perception in many parts of the region crushing burden of taxation on the poor that corruption has floated upwards— is not only enormous, but also increasing. from petty corruption in the 1950s, to In many countries direct taxes as a mid-level corruption in 1960s and 1970s, proportion of GDP have actually fallen to corruption at the very highest levels of the state in the 1980s and 1990s. Table 1.5 Employment trends in South Asia The employment situation in the region is precarious. India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Bhutan Maldives South Asia The most recent official Lanka (weighted unemployment rate for Sri average) Lanka stands at 11.3 per cent % of labour force in agriculture (ILO 1998). Real wages in the 1970 73 65 84 94 55 95 66 73.3 manufacturing and agricultural 1990 64 52 65 94 49 94 32 63.1 sectors have declined % of labour force in industry considerably in the period 1970 12 16 7 1 14 2 20 11.7 between 1980 and 1995. In 1990 16 19 16 0 21 1 31 16.1 Pakistan in the 1990s, with % of labour force in services lower output growth and fewer 1970 16 19 10 4 30 4 14 15.8 people migrating abroad, the 1990 20 30 18 6 31 5 37 20.8 employment situation has Source: UNDP 1998a. worsened significantly. In
18 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Bangladesh, which has experienced high The overall effectiveness of SAARC is levels of urban labour absorption and rather limited and decreasing. fairly high levels of growth in the same The actual extent of trade and period, there are still insufficient jobs to cooperation within the South Asia region counter the numbers of people joining has declined steadily, except for some the labour force (ILO 1998). In those minimal increase between India and situations where jobs have become Nepal. The averages, however, are highly available in industries such as garments, skewed by the trade patterns of India and incomes are far from enough to support Pakistan since they are the two largest families. Table 1.5 highlights the economies in the region (table 1.6). disproprotionate share of the workforce The lack of cooperation within still concentrated in agriculture. All of SAARC prevails in an environment where these factors contribute to increasing it is clear that there is much to be gained The lack of desperation and deprivation. from cooperation in terms of poverty cooperation within reduction, social sector development, Regional Cooperation tourism, energy, transport and SAARC prevails in communication. At the tenth SAARC an environment Recently, much has been made of the Summit in Colombo in 1995, a Social where it is clear need for openness, multilateral Charter was proposed to deal with many cooperation, and free markets. As things social issues and with combining efforts that there is much stand however, the reality is that there to address the many deprivations faced to be gained from are just as many regional trading blocks by the largely poor, uneducated, and cooperation in terms and interest groups as ever before. under-served populations in the region However, South Asia has yet to come (Anisuzzaman 1999). Despite this, actual of poverty reduction, together as a region in order to reap the progress has been limited. social sector benefits that come with regional There have been many analyses development, economic integration. Within ASEAN, showing the efficiency gains from tourism, energy, intra-regional trade at 22.2 per cent of cooperation. Empirical studies on the GDP is quite high. This is second only to trade of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and transport and Europe’s 34 per cent. On the other hand, Sri Lanka find that expanded cooperation communication intra-regional trade among South Asian benefits all countries, in particular with nations is very low at 3.9 per cent of the regard to GNP growth (Naqvi et al. 1984). region’s GDP. Two separate studies to determine the The South Asia Association for effects of a possible regional trade Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was agreement in South Asia have shown South Asia’s attempt to create unity trade and welfare enhancing effect within the region. Set up in 1985, SAARC has not made any significant headway by Table 1.6 South Asia intra-area trade, % of total exports way of regional economic integration. So far SAARC has only one real Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Total achievement—the setting up of the South Bangladesh Asian Preferential Trade Agreement 1990 1.3 0.7 1.3 0.1 3.4 (SAPTA) in 1993. SAPTA was envisioned 1993 0.4 0.2 1.3 0.6 2.5 India to lead to the formation of a South Asia 1990 1.7 0.3 0.2 0.7 2.9 Free Trade Area (SAFTA). The 1994 2.5 0.5 0.2 1.4 4.6 Nepal agreement, which took effect in 1990 1.6 12.2 13.8 December 1995, was very cautious and 1993 0.3 9.9 0.2 4.5 14.9 was based on product-by-product tariff Pakistan 1990 1.8 0.9 1.2 3.9 reductions. There was a 10-25 per cent 1994 1.6 0.6 0.9 3.1 preferential reduction in tariffs agreed Sri Lanka upon on 226 items. But the agreement is 1990 0.5 1.1 0.1 1.7 3.4 quite weak in the sense that the members 1994 0.2 0.7 1.3 2.2 reserve the right to withdraw at any time. Source: Rahman 1998.
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 19 (Srinivasan and Canonero 1993a, 1993b). another. Constant tension has put The main findings indicate that high pressures on the region which have transport costs associated with internal undermined peace, prosperity and trade in the larger countries and with progress. Sri Lanka too has been partners outside the region, can be embroiled in a civil war which has lowered by increasing intra-regional trade. crippled the country and has almost This will benefit all trading partners. entirely overshadowed its otherwise Furthermore, new trade in goods and tremendous human development record. services can be generated that could have While there are other potential a significant growth-enhancing effect. bottlenecks to regional cooperation, such While regional liberalisation would benefit as underdeveloped communication links all countries, the benefits would be and infrastructures, these are rapidly The concept of greater for the smaller economies of the improving, and are not nearly as large an region. impediment to cooperation as is the national security There is reason to believe that there perennial conflict between the countries through the build-up are some sectors that would gain of the region. of conventional and considerably by regional integration. The spiraling of conflict into nuclear forces is Cooperation in sectors such as gas and nuclearisation of the region has electricity could be substantial. In intensified the problem. The nuclear tests meaningless if addition, there is potential for trade in conducted by India and Pakistan in April human security manufacturing inputs that would reduce and May 1998 have further compromised needs are not met energy price shocks. Estimates of demand human welfare in the region. The only and substitution elasticitites for hope of improving the strained relations manufacturing sectors in Pakistan, India between South Asian countries—and this and Bangladesh indicate a high degree of extends to beyond just the Indo-Pak substitutability among capital, labour and situation—is to highlight the immense energy resources (McNown et al. 1991). gains that are possible if South Asia Higher energy prices can be partially focuses on mutual cooperation. As compensated for by greater use of non- pointed out very clearly in Human energy inputs, specifically both capital and Development in South Asia 1999, the labour in India and Pakistan. Labour- concept of national security through the abundance in both countries is a factor build-up of conventional and nuclear that encourages this adjustment. The forces is meaningless and if human trade of capital inputs is likely to benefit security needs are not met and countries both countries also. The effects of a do not feed, clothe and shelter their regional trade agreement on employment citizens. The growing disillusionment with could also be positive. elected governments across the region There is no shortage of empirical highlights this. The initial euphoria in evidence to prove that South Asian India and Pakistan over becoming nuclear nations have much to gain from powers died down as common people increasing trade cooperation, and opening were adversely affected by sanctions. borders to one another. The evidence Rising prices continue to reduce the does not even take into account the non- purchasing power of consumers, and trade barriers that are likely to be rising unemployment only exacerbates the removed in the context of a regional problem. Corruption also dominates the agreement. political landscape. Thus there is a feeling The constraints to regional that South Asians may be prepared to cooperation are all too evident. Neither listen to rational arguments for India nor Pakistan—and later cooperation over conflict in order to Bangladesh—have ever been able to secure more prosperous, safe, stable, and establish stable relationships with one ultimately, better lives.
20 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Progress and challenges: their impact provide opportunities predominantly for on South Asian women men. The lack of regional cooperation and the relentless forces of globalisation The human costs of poor governance, combine to put a further squeeze on poor regional economic non-cooperation and women working in the informal sector, military confrontation are heavier on as large corporations swallow up small women of the region. Women bear the entrepeneurs. brunt of the lives lost as a result of The latest challenge of nuclear conflict disease, hunger, civil and military strife is even more frightening. The prospect and poverty. Women and girls in the of such conflict affects all South Asians. region face discrimination in access to It is crucial to halt this foolish waste of health, education, employment, and in all resources and to insist that governments other areas. In addition, they are the redirect their priorities towards human A weak judicial victims of some oppressive and rigid needs. The women of South Asia, as well customs and traditions that perpetuate as all over the world, are builders of peace system fails to their disadvantage. They bear children (see box 1.2). Their response as a united uphold women’s early and often, and are pressured to force to the many challenges they face is rights, and produce sons rather than daughters. Many a shining testimony to their unwillingness struggling perish in the process. Many women to succumb to adversities. In this Report, become victims of so-called ‘honour we seek to highlight the many barriers economies provide killings’, karo kari, sati, and other crimes that South Asian women face and to opportunities against humanity. inform the world about their fight to predominantly for A weak judicial system fails to uphold achieve equality. women’s rights, and struggling economies men
Box 1.2 Leading lights: Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia
South Asian women are already on their of Indian and Pakistani women travelled way to building peace in the region. across the border to meet people at all Women’s Initiative for Peace in South Asia levels to talk about peace and cooperation. (WIPSA) is composed of NGOs and In 1999, WIPSA organised two individuals who are convinced that peace is programmes for promoting world peace. no longer a choice but an imperative for On August 6th Hiroshima Day, it held survival in South Asia. WIPSA-organised meetings in different cities in India, seminars, conferences and people-to-people Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal to protest contact groups have been sensitising people against increasing conflicts in South Asia in through the media about the need for the wake of nuclear tests by India and building peace. These are the leading lights Pakistan. In December, WIPSA initiated the of South Asia—the lawyers, social formation of ‘human chains for peace’ in scientists, activists, journalists, students and India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri housewives who are doing what their Lanka. policymakers are failing to do—to provide All these events were a stark reminder to a safe and peaceful environment for the the political leadership of South Asia that people to live and prosper. there is a vibrant and determined civil In late March 2000, a solidarity society, with women at the forefront, conference of women from across the sub- advocating for an end to the years of conflict continent was organised in Islamabad. The which has already cost the region so much. objective of the conference was to promote The vigour of the participants was peace in the region, and to emphasise that complemented by a positive response from South Asian women are committed to the media, and regional organisations. South avoiding conflict and war at all costs. The Asian women have made it clear that they women activists who took part expressed reject nuclearisation and unproductive use an unwavering commitment to peace and of the region’s resources, and will continue to a united movement towards mutual to raise their voices to dispute the decisions cooperation. Then in April and May, groups of those who perpetuate the conflict.
Source: MHHDC staff.
Human Development in South Asia at the Dawn of the 21st Century 21 2 Women and Gender in South Asia
It is important that we place this revolution for gender equality in its proper development perspective. The gains made by women do not mean a loss for men, much less for society. … Gender equality is a necessary condition for sound human development.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Women and Gender in South Asia 23 Chapter 2 Women and Gender in South Asia
Over the past three decades, theorists, between women and men, and girls and practitioners and activists involved in boys, in a given society. both women’s movements and women’s Originally a grammatical term, ‘gender’ studies around the world have developed as a sociological concept was introduced a set of terms and concepts, much of only in 1971 in Oakley’s publication Sex ‘Sex’ represents the which has fallen into common usage. and Gender. While ‘gender’ is now in However, specialists and non-specialists common usage in English and other biological differences alike often use these terms in ways that European languages, many non-European between females and confuse important practical and languages, including those of South Asia, males. ‘Gender’ theoretical distinctions, such that original do not have an equivalent term. represents the meanings are lost, arguments undermined, Gender refers not just to women, but and policy implications misunderstood. to both women and men and to the socially-constructed Thus, before undertaking any analysis interactions between them. The concept differences between of ‘women’s position’ or ‘the gender assumes that the gender differences women and men, question’, it is important to discuss what apparent in every society have been we mean by these terms, and, in the created and reproduced through socio- girls and boys, in a process, develop working definitions of cultural, religious, political and economic given society key concepts. Moreover, in the context factors—lenses through which biological of this Report’s regional focus, it is difference has been viewed and important to explore the extent to which interpreted. Thus, while women’s concepts central to discussions of women childbearing abilities are part of their sex; and gender in the development process the confinement of women to the home are grounded within the realities of South in many cultures is due to their gender. Asia. Indeed, most of what has been traditionally labelled as the sexual division Sex, gender, and women’s issues— of labour is in fact a gender division of what’s the difference and why does it labour. In this way, opinions vary in terms matter? of which attributes constitute biological difference (sex) and which are socially Most gender theorists consider the determined (gender). The notion of distinction between the concepts of sex ‘biological difference’ is often used to and gender as fundamental, but ‘women’ justify discriminatory beliefs about and ‘gender’ continue to be used women and men’s relative intelligence, interchangeably. For the sake of clarity, emotional behaviour, or suitability to in this Report an attempt is made to use certain jobs. the terms according to standard Through an analysis of gender relations— definitions. Sex is used to indicate the the social relationships and power biological differences between females and distribution between the sexes in both the males. It is the case across time and private (personal) and public spheres— cultures, for instance, that females can we can begin to understand how such bear and nurse children, and males gender inequalities are created and cannot. Gender, on the other hand, reproduced within South Asian represents the socially-constructed households, markets, states and societies. differences—in terms of accepted Moreover, in order to develop strategies attributes, roles and relationships— for change, it is essential to first
24 Human Development in South Asia 2000 understand the factors that underlie and active agents of women’s gender inequality. subordination or emancipation. South Asian women are commonly In box 2.1, the manner in which men’s portrayed as among the most oppressed lives are both constrained and facilitated peoples in the world. Indeed, the through patriarchal structures is explored. experiences of the majority of women of It is important to recognise that not every the subcontinent are grounded in both individual man subscribes to an overt poverty and patriarchy. In What is Patriarchy patriarchal ideology, and not every (1993), Bhasin notes that the term is used individual woman is in a subordinate to refer to male domination; to the power position. Yet there is an overall structure relationships by which men dominate of patriarchy which allows men, in women; and especially to the system general, more mobility, authority and through which women are kept control, than women, in general. And, as ‘While both sexes subordinate. Unlike gender, Bhasin notes emerged in the seminar described in box suffer due to being that patriarchy does have South Asian 2.1, ‘while both sexes suffer due to being equivalents that express ‘the rule of the locked in their rigid and narrowly defined locked in their rigid father’—pidarshahi in Urdu, pitrasatta in gender roles, it is the women who pay and narrowly Hindi, and pitratontro in Bangla. the price in a much more obvious way.’ defined gender roles, There are different theories The clearest example of this are the it is the women who surrounding the origins of patriarchy, and various forms of violence systematically the extent to which there has ever been a meted out against women. pay the price in a matriarchal society. Indeed, the precise In this Report, therefore, the focus is much more obvious nature of patriarchal beliefs and mainly upon women’s issues, but not in the way.’ behaviour vary across cultures and narrow sense commonly used by South communities and over time. Yet it is clear Asian policy-makers, NGOs and the that patriarchal ideologies and practices media. The phrase ‘women’s issues’ is pervade political, economic, legal, socio- commonly used to refer to events, cultural and religious structures around policies and practices perceived as the world. primarily—if not exclusively—having an Patriarchy constrains women in all effect on the lives of women and girls. facets of life. Control of women’s South Asian women are primarily reproductive abilities and sexuality is conceived of as wives, mothers and placed in men’s hands. Patriarchy limits homemakers, and their responsibilities women’s ownership and control of within this realm define the notion of property and other economic resources, ‘women’s issues’. Thus ‘women’s issues’ including the products of their own continue to be primarily located within labour. Women’s mobility is constrained, the social sector, with health—especially and their access to education and reproductive and child health—and girls’ information hindered. In these ways, education as the centre of attention. patriarchal structures perpetuate the Incidents of physical violence against enduring gaps between the opportunities women are increasingly mentioned in the available to South Asian women and media, but rarely within the context of South Asian men. larger processes of gender discrimination. Despite some measure of improvement In this Report, we move beyond the over the decades, in almost every case, usual focus on women’s access to social women are on the losing side of all these services, and investigate the opportunities gaps. For this reason, our discussion of and constraints that women face in the gender issues in South Asian development labour market and in the judicial system, tends to focus on women. Yet, by as entrepreneurs and as political definition, gender issues also concern representatives. Institutionalized violence men, as women’s partners in the against women is investigated, rather than development process, and as both passive individual incidents of violence. Further,
Women and Gender in South Asia 25 Box 2.1 ‘The other gender’—men’s issues in the development process Male violence Social disharmony While there is growing recognition that gender issues cannot be sufficiently addressed through Arrested development focusing only on women, the transition from WID to GAD has occurred with limited reference to men. There has been an overall lack of understanding of male issues at both the policy-making and grassroots levels, and few concrete interventions regarding male roles. Important exceptions include UNFPA’s work on men’s role in reproductive decision-making, and UNICEF’s research on fatherhood. In 1998, in order to initiate discussions surrounding men’s issues and development, the UNDP Gender Unit in Islamabad Absence of Absence of platform emotional outlet or Male burdens for addressing men’s hosted a seminar on l Without adequate support system The Other Gender. Seminar issues education, training, health, presentations touched Male privilege nutrition, decision-making upon the relationships l Social value attached to powers, women are less men’s work between sons and Social pressure to Additional burden of able to contribute mothers, and husbands conform to a l Control over resources disempowered women effectively to development and wives; the stereotyped role l Decision-making authority l Affirmative action can socialisation of boys into l Women in supporting role disempower individual acceptable male roles; the l Mobility men while having limited sexual abuse of boys; and l Non-harassment effect on systems of male violence. During patriarchy discussions, participants Economic Responsibility of being identified several types responsibility guardian and protector of women’s/family honour of problems faced by males due to the gendered and patriarchal nature of society. The group also identified several privileges generally afforded men within the same patriarchal systems.
Sources: Ahmad and Khan 1998; Levack and Rahim 1998-9.
it is recognised that all issues are women’s women and men often have contrasting, issues, as long as people—which include potentially conflicting, needs, interests women—are affected. and priorities, as well as different At the same time, the importance of opportunities and constraints. closing the gender gaps in health and In order that policy decisions facilitate education is not forgotten, as these gaps the livelihoods of all people, women and are an affront to women’s most basic men, it is important to take into account rights as human beings. Further, there can these differentials. Based upon an never be significant alleviation of the understanding of the existing gendered widespread poverty that pervades the distribution of resources and subcontinent when a significant responsibilities, policies can be developed proportion of the population is that are intended to leave this distribution systematically denied the opportunity to unchanged (gender neutral ); to target the contribute constructively to the needs of either women or men within the development of their families, existing distribution (gender specific ); or to communities, economies and societies. transform the existing distribution in It also is argued that many policies order to create a more balanced set of considered as gender neutral—i.e. affecting gender relationships (gender redistributive) men and women equally—are in fact (March et al. 1999). gender blind. Policy-makers often take Land reform, international trade policy, established gender relations for granted, road construction, conflict resolution, and make the implicit assumption that fisheries development, taxation, the policy impacts do not differ by gender. development of school curricula—every Yet it is increasingly recognised that all decision made in a community or state policy decisions have gendered can potentially affect women’s and men’s implications. Based on their socially- lives differently. Outside the social sector, constructed roles and responsibilities, gender analyses are rarely undertaken, not
26 Human Development in South Asia 2000 least due to a paucity of women in development, scholars and practitioners decision-making positions in these areas. often attempt to distinguish between Mainstreaming gender refers to the process women’s practical needs or interests, and of institutionalising a commitment to their strategic needs or interests. This gender analyses throughout policies, distinction was defined by Molyneux programmes and organisations. Rather (1985) and elaborated upon by Moser than locating all the responsibility for (1989). monitoring the gender implications of Practical gender needs are those a woman policy within a separate body, such as a or man requires in order to fulfil her/his Women’s Ministry or Gender Unit, socially determined roles. For instance, in mainstreaming requires that each order to feed her family, a woman may government ministry or NGO identify access to food or fuelwood as a programme undertakes gender analyses as practical gender need. Women’s issues, as ‘…achieving gender part of its normal operations. traditionally conceptualised, often equality is not only At the same time, ‘mainstreaming also concern meeting women’s practical needs recognises that achieving gender equality in order to improve women’s condition. about providing is not only about providing assistance to Meeting practical gender needs does not assistance to women women and incorporating women into require challenging the existing division and incorporating existing structures, but also requires of labour or women’s position relative to women into existing transformative change’ (UN SecGen that of men. 2000). Separate, women-focussed Strategic gender needs, on the other hand, structures, but also agencies do have a role to play in are those which require a confrontation requires monitoring and transforming the policy with existing social relationships between transformative environment, but agencies can only fulfil women and men. This could include these roles if afforded sufficient powers changes in anything from property rights change.’ and resources. High-powered, well- to the relative amount of time women funded agencies for women’s and men are expected to spend in child empowerment are required; these must care. ‘In order to change women’s position, be developed to be on political and we must address the way gender economic par with national-level bodies determines power, status, and control like ministries of finance, and over resources’ (March et al. 1999). international bodies like UNICEF and The practical-strategic and condition- UNFPA (Haq, K 1989). position dualisms have been criticised for Throughout this Report, the overriding several reasons, in particular because they policy recommendation is that the policies mask overlap and interaction between the developed by South Asian governments, achievement of one set of needs and the NGOs and private sector bodies must be other. For instance, a woman may define gender-aware, in order to halt and reverse access to credit as a practical need in processes of gender discrimination that order to fulfil her role as household undermine the region’s attempts to caretaker. At the same time, achieving develop in a way that is both equitable access to credit may imply a shift in and sustainable. While gender focal points traditional gender roles in which activities can be important initiators of change (if related to cash are men’s domain. Access they possess sufficient political and to credit may have further strategic economic resources), in the long term a implications, such as increased status commitment to gender analyses must be within the household or community, and mainstreamed in order to be effective. an increased sense of self-esteem. During gender planning’s relatively WID, GAD, and rights-based short history, essentially commencing development with the 1975 declaration of the UN Decade for Women, practical and strategic In discussions of women and gender in needs have been emphasised at different
Women and Gender in South Asia 27 times under different planning noted in box 2.1, however, there has been frameworks. Before the Decade for little focus on men within GAD. Women, development planning The term ‘empowerment’ has come to concerned with women focused on mean many different things to different addressing the practical needs actors in the development field. As surrounding their reproductive role Rowlands (1997) points out, the term through essentially a welfare approach, appears in the language of, among others, emphasising delivery of food, family neo-liberals, neo-Marxists, feminists, and planning, health care, etc. Third World grassroots groups, indicating The original WID (Women in its broad utility as a concept. In this Development) approach, ushered in Report, we define ‘empowerment’ as during the Decade for Women, was comprising increased power in the initially conceived as an equity approach. economic (material), social, political, and/ This approach recognised women’s active or psychological realms, and consider this role in the development process as in conjunction with people’s identification reproductive, productive and community of their own problems and needs. workers, and emphasised the fulfilment Ackerley’s (1995) consideration of of their strategic needs through direct empowerment is usefully adapted: state intervention. Due to its political nature, this approach was not very ‘Empowerment can be considered a change acceptable to governments, and was soon in the context of a woman or man’s life replaced by an anti-poverty approach, that enables her/him increased capacity to focused on practical needs surrounding lead a fulfilling human life, characterised women’s productive role. by external qualities such as health, The efficiency approach, currently the mobility, education and awareness, status most popular, focuses on the practical in the family, participation in decision- needs of women in all three of their roles. making, and level of material security, as More pertinently, however, it seeks to well as internal qualities such as self- enhance women’s contribution to the awareness and self-confidence.’ development process in order to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of project This broad definition allows for the interventions. While recognising the existence of individual and flexible validity of the claim that a country’s understandings of empowerment in the development prospects largely depend on economic, social, political and women’s full participation in social, psychological realms. political and economic life, Moser points More recently, many activists have out that the efficiency approach tends to turned to a rights-based approach to the assume that women’s time and energy are development process, and to realising elastic. gender equity in particular. A rights-based The empowerment approach considers approach sets the achievement of human women’s improved condition and rights and the creation of an enabling position to be ends in themselves, rather environment in which human rights can than only a means to broader be enjoyed as the main objectives of development goals. This approach people-centred sustainable development, focuses on meeting women’s strategic as well as the means to achieve it. needs in terms of their triple role, but In this way, a rights-based approach unlike the equity approach, focuses on a transcends sectoral concerns, and can bottom-up, self-reliant approach. The encompass the concepts of welfare, anti- equity and empowerment approaches poverty, equity and empowerment as facets of have been labelled as GAD (Gender and the rights of all people. While the Development) approaches because of achievement of human rights is their emphasis on strategic needs. As considered an important means to other
28 Human Development in South Asia 2000 developmental ends within the rights- women’s equality, advancement or based approach, because human rights are empowerment, feminism should have the ultimate objective of all development heralded and sustained this chapter, rather processes, the efficiency argument is not than only entering the discussion at its often employed in rights-based end. Indeed, many women, and some approaches. Savitri Goonesekere (1998) men, locate their sense of political, moral clearly explains the benefits of a rights- and philosophical purpose and based approach, in terms of the legal motivation—especially but not solely in enforceability, state responsibility and terms of gender relations—within a moral authority pertaining to human system of beliefs and practices that they rights (see chapter 5). call feminism. For a feminist, therefore, In the Asian context, the forging of the exclusion of feminism from any links between women’s rights and human discussion of gender is absurd. The unqualified rights movements has been hindered At the same time, many women’s human right to somewhat by the belief that ‘Asian movement activists in South Asia, and in values’—based upon community rights other non-Western regions, are adamant freedom of and individual responsibilities—are non-feminists. This is most often based conscience and incompatible with Western notions of upon a narrow conceptualisation of the religion does not individual rights. Further, ‘countries with term, in which feminism is considered a justify gender a strong religious tradition that is Western import and equated with the integrated into state administration and views of Western middle class, secular, discrimination or the governance often perceive human rights educated women, or with extreme female violation of women’s as a secular ideology antagonistic to chauvinism. While these sources and fundamental rights religion and cultural traditions’ (ESCAP types of feminism do indeed exist, it is 1999c). very important to realise that there are The Third and Fourth World perhaps as many forms of feminism as Conferences on Women in Nairobi and there are individual feminists. Beijing (see chapter 3) have helped Liberal feminists struggle to have build consensus on these issues, women’s equality with men recognised exemplified in the Jakarta Declaration for and actualised within society as it exists. the Advancement of Women in Asia and the Cultural feminists work for societal Pacific (1994). Indeed, ‘…it is increasingly recognition of what they consider being recognised that an unqualified women’s unique and important role as human right to freedom of conscience nurturer. Many other feminists seek to and religion does not justify the transform society into one in which roles manifestation of religious belief in and relations based on gender (and practice and observance so as to other socially-constructed attributes undermine or violate gender equality’ including class, race and disability) are (Ibid.). deconstructed and rebuilt in a more In this Report, it will be maintained egalitarian manner. Some feminists that true development both consists of emphasise essential similarities between and depends on the complete recognition women. Others focus on difference. and fulfilment of the universal political, South Asia is the intellectual and activist civil, economic, social and cultural rights home of certain forms of ecological, of all people. socialist and grassroots feminism— some of the women’s movements Feminism(s) associated with these will be returned to in chapter 9. We conclude our discussion of sex and Despite this diversity of feminist gender concepts in South Asia with a thought and practice, there seem to be brief look at feminism. For many activists fundamental similarities. The following and academics involved in movements for definition of feminism was agreed upon
Women and Gender in South Asia 29 by women from Bangladesh, India, based on other forms of social identity Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in a and structures of power. The position of workshop run by the Indian women’s any individual woman—in relation to organisation Kali for Women (Bhasin and men in her society, to other women, and Khan 1986): to women and men from other communities—is based not only on her ‘Feminism is an awareness of women’s gender but is mediated by other factors. oppression and exploitation in society, at In South Asia, gender is crossed by lines work and within the family, and conscious of ethnicity, religion, caste, class, action by women and men to change this situation.’ education, age, family structure, disability, ecology, and location on a rural-urban Both South Asian women and South continuum. Both South Asian Asian societies as a whole suffer due to However, it is not only that a young women and South the low status accorded to women—on Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu woman faces this point there is no doubt. At the same different religious and cultural Asian societies as a time, this Report is founded upon a opportunities and constraints to an older whole suffer due to diversity of beliefs surrounding the Sunni Muslim woman from northern the low status condition and position of South Asian Pakistan. The gender ideology of a given accorded to women women, the reasons for attempting to community—particularly in terms of change women’s status, and the best relative mobility, decision-making power —on this point there means to do so. We believe that the and access to socio-economic resources— is no doubt strength of this Report lies in this is determined in both a de jure (in theory, combination of diversity of views and according to rule) and a de facto (in unity of purpose. practice, in reality) manner. The institution of purdah (literally Diversity—in theory and practice curtain) illustrates this point well. Throughout the Islamic world, and In South Asia, it often seems that the touching many non-Muslim South Asian interaction between, on one hand, communities, gender relations are religious and cultural beliefs and intimately related to the concept of practices (‘tradition’), and on the other, purdah, defined generally as a set of ideals contemporary, globalised social and and practices through which the sexes are economic forces (‘modernity’), occurs in segregated, often resulting in women's such a way that structures of patriarchy socio-economic roles being based within are reinforced. Indeed, as Drèze and Sen the domestic sphere. The rules set out by (1996) have demonstrated, ‘On their own, the Qur’an and the traditions of the the forces of development and Prophet (PBUH), collectively considered as modernisation do not necessarily lead to Islamic law (Shari‘ah), and the particular a rapid reduction in gender inequalities.’ interpretation of these rules dominant in As a result, in comparison to men and a particular Sunni or Shi‘a sect, make up women around the world (with the what could be called the de jure purdah of possible exception of the women of Sub- a community. Saharan Africa) South Asian women are The de facto purdah—the actual extent least likely to be literate; to have access to which women interact with non-kin to primary and reproductive health males and move outside chador-chardivari services; to enjoy civil, political and legal (veil and four walls)—is determined not equality with men; and to enjoy economic only by these official rules, however, but and social security on the basis of their also by the interaction between rules and own work. local culture and tradition, as well as It is also important, however, to social change and economic necessity (see recognise how inequalities based upon box 2.2). Throughout this Report, gender gender overlap and interact with those inequality will be examined not only
30 Human Development in South Asia 2000 within its various structural contexts, but of threshing, cleaning, storage of grain also in terms of sources and processes of and complete care of livestock, due to change—including the activities of the out-migration of males. However, individuals, women’s organisations and although these women are undertaking other non-governmental organisations; tasks formerly considered ‘men’s work’, government policy; and broader socio- these new tasks are considered as economic change. household maintenance, not work. This A study of women’s lives in the old is due to the status implications of city of Lahore, Pakistan (Weiss 1994), women’s agricultural labour—only notes that over one generation there have women from poor families work in the been significant changes both in terms of fields—and the hegemonic (dominant) what women are expected to do, and gender ideology in the community which what they actually perform. Women have denies that women do any work outside ‘South Asian increasingly been entering the public the confines of their home. While the woman’ must be sphere. This change has been based in manner in which the gender division of large measure on the necessity to labour is played out in a particular context considered as contribute economically to the family, is flexible, the perceptions surrounding the heterogeneous. especially as globalisation and economic division often remain intact long after the Diversity exists crises alter the traditional male sense of practice has changed. between familial obligation. However, fostered by Thus, there are three important ways the introduction of labour-saving in which ‘South Asian woman’ must be communities, within technologies, the increasing availability of considered as heterogeneous: inter- communities, and wage labour for women, and women’s community diversity, intra-community over time greater exposure to education and mass diversity, and inter-temporal diversity. Inter- media, women’s own decisions have also community diversity refers to those played a significant role in their differences between women based upon movement into the public sphere. the community in which they live. Studies of the effects of male out- The South Asian subcontinent is home migration on the roles and responsibilities to several major religious groups— of South Asian women also suggest that including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, the boundaries between ‘home’ and Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians— ‘outside’ are elastic in the face of as well as many smaller, more localised necessity. Whether a household becomes traditions. Some are made up of several ‘female-headed’, and what this means in sects, each influenced by the local socio- a specific context, depends on the way in cultural context as well as the presence of which religious, social, economic, legal other religious groups. Further, while the and demographic factors interact with the gender ideologies espoused in each nature of the migration. While a community are in large measure household will often remain de jure male- determined by the hegemonic religious and headed, this range of factors will cultural values, communities also differ in determine the extent to which it becomes terms of geography, ecology, and de facto female-headed in terms of predominant system of livelihoods, each decision-making, financial management, with their own influence on accepted the amount and type of labour gender roles and relations. Drèze and Sen contributed to the household economy, (1996) note, for instance, that in India and consequent mobility. ‘regional contrasts in the extent of gender For instance, it is noted in a study of a bias in child survival are far more striking village in Uttar Pradesh, Northern India than the contrast relating to religious identity.’ (Ahmed-Ghosh 1993) that high-caste Thus, Buddhism as practised in Bhutan women have been forced to take on the is different from Sri Lankan Buddhism, ‘outside’ duties of sowing and weeding, and Islam has found different modes of in addition to ‘inside the compound’ tasks expression in different parts of
Women and Gender in South Asia 31 Box 2.2 ‘Structure’ and ‘agency’—how Bangladeshi garment workers change the rules
Do culture and society determine our There are many different feminist understanding of purdah. They often beliefs and behaviour? Or do our beliefs views regarding the origins and nature refer to purdah as defined by a woman’s and behaviour determine cultural and of patriarchy, and the possibility of character and manner, rather than by a social rules, political and economic changing patriarchal structures. veil and seclusion. Many also state that structures? Are we creative human agents, However, most forms of feminism, as the Qur’an recognises that working for actively controlling the conditions of well as most women’s movements, are survival is more important than keeping our own lives? Or is what we do the grounded in recognition of the potential strict purdah. In this way, norms result of social forces and power for change. At the same time, the surrounding Bangladeshi women’s structures outside our control? structures themselves do not allow economic activity and mobility are These questions form the crux of a people equal opportunities to construct slowly changing. Kabeer explains that, long-standing and central debate within and mould social structures and the field of sociology, but their institutions. Gender inequality can be ‘Paradoxically, … through their attempts relevance to the struggle for women’s located in women’s subordinate status to reconcile their practice with prevailing rights is obvious. Are the patriarchal among those who determine societal norms, … the workers were, often structures surrounding women’s norms, economic systems, and political unintentionally, helping to transform the oppression inevitable, permanent, and processes. Around the world, women very norms they invoked to justify their static? Or can these structures be continue to be denied equal access to practice.’ changed by individual or group action, central social, economic, political, or through gradual changes in the wider religious and cultural institutions, thus Other studies (Amin et al. 1997) have social, political and economic limiting their abilities to change the very noted an increased average age at environment? How can we explain the structures that exclude them. In marriage and first child-birth, not only apparent universality and resilience to response to such discrimination, among garment workers themselves, change of some types of gender individuals have often identified but also among women who remain in discrimination, in the face of the collective action as a main means to villages from which many women have dynamism and diversity of others? effect positive changes in gender migrated for garment work. Anthony Giddens’ theory of relations. At the same time, as Drèze and Sen structuration attempts to reconcile these Kabeer provides an example of how discuss, the effects of increasing female two approaches. While recognising that gradual changes in behaviour can lead labour force participation are not always our choices are constrained by the social, to broader changes in gender norms. positive, and often work in opposite political, cultural and economic Economic globalization has fostered directions. On the one hand, increased structures with which we live, Giddens’ the growth of an export-oriented access to a cash income and public theory emphasises that structures are garment industry in Bangladesh. Over space can facilitate positive shifts in also created by human choice and thus the past fifteen years, this has lead to women’s status and agency within the we can never be totally imprisoned by the emergence of increasing numbers household. Also, an increased market them. As structures become established of young Bangladeshi women into the for women’s labour may enhance the in society, they take on values and urban public sphere. Working in the importance attached to the survival of meanings of their own, as well as the garment industry involves moving girls. On the other hand, however, appearance of permanence. Yet, each about in public and interacting with increased outside employment in person, individually and in groups, non-kin males, practices contrary to addition to household work can damage makes choices that actively contribute traditional notions of purdah. New women’s health and hinder their to the creation, support, change and institutional arrangements are being ability to care for children. In some destruction of structures. In order to developed that minimise interaction cases, one structure—women’s role as have a complete understanding of the between the sexes in the factories, and housekeeper and childminder, for processes of change, one must recognise allow co-workers to relate to each other instance—may be more resilient than both the existence and resilience of as kin. Many garment workers others—such as those that deter structures, as well as the specific contexts themselves attempt to rationalise their women from working in the public and capabilities of agents. behaviour by adapting their own sphere.
Sources: Amin et al. 1997; Drèze and Sen 1996; Giddens 1987; Kabeer 1995.
Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka parts of Bhutan and Southern India, and the Maldives. In some regions, the matrilineality (whereby ancestry and hierarchies through which not only inheritance are determined by the female women but entire communities are line) is the cultural norm, fostering oppressed are far more associated with somewhat greater gender egalitarianism structures of feudalism than with religion than in those areas which maintain or culture. In other regions, including patrilineality (Agarwal 1996).
32 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Hindu Personal Laws in Bangladesh apparent in inter-generational difference. and Nepal have not been modified to the However, processes of globalization have same extent as those in India, such that increased the pace of socio-economic Bangladeshi and Nepali Hindu women change to such an extent that significant live under a relatively archaic system of changes are often felt within generations. rights and responsibilities (UNDP 1999a). However, as noted above, changes in de Further, because the level of enforcement jure expectations often lag behind changes of laws relies on cultural norms as well as in de facto practice. resource constraints, and thus varies both within and between countries, the de jure ‘South Asian women’ legal or constitutional rights afforded to —a useful category? women is often not translated into de facto protection. In the face of this heterogeneity of By virtue of being Intra-community differences are also experience, is it possible to speak both ‘South Asian’ important. Demographic factors such as meaningfully of ‘South Asian women’? age and position in the life cycle, as well Throughout this Report, we maintain that and ‘women’, there as family size and structure, tend to the diversity of South Asian women’s are several factors influence women’s status in terms of experience must inform both analysis of that transcend class, relative autonomy and mobility. An older issues and policy recommendations. religion, culture and Bangladeshi woman with adult sons, for Yet at the same time it is clear instance, is often able to move more that women in South Asia do indeed locality, and affect freely in society than her younger suffer greater poverty of educational, the lives of all South counterparts, to influence local politics health, economic, political and legal Asian women through her sons, and to control the opportunities, relative both to their male movement and economic activity of her counterparts, and to women around the daughter-in-laws (Gardner 1995). In India world. By virtue of being both ‘South in 1991, there were about 33 million Asian’ and ‘women’, there are several widows, or over 8 per cent of the female factors that transcend class, religion, population—a number comparable to culture and locality, and affect the lives that of male agricultural labourers (Drèze of all South Asian women. These include and Sen 1996). Widows continue to be responsibility for housework and child much more vulnerable than widowers— care; vulnerability to domestic violence; only 2.5 per cent of the male and the economic vulnerability that reflects population—due to traditions of women’s unequal legal and social status patrilineality and patrilocality. The class (Agarwal 1996). These commonalities are background and level of education of a based upon a shared subcontinental woman and her family will also affect her history, based upon layers of religious, position. And personal factors are often cultural, economic and political structures, neglected in analyses: a woman’s own shaped by centuries of immigration and character and abilities, as well as those colonialism, and combined with of her family, can lead to significant patriarchal structures which oppress changes in the gendered ideas and women. practices of individuals and communities. The first challenge for governments As discussed above, many of these and civil society is to recognise and differences create de facto diversity. understand that South Asian women face Finally, women’s position in society is obstacles that both hinder their own not static. Rather, it shifts in response to, efforts to live and prosper, as well as and also affects, changes in the economic, impede broader social and economic social, political, cultural and environmental development processes in the region. The situation of a community. Thus, there is second, even more challenging task is also inter-temporal diversity in the lives of how to go about implementing change, South Asian women. This diversity is often an issue we turn to in chapter 9.
Women and Gender in South Asia 33 3 Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing
No nation can develop half-free and half-chained. Empowerment of women—through their full participation in education, employment and political and social life—is vital for this purpose.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 35 Chapter 3 Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing
In 1995, Beijing, China played host to agreement (the Beijing Platform for Action, one of the largest global conferences ever. BPfA) signified a turning point in the The United Nations’ Fourth World Conference global struggle for women’s rights. on Women (FWCW), generally referred to Through bringing all previous as the Beijing Conference, brought agreements into a comprehensive The Beijing together approximately 17,000 document, and attaching specific and government delegates, representatives of measurable policy goals, the BPfA was Platform for Action non-governmental organisations (NGOs), intended to become the definitive signified a turning international civil servants, and media international agreement regarding the point in the global Box 3.1 International conferences and agreements struggle for women’s with specific relevance to women and girls rights 1947 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
World Conferences on Women:Other relevant conferences: 1975 Mexico City 1990 Education For All (EFA), Jomtien 1980 Copenhagen Children’s Summit, New York 1985 Nairobi 1992 Environment and Development (UNCTAD), Rio de Janeiro 1995 Beijing 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna EFA, New Delhi (E9 countries) (1976-85 1994 Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo UN Decade for Women) 1995 World Social Development Summit, Copenhagen 1996 Habitat II on Human Settlements, Istanbul World Food Conference, Rome
representatives in the official forum. status of women. While governments About 30,000 women and men have been accorded primary Box 3.2 Beijing Platform for participated in the parallel NGO Forum responsibility for the implementation of Action—critical areas for at Huairou. the BPfA—including the creation of an concern In recognition of the fact that women’s enabling policy environment—the equality is a matter of human rights, a agreement calls upon all multilateral and l Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of condition for social justice, and a non-governmental organisations, at the women prerequisite for broader equality, international, national and local levels, as l Human rights of women development and peace, the conference well as the private sector, to contribute to l Women and poverty was convened with the primary objective its effective implementation. And, while l Women and the economy of removing all obstacles to women’s encompassing CEDAW’s focus on l Education and training of participation in all spheres of public and achieving legal, social, political and women private life. While not standing in economic rights, the BPfA both updates l Women and health isolation as an international conference CEDAW and extends its mandate to the l Women in power and decision-making with specific focus on women (see box empowerment of women and the l Violence against women 3.1), the enormous momentum created facilitation of women’s participation in l Women and armed conflict during the Beijing process, as well as the all spheres of life. Twelve overlapping l Women and the media specific and action-oriented nature of the ‘critical areas for concern’ are identified l Women and the environment agreed-upon commitments, suggested in the BPfA (see box 3.2), each with its l The girl child that the conference and subsequent own list of policy obligations.
36 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Several complementary approaches to World Conference for Women in 1985 achieving gender equality were and forms the basis of the BPfA, was incorporated into the BPfA: gender also under review. This process, formally mainstreaming; the life-cycle approach; called Women 2000: gender equality, partnership between women and men; development and peace for the 21st century, is human rights; and gender and commonly known as Beijing Plus Five development. The mainstreaming, rights- (BP5). based and partnership approaches have Throughout the world, a stocktaking been discussed in chapter 2. Through the process was initiated, from the grassroots life-cycle approach, the BPfA attempts to to the national and regional levels, in capture the prevalence and incidence of order to prepare for the BP5 Special discriminatory practices affecting women Session. Governments, ideally after at each stage of life—from birth through consultation with NGOs, the private Poverty, violence childhood and adolescence, adulthood sector and other civil society and lack of political and ageing (UNSecGen, 2000). A ‘gender organisations, prepared BP5 reports in and development’ approach, in this which good initiatives, major obstacles, participation have context, refers to the integration of persistent and emerging issues, and future been identified as gender within an holistic, people-centred actions identified. In many cases, issues of special approach to development in all its ‘alternative’ BP5 reports were prepared concern to South manifestations. by NGO networks. At the Beijing Conference, each The focus of both the government and Asian women country committed itself to developing a ‘shadow’ NGO reports was on changes national plan of action (NPA), in which in policies, laws, institutions, programmes, both the country-specific situation of the generation and dissemination of women and related policy commitments knowledge, and, to some extent, resource are elaborated upon. While some reports allocation (Ibid.). As four or five years— have yet to be finalised or approved, or two or three from the completion of between 1995 and 1998 an NPA has been the NPAs—was an insufficient period in prepared for each South Asian country, which to assess the results of policy with the exception of Bhutan. Bhutan has changes, changes in indicators related to chosen not to prepare an NPA on the women’s development were not the basis of the official belief that gender primary focus. Further, while not discrimination does not exist in Bhutan. necessarily leading to significant changes At the same time, however, the Bhutanese in the social, political and economic government has incorporated the BPfA environment in which women live, policy into the Ninth Plan, and committed itself changes can be considered as an indicator to bringing women into mainstream of political will—the lack of which is development processes. consistently identified as a major obstacle In June 2000, at a Special Session of to change, particularly in the South Asian the UN General Assembly, region. representatives of governments and At the BP5 regional meeting in NGOs met to assess the progress made Kathmandu (1999), poverty, violence and by governments, as well as by NGOs and political participation were identified as private sector bodies, towards the the priority issues of concern for South commitments made in the BPfA and Asia. According to participants of this NPAs; to reaffirm these commitments; meeting, other issues of special concern and to focus further on obstacles to to South Asia include the trafficking of implementation and on strategies to women and girls (see box 3.3); disability; overcome these obstacles. The ageing; the girl child; refugee women; and implementation of the Nairobi Forward women in situations of armed conflict. Looking Strategies for the Advancement of The effects of rapid economic Women, which was adopted at the Third globalization on women—on access to
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 37 Box 3.3 The peak of degradation— Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan trafficking in women and children Specific trafficking laws ✓ ✓ Trafficking in women and children manifests commodification of women Penal provisions ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ and children and violence against them in one of the most extreme forms. South National action plan ✓ Asia has emerged alongside South East Asia as a major centre of both intra- and Protection services ✓ ✓ (children) ✓ international trafficking of women and girls, primarily for purposes of Support services ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ prostitution but also as domestic and bonded labourers, beggars and smugglers. NGO invovlment ✓ ✓ Major international flows include from ✓ ✓ Nepal and Bangladesh to India; from girls living illegally in Pakistan, or trafficking is undertaken on a large, Bangladesh and Burma to Pakistan; and Nepalis in Indian brothels, in the organised scale involving regional gangs from Pakistan and India to the Middle hundreds of thousands. It has been with links to law enforcement agencies. East. Trafficking in very young boys estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 Sadly, ratification of the proposed from India and Pakistan to the Middle girls between the ages of 12 and 20 are SAARC Convention on Trafficking and East, for use as camel jockeys, has also trafficked out of Nepal each year. Sexual Exploitation of Women and assumed alarming proportions. Trafficked women and children are Children, adopted at the Ministerial There are several factors that facilitate extremely vulnerable to abuses of the Meeting in Colombo, July 1998, has the trafficking process, not least of which legal system. Not only do these women been stalled due to the postponement is a lack of adequate employment face persecution under immigration of the 1999 SAARC Summit. The opportunities for poor women. In many laws, but, in Pakistan, are also often negotiation of the convention was cases, women and their families are charged under the Hudood Ordinances difficult, particularly because of the issue convinced by trafficking agents (who are with zina (fornication). In India, about of repatriation of Nepalese sex workers sometimes women) that marriage or safe four times as many women than men in in India. and gainful employment is available in the sex trade are arrested—procurers, National and international NGOs are another region or country. In other cases, guardians, pimps and clients are rarely increasingly involved in anti-trafficking women and girls are abducted, or are sold touched. Without local social support education, advocacy, legal aid, social and by relatives to agents. In the context of network or access to the legal system, health support for the rehabilitation of acute poverty and gender discrimination, foreign women and girls imprisoned in trafficked women, and socio-economic South Asian women and girls become any South Asian country are particularly development projects in sending villages. increasingly vulnerable to economic and/ vulnerable to prolonged detention and Indeed, it was NGO work that brought or sexual exploitation. In some areas of custodial violence. Further, women and trafficking and prostitution to the India and Nepal, girls’ vulnerability to girls often do not report trafficking due SAARC table. However, bi- and trafficking for prostitution is further to fear of retaliation and recrimination. multilateral NGO networks within the facilitated by the traditional practice of The stigma associated with HIV/AIDS region still are lacking. dedicating girls to temple deities. In many has undermined attempts both to Faced with a problem of such scale, cases the tacit co-operation or active repatriate trafficked women, as well as the government of Nepal has developed collusion of border guards, law to rehabilitate them. an holistic National Plan of Action enforcement agents and others in While legal and social measures against Trafficking in Children and their positions of power seem to be central to against trafficking do exist in South Commercial Sexual Exploitation, which the lucrative trafficking trade. Asian countries (see table), enforcement approaches the issue from institutional, Accurate information on the number of existing protective laws is lax. Further, legal, economic, educational, social and of women and girls trafficked is due to its crossborder nature, trafficking health perspectives, and seeks to involve impossible to obtain, and estimates vary in people sits alongside environmental multilateral bodies. No other South widely. It has been suggested that one degradation, arms smuggling and the Asian country has developed a set of can count the number of trafficked drugs trade as problems that demand policies specific to the trafficking issue. Bangladeshi and Burmese women and international co-operation. Much
Sources: Ennew et al. 1996; ESCAP 1999a and 1999d; Goonesekere 2000; HMG Nepal 1999a; UNDP 1999a; and Women’s Feature Service 1999.
education, health, food, and social safety the developing world as an overarching nets; on employment prospects; on media theme. And, as the overwhelming representations; and on trafficked and majority of South Asian women live in refugee populations—have been rural areas, the condition and position of identified in South Asia and throughout women in agriculture and rural women in
38 Human Development in South Asia 2000 general, also have been identified as reviews undertaken by both government overarching issues of concern. and NGOs have shown that while there has been some progress in terms of South Asia’s response to process, very little of substance has been its Beijing commitments accomplished since 1995. Women’s ministries, departments, When one considers South Asia as a commissions and bureaux remain under- whole, evidence of progress made on the funded, and lacking in the authority basis of Beijing commitments is mixed. On required to mainstream gender concerns. one hand, both NGOs and governments While women remain severely under- feel that the process of developing NPAs represented in political office, civil service and national plans has fostered an and other public bodies, the increased understanding and awareness of establishment and effective While there has women’s rights and status, both among implementation of quotas systems are been some progress concerned bodies as well as society more rare. Despite constitutional guarantees of broadly. There has been increased equality, discriminatory legislation remains in terms of process, interaction between those government in place, and protective laws are very little of bodies and NGOs involved in WID and inadequately enforced. Social sector substance has been women’s rights, and a measure of budgets remain severely inadequate. accomplished since institutionalization of this process, with ‘Women’s issues’, as they have been positive implications for future initiatives. conceptualised in the region, continue to 1995 In some countries, there have been take a back seat to other stated women-positive changes in the legal government priorities, such as economic framework, in some cases based upon and political crises, conflict and violence. decisions made at the level of the high There is little recognition that all these courts. Based upon the Beijing process, as issues are intrinsically related to a lack of well as pressure from donors and overall human, including women’s, international NGOs, governments have development. As such, they require that increasingly targeted health, education and governments approach them in a holistic microenterprise development programmes and humane manner. Without taking into on girls and women. account the legal, socio-cultural, At the same time, when one compares economic and political obstacles that progress made to the promises contained constrain half the population, and without in the NPAs, it is apparent that there has the active participation of women in been no significant improvement in the decision-making bodies, there is little political will to implement change. While chance that these issues will be resolved. it can take time for changes in women’s The pages to come contain balance status to become apparent, by agreeing sheets of progress made and remaining to the BPfA each government committed obstacles in each country and South Asia itself to taking immediate steps in order as a whole. The information contained in to create an enabling environment for these balance sheets has been culled from women and women’s organisations. both government and NGO BP5 reports, Within each NPA, the specific and as well as from other documents prepared immediate nature of these commitments by international organisations and emerged to greater or lesser degrees— independent researchers. Media and some governments made very specific environment have been excluded from time-bound commitments to analyse and these balance sheets because the NPAs act upon the issues identified in the BPfA; and BP5 documents provide limited other governments expressed their information on these topics. Box 3.3. commitment in a much more general however, contains a discussion of media manner. In either case, however, the issues.
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 39 Gendered indicators of development measure gender inequality. The HDI (Human Development In addition to the Bejing Conference, the Index) measures the average achievement year 1995 was important in terms of the of a country in terms of the extent to international agenda surrounding women which people lead a long and healthy life, and development for another reason. In are educated and knowledgeable, and the Human Development Report (HDR) enjoy a decent standard of living. The produced by the United Nations GDI ‘genders’ the HDI through Development Programme (UNDP), measuring the unequal achievement of Mahbub ul Haq defined three composite women and men on the basis of the same indices that can be used together to indicators. Thus, the greater the gender
Box 3.4 Transforming media into a tool for women’s empowerment
The portrayal of women in the assistance programme for PTV, with Conference. Doordarshan increasingly mainstream South Asian media has been positive influences on the quantity and presents dramas and talkshows with identified as a major factor impeding the quality of gender sensitive material women-positive messages. Several films transformation of societal perceptions of broadcast. The project also supports in the 1999 South Asian Documentary women’s roles and characteristics. civil society initiatives to organise and Film Festival deal specifically with Throughout the region, based on low develop mechanisms for media gender issues and notions of gender sensitivity within the media and accountability. femininity—from the experiences of excessive political and religious control Nepal Television has undertaken Indian women photographers, to the of media institutions, women are affirmative action efforts; the Nepali role of dance in Pakistani society. A 1999 portrayed in stereotypical and often Ministry of Women and Social Welfare Bangladeshi film, Duhshomoy (A derogatory ways, when they appear at has run workshops to gender sensitise Mother’s Lament), details the story of a all. Women’s roles as (dutiful) wives, senior media personnel; Forum of 16-year-old garment factory worker (caring) mothers and (conscientious) Women in Media (1996) has facilitated picked up by the Dhaka police, allegedly homemakers are emphasised to the improved media coverage of issues gangraped, and sent to prison for ‘safe almost complete exclusion of their other related to women’s empowerment; and custody’ where she dies under socio-economic roles. the National Alliance for Combating mysterious circumstances. Two Indian In much of South Asia, television is Violence against Women has started a films, Dry Days in Dobbagunta (1995) the most accessible media form. Three- media monitoring and advocacy and When Women Unite (1997), portray quarters of urban Indians, and about programme. the struggles of rural women against 45% of Indians overall, have access to Women’s presence in media growing male alcohol dependence. a TV. Almost 90% of these people have institutions—particularly in decision- Further, individuals and organisations access to Doordarshan, the state-run making positions—remains extremely concerned with the condition and station. In contrast, only about 5% have low. In Pakistan, fewer than 10% of position of women are increasingly access to a private national or PTV producers and journalists’ union making use of new forms of electronic international TV station. In Pakistan, members are women, although in 1999 media to inform women of their rights, about one-third of the population has a woman was elected to the office of and to organise campaigns surrounding access to television, almost solely to Secretary General of the Pakistan their violation. The Sri Lanka Women’s state-run Pakistan Television (PTV). Federal Union of Journalists for the NGO Forum, for instance, initiated a Thus, television has become the main first time. In Nepal, women make up national media campaign in three target for pressure groups and NGOs about 12% of those working in media, languages in 1998, focussing on women’s concerned with women’s representation and are primarily confined to political participation; similar campaigns in the media. administrative positions. While have been run throughout the region. In India, the National Commission on increasing the number of women does Children throughout the region have Women successfully lobbied for not guarantee improvements in the grown to love Meena, the heroine of amendments to the Indecent media representation of women, it can UNICEF’s series for television which Representation of Women Act, extending facilitate positive changes in the focuses on issues such as education, its reach to private channels. The Women perceptions of those in media about the nutrition, sanitation and discrimination, and Media Group of Bombay initiated roles and abilities of women. all from the perspective of a lively little action against the trivialisation of Media also can be used as a tool to girl. Manushi—the Indian journal of women’s image, resulting in changes in subvert stereotypical images and women and society—has gone on-line, legislation, withdrawal of advertisements introduce new ideas into society. In the and NGOs around the region are and discontinuation of serials. Maldives, for instance, the biannual increasingly using e-mail and the internet In Pakistan, the UNDP is facilitating magazine Hiyala has publicised women’s to share information and ideas, and an on-going training and technical rights issues since the Beijing organise campaigns.
Sources: Government and NGO BP5 reports; Women’s Feature Service 1999; and Dristi 2000. .
40 Human Development in South Asia 2000 disparity in basic capabilities, the lower a Figure 3.1 GDI and HDI in South Asian countries and the world (1997) country’s GDI as compared to its HDI. 0.8 The GEM, on the other hand, is concerned with the opportunities 0.7 available to women vis-à-vis men in participation in the economic and political 0.6 life of a country. Together these three indices show that while a country may 0.5 appear to have achieved a high level of 0.4 human development, women in that Sri Lanka Maldives India Pakistan Bhutan Nepal Bangladesh SOUTH Developing World ASIA Countries country may still suffer from HDI GDI discrimination in building their Source: UNDP 1999c. capabilities and in gaining access to economic and political opportunities. world (see table 3.1 and figure 3.1). South South Asia’s Asia’s GEM score, however, at only 0.24 is regional GDI is the Table 3.1 Comparing indicators of the world’s lowest. However, these regional second lowest in the human development (1997) averages mask enormous differences within the region. Sri Lanka and the Maldives both world and South HDI GDI GEM have HDI and GDI values of over 0.7, Asia’s GEM is the Bangladesh 0.440 0.428 0.304 above the world averages, and GEM values world’s lowest Bhutan 0.459 0.444 n/a well over 0.3. India’s HDI, GDI and GEM India 0.545 0.525 0.240 scores, at 0.55, 0.53 and 0.24 respectively, Maldives 0.716 0.711 0.342 are slightly higher than the South Asian Nepal 0.463 0.441 n/a averages, but well below the averages for Pakistan 0.508 0.472 0.176 developing countries as a whole. While Sri Lanka 0.721 0.712 0.321 Pakistan’s HDI, at 0.51, is only slightly South Asia 0.532 0.511 0.241 below the South Asian average, its GDI of Developing 0.47 and GEM of 0.18 are well below both countries 0.637 0.630 n/a the South Asian and developing country World 0.706 0.700 n/a averages. Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan all have HDI and GDI values of less than 0.5, Source: UNDP 1999c. but Bangladesh has a GEM value of 0.3, Composite indices such as the GDI and relatively high compared to its HDI and GEM cannot be taken as complete measures GDI scores (see figure 3.2). of gender equality or women’s empowerment, as many facets of equity and empowerment— Figure 3.2 Development indicators compared security, mobility, dignity, access to resources, 3000 autonomy—cannot be adequately represented 8 8 5 by proxy measures. GDI and GEM can be important, however, to draw the attention of policy-makers and analysts to the gendered effects of development and change. Indeed, Sri Lanka these new indices have strengthened arguments that traditional development Bangladesh indicators lack in gender-sensitivity— India indicators through which analysts argue that the overall level of development in a ...... Pakistan country often do not adequately represent the situation of women. 0 4 4 1 South Asia’s regional GDI value is 0.51, GDP per HDI GDI GEM capita (US$) slightly lower than its HDI value of 0.53, and the second regional lowest value in the Source: UNDP 1999c.
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 41 Even national averages do not tell the sensitive policy-making throughout South Figure 3.3 GDI—Indian states in whole story. When one looks at Indian Asia, and much of the developing world. A comparative perspective (1995) state-level GDI scores, for which data is lack of data also proves to be an obstacle Sweden available, an enormous difference to attempts to develop country-sensitive u between states is apparent (see figure indicators of change. As Mehta (1996) 3.3). Kerala’s score, in fact, is higher than points out, for instance, in countries where
Canada that of the Maldives. Kerala’s high HDI an almost negligible proportion of women and GDI scores also demonstrate that are employed in the professional, technical, income level is not a decisive factor in managerial or administrative sectors, a more
Belgium achieving high human development and appropriate measure of changes in gender equality. Progress in these areas economic participation and empowerment depends more on government could take into account women’s
Greece commitment and allocation of resources. participation in the informal sector; wage Attempts to calculate indices also rate differentials; access to training, draw attention to the lack of some forms technology, or credit; or membership in Trinidad and Tobago of information, alerting policy-makers trade unions, co-operatives or self-help and analysts to their lack of adequate groups. Yet due to both women’s economic knowlege of the realities of gender invisibility and the nature of the informal
Turkey discrimination and disparity. A lack of sector (see chapter 4), this type of quality, gender-disaggregated data information is rarely collected. remains a major obstacle to gender-
Surinam
Sri Lanka
Paraguay
Syria Gujarat Kerala Himachal Pradesh Punjab Maldives Karnataka Saudi Arabia Tamil Nadu West Bengal Maharashtra
Lesotho Haryana Andhra Pradesh
India Assam
Pakistan Orissa Bangladesh
Madhya Pradesh Nepal Rajasthan Yemen
Bihar Uttar Pradesh
Burkina Faso
Afghanistanu
Source: Shiva Kumar 1996.
42 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet SOUTH ASIA
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women Institutionalization of Beijing process has allowed: • State resistance to gender mainstreaming, and political and • formulation of plans, and establishment of national machineries economic marginalization of women’s departments etc. for women’s advancement • Political inconsistency, poor governance and an overall lack of • increased interaction between and among NGOs and governments commitment to women’s empowerment at various levels; and their increased awareness of ‘women’s issues’ • Inadequate gender disaggregation of statistical databases/ knowledge-bases Women’s rights, human rights • Increased awareness of, and demand for, women’s rights • Persistence of patriarchal attitudes/practices; discriminatory laws/ • Establishment of institutional mechanisms for the investigation policies; non-implementation of protective legislation and reform of discriminatory laws; superior courts setting new • Rising communalism, religious fundamentalism and conservatism, precedents regarding women’s rights limiting women’s mobility and security Women, violence and armed conflict • SAARC Convention on Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Women • Trafficking of women and girls within/across countries has and Children adopted at Ministerial Meeting (Colombo, July 1998) assumed alarming proportions; ratification of SAARC convention • Women’s police cells established in several countries stalled due to postponement of 1999 Summit • Women’s Initiatives for Peace co-ordinated peace rallies in Karachi, • Increased violence against women, particularly domestic violence New Delhi and Dhaka (1999); Indo-Pakistan Women in Solidarity and the victimisation of women in the name of honour, but no (2000) specific domestic violence laws in any country • Scale/quality of women’s police cells fall short of requirements; women severely underrepresented in security forces Women, poverty and the economy • Increased focus in National Plans on meeting the needs of poor • Increasing poverty among women, especially due to growing women numbers of female-headed households and on-going denial of • Growing number of microfinance, income-generation and self- women’s rights to land, property, mobility and social support employment programmes specifically targeting poor women • Women primarily employed in informal sector as unskilled, low- paid, insecure labour, unaccounted for in statistics • No mainstreaming of women’s microfinance programmes by commercial banks Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Attempts to increase girls’ enrolment, attendance and survival • Excepting Sri Lanka and Maldives, large gender gaps in literacy, through changes in school regulations and teacher recruitment enrolment and completion remain policies, infrastructure improvements, direct financial support • Declining education and training budgets and expenditures • Increasing number of non-formal and vocational education • Traditional norms including early marriage continue to hinder girls’ programmes targeted at women, primarily run by NGOs education Women in power and decision-making • Seat reservations have increased the number of women in local • Women remain poorly represented in policy, administrative, politics judicial, legislative bodies; seat reservation legislation often stalled • Awareness-raising, capacity-building, lobbying and networking • Majority of women ministers in ‘soft’ social sector posts surrounding political empowerment issues increasingly undertaken • Women’s effectiveness as local politicians hindered by lack of by NGOs and NGO-government partnerships training, male backlash; women’s entry into politics hindered by corrupt, money-centred, violent political culture Women and health • Health policies and programmes increasingly approaching women’s • Population control/reproductive health continue to eclipse other reproductive health in a holistic manner aspects of women’s physical and mental well-being throughout • Increased recruitment of female health workers their life-cycle • Pervasive anaemia still endemic, and health care for women in remote areas and regions in conflict remains inaccessible
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 43 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet BANGLADESH
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women • Approval of the National Action Plan and National Policy for Women’s • Gender mainstreaming requires sensitising policy-level personnel Advancement (1997); establishment of National Council for Women’s regarding their roles and responsibilities; sufficient allocation of Development (1995); MoWCA Parliamentary Standing Committee (1996); resources; and adequate information flow inter-ministerial bodies, district/thana level committees (1998); • Gender specific indicators, sex disaggregated data is required to WID focal points in 46 ministries strengthen policy analysis and monitoring mechanisms • Repeal of law barring women from police service • Women made up less than 1% of the police force in 1997 Women’s rights, human rights • Partial withdrawal of reservations to CEDAW (1997) • Two reservations to CEDAW remain in force, and many CEDAW • Compulsory birth and death registry campaigns (1997-98) provisions are yet to be included in domestic laws Women, violence and armed conflict • Multi-sectoral Programme on Reduction of Violence against Women, awaiting • Inadequate implementation of special laws to address violence approval, included in 5th Plan (1997-2002); Permanent Law against women; police stations and legal procedures unfriendly to Commission established to review all laws related to women, women and the poor especially those dealing with violence • Despite increasing presence of women’s NGOs, lack of adequate • Prevention of Women and Child Repression Act (2000) to deal more support systems, shelters and special medical treatment for victims effectively with rape, acid attack, forced prostitution, trafficking Women, poverty and the economy • 5th Plan focuses on absolute poverty and food security among • Public sector employment reservations of 10%-15% only met in women; thus, MoWCA’s development budget raised by over 400%, government insurance companies and outreach/scope of its implementing agencies increased • ‘Success’ of microfinance programmes in generating self- significantly employment for poor women needs further review, in terms of • GoB considering proposal to ‘engender’ national budget; initiatives coverage, reaching the poorest of the poor, and the sustainability by some ministries underway of self-employed jobs in saturated and stagnant markets • Vulnerable Group Development focus shifted from relief (food aid) to • Women’s increased participation in the labour market unmatched development (food aid plus capacity building) by equivalent shift in control of financial resources and property • Increased provision of child care facilities for women working in government and garment industry Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Education Policy (awaiting approval) prioritises female education; • In many schools, basic facilities for girls are still unavailable, such NPA for Children (1997-2002) emphasises girls’ interests that attendance rates of poor girls remain low and large gender • NGO/government programmes and reservation of 60%/ 100% gaps remain in higher and post-secondary enrolment teaching posts in rural/satellite schools for women facilitated girls’ • Traditional norms including early marriage continue to hinder girls’ primary/lower secondary enrolment; rates now equal boys’ education • Marriage under the age of 18 for girls declared illegal Women in power and decision-making
1 • Local Government Bill (1997) provides for direct election to /3 • Only 0.45% of Union Councils have women chairpersons; only women’s reserved seats in all four tiers of local government; 46,000 130 women elected to general seats (1997); male-dominated social women stood and 12,828 women were elected to Union Council structures hinder the work of elected representatives seats; fostered by equal opportunity education campaigns for • To bring qualified women to the highest levels of bureaucracy voters, and training for elected women (less than 3% women in 1997), competition rules need revision • GoB introduced lateral entry to increase women’s representation • On-going debate regarding the fate of national-level reservations in senior decision-making positions Women and health • Health and Population Sector Strategy includes all national and • Uptake of maternal care services remains low, especially in rural international commitments (including BPFA), with special areas, hindering reductions in the maternal mortality rate: only emphasis on vulnerable groups including poor women; National 14% of women are attended by a trained person during birth, less Integrated Population and Health Programme a major collaborative than 5% of those with life-threatening complications get emergency undertaking by government, USAID and 7 partners obstetric care • Initiatives to improve emergency obstetric care, and to develop ‘women-friendly’ health services (UNICEF-assisted) • Medical code of ethics in formulation, with potentially positive implications for women’s access to health services
GOB 1999d.
44 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet BHUTAN
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Women’s rights, human rights • Marriage Act (1980) amended (1996) to award child custody to mother upon divorce, with maintenance support from father Women, violence and armed conflict • Amended Marriage Act criminalises marital rape Women, poverty and the economy • 85% of population follows matrilineal traditions giving women an advantage in terms of land and livestock ownership – 70% of land is owned by women Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Girls make up almost half of primary school enrolment; • Overall literacy rate low, especially in rural areas, with 28-point government involved in construction of girls’ schools and hostels gender gap • 70% of beneficiaries of non-formal education programmes are • Boys still outnumber girls in school attendance women; relaxed entry requirements for women’s entry into • Ratio of female to male technical trainees 1:4 vocational courses, increasing number of skill development programmes for women • Through Youth Guidance and Career Counselling Unit, women teachers and matrons counsel girls against dropping out and inform them of career options • Marriage age of girls raised from 16 to 18 Women in power and decision-making • Women make up 70% of local body membership • Women make up only 16% of civil servants, although gender gap • Rising numbers of women in National Assembly is decreasing; very few women are in senior management
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 45 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet INDIA
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women • Sub-plan for women in 9th Plan for first time; not less than 30% • 9th Plan women sub-plan has a limited and traditional focus of all funds are to flow to women • India’s NPA, National Policy for the Empowerment of Women (1996), • 3 states formulated women’s empowerment policies and 4 states not yet formalised or approved by government prepared Human Development Reports since 1995 • Establishment of National Resource Centre for Women halted when • Committee on Empowerment of Women (1997) to consider reports by donor agency pulled out in the wake of nuclear tests autonomous National and State Commissions on Women (1996), and to ensure women’s cells set up in all ministries/departments • National Alliance of Women’s Organisations formed Women’s rights, human rights • Women’s Bureau undertaking review of discriminatory laws • Two declarations and a reservations to CEDAW remain • Supreme Court rulings: dowry demands can constitute cruelty, and • Women’s Rights Commissioner not yet appointed thus can be grounds for divorce (1998); single women have right to adopt (1998); women are the natural guardians of a child (1999); equal inheritance rights (1999) • Mumbai High Court rulings: Muslim alimony regulations revised in women’s favour (1998); marriage registration made compulsory; titles for state housing to be issued jointly to women and men • Army Wives Welfare Association achieved abolition of clause that denied pensions to remarried widows (1999) Women, violence and armed conflict • Guidelines on prevention of sexual harassment in the public sector, • Crimes against women cells lack clear mandates established by Supreme Court (1997) • Despite growth of pro-women legislation, conviction rate of • All-women police stations, Crimes Against Women cells est- perpetrators of violence against women has been dropping ablished in 12 states/union territories (1995); more policewomen • Throughout India, armed conflict continues to curb women’s recruited; number of family and special courts expanded mobility and threaten their security. • Innovative community schemes to eradicate violence Women, poverty and the economy • In collaboration with the ILO, DoWCD established National • Women’s work remains statistically invisible, and legislation to network on structural adjustment, women’s employment and equality protect home-based and informal workers unimplemented • Increase in self-help groups linked with commercial banks from • Lack of improvement in women’s property and inheritance rights 255 (1992-93) to over 17,000 (1998); 88% exclusively women’s continues to undermine efforts to alleviate poverty groups Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Total Literacy Campaign and expansion of District Primary Education • Strategies that rely on placing female teachers in rural schools have Programme fostered 6-point rise in overall literacy rate (1994-99); largely failed due to lack of focus on recruiting women with over 60% of new enrolment made up of females, based on building experiences grounded in the community girls’ hostels and adapting timings to girls’ domestic schedules • Large gender gaps in literacy and enrolment remain, while • Integrated Balika Sammridhi Yojana (1997) launched to enhance girls’ education and training budgets and expenditures fall: 14% cut in status and change family/ community attitudes, expanded to government expenditures for primary education; 17% cut in include adolescent girls’ interests; Kasturba Gandhi Shiksha Yojana expenditures for non-formal education, shutting down night (1997) offers state subsidisation for girls’ education; Adolescent Girl schools and adult educational programmes for working women Scheme (nutrition, health education, skill development) extended • Nation-wide sex ratio continues to fall, from 927 (1991) to 911 (1997-98) (1998 est.) females/1000 males • GOI expanding literacy campaigns for widows so that they can use their entitlements to various forms of state support
46 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet INDIA (continued)
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Women in power and decision-making • Local level women’s representation has exceeded proportion of • Overall involvement of women as voters (58%), contestants (6%) seats reserved in several states and parliamentarians (8%) remains low (1998) • Election Commission launched women voters’ awareness and safe • Lack of sufficient support systems, training, information for voting environment campaigns (1996) and appealed for parties to women elected under constitutional amendments; local nominate more women bureaucracies need sensitisation • Women’s presence in high civil service positions to be fostered by • Stalled 81st/84th Amendments, reserving 1/3 of parliamentary seats gender focal point established in Department of Personnel and Training for women; despite commitments to reserve 1/3 of party places for women, not adopted or implemented by any party Women and health • Gol established Target Free Approach/Community Needs Assessment to • Deaths due to anaemia have not been declining, yet the illness contraceptive delivery (1996); Reproductive and Child Health Programme finds no place in Reproductive and Child Health Programme (1997) • Under-5 mortality rate has increased by 1.4% (1993-97) • Infant and maternal mortality rates decreased from 1993 to 1997/ • Due to falling budgets and resource disbursements, number of 8 by 16.5% and 3.5% respectively national nutrition programme beneficiaries fell from 225,000 (1995) • Health and family welfare departments allocated significant to 29,000 (1998) budgetary increases (1998-99) DoWCD – Department of Women and Child Development; GOI – Government of India.
Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet MALDIVES
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women • Gender disaggregated data collected for the first time in 1995 census • Island Women’s Committees established • Increased recruitment of women to National Security Service, until 1989 an all-male body Women’s rights, human rights • National Conference on the Family led to drafting of new Family Law • Two reservations to CEDAW remain in which women’s rights in the family are codified • New Family Law tabled but not passed Women, violence and armed conflict • Survey on domestic violence incomplete due to lack of technical staff Women, poverty and the economy • Revised employment regulations to safeguard women against discrimination based on reproductive roles Education and training of women, and the girl-child • No gender disparity in access to primary education • Gender gap in enrolment/completion of higher secondary school • GoM constructed a second secondary school (1998) and due to mobility differentials, hindering attempts to achieve gender introduced 2 scholarship programmes for girls from atolls to attend balance of students going overseas for higher education secondary and higher secondary education • Marriage of girls under 16 discouraged Women in power and decision-making • MoWASS ran workshops for women on legal and political awareness, covering 12 of 20 atolls (1998-99); number of women contesting seats in People’s Majlis highest ever (1999) • Publication of Directory of Women in Senior Government Positions (1996) Women and health • Health Master Plan (1996-2005) includes broader perspectives on • Provision of emergency services, especially to women, hindered by women’s health beyond reproductive health geographical remoteness of many islands and atolls GOM – Government of the Maldives; MoWASS – Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Security.
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 47 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet NEPAL
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women • Establishment of MoWSW (1995), Child and Women Development • Women’s development institutions remain under-financed, lacking Council (1995), and National Women Co-ordination Committee; draft a clear mandate, lacking district level bodies, and unable to facilitate bill formulated for Independent Women’s Commission inter-ministerial co-ordination • Local bodies given responsibility to reduce gender disparities and • Bodies such as the Public Service Commission and Ministry of General discrimination (Royal Ordinance on Local Government, 1997) Administration do not have women-specific sections Women’s rights, human rights • Supreme Court directed HMGoN to submit National Code Amendment • MoWSW bill on inheritance rights rejected; 11th Amendment bill Bill (11th Amendment; 1997) with the provision to amend some lapsed due to bureaucratic delays and changes in government discriminatory laws, including those pertaining to rape and • Legal discrimination against women persists in terms of criminal abortion; 9th Plan (1998-2002) makes strong commitment to punishment, property, citizenship, marriage/divorce, tenancy, review and revise discriminatory laws adoption, abortion, rape and trafficking Women, violence and armed conflict • MoWSW, 9th Plan, NGOs emphasise increasing services for • Nepal is the only South Asian country without criminal law victims of violence; women’s police cells set up in several districts provisions to deal with domestic violence; situation exacerbated by • MoWSW formed a National Task Force on Trafficking of Girls (1997); women’s lack of economic and property rights multi-sectoral, holistic agreement with ILO signed • Weak overall law enforcement, particularly of the Human Trafficking Control Act (1986); personnel lack awareness and skills pertaining to violence against women
Women, poverty and the economy • Poverty alleviation is 9th Plan’s sole objective; employment/ • Discrimination in job opportunities and wages increasingly severe; training reservations, gendering 2001 census and national only 1% of working women are employers or managers accounting system to be implemented • Framed as protective legislation, recent cabinet decision prohibits • Budget speech (1999-2000) stated that Jagriti programmes will be women’s employment in Gulf States, curtailing civil liberties initiated as national campaign, to support women’s income • No steps taken to enforce changes in labour legislation; loopholes generating activities through education/training, self-employment, for enterprises to by-pass legislation by employing fewer than 50 co-ops, microcredit, public health women, hiring women as contract/daily wage workers • Changes in labour legislation to allow for child care centres, breast- • Government and NGO savings and credit programmes covered feeding breaks (1997) and maternity leave only 5% of economically active rural women (1997) • Property Rights Bill for women submitted to Parliament Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Non-formal education, vocational training, other anti-poverty • Female literacy rate lowest in the region—1 of every 5 adult women programmes increasingly used to fight trafficking is literate—and gender gap in literacy and in primary net enrolment • Elimination of examinations up to 2nd grade instituted to are region’s highest: parents continue to retain girls at home discourage students, especially girls, from dropping out (1998); because school curricula do not train students in the skills they 9th Plan commits HMGoN to implementing free and compulsory require to fulfil their traditional roles primary education in a phased manner • Upon marriage, 40% of girls were under 14 years old • Basic and Primary Education Programme II (1999) includes non-formal primary and adult education, girls’ hostels and scholarships, recruitment of women teachers, textbook revision Women in power and decision-making • 9th Plan commits HMGoN to affirmative action; ROLG (1997) • Women’s participation in politics hindered by rapid rise in introduced 20% women’s reservation at village and district levels: corruption in recent years, as well as patriarchal constraints on 40,000 women now involved in local politics women’s mobility, and lack of education and resources • Civil Service Act (1st Amendment; 1998) extended age limit for women • 8% of parliamentarians (1999) and 6.25% of civil service members and made probation/promotion rules more flexible are women, primarily in the non-gazetted class (1998) • MoWSW (1996) begins conducting public service exam coaching classes for women; NGOs run women’s leadership training workshops, rights awareness campaigns Women and health • 9th Plan emphasises need to reduce maternal mortality/morbidity; • Maternal mortality is highest in the world: less than 10% of Safe Motherhood Program Section to strengthen community-based births attended by trained persons and 50-60% of pregnant maternal health services and referral system; National Reproductive women are anaemic; 50% of maternal deaths caused by illegal, Health Strategy (1998) introduces a holistic life-cycle approach to unsafe, induced abortion existing programmes • Harassment and discrimination in hospitals against trafficked • HMGoN began work with national and local NGOs to spread girls and women, especially those with HIV/AIDS; lack of health services to the grassroots level counselling services for victims of physical and mental trauma HMG Nepal 1999a; ROLG – Royal Ordinance on Local Government.
48 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet PAKISTAN
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women • Incorporation of NPA (1998) into draft 9th Plan (1998-2003) • Merger of MoWD with other ministries (1997); budgetary allocation • NGO-GoP collaborative process initiated pre-Beijing (1993-94) to MoWD in 9th Plan half that recommended by expert working and re-activated (1999-2000) after a period of deterioration (1998); group national and provincial (and some district and division) core groups established • Permanent and independent Commission on the Status of Women to be established (2000) Women’s rights, human rights • CEDAW signed (1995) and ratified (1996) • CEDAW not implemented, and reservations remain • Commission of Inquiry for Women (1994) on discriminatory laws • No revision or repeal of discriminatory laws pertaining to marriage/ finalised and made public in 1997; discriminatory citizenship laws divorce, rape, inheritance, custody/guardianship, citizenship, revised (2000) reproductive rights, and acting as a witness • Faster disposal of family suits under Family Courts Acts (1996-97) • Muslim Family Laws Ordinance safeguard provisions struck down by • Initiation of monitoring of condition of women in prisons by Federal Shariat Court (2000) federal and provincial governments (1998); proposed amnesty for all jailed women not charged with a cognisable offense, and no arrests of females without a warrant, except for murder, terrorism, drug trafficking (2000) Women, violence and armed conflict • Women in Distress and Detention Fund Act (1996) established and • No judicial or political will to prosecute cases of ‘honour killings’ operationalised (2000) • Trafficking of women and girls not mentioned in NPA • Special directives for police stations to separately register cases of • Inadequate shelter, legal, medical support for victims of violence violence against women and take quick action Women, poverty and the economy • Establishment of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (1998) • Social Action Programme attacks symptoms, not causes of poverty • First Women’s Bank begins on-lending to NGOs and offering • Extremely low public-sector employment quotas for women remain business training to credit recipients unfilled • Gender sensitisation programmes for 1998 Population Census and • Two-thirds of people in poverty are women Federal Bureau of Statistics; redefinition of work in Labour Force Survey to redefine much of women’s work, including agricultural work, as ‘economic activity’ • 20% quota for women in public sector proposed (2000) Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Increasing female enrolment and decreasing gender gap in primary • Overall primary enrolment declined, and there are large regional education, due to positive discrimination in SAP, provincial-level variations in female literacy, enrolment and survival rates (Sindh, programmes, and primary level co-education Balochistan, FANA and FATA faring worst) • Efforts made to remove stereotypical portrayal of girls in text- • 2.2% of GNP allocated to education (1998-2000), against goals of books partially successful in NWFP and Balochistan 2.49% (2000) and 4% (2003) set in National Education Policies • Reservations to CRC lifted (1996) • Age-at-marriage legislation is discriminatory and not enforced • Establishment of first all-women university (1998) Women in power and decision-making • High proportion (25.8%) of reserved seats for women in • Issue of reserved seats for women in national/provincial assemblies Balochistan local government elections and political parties remains unresolved • During the 1997 elections, more general seats were contested by • Attempts to encourage women voters in 1997 fell far behind those women than ever before by the caretaker government and NGOs in 1993; registration, • Female ministers have been appointed at national and provincial identification, and polling procedures remain inadequate level; proposed system of local elections (2000) has reservations for women at some levels Women and health • National Health Policy (1997); National Population Policy (1998); • Budgetary allocation to health sector 0.7% of GNP, and limited Reproductive Health Services (1999) expanded Lady Health Workers co-ordination between MoWD, MoH and MoPW leads to overlap programme in basic and reproductive health services • Inclusion of male counsellors and motivators in government • Reproductive health programmes remain target-driven and population programme women-targeted, despite ICPD commitments to a life-cycle and • Contraceptives provided by private sector through Social Marketing gender equality approaches Programme GOP 1995 and 1998c. MOH—Ministry of Health; MOPW – Ministry of Population Welfare.
Women in South Asia: Beyond Beijing 49 Beijing Plus Five Balance Sheet SRI LANKA
Policy and programme initiatives Remaining challenges and policy gaps Institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women • As separate body (1997), MoWA able to take more public, • Women’s Charter approved by parliament (1993) is not a legislative proactive stands on issues of violence against women, development enactment and thus not legally binding of women’s income earning capacities; establishment of National • Hostility and resistance among local level officials regarding Committee on Women (1996) discussions of women’s rights • Department of Census and Statistics and Ministry of Finance and Planning involved in workshops to identify gender issues and translate them into gendered indicators and budgets Women’s rights, human rights • Improvement in awareness of women’s rights, and increased • Discriminatory citizenship law remains in place despite Supreme number of NGO legal awareness programmes and resource centres Court ruling (1997); personal laws of some communities discriminatory in terms of property rights, marriage, divorce • Amendment to permit abortion in case of rape or incest withdrawn by Minister of Justice before submission to parliament; bill intending to criminalise marital rape amended to permit charges only in case of judicial separation Women, violence and armed conflict • Penal Code Section 345 reformed (1995) to criminalise sexual • Over 80% of women using public transport report harassment, yet harassment, and increase penalties for sexual assault, rape and only 46 cases charging sexual harassment were filed in 1998 incest • Insufficient allocation of resources to women’s police desks; • Better monitoring of both violence against women, and of media domestic violence tends to be reported at women’s desks while reports of violence against women rape and other crimes outside the home reported to the (male- • Successful initiatives to mobilise women’s organisations to protest dominated) crime division, maintaining private-public division against both specific and general incidents of violence Women, poverty and the economy • New laws and agreements enacted (1997-98) bring foreign • Female-headed households, constituting significant and increasing employment agencies under some degree of control proportion of the population, are overlooked in housing benefits, • MoWA established revolving fund for self-employed women income generation and social welfare programmes • Most female employment remains in the unskilled, low-paid, unprotected sectors: plantations, free trade zones, home-based piecework, migrant domestic labour; women 2 to 3 times as likely as men to be unemployed • Constitutional guarantees that prohibit gender discrimination do not apply to the private sector
Education and training of women, and the girl-child • Gender gap in literacy and enrolment very small or non-existent: • Low enrolment of women in engineering-related and non- girls make up 45-50% of school and university students traditional vocational training courses • Compulsory education regulation provided for in the Education • Few women working at higher qualification levels in school/ Ordinance (1939) introduced with effect from 1998 university system; while 2/3 of teachers are women, only 1/3 of • Penal Code reforms (1995) raised age of consent from 12 years university academic staff, 1/10 of professors are women • Low female literacy levels in estates sector and 45+ age group for girls and 14 for boys to 18 for both Women in power and decision-making • Independent women’s group emerged as contestants in Provincial • Only 3.0% of municipal and urban councillors, 1.7% of pradeshiya Council elections (1999) sabha (rural) councillors (1997), and 4.9% of parliamentarians (1999) • Sri Lankan Women’s NGO Forum initiated national media campaign were women in 3 languages, focussing on women’s political participation (1998) • First woman appointed to Supreme Court and Court of Appeal (1999) Women and health • 10-year plan of action based on Population and Reproductive Health • Proportion of malnourished and anaemic pregnant women (and Policy (1998) commences (2000), with specific focus on reducing thus low birth weight infants) is disproportionately high relative iron-deficiency anaemia through health education and iron pill to infant/maternal mortality rates and other health indicators distribution • In remote areas and areas in conflict, health services, including ante-natal care, are insufficient in both quality and quantity GoS – Government of Sri Lanka; MoWA – Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
50 Human Development in South Asia 2000 4 Women and the Economy
What comfortable stereotypes we have created: it is men who carry the major burden of economic work on this planet. They are the breadwinners. Women’s work carries no economic value. Such work may be essential but banish the thought that it should ever enter national income accounts — or even surface in separate satellite accounts. What a successful conspiracy to reduce women to economic non-entities.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Women and the Economy 51 Chapter 4 Women and the Economy
Women in South Asia suffer from these are larger in rural areas. In urban discrimination in all spheres of life, and and modern sectors wage gaps are closing. at all levels. The economic discrimination • The globalization wave has benefited they endure reinforces other urban educated women, leaving the vast discriminations and perpetuates their low majority of women in the agricultural and South Asian women status. Although there are differences informal sectors to cope with the negative among the countries of the region, some impacts of liberalization. work from dawn to key conclusions emerge from the statistics • The glaring lack of gender-disaggregated dusk yet their work and analyses in this chapter concerning statistics makes it impossible to obtain a is hardly recognised women’s participation, recognition and true picture of women’s contributions to remuneration in economic activities. the economy of each country within in the system of South Asia or to compare one country national accounts • Some degree of statistical invisibility of with another. women in the economy is a worldwide phenomenon, but in South Asia it is Statistical invisibility of women in particularly pervasive because of national income accounts historical, traditional and cultural reasons. After the 1995 UNDP Human Development The vast majority of South Asian women Report, attempts have been made by some work from dawn to dusk yet their work countries to take account of women’s work. is hardly recognised in the respective But these efforts have been neither systems of national accounts (SNA). systematic nor comprehensive. Women work far longer hours than men • Women’s reproductive and productive but a lot of the work they do is in the work, both so essential for caring, realm of caring, nurturing and household nurturing, household maintenance and maintenance. In other words, women income earning, are intertwined and often work in the informal sector, for little indistinguishable in men’s as well as or no wage, and are restricted to activities women’s minds. Within the household, associated with their reproductive role. South Asian men rule and women obey The invisibility of women’s work in across religious and cultural divides. The economic accounting systems is due to a question of recognition for women’s flawed definition of economic activity. labour does not even arise. The official data collection machinery is • Statistics show that the majority of not adequate, uniform or equitable. Lack economically-active women work in the of reliable and consistent data exacerbates informal sector. women’s unequal economic position and • In the informal sector, whether self- their low social status in society. Women’s employed or worker, women (and men) organisations in many parts of the world are exploited by everybody—from law have been trying for several years to enforcement authorities to petty influence the official statistics so as to moneylenders. reflect the unrecorded contributions of • In formal sector employment, women women to the economy. However, are concentrated at the lower levels, with gender-based statistics accounting for little job security and few benefits. women’s contributions to economies • There are large wage differentials remain woefully inadequate and between men’s and women’s work, but inaccurate.
52 Human Development in South Asia 2000 While dealing with women’s invisibility and the children and household in gross domestic product (GDP) two maintenance, are still outside the SNA sets of issues arise. The first set relates to production boundary. Also, much of the the exclusion of household services from work done by women is in the value-added GDP that is more or less a universal stages of production. For example in the phenomenon. The second relates to the agricultural sector, women’s work is socio-cultural perception and reporting concentrated in activities such as weeding, bias that women are engaged only in livestock, rearing, and post-harvest household maintenance activities, and processing. Since economic value is therefore all market or non-market, SNA- attributed exclusively to agricultural output, included products and services are women receive little or no compensation attributed to men. This relates more to or recognition for their activities. Similarly, the invisibility of women in the census preparing food, or fetching firewood and Much of the work and labour statistics, which list only water are activities for which economic done by women is in people who contribute to SNA-included value can be attributed only on the basis production as economically active (see of an implicit opportunity cost. the value-added box 4.1). Moreover, people’s time allocations to stages of production These two problems combine to ensure various SNA or non-SNA activities are that much of women’s work remains intertwined. For example, a woman may invisible as many of their activities and spend 20 minutes every day carrying production which are classified as services, water and devoting rest of her time to such as cooking, care of the sick, the old non-SNA activities. But in labour
Box 4.1 Missing the point
The central data collection and statistical Statistics (FBS) is largely responsible for collection and fetching water, hunting agencies in South Asia suffer from collecting and organising nation-wide and gathering for household serious gender blindness in terms of their information. The labour force survey consumption, food processing for ability to accurately depict women’s (LFS) collates the information on household consumption, processing of contributions to the economy. While all economic participation—the latest primary and market goods for of them have in recent times made survey from 1997 includes a new household consumption, e.g. weaving attempts to expand the definition of measure of female labour force clothes, tailoring, knitting garments for economically productive work, there are participation (similar to the above- household consumption, domestic still large gaps in their methodologies. mentioned effort of the NSS) which services and rural tea/sweet shops. In India, the main sources of defines 14 kinds of household labour The problems with large surveys are longitudinal information are the Census as economic activity. The result is an many: clearly, existing investigation and the National Sample Survey (NSS). increase of the female LFPR to 25.5% methodology fails to capture the gainful The Census estimates of work force which is almost double the earlier activity and tasks that women and participation are lower than those estimate. However, this estimate is children engage in with the same estimated by the NSS in virtually all preliminary and likely still understates precision as is done in the case of men. cases. Census estimates are as much as the reality. Similarly in Bangladesh, Cultural restrictions often mean that 3% lower than NSS estimates in the some non-market subsistence work has questions about women’s activities are case of male workers, and as much as been defined as economic activity since asked of the male head of household, 10 to 16% lower for female workers. 1989. The 1995-96 LFS indicated a and therefore the answers tend to While the Census estimates improve nation-wide increase in female LFPR reflect a male bias against women’s with each decade, the basic fact of from 18.1% to 50.6%, thereby work. Among the reasons given for considerable under-enumeration does identifying an additional 13 million under-enumeration and inadequate not change. NSS estimates improve on women as economically active. The attention to unpaid family labour, home Census estimates and are more stable largest increase—from 17.4% to production and household work, are but these estimates too suffer from a 57.3%—was in rural areas. ‘poor conceptualisation of female work strong downward bias. The NSS In Nepal, the Central Bureau of styles’ and ‘mistaken perception of calculates the percentage of women Statistics (CBS) is the main source of female economic roles by respondents incorrectly categorised as ‘not working’, information on economic activity. and interviewers’. Poorly constructed as 17.0 per cent in rural areas and 5.8 Acharya (l999) identifies the following questionnaires and ambiguous and ill- per cent in urban areas. items as most likely to be missed in understood definitions of labour force In Pakistan, the Federal Bureau of such accounts: small scale fodder participation also contribute to this problem. Sources: Acharya 2000; Mehta 2000; MHHDC staff.
Women and the Economy 53 statistics, she will be classified as per her more than men in terms of total labour major activity and not by how much time energy spent by household members. The she devotes to her secondary activity. Report observes that the average hours of unpaid work done by married women Women’s actual time use outside the home vary from 6.13 to 7.53 hours per day, with some women working Micro-level studies specifically target the more than 10 hours each day. Apart from kinds of information that large surveys domestic duties, women engaged in miss out. This is especially true for the agricultural operations work on average agricultural sector where the majority of 12 hours a day doing farm work and women workers are concentrated. A large taking care of cattle. In Bangladesh, a part of the work that women do in rural number of micro-level studies indicate The cruelest fact is areas is non-market work, including that women spend 70-88 per cent of their that women not only extremely time-intensive tasks such as time in non-market work. cutting fodder, and fetching wood and The cruelest fact is that women not work long hours, but water. Some observers suggest that only work long hours, but many of them many of them are typically, South Asian women work are not even considered to be working at not even considered between 10 and 12 hours a day, while all. A village study in India concluded that to be working at all men work 2 to 4 hours less. On the basis there were a total of 239 women workers of studies in a number of countries, this in one village where the 1971 Census had seems to be a conservative estimate. In counted only 38, and 444 workers in a Pakistan, rural women are said to work second village where only 9 appeared in between 12 and 16 hours in a day (Elson the Census (Omvedt 1992). In an attempt & Evers 1996). to compensate for the socially-generated In India, women reported as non- ‘invisibility’ of women’s work, the study workers in the Census were found to be estimates that in 1981 there were as many spending up to 4 hours a day in activities as 150 million uncounted women such as groundnut picking and sowing the workers. fields or spending time grazing cattle and cutting grass, threshing and parboiling, or Magnitude of the problem working as domestic servants for as many as 8-10 hours per day (Jain and Chand National and micro-level studies in India, 1982). The Shramshakti Report refers to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have several studies that show that women highlighted the contribution of women to work for longer hours and contribute national income. There are some limited
Figure 4.1 Gender contributions to GDP and household maintenance satellite account (Nepal)
Regular GDP Additional non-market production Female 27% Male 40%
Male Female 73% 60%
Household maintenance Total
Male Male 7% 37%
Female Female 63% 93%
Source: Acharya 2000.
54 Human Development in South Asia 2000 studies in Pakistan that indicate the collection agencies as mentioned above. contributions of women in the Other reasons include the nature and style agricultural sector. For example, in crop of women’s work, the dominance of production women’s contribution to total domestic work compared to women’s income is between 25 per cent and 40 other work, culture, tradition and per cent; in cottage industry and crafts perceptions about women’s economic women’s contribution is around 22 per roles, and the intermingling of production cent (World Bank 1989). In India, using for self consumption with production for the opportunity cost approach to sale. valuation of work, on average, the value The invisibility of women’s work, of household services of an urban woman domestic chores and other tasks, are part was estimated at about 42 per cent of of a cultural/traditional attitude which family income (Malathy 1988). Another views man as the primary bread-winner. Prevailing cultural Indian study shows women’s contribution Indeed, women report themselves as non- norms ascribe low to national income to be 17 per cent workers because they tend to regard their under the standard classification system, labour as ‘domestic responsibilities’ and status to women 33 per cent when agricultural earnings are therefore outside market related or doing manual work used to evaluate unpaid household work, remunerated work. In the non-market outside the home and up to 44 per cent when national sector where most women work, the average earnings per worker are used for distinction between economic and non- the computation (Kulshrethra and Singh economic activities is seldom clear and is 1996). In Sri Lanka, valuing time spent arbitrarily applied. In fact, amongst the on home-based production leads to the poor virtually all adults and sizeable conclusion that women contribute numbers of children engage in ‘economic between 40 and 60 per cent of household activities’ in order to help the family meet income. its basic needs; much of this work occurs In Nepal, an independent study (cited outside the market place. in Acharya 2000) constructed an A striking example of the significant accounting system including a satellite influence of perception on measurement account on household maintenance is indicated by a small survey activities in 1994 to value women’s work. commissioned by UNIFEM India, which This reflects human activities to a fuller found that 98 out of 100 enumerators extent than conventionally reflected in did not even put questions regarding SNA and shows relative contributions of work to women; it was simply assumed men and women to national production by them that women did not work. Out processes and human welfare (see figure of the 2002 women in the 1000 4.1). Of particular interest is that part of households covered, only 4 women were production which is theoretically within asked any question about the work they the SNA production boundary, but in had done in the past year (Sudarshan practice may be excluded from GDP 1998). Prevailing cultural norms ascribe calculations in many countries. An low status to women doing manual work important example of such activities outside the home. Thus the male head of include food processing for self- household usually identifies the woman consumption. as a housewife and non-worker.
Reasons for statistical invisibility of women in The care economy national accounts The caring activities carried out by Many reasons have been cited in the women at the household level are at the literature for the under-reporting of core of all human activities. Household women’s work. Some of the issues relate maintenance and care of the sick, the old to poor methodology on the part of data and children contribute substantially to
Women and the Economy 55 human well being. The benefit of recognition and no compensation paid to personal care from a loved one, especially them. The basic reason for this lack of in an insecure time during old age, should recognition is that women’s ‘reproductive’ not be underestimated. This is where the and nurturing role is taken for granted as concept of care goes beyond the concept their primary responsibility. of just a productive input in an economic Women are the primary care givers in sense, but in itself becomes an output the home, and they are often major (Folbre 1998). Indeed, in this way, care is contributors in market work as well. Poor comparable with leisure—it serves a very rural women often work longer hours in direct and important purpose in itself. agriculture, wage-generating activities, and The implicit comfort that one feels being home production activities. Also, most cared for by his/her spouse, parent, or home-based workers are women, Reliable, accurate sibling is irreplaceable, but something that highlighting their central role in the and comprehensive is often taken for granted. informal labour force. Women are responsible for producing Providing more opportunities for information about and nourishing all those who live in the women to work outside the home will women’s economic household. While this ‘reproductive’ role contribute to making women’s work more activity and labour is perhaps one of the most valuable visible, but the lack of accounting for force participation is contributions that women make to their household work still remains. And often households, communities, and the world, women who do work outside the home almost non-existent it is seriously under-appreciated. The care have increased work burdens. Human economy is impossible to quantify. This Development Report 1995 estimates that is largely because it is difficult to put a once a woman has a child, she can expect figure on what exactly the care economy to devote 3.3 more hours a day to unpaid is. There is no way of adequately household work. Women who work full- describing the value of care and no way time still do a lot of unpaid caring work. of ascribing an economic value to it. In addition, sometimes the caring Caring labour provided by women burden is shifted directly onto the young within the household, goes largely girl in the household which automatically unremunerated. Most of it comes under limits her time for both education and the purview of unpaid household work. paid work. Market provision of care A review of seven African and Asian services, as happens in the industrial countries including Nepal and Bangladesh world, is perhaps the only direct method found that women’s contribution to the to alleviate some of the responsibilities household ranged from 2.5 times to 14 faced by women. In the developed world, times more than men’s (Floro 1995). In publicly subsidised child care tends to India, whereas men put in only about 0.2 increase mother’s labour force to 0.5 hours of time per day in non- participation and reduce gender market work, women spend 2.7 to 5.5 inequalities in both the workplace and the hours per day in such activities (Acharya home (Folbre 1998). But this option is 1996). Women account for 60 per cent not currently available to poor families in of unpaid family workers, and 98 per cent the developing world. of those engaged in domestic work. In Pakistan, 54 per cent of all employed South Asian women in the labour women are counted as unpaid family force helpers (GOP 1997b). In Sri Lanka, unpaid family work constituted 27.9 per As mentioned in the previous section, cent of total female employment in 1998 reliable, accurate and comprehensive (Atapattu 2000). So despite the immense information about women’s economic direct and indirect contributions that activity and labour force participation is women make to the economy through almost non-existent. Although there have their caring labour, there is almost no been efforts to integrate gender-specific
56 Human Development in South Asia 2000 questions and issues into data collection, knowing well that these data suffer from the knowledge-base remains limited and conceptual, methodological and definitional flaws. in no South Asian country do national Sometimes the increase in the labour force may figures reveal the full extent of the kinds be due to improved methodology used in a of work that women do, the amount of particular year rather than a real increase in the time women spend working for free or labour force. Because of these reasons the data for wages, or the extent of women’s used here are not comparable across countries or unemployment or under-employment. over time within a country). Nevertheless, the following points emerge Impelled by poverty and increasing from an examination of women’s labour male unemployment as well as increased force participation. job opportunities as a result of • The majority of South Asian women globalization, increasing numbers of work in the informal sector or as unpaid South Asian women are entering the paid Gender-specific family helpers. In India, 96 per cent of work force. However, the state of the inequalities in pay economically active women work in the economy, government policies regarding informal sector. In Nepal, 75.3 per cent employment, the gender-specific and job security are are self-employed and 27.9 per cent are opportunities for female employment, widespread unpaid family workers. In Pakistan, 64.9 and attitudes towards women’s per cent of the female labour force is participation in the paid workforce officially accounted for in the informal determine women’s participation in the sector. In Bangladesh, 75 per cent of labour force. In some cases (Bangladesh women earned a living in the informal for instance) an increase in the female sector in 1995-96. labour force participation rate (LFPR) is • Work done by women accounts for the a result of an increase in the overall largest proportion of non-mechanised labour force; in other cases (such as Sri agricultural labour. Lanka), an increasing female LFPR is the • Although more women are entering the complement of a declining male LFPR. paid labour force, many still face severe In Sri Lanka, overall LFPR for males impediments in entering and participating declined marginally from 69.3 per cent in in the work force. 1963 to 68.2 per cent in 1998, while the • Gender-specific inequalities in pay and female LFPR rose from 20 per cent to job security are widespread. 36.6 per cent during the same period. • Outside the agricultural sector, women These numbers imply that male are concentrated in a limited number of participation is reaching its limit and sectors: the majority in traditional or further economic growth is dependent on service-sector employment, others in more women joining the labour force poorly-paid manufacturing work. More (Atapattu 2000). and more younger women are entering In Pakistan, women’s labour force the work force in these sectors. participation has risen at a greater rate Drawn from international data sources than that of men since 1980. Pakistan’s (World Bank 1999 and UNDP 1995a), an average annual female labour force attempt has been made in table 4.1 to compare the proportions of female labour force among South Asian countries. As we Table 4.1 Female percentage of labour force can see, in Bangladesh and Nepal over 40 per cent of the labour force are women, India 1997 32 Pakistan 1997 27 compared to only 27 per cent in Pakistan. Bangladesh 1997 42 Nepal 1997 40 Women’s labour force patterns Sri Lanka 1997 36 Bhutan 1994 32 (In this and the following sections, we present Maldives 1994 22 data collected from national data sources, Source: World Bank 1999; UNDP 1995a.
Women and the Economy 57 growth rate was 4 per cent in 1980-90, reinforcing pervasive trends. The female 4.9 per cent in 1990-95 and 5.1 per cent labour force has grown at an average in 1995-98. The rate of male labour force annual rate of 16.7 per cent in the last growth declined from 3.2 per cent in twelve years, which is more than four 1980-90 to 2.5 per cent in 1990-95 and to times the growth rate of the total labour 2.7 in 1995-98 (GOP 1997b). force and more than six times the growth In Nepal, the increase in LFPR is rate of the male labour force (Mahmud greater for women workers than for men, 2000). but for both this is attributed to people In India, women are entering the returning to agriculture as a means of workforce in greater numbers, although subsistence due to a shrinking urban their position in the workforce is labour market and to competition from becoming less secure. In 1981, 25.97 per Women’s non-Nepalese workers willing to work for cent of the total workforce was female; involvement in lower wages. A shift of labour to in 1991, that figure went up to 28.58 per agriculture is likely to have negative cent. The number of women occupying agriculture is implications for women, since they do not full-time jobs (i.e. main workers) rose extensive both in own land and are likely to be engaged in from 20.21 per cent of the female labour terms of labour labour-intensive and poorly-rewarded force in 1981 to 22.48 per cent in 1991 input and farm agricultural labour. In the urban hill (Mehta 2000). regions of Nepal, however, non- management agricultural employment opportunities for Women in agriculture: more work, less decisions women are increasing (Acharya 2000). pay The workforce participation of Bangladeshi women is changing in Agriculture is where most South Asians numerous ways, some of them affording earn their living (see table 4.2). Women’s women new opportunities, others labour and knowledge of agri-economic systems play a key role in almost every aspect of agriculture, barring only those Table 4.2 Employment in South Asia by major sectors (%) that utilise machinery and sophisticated technologies. Women’s involvement in Agriculture Industry Service agriculture is extensive both in terms of Bangladesh Male* 53.9 19.2 26.8 labour input and farm management (1996) decisions. Female 41.7 27.8 30.5 An overwhelming majority of economically active women in Nepal, 93.7 India Male 58.3 16.5 25.2 (1994) per cent, work in agriculture. In India, 78 Female 78 10.9 11.1 per cent of the female labour force work in agriculture. Some 66.4 per cent of Nepal Male 78.9 4.9 13.2 Pakistani women in the labour force earn (1996) a living in the rural economy. In Sri Female 93.7 1.4 4.5 Lanka, the majority of women work in Pakistan Male 40.7 20.2 39.0 the plantation sector which increases their (1997) participation in the agricultural economy. Female 66.4 10.6 23.2 The already heavy workload of women in the agricultural sector is increasing as Sri Lanka Male 35.4 28.2 36.4 (1995) women become responsible to a greater Female 41.5 30.8 27.7 degree for agricultural production in * For each country male figures are percentages of male labour force and female figures are addition to household work. Rural percentages of female labour force. women participate in farming crops, Note: Data for each country has been collected from labour force surveys. As these statistics are livestock husbandry and off-farm drawn from national data sources, there might be some discrepancy between these numbers and those presented in the tables at the end of the Report which are based on international sources. activities. Seasonal and long-term Source: Acharya 2000; Atapattu 2000; GOP 1997b; Mahmud 2000; Mehta 2000. migration of working-age males leaves
58 Human Development in South Asia 2000 women responsible for much of the Thus the introduction of tractors, labour input necessary to meet combine harvesters and mechanical subsistence needs. Unfortunately, as cotton pickers has meant that tasks mentioned earlier, much of their work is traditionally performed by women, and not recognised. on which many women depended for A complex set of conditions interact their livelihood, have been appropriated. to exclude most women from the benefits Large farms have benefited from the accruing from rural economies. Even in mechanisation of the rural economy, and the rare cases where they till and cultivate estimates suggest that there has been a land as tenants on their own account, 50 per cent decline in the labour force women are not counted as agricultural per acre in Pakistan. Moreover, the large- workers. Patriarchal social structures farm bias in disbursing loans has meant determine that men control women’s that the average farm size increased by The impact of labour. Without a legal share in ownership 140 per cent (Husain 1999). This has modern agricultural of the means of production, women are resulted in the displacement of small excluded from decision-making about the farmers and tenants. An illustration of technology allocation of material and economic this is found in Indian Punjab, where, introduced in the resources. according to one analyst, the decline in region has not More women are undertaking waged female labour was about 90 per cent after benefitted women employment in the agricultural sector. For the Green Revolution. example in Nepal, the percentage of Technological change has eliminated female agricultural wage-labourers many jobs traditionally done by women, increased from 4 per cent in 1981 to 13 and alternative job opportunities have not per cent in 1996. Many of these wage been created for women at the same rate labourers are poor landless women. as for men. 50 to 75 per cent of weeding In South Asia, women spend a great in paddy producing areas in Sri Lanka is amount of time looking after livestock. now done through chemical spraying by Most of the work is related to rearing males, whereas weeding was once a and protecting animals, finding and female-dominated manual task. In carrying fodder and water, milking, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the collecting eggs, ensuring the health of introduction of rice-mills has displaced animals and poultry etc. In India, where hand pounding done by rural women. few economic activities are dominated by Rice mills have introduced husking women, female employment in cattle and equipment, with the consequence that goat breeding, and milk production women who used traditional husking exceeds 50 per cent. In Nepal, women mechanisms have lost their means of contributed 70 per cent of the labour and livelihood. In addition to this, many up to 26 per cent of the farm level women have problems gaining access to decisions in the livestock sector in 1993 technological inputs due to lack of (HMG Nepal 1993). In Sri Lanka, it is training. estimated that women perform around 70 The concentration of land ownership, per cent of all agricultural activities. agricultural mechanisation and the falling growth rate in the agricultural sector has Impact of agricultural mechanisation on women meant that surplus male labour has been forced to move to urban centres. This The impact of modern agricultural migration has altered gender relations to technology introduced in the region has some extent. Male out-migration has not benefitted women. Men have taken meant that women have had to assume over from women those activities in additional responsibility for agriculture. which technology has substituted Women’s share of work in agriculture and machinery for manual labour. All other other household production has labour-intensive tasks are left to women. increased. In addition to traditional
Women and the Economy 59 household and agricultural activities, For many informal sector workers— women have moved into non-traditional perhaps the majority—working conditions spheres, such as managerial activities and the terms of labour are exploitative. related to farm activity. This work entails Although some women entrepreneurs hiring labour to cultivate land, supervising earn a good living in the informal sector, crop harvesting and sale, and decisions the majority of informal sector labour is regarding cropping patterns. Even though characterised by low wages and long women’s work burden may have hours of work for low returns. Because increased, it has permitted them to attain there is little legislation concerning a degree of decision-making authority in working conditions, workplace safety or domestic and village affairs. minimum wage rates, and little or no enforcement of existing legislation, there For many informal Women in the informal sector is no legal protection against economic sector workers— exploitation. One of the multitude of The problem of finding meaningful and examples of this problem is that of brick perhaps the majority comprehensive gender-disaggregated data kiln workers in Pakistan. An estimated —working conditions is especially relevant to women’s informal 100,000 women work in brick kilns but and the terms of sector economic activities. The terms are not officially employed because whole labour are informal sector labour and self- families work in a form of bonded labour employment are sometimes used in which only the male family head is exploitative synonymously, although they are not registered (Klein and Nestvogel 1999). necessarily the same thing. In Nepal, for Also, middlemen (almost always men instance, the informal sector has only because men have the freedom to travel recently been included in labour force around in public and to deal with other surveys, although there is historical data men) can profit from the fact that on self-employment, both rural and urban. illiterate women do not have the According to the 1991 figures for Nepal, necessary information about the market the overwhelming majority of workers or about the laws that are supposed to (69.5 per cent of men and 83.7 per cent of protect them. Nor is there any recourse women) were self-employed (table 4.3). to arbitration, when disputes about wages Throughout South Asia, the informal or conditions arise (see box 4.2). sector has grown, both in absolute terms In Sri Lanka, in contrast to the urban and relative to the formal sector. It grew formal sector which has been better in Pakistan from being twice the size of integrated into mainstream economic the formal sector in 1981, to ‘nearly six development, there has been little times in 1987-88’ (Khan 1997). In systematic effort to strengthen the urban India, the percentage of women in the informal sector workforce with skills and informal sector has grown more slowly, other resources needed to raise rising from 93.97 per cent in 1981 to productivity levels. The most vulnerable 95.79 per cent of the workforce in 1991 women workers are those who are the (Mehta 2000). sole or primary income earners. They lack The figures for Bangladesh tell a capital, access to institutional credit on similar story. Between 1983-84 and 1995- easy terms, skills, know-how, technology 96 the informal sector share of the female and marketing outlets, and their minimal labour force increased from 44 per cent incomes reinforce their poverty. A to 75 per cent. Women’s participation in woman’s own labour is the main input, the formal sector grew in that period at but other household labour, including an average annual rate of 2.9 per cent but that of children, is often used. Women that of women’s informal sector labour enter into home-based economic activities grew at an average annual rate of 32.9 because of a lack of other options. In the per cent (Mahmud 2000). urban setting, the expectation that home-
60 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Table 4.3 Employment Status by Gender
Bangladesh: distribution by employment status, 1995-96 (%) Self-employed Hired worker Employee Family worker or employer Male 43.9 25.5 15.0 15.6 Female 22.7 18.0 25.3 33.9
Source: GOB 1996b.
Sri Lanka: distribution by employment status, 1998 (%) Employer Employee Own-account Unpaid family All status worker worker Both sexes 1.9 55.6 29.0 13.5 100.0 Male 2.5 56.3 35.3 5.9 100.0 Female 0.8 54.3 17.0 27.9 100.0
Source: GOB 1998.
India: distribution by rural-urban sector, 1993-94 (%) Self-employed Regular employees Casual labour All India Male 53.7 16.7 29.6 Female 56.8 6.2 37 Rural Male 57.9 8.3 33.8 Female 58.5 2.8 38.7 Urban Male 41.7 42.1 16.2 Female 45.4 28.6 26
Source: Visaria 1999.
Nepal: economically active population, 1981-91 (%) Status Male Female 1981 1991 1981 1991 Employer 0.9 0.7 0.4 0.4 Employee 11.8 27.8 3.8 12 Self-employed 83.2 69.5 90 83.7 Family worker 1.7 1.5 4 3.5 Not stated 2.4 0.4 1.8 0.5 Total 100 100 100 100
Source: Acharya 1994.
Pakistan: distribution of employed persons, 1994-97 (%) 1994-95 1996-97 Employment Status Both Female Male Both Female Male sexes sexes Employer 1.0 0.3 1.1 1.1 0.3 1.2 Self-employed 42.3 13.2 46.3 42.2 12.6 46.8 Unpaid family helper 22.6 61.7 17.2 20.3 54.1 15.1 Employee 34.1 24.8 35.4 36.4 33.0 36.9 Total 100 100 100 100 100 100
Source: GOP 1997b.
Women and the Economy 61 Box 4.2 Rolling to make ends meet
The bidi industry in India is one of in turn hire subcontractors. Despite the Most women work for two or three only 4 industries in which female statutory minimum wage fixed in each different contractors at a time. They are employees outnumber male employees. state, contractors set their own lower not asked to sign when they receive More than three times as many women wage rate when contracting women to payment. They are not registered, so the are employed in this activity as men, do the work. employer will not have to provide maternity or 76% of total workers involved The raw materials they deliver to benefits. Employers change the falsified in bidi manufacturing. This means the workers are almost always under name every few months. They deduct approximately 1.5 million women work weight. Therefore, women always provident funds from the women’s wages, in the industry, of which the majority produce fewer bidis than the number but give no receipts. In Tamil Nadu, only are bidi rollers. 68% of these women the contractor assigns them. On top of 20% of the collected provident funds are carry out this work at home. Their this, contractors practice a fixed officially recorded. work consists of acquiring the deduction of Rs. 2 per week, and then Some women said that they get 1 kg materials, cutting the tendu leaves, proceed to reject 5-20% of the tobacco from the contractor who expects filling them with tobacco, folding the finished bidis, claiming they are 1500 bidis in return. They can only make ends, tying them closed with thread, defectively rolled. They indiscriminately 1,250 bidis out of this amount of raw and binding them into bundles of a make this claim despite the fact that material. Because women have to replenish given size. some women have been rolling bidis for the shortfall, they make only Rs. 8-9/day. Despite the fact that legislation 20 years. And of course, they still claim Women said they had difficulty supporting exists—both for factory and home-based all the rejected bidis. The findings of a the family on Rs. 9/day, so they often had workers—that guarantees a minimum study done by a voluntary organisation to take loans from the money-lender who wage, medical and crèche facilities, and on bidi workers in Jabalpur, Madhya charged Rs. 1/day on a Rs. 10 loan. maternity, provident fund and Pradesh suggest that women usually These are the realities of women’s work scholarship benefits, in actual practice receive about half of the minimum wage in the informal sector, and as long as there these laws are blatantly disregarded. In under these ploys. If the primary are no alternatives provided, or appropriate most places manufacturers have adopted employer does not want to comply with and effective protective measures a contract system in bidi production. Any the requirements of the law, he is introduced, the acute need faced by many given manufacturer employs between 2 virtually impossible to trace. poor women will continue to drive them and 600 contractors. Large contractors into exploitative occupations such as this.
Sources: National Commission on Self Employed Women and Women in the Informal Sector 1998; and Sudarshan & Kaur 1999.
based economic activities are transitory unskilled and low-paid work in the has resulted in relative neglect of the industrial and service sectors. By far the home-based enterprise sector. Although majority of formal sector employment is most women engaged in home-based urban-based. economic activities aspire to join the In India, women’s formal sector formal sector their chances seem to be employment has increased from 12 per rather poor. In Sri Lanka, women’s entry cent in 1981 to just over 15 per cent in into these activities is mainly a strategy 1995 (GOI 1998a). Within the Indian for survival when entry into the formal sector, 57 per cent of women occupations in the formal sector is workers are employed in community, severely restricted (Atapattu 2000). social and personal services, 11 per cent in agriculture, 18 per cent in Women in the formal sector manufacturing, 5 per cent in finance, insurance, real estate and business Although women’s participation in the services, and 4 per cent in the transport formal sector is increasing in most of and communications sector. South Asia, women still account for the Nepalese women constitute 49 per smallest percentage of employees in the cent of the total labour force, of which formal public and private sector only 15.6 per cent are in the non- workforce. With the exception of Sri agricultural formal sector. However, Lanka, women account for between 13 women hold 21.1 per cent of professional per cent and 15 per cent of workers in and technical positions. the formal sector. The majority of formal In 1995-96 the female share among all sector workers are concentrated in employees in Bangladesh was only 13 per
62 Human Development in South Asia 2000 cent in the public formal sector and 22 of women workers totals 74.18 per cent, per cent in the private formal sector. Of 81.63 per cent and 89.78 per cent the female formal sector workforce, 31 (Atapattu 2000). per cent held professional positions, while As a result of new opportunities 24 per cent were employed in the created by economic liberalization, the production and transportation sectors and consequent demand for cheap labour, and 59 per cent in the service sector. Since rising demand in the export market, more the overall female share in the employed women—and increasingly younger labour force is only 18 per cent, women women—are taking up manufacturing are under-represented in managerial jobs jobs. It is argued that many employers but relatively over-represented in the prefer to employ women because they other three sub-sectors. On balance, there tend not to unionise and can be paid less. has been a general improvement in the Where cultural norms of women’s Women’s quality of Bangladeshi women’s market seclusion exist, they are minimised by participation in the participation. employing an exclusively female Sri Lanka has the most even distribution workforce. However, the other costs of a formal industrial of female formal sector employment in female workforce, such as perceptions labour force— South Asia. Substantial numbers of women about greater absenteeism, the need for especially the export with middle-level education qualifications maternity and childcare benefits and high sector—is rising have been absorbed into clerical and allied turnover, may play a role in depressing occupations, nursing, and primary and the demand for female labour in skilled secondary school teaching. Nearly 45 per activity relative to the demand for male cent of the total formal sector employees labour. These factors are also likely to in 1997 were women. Women comprise contribute to the vastly unequal pay scales 17.3 per cent of administrative and for men and women. managerial workers; 27.2 per cent of In Bangladesh, 27.8 per cent of professional, technical and related workers; employed women work in the production 39.5 per cent of all clerical workers and and transportation sectors and 15.6 per 22.8 per cent of supervisors. However, cent are employed in the service sector. 48.3 per cent of the total female formal The declining proportion of Nepalese sector workforce are still employed as women in the production and service unskilled workers. sectors indicates a reduction in women’s Only 13.45 per cent of formal sector access to jobs created in the modern workers in Pakistan are women. They expanding sectors of the economy. In occupy less than a quarter of 1 per cent Nepal, women’s employment in the in the combined categories of legislator, industrial sector (combining manufacturing, senior official and manager; 0.83 per cent construction, transportation and of professionals, and one-half of one per communications) has declined to 18.8 per cent in the combined category of cent of the female workforce during the technicians and associate professionals. A 1990s. The increasing mountain tourism miniscule percentage of women are clerks and trekking businesses do not seem to and plant and machine operators and have compensated for the decline in assemblers. demand for locally-made products. Nor Women’s participation in the formal have services and trade been able to industrial labour force—especially the compensate for the declining role of export sector—is rising. In Bangladesh’s manufacturing as a source of employment garment industry 90 per cent of the in rural areas (Acharya 2000). workers are women, and more urban In India, only 15.4 per cent of formal women are now employed in the sector manufacturing employees are pharmaceuticals, electronics and fish- women. The actual number of women processing industries. In Sri Lanka’s three engaged in manufacturing, here as Export Processing Zones the percentage elsewhere in South Asia, is much higher
Women and the Economy 63 of course, when home-based sub- care for family members, and the contracting is taken into account, but assumption that men are the primary there are no figures available for the earners—all contribute to the implicit actual total. assumption that women should be paid The manufacturing industry accounts less than men. Another point worth for the second largest proportion (27 per noting is that the existing wage cent) of employed women in Sri Lanka, discrimination contributes to women not where new employment opportunities in voluntarily entering the workforce. manufacturing have benefitted women. In Generally South Asian women are drawn the 1990s, the manufacturing sector to work by need. The fact that women recorded the highest proportion of female are poorly represented, if at all, in trade employees in the economy. The female unions, exacerbates the situation. For the majority of industrial workforce dominates in seven Relatively few women have full-time jobs women engaged in industrial categories and is concentrated and most women are paid at piece-rates in key export industries, including apparel, rather than by hourly wage or by salary, paid economic where nearly 90 per cent of the labour which makes it easier to avoid disclosure activity, the fact of force is female. of wage-rate disparities. being female means Across South Asia, the service sector A study of Export Processing Zones being paid less than accounts for the largest proportion of in Sri Lanka reported marked gender- women’s formal sector non-agricultural based wage disparities in all zones and men for their work labour. The service sector absorbs across all industries, although the gap has unskilled labour, but rates of pay are narrowed somewhat in recent years. By usually low because the demand for jobs 1996, Sri Lankan males in the far outstrips supply. It is also insecure manufacturing sector earned only 9 per because demand fluctuates according to cent more than females, compared to 37 the state of the broader economy, both per cent in 1985 (see box 4.3). In Sri domestic and foreign. Lanka, even government-fixed minimum- wage rates are lower for tea estate Female-male wage-rate differentials in workers, where women predominate, and the formal sector labour laws are rarely enforced in practice. In rural areas of India, agricultural For the majority of women engaged in activities traditionally performed by men paid economic activity, the fact of being such as ploughing, irrigation, sowing, and female means being paid less than men levelling are paid more than activities for their work. Employing women has normally in the female domain such as been a means of reducing costs and weeding, transplanting, and winnowing. increasing profits. Gender-based wage However, wage differentials in agriculture disparities exist across all sectors and in are not nearly as marked as in other all occupations, despite labour laws which sectors in rural areas, such as exist to ensure wage equity. Only the manufacturing, where women can be paid smallest proportion of all jobs in all as little as half as men. Overall, in rural sectors are covered by wage-rate areas the differentials are much higher: legislation, and most wages are women in rural areas are paid about 60 determined by market forces, which per cent of what men are paid, compared guarantees they will be as low as possible. to women in urban areas who make The reasons usually given for paying almost 80 per cent of what men make. women less are not unique to South Asia, In Pakistan, there is sparse information but they have specific cultural import on wage differentials. What information here. Low levels of skill on entry, lack of is available suggests that differentials were access to on-the-job training, employment reduced by 30 per cent between 1979 and histories punctuated by time spent 1985-86. Nevertheless, there is still great bearing and raising children, time off to disparity between male and female wage
64 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Box 4.3 Earning for whom?
In Sri Lanka, labour intensive industries however, known that no serious attempt is such as garments have gained increasing being made to rigorously implement the prominence in recent years. Women form existing laws within the zone, as it is feared the vast majority of workers in these that such action would discourage inflow industries. But the working conditions in of foreign investment. All these have most export processing factories are contributed to the maintenance of low extremely hazardous to health and wages and difficult working conditions for regulations against unions are inimical to the bulk of female industrial workers. workers’ welfare. The working conditions Policies of liberalization have indeed in these factories are guided by provided a quantitative expansion of industrialists’ desire to maintain high industrial employment in the country, productivity. Furthermore, with the policy particularly among women, but questions of attracting foreign investment there has are being asked about the quality of The overall been some relaxation of the country’s employment opportunities so created. Most labour protection rules and regulations of these jobs are low-paid and low-skilled. experience with governing the employment of women in The integration of Sri Lankan women into regulated, subsidised industry. The country’s labour authorities the global production system has certainly argue that the free trade zones are not increased but not necessarily improved their credit by public exempt from existing labour laws. It is, economic and social conditions. sector banks has not Source: Bandarage 1998. been good earners, more so at higher income levels. poor women, provides an opportunity for Again, the wage differentials are higher them to have some measure of economic in rural areas—women make 59.4 per independence. In South Asia, numerous cent of what men make whereas in urban initiatives by both governments and areas women make 64.8 per cent of what NGOs have been able to provide credit men make. to women. Although some of these have In Bangladesh, the gender gap in been very successful, there is still a huge earnings in the formal urban unmet need for micro-credit in the region, manufacturing sector decreased—in particularly in rural areas. 1985-86 women earned only 45 per cent Despite some success stories, as of what men earned while in 1995-96 this mentioned in box 4.4, the overall figure had increased to 58 per cent. This experience with regulated, subsidised trend echoes across all sectors—in credit by public sector banks has not been particular women in agriculture earn over good for a host of reasons. In particular, 71 per cent of what men earn. The only banks have failed to take into account sector in which women’s wages continue the special needs and concerns of poor to be extremely depressed is the service rural women, who are the group most in sector where women earn only 29.4 per need of, and least targeted for, credit cent of what men earn. provision. Most banks apply the same In Nepal there is considerable rules to these women as are applied to fluctuation in the earnings profile of richer borrowers in urban centres. High women across different sectors. However, transaction costs, the rigidity of collateral the national statistics suggest that women requirements, urban locations, and heavy get paid about 57 per cent of what men paperwork requirements are all examples get paid. of impediments to poor, rural, and often, uneducated women. Women and micro-credit Women are almost invisible to formal financial institutions. They receive less than Unequal economic opportunities for 10 per cent of commercial credits (Haq, K. women are manifested most clearly in 1996). The Agricultural Development Bank their limited access to credit. The of Pakistan (ADBP) has taken the lead in availability of micro-credit, especially for extending credit to rural women. Even so,
Women and the Economy 65 Box 4.4 NABARD in India 1982 and covers 67 of Nepal’s 75 districts. The linking of banks to self-help the SHG decides about the borrower The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has groups was a project undertaken by and the amount of money to be the National Bank for Agriculture borrowed, this together with the peer taken on the responsibility of the Small and Rural Development (NABARD). pressure exerted by the group ensures Farmers and Landless Credit Project Till now, bank credit to the tune of high repayment rates and low (SFLCP) since 1997 and planned to about Rs. 300 million and NABARD transaction costs. increase coverage to 6 more districts. This refinance of Rs. 260 million has been The Ninth Plan recognises the project emphasises female participation in provided. 300,000 rural families have need for a conducive credit policy to been covered by the scheme. increase the access for women to income generation and has so far Repayment of loans at the Women’s credit through appropriate institutional benefitted over 35,000 women. In Self Help Group (SHG) level and at mechanisms like the Rashtriya Mahila Pakistan, the new administration has the bank level has been excellent and Kosh (RMK), NABARD, Council for announced the establishment of a has been almost 100 per cent. In his Advancement of People’s Action and specialised Microfinance Bank to budget speech for the year 1998-99, Rural Technology (CAPART) etc. The the Finance Minister asked Plan document states that the setting eradicate poverty. Across the region, NABARD to extend the scope and up of the RMK in 1993 ‘fulfilled a NGOs and commercial banks have joined coverage of the scheme to cover long awaited initiative of having a in partnership to address the lack of credit 2 lakh SHGs and 40 lakh families national level mechanism to meet the available to women. By September 1998, over the next 5 years. credit needs of poor and assetless over 17,000 self-help groups (SHGs) in Where specific banks or bank women in the informal sector.’ Till managers have taken the decision to March, 1997 a total credit worth India were linked with banks; 88 per cent be sensitive to the needs of those Rs. 35.14 crores was sanctioned and a of these are exclusively women’s groups. below the poverty line, the impact on sum of Rs. 20.51 crores disbursed to It is with an eye to addressing many of the poor has been phenomenal. 1.91 lakh women through the medium the constraints that women face that Examples include the tremendous of 170 NGOs. RMK maintained a semi-formal credit institutions have success of lending by the Indian Bank recovery rate of 92 to 94.6 per cent. to Women’s Self Help Groups By March, 1998, RMK had extended operated. The seminal effort that has (SHGs) in Madurai district of Tamil credit to 2,50,000 women over six been replicated across the region and Nadu under the IFAD project. Since years. indeed the world is the Grameen Bank, based on the concept of group lending Source: Mehta 2000. and peer monitoring. NGO-operated micro-credit programmes in Bangladesh less than 7 per cent of the loans granted cater to over 10 million people with close by ADBP until 1992 went to women. In to 90 per cent of borrowers being Bangladesh, of the 879,000 people who women. In Nepal, the three main NGOs took loans from commercial banks in that operate on a Grameen model cover 1994, only 64 were women (Ahmed 409 village development committees with 1998). approximately 60 per cent female There are now attempts to address this borrowers. In Pakistan, an estimated 95 situation in many South Asian countries. NGOs are disbursing micro-credit, with Beginning in the early 1990s, five a quarter of the borrowers women. The Regional Rural Development Banks average amount of the loan disbursed to (RRDB), one each in the Eastern, Central, women is Rs. 19,000 (AKF 1999). In Western, Mid-Western and Far-Western most of these cases, repayment rates are Development Regions of Nepal, were around 90 per cent, reinforcing the point established to provide institutional credit that women are more trustworthy to those sections of society which still borrowers. remain outside the reach of other targeted In any case, credit alone is not a vehicle credit programmes. These will draw on for generating income. Without the experience of the Production Credit substantial market incentives and for Rural Women (PCRW), the largely infrastructure, borrowers are likely to successful government-sponsored credit remain in debt, as they have limited programme that has been Nepal’s only options to make profitable investments. real effort at providing credit to women Rural credit programmes with support on a large scale. PCRW was set up in services that include training, savings
66 Human Development in South Asia 2000 mobilisation techniques and group Globalization and its impact on formation are motivating women to women become self-employed: in Bangladesh in 1995, approximately, 2 million women The benefits of competitive markets and were estimated to be self-employed in other mainstays of globalization such as individual or group enterprises (UNDP information technology have been skewed 1995a). In Pakistan, the First Women towards the elite minority of South Asian Bank is currently the only commercial women. The new markets, tools, and bank that offers development finance and rules of this global era have failed to training to women (see box 4.5). alleviate the poverty of most of South The other sources of credit in the Asia’s women. Simultaneously, with the region are traditional ones such as unprecedented wealth and progress in the moneylenders, who charge exorbitant developed world and the elite sectors of There is a need for rates of interest; mechanisms such as developing countries, the economic formal institutions to Rotating Savings and Credit Associations opportunities available to the majority of (ROSCAs) which are essentially South Asian women are extremely limited play a much more committees of pooled savings, and and unrewarding. The average earned active role in credit banking societies. In Sri Lanka, the income share of women in South Asia is provision to poor Janashakth Banking Societies (JBS) 24.7 per cent, far below the developing women operate as informal savings and loans country average of 32.4 per cent (UNDP associations, and have helped poor 1999c). While globalization encompasses women meet both short and long-term more than simply economic changes, it is credit needs. Interest rates of 4-5 per cent the economic impact of globalization on are comparatively low and JBS have seen women that is important for us here. recovery rates of 95 per cent. Urban, educated, and relatively affluent In general though, women’s women are able to take advantage of the participation in many such local level increased opportunities for work that initiatives is erratic: they are often come with the influx of foreign firms. excluded from local organisations such as agricultural co-operatives which help in Box 4.5 For women, by women providing information or may even The First Women Bank (FWB) is one improve women’s entrepreneurial extend credit. Other obstacles to of only two commercial banks in opportunities mainstreaming micro-credit for women Pakistan disbursing credit to women. Although to date only 12 include the ideological obstacle of It is unique in that it also operates as a thousand women have benefitted patriarchal assumptions about the development finance institution. Its from the various credit schemes of Women Business Centre (WBC) was FWB, its emphasis on women and ownership of assets and property. initiated in March 1999 and offers interventions beyond just credit The actual effects of micro-credit loans ranging from Rs. 5,000 to provision make it successful and schemes are unclear: in Sri Lanka there is Rs. 25,000 with an interest rate of 12% underline the potential to make a real little evidence that women participating p.a. There are two personal guarantees impact in poor womens’ lives. An in successful credit programmes have required and illiterate women are estimate suggests that 500,000 jobs required only to provide photo- for women have been created moved from low-productivity self- identification and a thumbprint. directly or indirectly as a result of employment to profitable entrepreneurship, Women pay Rs. 100 to join the FWB’s programmes, and that too even in small scale industries (Jayaweera WBC, which offers training with a high recovery rate of 90.5%. 1996). The limitations faced by non- programmes comprising skill Last but not least, the entire formal and semi-formal credit providers acquisition and upgrading, marketing institution is run and owned and accounting. There are also plans completely by women, which is a perhaps result in their limited impact, to link with agencies such as the tremendous indicator of the overall once again highlighting the need for Export Promotion Bureau and the positive impact the bank has had on formal institutions to play a much more Chamber of Commerce so as to women’s economic independence. active role in credit provision to poor women. Source: WCIRC 2000.
Women and the Economy 67 These employment avenues are reduction of high exports costs, even in complemented by greater opportunities to the face of reduced subsidies. receive high-quality education and skill- Most women are unlikely to benefit training. The new technologies that define from such liberalization policies because this age of globalization, in particular the these programmes do not take account Internet and information technologies, of gender-specific impacts. It is true that are accessible primarily to this group of significant opportunities are available in women. On a macro level, the low-tech manufacturing industries (i.e. liberalization of trade and financial garments), for women who have not so markets also promises tremendous far been employed in the industrial sector. benefits for elite and middle-class women. Nevertheless, it is likely that the victims The many potential gains include a greater of cost-cutting initiatives will outnumber Poor, less educated, variety of goods that are cheaper due to those who are being hired in new and credit- increased competition, and more factories. Most of those losing their jobs attractive interest rates for women are unskilled while those keeping their constrained women, entrepreneurs to undertake business jobs or being hired are highly-skilled. The especially those who ventures. outcomes of these downsizing initiatives work in the urban Conversely, poor, less educated, and include increases in low-paying home- and rural informal credit-constrained women, especially based sub-contracting work, most of it those who work in the urban and rural done by women. sectors, may not see informal sectors, may not see many of Women in the smaller countries of many of the benefits the benefits of globalization at all. South Asia have made more progress of globalization at Multilateral institutions such as the World than women in the larger countries: the Bank and International Monetary Fund earned income shares of women in Nepal, all (IMF) argue that benefits for these Bhutan and the Maldives have gone up. women will be the result of However, in all of these countries, there improvements in the longer term, brought are still wide wage differentials between about by correcting price distortions both men and women and fewer opportunities in factor and product markets. They argue for women to apply new technologies. As that by making markets more competitive, highlighted earlier, this technological class higher agricultural and industrial growth and gender gap is most evident in the will take place and thus incomes will agricultural sector. Globalization has also increase. The expansion of the industrial failed to address the issue of economic sector will supposedly increase and environmental sustainability, employment both in the urban and rural particularly in the agricultural and economy (World Bank 1990). Even the informal sectors. As Chapter 1 proponents of economic liberalization highlighted, poverty only increases strains however, acknowledge that the process on the environment, and there is little may bring with it some necessary evils in reason to believe that there is enough the short-run. These include public sector emphasis on the globalization agenda on expenditure reductions which can reduce either the poor or on preventing income and consumption levels of the ecological degradation. poor, the uneducated, and the unskilled. Globalization has put poor and In addition, it is expected that uneducated women in a more acute unemployment will increase due to situation of need than ever before. Gains downsizing associated with the race to have been limited and even where they become more competitive. This is despite have been more extensive, such as in the fact that in theory agricultural industries in India, Sri Lanka and reforms, commonly associated with the Bangladesh, there is much that remains liberalization of agrarian economies, could to be done. As far as the Bangladesh have positive impacts on the poor experience goes there is definitely (Haddad et al. 1995) through the something that other South Asian
68 Human Development in South Asia 2000 countries can learn, at least in terms of from globalization, at least in economic how to begin the process of pro-poor terms. But the vast majority of South growth in the global era. However, to a Asian women have so far been sidelined large degree, South Asian women have in the global system. The positive borne the brunt of the negative effects of structural transformation that the globalization; adjustment policies in proponents of globalization promise to particular lead to an intensification of rural economies in South Asia has yet to women’s domestic and market work, occur. The rising tide of globalization has interruption of girls’ education, and an not lifted all women. As a matter of fact, increase in the amount of time women globalization tends to increase income spend to obtain basic services or self- inequality between different sectors and provide them (Beneria 1995). groups which, if not countered through It is clear that as yet there has not been redistributive fiscal and employment a significant increase in the number of policies, will further marginalize jobs available to South Asian women to vulnerable groups. Women form the vast take advantage of globalization process. majority of these in South Asia. We will Richer, educated women have gained return to this theme in our next Report.
Women and the Economy 69 Annex Tables: Distribution of labour force by gender
India
Table A 1.1 Broad sectoral distribution of workers, 1993-94 (%)
Primary Sector Secondary Sector Tertiary Sector All India Male 58.3 16.5 25.2 Female 78.0 10.9 11.1 Rural Male 74.0 11.2 14.8 Female 86.1 8.30 5.60 Urban Male 9.0 33.1 57.8 Female 24.8 29.3 45.9
Source: Visaria 1999.
Table A 1.2 Female employment as a per cent of total organised sector employment, 1995 Primary Sector 22.2 Agriculture, hunting, forestry & fishing 34.0 Mining & quarrying 7.0 Secondary Sector 11.3 Manufacturing 11.5 Electricity, gas & water 3.9 Construction 5.4 Tertiary Sector 17.3 Wholesale and retail trade, restaurants & hotels 8.3 Transport, storage & communications 5.1 Finance, insurance, real estate & business services 13.5 Community, social & personal services 21.7 Total 15.4
Source: Visaria 1999.
Table A 1.3 Distribution by major industry, 1993-94 (%)
Agriculture Mining & Manufacturing Electricity, Construct Trade Transport Services quarrying gas & water & storage All India Male 58.3 0.9 11 0.5 4.1 9.5 4 11.7 Female 78 0.4 9.3 n/a 1.2 3.2 0.3 7.6 Rural Male 74 0.7 7 0.3 3.2 5.5 2.2 7.1 Female 86.1 0.4 7.1 n/a 0.8 2.1 0.1 3.4 Urban Male 9 1.3 23.6 1.2 7 22 9.8 26.1 Female 24.8 0.6 24.3 0.3 4.1 10.1 1.3 34.5 Source: Visaria 1999.
70 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Pakistan
Table A 2.1 Distribution by major occupation, 1996-97 (%) Major Occupation Groups Both Sexes Male Female* Legislators, senior officials & managers 8.62 8.37 0.24 Professionals 3.50 2.67 0.83 Technicians & associate professionals 2.80 2.30 0.50 Clerks 2.89 2.85 0.04 Service workers and shop & market sales workers 7.77 7.15 0.62 Skilled agricultural & fishery workers 36.82 30.16 6.66 Craft & related trades 9.87 8.49 1.38 Plant & machine operators & assemblers 4.82 4.78 0.04 Elementary (unskilled) Occupations 22.93 19.78 3.14 Total 100.0 86.55 13.45 * denotes female share as a % of total female labour force Source: GOP 1997b.
Table A 2.2 Distribution by major industry, 1996-97 (%) Major Industry Division Both Sexes Male Female Agriculture, forestry, hunting & fishing 44.15 35.22 8.93 Mining & quarrying 0.10 0.10 n/a Manufacturing 11.10 9.76 1.34 Electricity, gas & water 0.98 0.97 0.01 Construction 6.75 6.68 0.07 Wholesale and retail trade & restaurants & hotels 14.62 14.24 0.37 Transport, storage & communication 5.71 5.66 0.05 Financing, insurance, real estate and business services 0.98 0.98 0.01 Community, social & personal services 15.58 12.89 2.68 Activities not defined 0.04 0.04 0.01 Total 100.0 86.55 13.45
Source: GOP 1997b.
Table A 2.3 Distribution by gender and monthly income (%) Total Up to Rs. 1,501 Rs. 2,501 Rs. 4,000 Average monthly employees Rs. 1,500 to 2,500 to Rs. 4,000 and above income (Rs.)
Both Sexes 100 15.92 26.64 33.35 24.09 3,686.37 Male 89.79 11.9 24.24 30.93 22.71 3,824.03 Female 10.21 4.02 2.4 2.41 1.39 2,476.4
Source: GOP 1997b.
Women and the Economy 71 Bangladesh
Table A 3.1 Distribution by major occupation, 1995-96 (%) Major Occupation Category Male Female % Female Professional technical 3.5 7.2 30.6 Administrative and managerial 0.5 0.1 3.9 Clerical and sales 20.4 7.6 9.3 Service* 2.4 15.6 58.7 Production/transport workers and labour 19.2 27.8 23.7 Agricultural worker 53.9 41.7 14.3 * includes household sector and ‘not adequately defined’. Source: GOB 1996b.
Table A 3.2 Women’s formal sector labour force participation, 1995-96 (%) Agriculture & fisheries 6.0 Industry 46.0 Service sector 48.0 Total 100.0
Source: GOB 1996b.
Table A 3.3 Women’s informal sector labour force participation, 1995-96 (%) Agriculture & fisheries 34.0 Industry 22.0 Service sector 44.0 Total 100.0
Source: GOB 1996b.
Table A 3.4 Female-male wage ratios (%) 1983-84 1995-96 Rural areas 47.6 56.8 Urban areas 48.9 60.0 Agriculture 48.3 71.4 Industry n/a 50.8 Services n/a 29.4
Source: GOB 1996b.
72 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Nepal
Table A 4.1 Distribution by major occupation, 1995-96 (%) Major Occupation Groups Both Sexes Male Female* Professional & technical/administrative 1.8 2.7 0.7 Clerical 1.6 2.8 0.2 Sales 3.8 5.0 2.6 Service 1.4 1.9 0.8 Farmers & forestry workers 86.1 78.9 93.7 Production workers 3.2 4.9 1.4 Construction/transport/communication 0.5 0.8 0.2 Ordinary labour 1.4 2.5 0.2 Others & not specified 0.2 0.3 0.1 Total 100.0 100.0 100.00 * denotes female share as a % of total female labour force Source: HMG Nepal 1996.
Table A 4.2 Informal sector employment by occupation and urban/rural sector (%) Occupation Male Female Urban Rural Urban Rural Professional, technical, administrative 45.5 54.5 60.0 40.0 Clerks 50.0 50.0 100.0 0.0 Services worker 34.6 65.4 35.8 64.2 Agriculture 0.0 100.0 0.0 100.0 Skilled production worker 19.4 80.6 24.0 76.0 Elementary occupation 13.9 86.1 13.0 87.9 Total 23.0 77.0 22.1 77.9
Source: HMG Nepal 1999e.
Table A 4.3 Proportion of women in occupational groups, 2000 (%) Occupation Census 1991 NLSS 1995/96 Professional & technical 15.1 20.7 Administrative & managerial 9.3 11.2 Clerical 10 7.7 Sales 22.6 32.8 Services 25.1 28.6 Agriculture & forestry 45 53.0 Production* 18.8 17.5 Not classified 18.2 3.5 Total 40.4 48.7 * includes manufacturing, construction/transport/communication and ordinary labour Source: Acharya 2000
Women and the Economy 73 Sri Lanka
Table A 5.1 Women employees to total employees by major occupations, 1997 (%) Major Occupation % of Women Administrative & managerial workers 17.3 Professional, technical & related workers 27.2 Clerical & related workers 39.5 Sales workers 26.6 Foreman & supervisors 22.8 Skilled & semi-skilled workers 52.5 Unskilled workers 48.3 Total 44.5
Source: GOS 1997b.
Table A 5.2 Women employees to total employees in major industries, 1997 (%) Agriculture, forestry & fishing 51.2 Mining & quarrying 18.6 Manufacturing 59.5 Electricity, gas & water 7.8 Construction 12.6 Wholesale & retail trade & restaurants & hotels 26.6 Transport & storage 8.6 Financing, insurance, real estate & business services 29.7 Community, social & personal services 31.6 All industries 44.5
Source: GOS 1997b.
Table A 5.3 Female dominated industries, 1993 Industry Group Gender-based employment ratio Male Female Textiles 0.40 0.60 Footwear, except rubber or plastic 0.46 0.54 Wearing apparel, except footwear 0.11 0.89 Manufacturing of leather and products 0.37 0.63 Other manufacturing industries 0.24 0.76 Pottery, china, earthenware 0.40 0.60 Tobacco manufacturers 0.41 0.59 Average 0.34 0.66
Source: GOS 1993 and GOS 1997c.
Table A 5.4 Female-male wage ratios in the manufacturing sector (%) 1985 73.0 1990 93.8 1993 94.8 1996 95.6
Source: Gunatilaka 1999.
74 Human Development in South Asia 2000 5 Women and the Law
The first order of business is to bring the moral pressure of the global community on these reluctant nations to accept the basic tenets of legal equality for women.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Women and the Law 75 Chapter 5 Women and the Law
Women do not enjoy complete legal and, especially, a lack of will among equality with men in any South Asian enforcement agents and the judiciary, country or community, despite obstruct the enforcement of many constitutional guarantees to the contrary. protective and promotional laws. The majority of South Asian women— The codification of women’s The demand for regardless of class, caste or religion—face fundamental rights within constitutions unequal access to property; to protection and legislation can, however, enhance the women’s legal from harm; to decision-making powers options of women confronted with abuse equality has become surrounding their family life and outside or neglect, through the establishment of central to the activities; and to the justice system itself. systems of legal recourse. Legal literacy growing demand for These disparities have negative programmes for both government repercussions on women’s vulnerability to officials and the general public can women’s violence and destitution; on their ability facilitate this process. As Azhar (1995) empowerment to care for themselves and their families; states, with reference to Pakistan, ‘once and on their overall sense of citizenship, the legal framework is more just and security and integrity. supportive, it will be easier to dismantle As discussed in chapter 2, a rights-based the grossly exploitative social customs and approach to gender and development sets traditions rampant in society.’ the achievement of human rights, and the Women who had internalised and creation of an enabling environment in accepted the inequality and discrimination which human rights can be enjoyed by all, prevalent at all levels of their lives have as the main objectives of people-centred themselves begun to realise that neither sustainable development, as well as the laws nor their practice are impartial means to achieve it. This involves breaking processes. Discriminatory and gender- down unequal relationships based on the insensitive laws generate and reinforce socially-constructed hierarchies of inequalities, perpetuate the subordination gender—as well as age, class, ethnicity, of women in the family and society, and religion and other socio-economic contribute towards creating an insecure factors—through a process of environment for them. formalisation of individual rights and The demolition of the myth of institutional responsibility. neutrality of laws has increased the An equitable legal framework can awareness of how laws help in sustaining never completely guarantee the equitable the unequal power relations between men treatment of women in society. As and women, from the fundamental level discussed in this chapter, women’s rights of the family to the highest levels of are systematically violated despite decision-making. In this way, the demand constitutional guarantees of equality. for women’s legal equality has become Equality articles are often contradicted by: central to the growing demand for women’s empowerment and their • individual laws, consequent ability to effectively • gaps in the legal framework, • the decisions of parallel judiciaries, and participate in, and benefit from, • other constitutional articles. development processes. It is sometimes the case that Further, throughout the region, progressive changes to gender cultural traditions, ignorance of the law discriminatory laws can also be taken as
76 Human Development in South Asia 2000 an indication of a positive shift in of a new law on statutory rape. This government commitment to gender conservatism has resulted in large areas equity. The establishment of legal of family law being untouched by principles and provisions can offer legislative reform that conforms with the activists and individuals greater space for standards of equality and non- dialogue regarding change, both within discrimination in the constitutions and the legal framework and in other spheres international instruments that these of life. countries have ratified. The legal terrain of South Asia— In India, the National Commission on determined by the religious and cultural Women has drafted a Bill to provide for practices of several communities, and a secular law on marriage applicable to all overlain by traditions of European communities. However, these efforts are jurisprudence—is particularly treacherous often viewed with suspicion by women The lack of a for women. Women suffer limited access activists, particularly those from minority uniform civil code in to the legal system due to lack of communities, as an effort to force education, low social status and minorities to conform to the value system which fundamental limitations on their public mobility. of the majority. The development of human rights take Further, throughout the region, except in ‘uniformly’ applicable civil codes is precedence over the Maldives and to a large extent in considered a policy initiative that denies gender Nepal, different religious and cultural the need to respect pluralism and ethnic communities are governed by separate and religious identities of minority discriminatory personal laws—those civil laws which deal communities. The absence of consensus religious customs with marriage, dowry/dower and divorce; among women activists themselves remains a main custody, guardianship and adoption of encourages governments to renege on the children; and inheritance. commitments they have undertaken to obstacle to the In the Maldives, where citizenship can introduce legal reform in line with their achievement of only be held by Muslims and there is a own Constitutions and treaty obligations women’s equal large and dominant Sunni majority, all in international human rights law. rights Maldivians live under Shari’a law. In There is an urgent need for women’s Nepal, the legal framework is based upon groups to recognise that a core of secular a combination of ancient Hindu laws on early marriage and violence sanctions, custom, and British-Indian type against women already exist, particularly common law. Personal laws are uniform, in India and Sri Lanka. Arguments on although in cases where the code is silent, respect for pluralism must not be used to community customs prevail. Approximately discourage governments from developing 90 per cent of the population identifies this body of law further by enacting itself as Hindu, although Hinduism as secular civil codes that reflect the practised in Nepal borrows a great deal commitments of the Constitution and from Buddhism. international human rights treaties and In the rest of the region, the lack of a standards. The concept of limited choice uniform civil code in which fundamental in governing family relations according to human rights take precedence over these codes can be incorporated so as to gender discriminatory religious customs recognise the right of those governed by remains a main obstacle to the personal laws to adhere to some norms achievement of women’s equal rights. In in their religious and ethnic laws. Sri Lanka recent efforts to change the However, such a concept of choice must laws on statutory and marital rape were necessarily be limited, so that no met with criticism in Parliament, as it was community may infringe the core human perceived that the proposed change rights of women in regard to access to would offend the susceptibilities of the education, health, economic advancement Muslim community. Consequently and bodily integrity, by reference to Muslims were excluded from the scope ethnic and religious laws.
Women and the Law 77 The effective application of personal men. In many cases, however, these laws is also hindered by the extent to guarantees are confounded or which they lie in various states of contradicted by other constitutional codification. In India, for instance, Muslim articles, amendments and laws, as well as personal law is not codified, as are the by a lack of political will to enforce these laws for the Hindu and Christian laws combined with persistent customary communities. In Bhutan, there is no practices. Experience has shown that any codified system of traditional law at all, ambiguity or lack of clarity in the and most civil disputes among the articulation of rights creates space for majority Buddhist population, as well as misuse and discrimination. the minority Hindu, Muslim and Bon Pakistan, in addition, is home to two communities, are dealt with by village constitutionally-created bodies with The word heads. This level of ad hoc-ism can further supra-constitutional powers. These ‘protection’ is impair women’s ability to access objective ‘parallel judiciaries’—the Council of and independent legal assistance. Islamic Ideology and the Federal Shariat potentially While women are often most heavily Court—have given decisions that are damaging in the affected by discriminatory personal laws, both violative of fundamental rights context of women... due to the socially-determined guaranteed in the Constitution as well as it strengthens social predominance of their role within the constitutionally binding, and which have family, the impact of discrimination within been particularly problematic for women. perceptions of other legal frameworks on women’s Women-specific articles in women as security and sense of self must not be constitutions are generally articulated as a subordinate and underestimated. In most cases—but not need to protect. Further, all the regional incapable all—criminal law and other forms of civil constitutions lump women together with law such as those dealing with labour, children and/or other so-called contracts and citizenship apply uniformly ‘backward’ sections. Yet the word across religious communities. Exceptions ‘protection’ is potentially damaging in the include the Maldivian policy on citizenship context of women: it strengthens social mentioned above, and Pakistan’s Laws of perceptions of women as subordinate, Evidence. There is, however, both explicit and bracketing them with children further and implicit gender-based discrimination reinforces the impression that women are within the criminal and civil legal systems as incapable of looking after themselves, of the region. a trend that is reflected in both laws and policies. The reality of constitutional provisions Further, in the cultural context of South Asia, the word ‘protection’ often A constitution is a declaration of the lends itself to a traditional, conservative principles on which a country exists. In and rigid interpretation, leading to actions constitutions, the fundamental rights of which tend to curtail women’s rights, citizens are established, and the structures, rather than ensuring them. The frequent institutions and mechanisms through use of terms such as ‘public interest’ and which laws and policies are made, ‘morality’ take on a special significance in interpreted and enforced, in order to terms of the interpretation and maintain these rights, are created. The application of women’s rights. Inevitably, material contained in the constitution of a they bring in their wake constant country, therefore, and the manner in references to ‘social norms’, ‘cultural which it is expressed, has wide-ranging traditions’ and ‘religious values’, thereby implications for the legal as well as social, political and economic status of women. 1 Bhutan has no constitution beyond an 18- Each South Asian country, except point 1953 document, revised in 1968, which Bhutan,1 maintains constitutional deals with procedures of the National guarantees of women’s legal equality with Assembly and the conduct of its members.
78 Human Development in South Asia 2000 allowing personal and internalised government for women’s economic perceptions to dominate when executive, empowerment, on the grounds of legislative and judicial decisions are made. its being an affirmative action While constitutional jurisprudence measure. The Lahore High Court varies across South Asia, there are ruled that while the government indications that constitutional remedies could sell the bank, any buyer must can be a powerful catalyst for realising adhere to FWB’s full mandate. gender equality. Constitutional guarantees • In 1999, the Lahore and Sindh High can also contribute to policy formulation Courts passed judgements that and law making, by creating awareness confirmed women’s right to that laws must conform to constitutional freedom of movement. standards. Examples of positive decisions related to women’s fundamental rights as Gender discrimination Constitutional guaranteed by the constitution include the in law and practice remedies can be a following: powerful catalyst for Throughout the region, however, there • In Nepal and Sri Lanka, the right to continue to be laws that contradict the realising gender gender equality has been used to fundamental guarantees of equality laid out equality challenge discriminatory visa in constitutions and international regulations. agreements, as well as judical decisions that • Sri Lankan women increasingly have uphold gender discriminatory practices. used the general guarantee of The Convention for the Elimination of All equality before the law to challenge Forms of Discrimination Against Women discriminatory administrative acts in (CEDAW), tabled in 1979, remains the the State sector that deny them central legally-binding international promotions, extensions after the age agreement regarding the rights of women. of retirement, scholarships and All South Asian states have ratified certification of qualifications. In Sri CEDAW, but only Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Lanka, the right to equality has been Nepal have done so without reservation. increasingly interpreted as a right of While the reservations retained by protection from capricious, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the arbitrary, unreasonable decisions, Maldives (see box 5.1) indeed reflect and as a general standard of fairness poorly on government commitment to in administrative decision-making. gender equity, the non-implementation of • In India, gender discrimination in commitments made under CEDAW by employment has been challenged all countries is as important. The under constitutional guarantees. following sections contain discussions of • In Pakistan, in a 1990 case those discriminatory laws and enforcement challenging the restriction of practices which remain in effect despite medical college seats for women, CEDAW commitments. the Supreme Court held that the state was allowed to take protective Women and personal laws measures for women. Thus, in a coeducational institution it was Based upon complex systems of religion possible to reserve a minimum, but and culture, the customs and laws that not a maximum number of seats for govern marriage and divorce, women. guardianship and adoption, and • In another Pakistani case, the inheritance and property in South Asia Women’s Action Forum challenged are highly discriminatory. This often has the privatisation of the First Women serious implications for women’s Bank (FWB), a bank set up by the economic, social and physical security.
Women and the Law 79 Box 5.1 The status of CEDAW in South Asia
• Bhutan and Sri Lanka signed CEDAW in 1980 and ratified in 1981; Nepal signed and ratified in 1991. All three countries have done so without reservation. In Nepal, ratified international agreements automatically enter the national body of law. • Bangladesh ratified CEDAW in 1984 with four reservations. In 1997, its reservations to CEDAW were partially withdrawn, thus accepting. Articles 13(a) (equal rights to family benefits) and 16(t) (equal rights to guardianship). • However, two reservations have been retained: to Article 2 (complete elimination of discrimination through all possible constitutional, legislative and legal provisions) and to Article 16 (equal rights in marriage and at its dissolution), considered to be in conflict with Shari’a law. • In Pakistan, on 21 August 1995, just prior to the Beijing Conference, the cabinet decided It is important to note that of the to sign CEDAW. The next government ratified the Convention on 12 March 1996, with a fifteen Muslim countries around reservation to Article 29(1) (international arbitration of disputes between States concerning the world that have signed interpretation of CEDAW), and with the general declaration that CEDAW would be CEDAW, there is no clause on implemented in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan. After the Shariat Act (1990), which they have a consensus the Constitution has stipulated that all laws must be in accordance with Islam. While many reservation (Azhar 1995), argue that discriminatory laws do not find their basis in Islam but in sexist interpretations illustrating the importance of of Islamic Law as well as prevalent norms and customary practices (Ali 1995), as Khan culture and leadership to religious (1998) points out, this reservation ‘indirectly provides Pakistan with a loophole it can use interpretations. against repealing Islamic laws that discriminate against women’. • The Maldives ratified CEDAW on 1 July 1993, but maintains reservations to Article 7(a) (equality in eligibility to vote and to run for elections) and to Article 16, as the former conflicts with the Constitutions and the latter, with Maldivian understanding of Islamic Shari’a. While Maldivian women are equally entitled to vote and to be elected to government, they do not have the right to become head of state. • When India ratified CEDAW in 1993—having signed the document in 1980—it introduced two declarations. The first permits a local interpretation of Articles 5(a) (measures to modify prejudicial social and cultural customs and 16(1), ‘in conformity with its policy of non-interference in the personal affairs of any Community without its initiative and consent’. Fifty-three years on, this policy continues to stand in direct conflict with constitutional declaration that the state would move towards a uniform civil code. India also declared, in relation to Article 16(2), that ‘though in principle it fully supports the principle of compulsory registration of marriages, it in not practical in vast country like India with its variety of customs, religions and level of literacy’. India also maintains a reservation to Article 29.
Source: Ali 1993; Azhar 1995; Khan 1998; and UN 2000.
CHOICE AND CONSENT. A woman is Further, even when a woman has guaranteed the right to marry a partner access to the legal system, it is not of her choice under CEDAW. Despite automatic that her rights will be upheld. legal guarantees to the contrary, there is Judicial support for women’s right to great variation in the extent to which marry without the permission of a South Asian women and men are allowed guardian has not been unambiguously to participate in choosing their mate. given. However, in a women-positive Throughout the region, however, the judgement in 1998, the Lahore High overwhelming number of marriages are Court clearly declared that under Islamic arranged by families, and in many cases, law a woman had the equal right to the prior consent of the girl in particular choose her own partner, acknowledged is neither sought nor even considered the influence and prejudices of culture, necessary. and went on to state that ‘male Indeed, women and men who decide chauvinism, feudal bias and compulsions to marry against the will of one or both of a conceited ego should not be families take a significant risk. Familial confused with Islamic values’ (AI 1999). discontent is often expressed in the form Muslim women in the region face of disinheritance, abduction, forced further gender discrimination in terms of marriage or violence. In Pakistan, women who they can marry. While Muslim males who marry by choice can be charged with can marry not only Muslim females but zina (fornication) and imprisoned, and the also Christians and Jews, according to violence provoked by ‘love marriages’ can established Muslim jurisprudence— take the form of so-called ‘honour though it is contested by some killings’ (see box 5.3). interpretations—a Muslim woman can
80 Human Development in South Asia 2000 only contract a valid marriage with a confronted this problem through Muslim male. In Bangladesh, a Muslim compulsory birth registration campaigns in woman wishing to marry a non-Muslim 1997-98. man can do so under the Special Marriages Act where both partners are REGISTRATION AND THE MARRIAGE required to renounce their religious CONTRACT. The non-registration of beliefs. There is an on-going campaign marriages can also create serious by Ain o Salish Kendro to do away with the problems in terms of establishing the renunciation provision and amend the rights and entitlements of women and Act so as to have a truly secular and civil children in the event of abandonment, option for citizens who wish to exercise widowhood, divorce, polygyny, the desire their right to marry in a non-religious to choose one’s own spouse, or forced forum. prostitution. In Sri Lanka, marriage The non-registration registration is compulsory and of marriages can AGE AT MARRIAGE. Closely related to unregistered marriages are invalid. While issues of choice and consent is the issue in Bangladesh and Pakistan registration is also create serious of minimum age at marriage. In each compulsory, unregistered marriages are problems in terms of South Asian country except Sri Lanka, the accepted as valid. India and Nepal do not establishing the legal age for marriage is lower for girls have an established system for marriage rights and than for boys, with a particularly large registration at all, although the Indian gender gap in Bhutan (see table 5.1). In state of Maharashtra has recently made entitlements of Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, puberty marriage registration compulsory. women and children is the minimum marital age for boys, and In Pakistan, the 1961 Muslim Family there is no legal minimum age for girls. Law Ordinance (MFLO) provided, for Gender differentials in age at marriage the first time, a standardised marriage help maintain concepts of women as both contract for Muslims. While not imposing legal children and male property, passed any conditions on either party, the on from the guardianship of fathers to contract does document the terms of that of husbands, and as people with marriage and has columns within which homemaking as their sole economic role. some rights (including the right to More important, however, is the fact divorce) can be given to the wife with that minimum age at marriage laws are the consent of both parties. This in itself rarely effectively enforced. In Bangladesh, was a significant advance, and created the India, Pakistan and Nepal, customary opportunity to bring about more marriages solemnised outside the purview awareness in families about what was of personal law—including child possible and permissible to protect marriages—are accepted as valid, and while women’s rights under Islamic law. Table 5.1 Minimum age at the perpetrators are liable to simple fines Unfortunately, orthodox opposition to marriage and imprisonment, they are rarely the MFLO and strong societal gender bias Women Men punished. Particularly in rural areas, child resulted in negating even this minimal marriages remain common. In Bangladesh, progress. Even today, entire sections of Bangladesh 18 21 Bhutan 16 21 however, a woman contracted in marriage these columns are often crossed out by India 18 21 as a child has a conditional right to the officially-appointed marriage Maldives n/a n/a repudiate that marriage when she reaches registrars, or by the family of the groom Nepal 16/18a 18/21a the age of majority (the ‘puberty option’). or bride, giving the impression that Pakistan 16 18 b c In Sri Lanka, child marriages solemnised delegating the right of divorce or making Sri Lanka 18 18 according to custom are illegal and void, conditions is somehow un-Islamic. In a. With/without parental consent; except within the Muslim community. A Bangladesh, on the other hand, a positive b. no minimum age of marriage for Muslim girls, although <12 requires lack of effective birth and marriage recent trend is that the registrars in some guardian’s permission; registration systems remains a major cases automatically fill in the portion of c. puberty for Muslim boys hindrance to the abolition of child and the contract which provides women the Source: Gooneskere 2000; LOC 1991; forced marriages; Bangladesh has delegated right to divorce. Sobhan et al. 2000; and Zia 2000.
Women and the Law 81 Further, in Pakistan the provision fine and/or imprisonment. Despite the requiring that all Muslim marriages are Act, however, dowry is now a common registered is frequently violated. A serious part of marriage negotiations, especially problem has been created for women in the rural and lower income bracket. because of inefficient and often dishonest Dowry demands often persist long after performance of marriage registrars. It has the marriage ceremony, and a majority of been noted that no proper records are cases of domestic violence are due to maintained by them, and there are several dowry demands by husbands and in-laws. fake marriage contract forms in existence. The persistence of dowry can be When a girl’s marriage is in doubt, she explained in part by rising unemployment becomes liable to criminal charges. among young males in rural Bangladesh. Marriage and dowry are seen as an In modern South DOWRY, DOWER AND MAINTENANCE DURING income source, especially when it includes Asia, women’s MARRIAGE. Throughout the region, upon investment capital or a ticket to the marriage there is traditionally some form Middle East or other parts of Asia. If a property rights and of property exchange—from the girl’s son has some education, it further economic security family to the boy and/or his family increases the bargaining power of his tend to be (dowry); from the girl’s family to the girl family. undermined through (e.g. Hindu stridhan); or from the boy to Under Islamic law, dower (mehr) is a the girl (dower, e.g. Islamic mehr). In condition of marriage or the marriage —or despite— modern South Asia, women’s property contract, which is incumbent upon the systems of dowry rights and economic security tend to be husband to give his wife. Mehr can be and dower undermined through—or despite—each prompt (payable on demand) or deferred of these systems. (payable on divorce or the death of the The high incidence of dowry violence husband), and in the form of cash or in India led to a legislative intervention kind, or property given in lieu of cash. In to prohibit the practice. The Dowry principle, the practice of mehr is intended Prohibition Act (1961) has been to provide basic financial security to those strengthened by a later amendment, and widows and divorcees (and their children) Penal Code provisions have been with no other means of support. strengthened in order to facilitate the However, low-income women are prosecution of spouses and relatives for often denied their mehr. In the absence of cruelty and violence. This law can be used any restrictions on a man’s right to to prosecute the perpetrators when acts divorce, a woman stands the risk of being of cruelty are committed and a woman is divorced if she makes a claim to her mehr. harassed—even burnt to death—for Further, if it is the wife who has initiated failing to bring an adequate dowry on divorce proceedings against her husband, marriage. mehr is usually given up to obtain a Activists agree that these legislative quicker resolution of the case. Finally, the interventions have increased reporting, widespread practice of fixing a nominal investigation and prosecution. They also sum as mehr also can undermine this say, however, that the law has not had system of financial security for poor the desired impact as an effective women. deterrent to the practice, in the absence At the same time, while maintenance of effective social awareness and during marriage is considered an mobilisation against dowry violence. obligation of the husband under Islamic Similarly, in Pakistan efforts have been law, the law in Pakistan, unlike several made through law to place limits on other Muslim countries, does not specify dowry with little effect on the practice. the criteria upon which maintenance is to In Bangladesh, under the Dowry be granted. Although it recognises the Prohibition Act (1983), anybody giving fact that the husband is responsible for or receiving dowry will be punished by maintaining the wife and children, it does
82 Human Development in South Asia 2000 not specify the manner in which the wife receive, depend both on the religious laws has to be maintained. There is no penalty under which she lives and on the on the husband who refuses to maintain interpretation of these laws in a particular his wife or has wilfully neglected to do national context. For example, the so. Maldivian interpretation of Islamic law Bangladeshi Hindu women have very makes divorce relatively easy for limited rights of inheritance from their Maldivians, both women and men—in fathers. For this reason, in the past it was 1977, nearly half of women over the age customary for the father, at the time of a of thirty had been married at least four daughter’s wedding to give her, besides times (LOC 1994). However, in most her trousseau, valuable gifts (according to cases, possibly with the exception of his means). These gifts would in time be Bhutan, women do not have equal rights inherited by the girl’s female heirs. While in the realm of separation and divorce. In Most women do not the Dowry Prohibition Act exempts the Bhutan, divorce is also relatively have equal rights in mehr settled on a Muslim bride from the common, and new laws provide better Act, it is silent on the issue of stridhan. As benefits to women seeking alimony. the realm of a result, many Hindu marriages are now Within the region, Nepali women are separation and solemnised without the gift to the bride in a relatively good position in terms of divorce from her father in lieu of her inheritance, the right to separate or divorce. A woman and she is therefore doubly discriminated is entitled to seek a divorce if her husband against. There also used to be an ejects her from the house, ceases to exchange of documents at the time of financially support her, inflicts or tries to the marriage, which, inter alia, specified inflict serious bodily injury, is impotent the gifts given. These too are no longer or takes a second wife, or if they are exchanged and so the practice of separated for at least three years. While documentation has fallen into disuse. these provisions strengthen women’s Sri Lanka’s secular general laws on status as individuals with the right to matrimonial property, and customary escape male subjugation, a woman still Tamil and Sinhala law, recognise a does not have the right to obtain a woman’s separate rights to her dowry divorce if she simply finds the marriage property received from her own family detrimental to her physical, mental or on marriage. Islamic law also recognises emotional person, whereas a Nepali man a woman’s right of separate property, does have this right. even though the husband is the manager In India and Sri Lanka, such rights vary of the mehr paid to her by the husband depending on whether Hindu, Christian, on marriage. While there have been Buddhist or Islamic laws apply. Kandyan occasional reports of violence connected Sinhala law is relatively liberal and permits with the social practice of dowry, in Sri divorce by mutual consent and one years’ Lanka dowry violence has not surfaced separation. This law can be used by a as a significant problem, and there is no woman who suffers domestic violence to legislation that prohibits the practice. obtain release from a violent marital Similarly, Nepalese women’s rights to relationship. Christian law in India allows dowry are recognised as well. Dowry divorce to be obtained for cruelty, violence is rarely referred to as a problem desertion, or engagement in conduct that in writings on law and the status of causes the innocent spouse to leave Nepalese women, and there is no law that home. Sri Lanka’s General Law specifically prohibits dowry. recognises similar principles of divorce for cruelty and malicious desertion. SEPARATION AND DIVORCE. The right of a At the same time, however, both the woman to separate from or divorce her General Law of divorce in Sri Lanka and husband, and the post-union maintenance Indian law on divorce are based on the that she and her children are entitled to concept of matrimonial fault. This makes
Women and the Law 83 it difficult for a woman to obtain relief Bangladesh has recently taken up an from domestic violence, for if her divorce initiative through the Law Commission action is to be successful, she must to draft a set of reforms in Hindu law engage in prolonged litigation in order to with regard to divorce and inheritance for prove that she is in no way at fault. women. Further, in India counselling facilities are Yet it is divorce rights under Islamic not available as part of court procedures law, in South Asia and around the world, in divorce litigation, and the remedy of that have received the greatest amount of restitution of conjugal rights derived from attention. As is often the case, however, early colonial law is still available to the main problem faced by women living husbands. This gives a man the right to under Muslim law is not so much the respond to a divorce action by demanding inequity of the divorce laws, but Often the main that his wife returns to live with him. ignorance and misapplication of these problem faced by Recently, there have been several laws. positive changes to Indian divorce laws In Pakistan, a Muslim male has the women is not so (ITFS 1999). In 1998, the Supreme Court arbitrary and unconditional right to much the inequity of ruled that dowry demands can constitute divorce his wife (through pronouncing laws, but ignorance cruelty and thus can be grounds for talaq), although he is required to give the and misapplication divorce, and in 1999 that women are the Union Council chairman a notice in natural guardians of a child. In writing of having done so and to supply of these laws Maharashtra, the Mumbai High Court a copy to this wife. An arbitration council ruled in 1998 to revise Muslim alimony set up by the chairman arranges for two regulations in women’s favour. reconciliation meetings; the divorce In Bangladesh, the rules of divorce becomes effective if the husband does not under Christian law are inequitable in that revoke the divorce within 90 days (iddat) they allow for men to divorce their wives after the notice was delivered to the only on the ground of adultery, whereas chairman. However, a 1999 judgement by women need to prove aggravated forms the Federal Shariat Court effectively of adultery in order to apply for divorce. validated oral divorce by declaring that The Catholic community is further the 90-day period would begin from the constrained on the point of divorce, as date divorce was pronounced, not from the Code of Canon law only provides for the date of notice. annulment. Talaq is the sole prerogative of a male Hindu women are by far in the worst under Islamic law—the wife does not situation of all women in Bangladesh in have the right to pronounce talaq unless terms of their treatment under Hindu her husband delegates this right to her. If personal law. No reform of Hindu law the wife makes a request to be released has taken place in Bangladesh since 1947, of her marriage bonds on offer of some whereas Indian Hindu law was very compensation, and her husband agrees to dramatically reformed in 1956 and also divorce her for such compensation, this subsequently. Hindu women in is known as talaq-i-khula. If, however, the Bangladesh still do not have any rights at wife wishes to terminate the marriage but all of divorce and very limited rights in her husband does not agree, she has to terms of inheritance, separate residence, apply to the family court for a dissolution maintenance, or custody of children. of her marriage. In this case, the marriage Since Hindu law does not recognise is terminated through judicial decree, if divorce one can argue that Hindu men her application is accepted. The situation are similarly disempowered. However, in Bangladesh is similar, with the Hindu men in Bangladesh can marry additional ‘puberty option’ discussed more than one wife at a time so he can above. partially escape an unhappy union. There are several discriminatory and Recently, however, the Government of unjust aspects of this set of laws. Firstly,
84 Human Development in South Asia 2000 as is apparent, there is a major difference the region, the most critical area of between the rights of men and women in vulnerability is the financial insecurity this context. A man has the absolute and they face upon termination of marriage. unconditional right to divorce his wife As interpreted in Pakistan, a woman upon without having to ‘prove’ any grounds for talaq or dissolution is only entitled to her such action or even to assign any reason. mehr (usually minimal) and maintenance Moreover, the procedure is a simple one during the waiting period of iddat. She is of sending a notice, after which the neither entitled to alimony, nor to any divorce automatically becomes final after share in marital property. Thus, even if 90 days. The fact that the talaq by the she has been an equal economic husband is an absolute right creates contributor in the marriage, both in terms serious problems and insecurity for a of paid and unpaid work, her financial woman as it undermines her ability to entitlement upon termination of marriage A most critical area demand her entitlements or make is negligible. And almost inevitably, any of vulnerability is independent decisions. property or assets acquired during The wife, on the other hand, unless marriage are usually in the possession or the financial her husband agrees to the termination, name of the husband. insecurity South has to approach the family court to file a In Bangladesh, a 1999 case established Asian women face case and ‘prove’ her grounds before the that a husband is bound to maintain his upon termination of marriage can be dissolved. Cases can last wife not only during iddat, but until she anywhere from 1-3 years and the husband remarries and loses her status as a marriage can contest the suit. The grounds on the divorced woman. The decision in this basis of which she can apply for case was, however, overturned on appeal. dissolution of her marriage are also in The grounds on which it was overturned, need of urgent review. She can file for however, leave room for this issue to be dissolution on the basis of khula, where reviewed at another time or even she does not have to prove any grounds addressed through legislation. but merely declare her aversion, In some instances, the reach of secular unwillingness or inability to continue with law has been used to extend the rights of the marriage, and agree to pay women living under specific religious compensation or forgo some financial laws. In the celebrated Shah Banu Case benefit like dower or past maintenance. of 1985, the Supreme Court of India Even this right, as interpreted by the decided that a Muslim woman could claim courts in Pakistan, is not absolute but maintenance after divorce under the controlled: even if she is willing to secular law of maintenance in India based compensate financially, courts retain the on the Criminal Procedure Code. Even right to decide if she is so entitled. though Islamic law does not recognise In recent years, courts have this liability, the Supreme Court of Sri increasingly started dissolving marriages Lanka has also recognised the liability of on the basis of khula rather than any other a man to provide support for his non- ground. Thus, most women usually plead marital children, and it is this principle khula in addition to any grounds alleged. that has entered the Muslim Marriage and While this may be a more expedient way Divorce Act (1951). This legal position of terminating the marriage, its effect is was reiterated in a 1999 Sri Lankan case. to deprive women of even the minimal Sri Lanka has recently reformed the financial benefit they are likely to get. laws on spousal and family support and Further, there are barely any dissolutions introduced major reforms. The granted on the basis of cruelty, unless Maintenance Amendment Act 1999 some extreme form of violence has taken recognises the concept of joint place, if the woman has pleaded khula. responsibility of spousal maintenance and In addition to the social stigma child support for minor marital children, divorced women face in many parts of depending on the financial resources of
Women and the Law 85 each party. The scope of the In deciding cases of custody and responsibility has been broadened to guardianship of minors in Pakistan, the include adult differently-abled children, courts apply both Muslim personal law and impose a liability on a man to support and statutory law, under which the a non-marital child on the basis of primary consideration for the court in evidence of paternity. The concept of a appointing or declaring the guardian of a male breadwinner has been eliminated, minor is the welfare of the minor. In and the law on child support has been making the decision, the court has to strengthened through this legislation. consider the age, sex and religion of the Maintenance actions are often filed by minor, as well as the character and women from low income families in Sri capacity of the proposed guardian. If the Lanka, since there is awareness of the minor is old enough to form an intelligent In general, the male remedy. The new law should therefore preference, the court can also consider parent’s preferential strengthen women’s capacity to obtain his/her preference. There is a general spousal and child support. presumption that the welfare of the minor rights are Nepal’s law on family maintenance is is in accordance with the rules of the entrenched in the derived from Hindu personal law which personal law of the minor, which is laws of South Asia recognises joint spousal liability for subject to the father’s personal law. But support of children, and the recent the rule of welfare gives the courts more Children’s Act 1992. At the same time, room for discretion, allowing them to recovery of spousal and child support make departures from strict adherence to through legal remedies is a hypothetical traditional rules, if considered beneficial issue in this country. Further, Nepali for the minor. women only have the right to claim Under the principles of Sunni Hanafi alimony for up to five years or until she law, also followed in Bangladesh, a remarries, whichever is the shorter period; mother is entitled to custody of a male only if the divorce is the fault of the child until he attains the age of seven husband; and only if she has no other years and a female child until she attains source of income. Her rights to child puberty, after which custody reverts to custody and child support for children the father. Under Shi‘a law, the mother is above the age of five is also forfeited if entitled to custody of the male child until she remarries. the age of two, and the female child until In general, the male parent’s seven. Ordinarily, failing the mother, the preferential rights are entrenched in the preference for awarding custody lies with laws of India and Sri Lanka. Bhutan’s females on the maternal side of the 1996 amendment to the Marriage Act, minor’s family. However, even if the which awards child custody to the mother custody is with the mother or anyone else, upon divorce with maintenance support the father is responsible for maintenance from the father, makes this country an of the child. exception. In India and Sri Lanka, both Under Pakistani law, the father is the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act considered the natural guardian of the (1956) and Islamic law discriminate child. Thus, even though the mother may against women by considering the father have immediate custody of the child, the or male relation the ‘preferred natural’ child is still considered to be in the guardian of the child. Islamic law, constructive possession of his/her legal however, concedes limited and preferred guardian, primarily the father. Very rarely custodial rights. In Nepal, the law on have mothers been considered guardians parental rights is not as clearly gender by the courts, even in the absence of the discriminatory as it is in India or Sri father. This approach has been severely Lanka, but the preferential status of the criticised by activists as out-dated, unfair father is recognised. and impractical in view of the fact that
86 Human Development in South Asia 2000 women are playing a significant role in Further, while polygyny is prohibited managing homes and children, in Nepal and polygynists are subject to increasingly dealing with public matters minimal imprisonment and a fine, relating to their children’s needs and Nepalese Hindu law does permit a man welfare, and often functioning as single to take a second wife in certain parents. exceptional and limited circumstances and At the same time, the Pakistan courts the law does not invalidate second generally have preferred to award custody marriages. When bigamous marriages are of minors to their mothers, believing that not considered void or without legal they are best suited to look after minor effect, the general prohibition on children. Sometimes they have lost polygyny becomes difficult to enforce, custody because of re-marriage to a and activists have constantly advocated a stranger, particularly if the minor is a girl; coherent law that prohibits polygyny in Polygyny can have delay in claiming custody of her children; all circumstances. negative effects on improper care or negligence; and where In Bhutan polygyny was restricted in it is proved that the mother is leading an the mid-twentieth century, but the law in familial harmony, on immoral life. However, since the the 1990s still allowed a man as many as women’s economic paramount consideration in deciding three wives, providing he had the first and social security, cases is the welfare of the minor, courts wife’s permission. The first wife can sue and on their have often made decisions not strictly in for divorce and alimony if she does not accordance with the rules of Islamic law. agree. decision-making Thus, on many occasions, mothers have Many polygynous marriages are not power been awarded custody even when the registered, nor is permission for them minors are past the age where the custody necessarily sought or recorded. Thus would ordinarily revert to the father there is no accurate information about according to personal law. They have also the extent of polygynous marriages in the sometimes retained custody after re- region. Polygyny is problematic in terms marriage, despite the Islamic rule to the of the effects it can have on familial contrary. Interestingly, although this is harmony, on women’s economic and not a rule of Islamic law, fathers on social security, and on their decision- occasion have also been deprived of their making power within the household. This custody in case of re-marriage. is particularly true when, as is often the case, a subsequent marriage is contracted POLYGAMY. In South Asia, polygamy (a based on the perceived inability of the person married to two or more spouses) first wife to bear a child. takes place primarily as polygyny (a man Among Islamic scholars, there are with two or more wives), and within the essentially two views relating to polygyny: context of Islamic personal law. However, one, that it is permitted but not desirable; there are exceptions. Although banned in the other that it is not permitted except all South Asian countries, polyandry under exceptional circumstances. In (unions involving one woman and more Bangladesh, polygyny for Muslim men is than one man) is practised in some restricted but not banned. A man wishing communities in Bhutan, India, Nepal and to marry polygynously needs the written Sri Lanka. Polyandry is rarely a permission of the chairman of the straightforward indicator of a woman’s arbitration council, and has to satisfy the status or empowerment, however. It is Council that he has obtained the often the case that one woman is married permission or consent of his wife. off to several brothers, such that family In reality, the laws restricting polygyny property is not divided; this can foster are either unknown or ignored, with many male extramarital relationships, with believing that it is a man’s religious right negative implications for the economic to marry up to four women. Socially security of women and children. stigmatised, unable to return to her
Women and the Law 87 parental home, and economically inherent aspect of Shari‘a law, yet there is dependent on her husband and his family, no legislation based on Qur‘anic the first wife remains, often to suffer limitations that operates to restrict the physical and verbal abuse, and, in many practice. cases, treated like an unpaid servant. In Sri Lanka, for non-Muslims There are several murder cases where the polygamy was abolished by colonial wife was killed for refusing to give legislation in the mid-nineteenth century, consent. and all marriages whether registered or A 1999 judgement delivered by the celebrated according to custom are Bangladeshi High Court Division strongly required by law to be monogamous. discouraged polygyny and ordered that a Among Muslims, polygyny is neither illegal recommendation to the Law Ministry be nor unknown, and wealthy men can take The existence of sent to scrutinise whether polygyny could several wives if they can afford to support different personal not be banned, perhaps on the same line the families. However, the incidence of of reasoning used in Tunisia. polygynous marriages among Muslims is laws sometimes In Pakistan, polygyny is neither banned low, and monogamy appears to be the leads to conflict and nor effectively restricted. As stated by norm among all communities. Similarly, the undermining of several national reports, there is no doubt while Maldivian men may have as many as the rights of women that there are still a significant number of four wives there is little evidence to suggest polygynous marriages in the country; and that many have more than one. and children in certain areas and sections of society, it The existence of different personal laws is seen as an indication of prosperity and that recognise various core norms on affluence. Further, orthodox elements in family relations sometimes leads to a society have obstructed attempts to restrict conflict of personal laws and the a man’s right to be polygynous. While the undermining of the rights of women and law in Pakistan requires the husband to children. Until very recently, men who secure permission from the arbitration could not contract a second marriage, council prior to entering into a subsequent because of the fault-based and very strict marriage, the valid grounds are wide laws of divorce in Sri Lanka, would enough to give the arbitration council total convert to Islam and claim the right to discretion in deciding the matter. practice polygyny, thus rejecting their There is no evidence that any husband obligation to the first wife whom they had has failed to get permission; even fewer married under a monogamous law on seem to have bothered to try, since there marriage. However, in 1995 the Supreme is nothing in the law to act as a deterrent. Court of India, and in 1998 the Supreme Contravention of the provision of getting Court of Sri Lanka, held that a unilateral permission does not invalidate the conversion to Islam after a monogamous subsequent marriage, and the penalty for marriage did not entitle a Hindu man to contravention is minimal. Further, the reject his legal obligations to practice provision that allowed women to use monogamy under Hindu marriage law. polygyny as a grounds for divorce was repealed in 1981. Except in the Pakistani PROPERTY AND INHERITANCE RIGHTS. Punjab, a wife cannot even file a Property and inheritance laws are complaint against her husband, such themselves highly gender discriminatory power only lying with the union council. across the South Asian region, yet In India and Sri Lanka, the ignorance and misapplication of these constitutional guarantees on the laws often mean that women do not even fundamental right to religion are often enjoy the minimal protection they afford. used to justify a non-interventionist policy The inheritance of Muslims in Pakistan regarding the prevalence of polygyny in and Bangladesh is governed by the Muslim communities. Islamic law in India personal law of the deceased person. The and Sri Lanka recognises polygyny as an fundamental principle of inheritance
88 Human Development in South Asia 2000 under Muslim law is that nearer heirs women in courts. It is unknown whether exclude those further in degree. Under this is because of family pressure, Sunni Hanafi law, there are three classes reluctance to go to court, or because of heirs: sharers, who inherit prescribed women have also internalised the fairly shares; residuaries, who inherit the residue common view that their dowries after the claims of sharers have been met; compensate for their share in inheritance. and distant kindred, who inherit only in However, when women do take their the absence of the first two categories, cases to court, the response is generally except where the sharer is the wife or favourable, although largely based on the husband of the deceased. Under Shi‘a law, concept of protection of women. there is no category of distant kindred. Thus, for example, in an 1990 case the While exceptions exist, as a general rule Supreme Court of Pakistan held that a Muslim female gets half the share of a brothers were required by law to protect A significant male with an equivalent relationship. Thus, their sisters’ property if it came into their proportion of women as a wife she inherits one-eighth of her possession. In other cases, the courts have: husband’s estate as a sharer, and if there is do not receive their • held that a sister cannot be deprived more than one wife, it is divided between due share of of her inheritance share based on them. However, if her husband has no money spent by her brothers on her inheritance children, her share increases to one-fourth. behalf; A husband, on the other hand, inherits • refused to accept a relinquishment one-fourth and one-half in the same deed executed by a woman in circumstances. As daughters, they inherit favour of her male relatives; as residuaries along with their brothers, a • struck down a gift deed allegedly girl’s portion always remaining half that of executed by a man with only her brother’s. Under Hanafi law, if there daughters in favour of male relatives; are no sons, an only daughter cannot • and often struck down mutations inherit more than half the net estate, two- and changes in revenue records thirds if there is more than one daughter. intended to deprive female heirs of Under Shi‘a law, however, daughters can their due share. inherit the whole amount due. There is evidence to indicate that a However, in 1999 the Federal Shariat significant proportion of Pakistani women Court in Pakistan struck down the do not receive their due share of provision providing for the inheritance of inheritance. A 1995 survey of over 1000 orphan grandchildren. This has serious households in rural areas of the Pakistani implications for widowed women. In Punjab indicated that in nearly two-thirds most cases, women lose their only means of the households daughters did not inherit of financial support on the death of their land, because it was customary for only husbands; if their children are no longer sons to inherit or because they could not entitled to the property their father would or did not exercise their rights. In some have inherited, this means a continuation cases, women’s names are simply not of their financial burden. brought on to the revenue records after Islamic law in India and Sri Lanka they inherit; in others, they are persuaded recognise women’s rights to own land, but to sign relinquishment deeds in favour of the powers of management of a spouse male family members. Of the 1000 are extensive and women do not have the women, only 36 owned land in their own legal right to make their own decisions on name, and only 9 of these had the power how to use these assets and resources. As to sell or trade their land without the in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Islamic law permission of male relatives (GOP 1995). also favours males by generally giving Yet, compared to most other areas of brothers double the share of sisters, and personal law, there have been very few giving women a smaller share of the net cases relating to inheritance taken up by estate when they inherit as spouses.
Women and the Law 89 Sri Lanka’s general law on succession domestic violence and economic insecurity recognises the concept of men and (see box 5.2). There are, however, signs of women’s equal right to inheritance. change. The Supreme Court has directed However, the customary laws of Kandyan the government to amend all Sinhalese women and Tamil women discriminatory laws, including and in governed by the Tesawalamai have been particular property laws, and almost two- modified by judicial decisions and thirds of the respondents to a 1999 survey colonial legislation so as to place female felt that daughters should have an equal heirs in a disadvantaged position. In claim to parental property, indicating a particular, Kandyan customary law today level of societal support for more places widows in a position where she egalitarian gender relations (MSI 1999). has no rights of inheritance at all if her Discriminatory husband’s exclusive assets are ancestral NATIONALITY AND CITIZENSHIP LAWS. While property laws limit property. Further, modern judicial not strictly under the purview of ‘family interpretation and legislation have law’, discriminatory citizenship laws often women’s capacity to enhanced the husband’s marital power emerge as a problem within the context obtain credit and over the immovable property of his wife of dual-nationality marriages, and as such benefit from new within Tamil customary law. This has an are dealt with here. The idea that only opportunities for impact on a woman’s access to credit, as the male parent has a biological link to she can neither dispose of her immovable the marital child is reflected in citizenship economic property or obtain a loan by mortgaging laws in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, advancement by separate property without his consent. and, until recently, India and Pakistan. In engaging in self- The inheritance laws derived from these countries, a child cannot acquire Hindu laws, in both India and Nepal, citizenship through the mother if married employment contain discriminatory provisions on to a foreign national. inheritance to joint family property which In Sri Lanka and Nepal, a consistent prevent women having access to lobby for reform of nationality laws has important assets like land and movable been supported by Supreme Court property. While this situation has decisions that have determined that these improved somewhat with the codification laws are in conflict with constitutional of Hindu law, gaps remain. This in turn guarantees on gender equality. Yet limits women’s capacity to obtain credit legislation has not been enacted to change and benefit from new opportunities for them. In Bangladesh, a writ petition economic advancement by engaging in challenging this provision is pending self-employment. appeal before the Appellate Division. Property and inheritance laws are In India, the law was amended in 1992 particularly harsh for Nepali women, with to give both men and women equal rights negative effects on them in terms of to transfer citizenship to children and
Box 5.2 Discriminatory property and inheritance laws in Nepal
• A daughter can only inherit paternal property if she is unmarried and over 35 years of age, and she can not inherit tenancy rights. • A wife can only inherit her husband’s property if she is over 35 and has completed 15 years of marriage. If she obtains her partition share before his death, and lives separately, he is allowed to take a second wife without divorcing his first wife. • A divorced woman can claim neither a share in her husband’s property nor in her paternal property. • A widow must return her share of her husband’s property if she remarries, discouraging widow remarriage. • A widow living with her in-laws is not entitled to a separate share as long as the latter provide her with food, clothing and religious expenses until she is 30 years old. • Contrary to constitutional guarantees, a woman effectively must get permission from her father or adult son before disposing of her immovable property (i.e. selling land or a house). • At the same time, while a man is legally bound to look after his sons and wife, the law is silent on the maintenance of daughters.
Source: FWLD 1999; Gooneskere 2000; and HMG Nepal 1998a.
90 Human Development in South Asia 2000 spouses. In Pakistan, through changes to those of others; and as accused persons. the citizenship law in 2000, each instance In each of these capacities, South Asian of the word ‘father’ has been replaced women face discriminatory laws and with ‘parent’, such that a child can take practices, with particularly extreme her/his mother’s Pakistani citizenship. repercussions on their vulnerability to There are several other discriminatory violence. regulations within the context of Although the degree and form may citizenship laws. In Bangladesh, for vary according to class, region and instance, a wife’s citizenship follows that culture, gender-specific violence against of her husband; citizenship by birth or women occurs across all strata of South descent follows the citizenship of the Asian society. Violence against women father; and citizenship by migration is includes not only physical violence, but granted to a woman only on her also sexual, psychological and emotional South Asian women husband’s migration and not vice versa. abuse. Physical violence includes murder, face discriminatory Further, throughout the region on sometimes in the guise of ‘honour applying for identity cards, passports and killings’, sati (see boxes 5.3 and 5.5) and laws and practices many other documents, married women female infanticide (see box 7.1). It also as victims, as still have to indicate their husband’s includes kidnapping, as well as domestic, witnesses, and as name, and while single persons have to custodial and public assault, mutilation accused persons provide information as to their father’s and torture, including stove-burning and name, there is no provision for recording acid-throwing. Sexual violence includes a mother’s name. rape—marital rape, custodial rape (see Apart from an objection to this box 5.4), gang rape—; incest; public practice on principle, it also leads to stripping; harassment through language, several other practices and problems. For gesture or touch (‘eve-teasing’); and example, it leads to men always being trafficking and forced prostitution (see identified as the head of the household, box 3.3). even sometimes in the case of female- Women’s dignity, self-esteem and headed households, where surveyors will psychological and emotional health are put down names of sons rather than the also undermined by less overt forms of woman concerned. It leads to practices violence such as forced and child where loans for family enterprises, even marriage; forced confinement and if they are being run by women, are given restrictions on mobility; overwork; and in the name of men. It leads to the denial bullying, threats, humiliation and other of women’s right of franchise when their forms of verbal abuse. names/identity in different documents, Many of these forms of violence are because of a change in marital status, do not even recognised as such, but rather not match. And it particularly hits women ignored, condoned or justified by who, for whatever reason, are managing invoking religion, culture or traditional their homes and children on their own, beliefs. Within this context, legal and because in almost every formal judicial institutions have failed to provide transaction, they have to explain or justify adequate safeguards against violence their authority. against women. ‘State institutions lack both the sensitivity and capacity to deal Criminal law and violence with gender-specific violence; law- against women enforcement seldom comes into action to aid women victims; and judicial Women’s involvement with the criminal pronouncements have frequently reflected justice system exists in various capacities: biases that indicate the strong influence as complainants or victims of crime; as of prevalent social attitudes’ (AGHS witnesses, whether in their own cases or 2000). Women thus become victims both
Women and the Law 91 Box 5.3 Dishonourable murder—karo-kari in Pakistan
Over the past few years, an increased incidence of karo-kari— murders are also used as get-rich quick schemes, since the ‘blackened man, blackened woman’ in Sindhi—has further men accused of the illicit relationship have the choice of being blackened Pakistan’s already fragile women’s rights record. killed or paying the woman’s family a specified amount. These so-called ‘honour killings’ fell into the national and While honour killings were originally restricted to particular international spotlights when Samia Sarwar was murdered by areas, particularly tribal ones, and the concept related to the her relatives in the Lahore office of a prominent lawyer and existence or suspicion of an illicit relationship, the situation women’s rights activist. The murder of Sarwar, who had has changed over the years. Honour killings are no longer just married against her family’s will, was sanctioned by her mother. reported from remote rural areas, but also increasingly from According to reports, several hundreds of women are killed in towns and cities, and the reasons for committing the murders Pakistan every year in the name of ‘honour’. The vast majority have grown to include any violation of social norms. Article of cases go unreported and 16 of CEDAW, ratified by unrecorded. In the name of honour… Pakistan, guarantees women Rooted in patriarchal and • Of the 266 ‘honour killing’ cases reported in Lahore’s national daily the right to marry a partner cultural perceptions of newspapers (1 January—30 November 1999): of her choice. Yet a high women as male property, • 15% of the victims were minors. proportion of murders in the karo-kari ostensibly takes • 86% of the murders were committed by a relative of the name of honour—of men as place to avenge family victim—31% of the murderers were brothers and 21% were well as women—are carried ‘honour’ when a woman husbands. out because a couple has violates tribal or cultural • While reports were filed in 75% of the cases, only 35 persons married or wishes to marry norms. Karo-kari is carried were ever held in connection with these crimes. Not one was against family will. Karo-kari out when a woman and man tried. has also taken place in have an illicit relationship, or • Almost 40% of all reported murders of women were classified situations when women seek are even suspected of having as ‘honour killings’; 36% of women were murdered on the basis divorce, and even sometimes one, since public perception of suspicion of character or disapproval of a friendship; 32% of for defiling the family or of the woman’s guilt is women were murdered due to a domestic dispute. tribal ‘honour’ by being considered sufficient to taint • A 1997 report noted 176 ‘honour killings’ in 6 months, of which raped. family ‘honour’. Inevitably, 70% of the victims were women. As with other cases of the practice targets women, • A 1998 report reported 286 ‘honour killings’ of women in Punjab. domestic violence, the police who are never given the • An organisation in Sindh reported 132 ‘honour killings’ in the often conform to the existing opportunity to defend province in just 3 months of 1999. cultural norms and rarely themselves against the • Targets of the practice have included an 85-year old woman and a enforce the law. Many also allegations. Thus, all reports 3-year old girl. succumb to financial indicate that far more women inducements. Judicial decis- than men are victims of karo- ions in cases of honour kari killings. killings are equally, if not more, alarming. Despite constitutional Critics of karo-kari within the country are quick to note guarantees to the contrary, courts often give customary traditions that the practice finds no basis in Islam. Rather it is a tradition and social norms of morality precedence over the law in murder that finds its basis in tribal and feudal practices, in some cases if the plea of honour is raised, and have issued extremely regions in particular. Increasingly, however, the karo-kari lenient sentences for the murders of women. concept is being extended to diverse situations and is used as Following protests by women’s rights activists, government a cover for other killings. For instance, there are several reports finally declared ‘honour killings’ as murder in April 2000. No of men murdering an enemy and then following it up by ordinance to this effect has been issued, however, and the murdering a woman from their own family to give it the colour extent to which the police and the judiciary will crack down of karo-kari, a woman’s life holding little value. Karo-kari on this practice remains to be seen.
Source: AGHS 2000; AI 1998; HRCP 2000; Malik 2000; NGO Coordinating Committee 2000; and Zia 2000.
of the violence they suffer as well as of draft constitution seems, however, to social and legal attitudes, often indifferent have made strides in this direction. to their plight, sometimes holding them responsible for it. The trivialisation of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Around the world, violence against women in South Asian violence against women that occurs in the societies is often due to the fact that there domestic sphere is the most pernicious. is a failure to recognise that it infringes South Asia is no exception (see figure the right to life, the right to bodily 5.1). It is not only damaging to women security, and freedom from torture to physically, but also liable to have serious which all citizens are entitled. Sri Lanka’s psychological effects on both them and
92 Human Development in South Asia 2000 their children because of the constant law are rarely registered, prosecuted or Figure 5.1 Home is where the humiliation and fear they live with. Its adequately punished, the other kinds of hurt is…evidence from studies on the prevalence of domestic most common form is wife-beating, not violence, torture and cruelty that women violence in South Asia just by the husband, but sometimes by undergo in their ‘sanctuaries’ on a daily members of his family as well—including basis, without being able to escape, are l Bangladesh Of 1,225 rural women (1992): other women. not even recognised by law. At present, 19% physically assaulted by an intimate Largely viewed as a private family no South Asian country has specific male partner in the last 12 months matter, neighbours, friends and often legislation dealing with domestic violence. 47% ever assaulted by an intimate male partner even the wife’s family rarely interfere in Unlike the other South Asian countries, Of 1,961 women subjected to violence (1998): situations of domestic violence. Wives are Nepal does not even have adequate 72% were severely beaten by their husbands generally regarded as ‘belonging’ to their domestic violence provisions in its penal But only 10.5% filed a case husbands. Thus there is social acceptance code, although it is said to be formulating Of all murders in Bangladesh. of his right to ‘correct’ her if she has a domestic violence specific code. Several 50% are at tributed to martial violence displeased or disobeyed him in any way, reports have recommended that specific howsoever minor. Normal standards of legislation on domestic violence needs to l India right and wrong are suspended when the be enacted, which recognises the various Of 1,842 rural women (1993-94): 40% physically assaulted by their current male victim of the abuse is a wife, indicative of forms of domestic abuse as crimes and partner the sharp divide between social provides adequate penalties for them. Of 6,926 married men (1996): 28% reported forcing sex on their wives in their perceptions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ current marriage spheres. So prevalent is the existence of STOVE-BURNING. In Pakistan, as well as in wife abuse that women who protest rarely other parts of the region, cases of murder l Nepal find support, often being told this is a and attempted murder of women by Of Nepali women (1999): reality with which they must learn to live. stove-burning have become more 77% have ever suffered domestic violence Women rarely report incidents of common over the past decade or so. The 45% suffer domestic violence daily domestic violence to the police, believing figures reported from various surveys are that this will bring shame and dishonour a gross underestimation of the real l Pakistan In Pakistan: to the family. Even when they do, usually situation since most women victims are only in serious situations, the police tend not even taken to hospitals. Like domestic Domestic violence occurs in every third household Up to 80% of women are subject to a form of to treat incidents of domestic violence as violence in general, cases of stove burning domestic violence in their lives. marital disputes, and often refuse to are rarely pursued. When reported, the Of 1,000 women in the Pakistani Punjab (1998): 35% of rural women admit being beaten by their register the case. In Sri Lanka, for police resist registration, nor are there husbands 55% of peri-urban women admit being beaten by instance, domestic violence tends to be proper investigation techniques, their husbands reported at women’s desks at police contributing to a lack of action and More than two-thirds of both males and females felt that disobedience was a sufficient reason for beating stations, while rape and other crimes endless delays. Three-quarters of women did not feel that frequent beating was a sufficient reason to leave one’s outside the home are reported to the Thus, of the 272 cases reported in husband (male-dominated) crime division, Lahore’s national daily newspapers during l Sri Lanka maintaining the private-public division. 11 months of 1999, of which 163 resulted Of Sri Lankan women (1993): Thus, the only time cases of wife abuse in death, the police registered only 22 60% suffer domestic violence receive attention are when they take an cases and not a single person was held extreme form—nose-cutting, burning, or (HRCP 2000). A government study But only 25% of cases are reported other forms of heinous injury—a stage concluded that at least 50 per cent of such Sources: AGHS 2000; FWLD 1999; HRCP when serious damage has already been deaths were murders, while doctors at a 1998; Jejeebhoy et al. 1997; Narayana 1996; done. Even then, cases are rarely Lahore hospital estimated 60 per cent RCIW 1997; Sathar and Kazi 1997; Schuler prosecuted with zeal. The same attitudes (AGHS 2000). The medical facilities for et al. 1996; SLWNGOF 1999b; and Sobhan et al. 2000. are reflected in the judiciary, which the treatment of burn victims are also seldom recognises cruelty as a ground in totally inadequate, with only three burn cases of dissolution of marriage filed by centres in the whole of Pakistan. Nor can wives, and often gives lenient sentences the overwhelming majority of families to men in criminal cases involving afford the massive costs of treatment. domestic violence. The survival rate of burn victims in one Where cases of domestic violence Lahore hospital was estimated to be less under the general penal provisions of the than 10 per cent.
Women and the Law 93 In 1991, noting the increasing number foreign—have provided support for of stove burning cases, the Lahore High reconstructive surgery and cornea Court issued a number of directives transplants, and Bangladeshi surgeons regarding registering cases, recording have donated their services, but there witnesses’ statements, holding evidence remains a lack of a suitable infrastructure. and providing free medical aid and/or The newly formed Acid Survivors burial expenses. However, in view of the Foundation is now addressing this problem. continuing and escalating number of Unlike rape, there are no social taboos cases, with barely any resulting in attached to acid-throwing, although the convictions, it is apparent that these extreme trauma suffered by victims can directives have been largely ignored. It lead to a refusal to press charges. has been noted by Amnesty International Nonetheless, a comparatively high Rape is viewed first (1999) that of 60 cases brought to number of acid-throwing cases are filed and foremost as an prosecution (out of 1600 recorded cases), in the courts, and there are increasing only two led to convictions. demands for perpetrators to be severely offence against the punished. honour of the male ACID-THROWING. In Bangladesh, since the members of the early 1980s the extremely cruel and RAPE. Rape ‘has been described as the family, and only vindictive crime of throwing acid onto a primary instrument of control in a woman’s face or body has become patriarchal society and ... often used as a secondarily as an widespread. While acid-throwing exists in mechanism of revenge or punishment’ offence against the other parts of South Asia, in Bangladesh (RCIW 1997). Within South Asian dignity of the the crime became so common that in 1984 societies, however, it is viewed in a much woman the Penal Code was amended and a new more ambivalent way. It is seen less as an provision was added providing severe attack upon a woman as a crime sanctions including capital punishment for committed primarily against the honour those who were guilty of the crime. There of husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. was also regulation of the unrestricted sale Rape is viewed first and foremost as an of acid. There was, therefore, a temporary offence against the honour of the male reduction in these crimes. While the members of the family, and only legislation still remains on the statute secondarily as an offence against the books, the provisions regulating the sale dignity of the woman. At the same time, of acid have lapsed. The incidences of this rape is commonly perceived as the fault crime are unfortunately again on the of the victim, because of her provocative increase, and between January 1997 and behaviour or dress. In reality, many rapes December 1999, 389 cases were reported are committed in women’s own homes, (Odhikar 2000). often by people known to them, including The majority of victims are young their own husbands (marital rape). women between the ages of 10 and 20 The male view of rape is, therefore, years, primarily within rural areas. The the fundamental reason why such crimes perpetrators are jealous boyfriends, are rarely reported to police, even if the spurned suitors, neighbourhood stalkers offender is known to the victim and her and sometimes angry husbands in search family. Despite laws, perpetrators of rape of more dowry or permission to enter a continue to go free for three major polygamous marriage. reasons: Apart from the horrors of scarring, most women suffer some damage to their (i ) There is a huge social stigma eyes. Economic hardship mean that most attached to rape, and the very real victims of acid-throwing cannot afford chance that the future of the surgery, and the government has taken victim will be affected, especially no initiative to provide the procedure for if she is young and unmarried. free. Recently, private agencies—mostly This influences her willingness to
94 Human Development in South Asia 2000 testify as well as the views of her has been committed. Further, family, her community, legal and understandably a rape victim will often judicial bodies, and the media. attempt to remove all traces of the crime Intimidation of witnesses by the from her person, unknowingly losing all police, family and authorities is a evidence of the crime. If no evidence is problem in all countries. found and there is no corroboration, (ii ) The accused is often the more there is very little chance of a conviction powerful party, facilitating the use even if the case goes to court. of bribery and threats. The figures on reported cases of rape (iii ) Discriminatory laws, particularly in do not in any way indicate its actual terms of evidence, and legal extent, as most cases are not even loopholes remain. reported. It is commonly assumed that the incidence is three times the number There is very little The uncorroborated evidence of the of reported cases, but many consider even chance of a victim in the court of law is viewed with this an underestimation. a certain amount of suspicion, making Legislative reform and judicial conviction even if cases of rape hard to prove. In developments in India have strengthened the case goes to Bangladesh, the rule that an independent the law on sexual offences. In 1983, a court witness is required to confirm a victim’s rape case decided by the Indian Supreme statement is echoed in a majority of the Court led to substantial changes in the cases of rape that come to court. Another Penal Code. These changes introduced 15 drawback is that, unlike in Sri Lanka, years as the age of statutory rape. This these cases are not heard in camera: the amendment also strengthened the law by victim has to face the humiliation of providing for severe punishment in the repeating her ordeal and answering case of rape in custodial situations, gang embarrassing questions in front of an rape and rape of a pregnant woman. eager and unscrupulous court audience. These changes to the rape law were Further, during rape trials, the legal accompanied by amendments to the phrases such as ‘with or without consent’, Evidence Act that placed the burden of ‘resistance’, ‘past history of the woman’ proving that the woman consented in the can be deliberately twisted to be used case of custodial rape on the man. The against her to show she is a woman of amendment also introduced the concept ‘ill-repute’. Finally, as discussed in box of marital rape in the event of judicial or 5.6, in Pakistan the failure to prove rape customary separation. can lead to presumptions of consent, and In Sri Lanka, the age of statutory rape consensual extra- and pre-marital sex (for non-Muslims only) was raised from (zina) are crimes in law, thereby making 12 years to 16 years in the Sri Lankan the woman liable to punishment. Often, amending law of 1995. As in Indian law, therefore, victims do not come forward. gang rape, rape of a pregnant woman and If a rape incident takes place late at custodial rape were defined as crimes that night, the police have to wait until attract higher penalties. A broad definition morning in order to present the report. of marital rape was not adopted, and This means that the victim has to spend following the approach in Indian law the night in the police cells, with male marital rape was confined to situations of criminals (see box 5.4). Furthermore, judicial and customary separation. This getting permission from the court for a definition does not address the problem medical examination may take up to 2 or of sexual violence during marriage or 3 days, by which much primary evidence during a de facto separation. In Bhutan, may be gone. In Bangladesh, of those marital rape was criminalised in a 1996 rape victims who go to the hospital for a amendment to the Marriage Act. medical examination, 90 per cent go at Positively, however, in Sri Lanka the least seven or eight days after the crime definition of rape has been significantly
Women and the Law 95 Box 5.4 Unsafe custody
‘Safe custody’ purports to provide for the courts in Bangladesh to direct gang-raped by four policemen, and died safety in jails for those in danger of that an adult woman who was not an in hospital several months later after further assault. Throughout the region, offender should be held in safe custody. being in ‘safe custody’. however, it seems to be more This was not an uncommon practice, The reported cases form only a small punishment than protection. however. Women activists initiated large- percentage of the real incidence, since In Pakistan, the abuse of women in scale campaigns to have this unlawful the vast majority of women victims do police stations is also reported to have exercise of authority clearly declared to not even try to report incidents, because reached serious proportions. A 1992 be without any legal basis. Recently, of fear of further repercussions both at report found that 70 per cent of women however, the law has been changed in the social and legal level. Inevitably, in police stations were subjected to Bangladesh to validate the power of the since the complaints are against the sexual or physical violence, and that not judiciary to order a woman to be held in police itself, even those who want to a single police officer had been safe custody in a place ‘other than a register cases find it difficult, with poor punished for such abuse. In the first 11 jail’—tantamount to being imprisoned women meeting the greatest obstacles. months of 1999, according to cases albeit with the saving grace that one is The establishment of women’s reported in Lahore newspapers, there not being held with convicted prisoners. police cells in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka were 41 victims, 6 of them minors; 21 The case of Shima Chowdhury and Pakistan is a welcome initiative, but cases were of gang-rape and 14 of exemplifies the sort of situation that the one that falls far short of providing full torture and insult. Out of the 21 gangs campaign against safe custody hoped to protection. Sri Lanka’s provision that of policemen alleged to have committed prevent. Shima was a 16-year old state as well as private actors must pay gang-rape only 5 individuals were held. Bangladeshi garment worker who, in compensation for sexual molestation in Before 2000, there was no legal basis 1996, was arrested without reason, police custody is a positive step.
Source: HRCP 1998 and 2000; RCIW 1997; Sobhan et al. 2000; and Zia 2000.
altered by only requiring proof of absence the man who violated her. Second, of consent. This removes the inherent abortion is only permitted if the woman’s gender bias of 19th century English law life is at risk, leaving the woman with on rape. Further, this law recognised for little choice. the first time that forms of sexual violence other than rape could constitute SEXUAL HARASSMENT. Several forms of the crime of grave sexual abuse. sexual abuse other than rape are also In Bangladesh, after many years of common in South Asia. In the workplace protests by womens’ rights activists, the and in public, women undergo sexual Repression Against Women and Children harassment in the form of sexual (Special Provision) became law in January propositions, songs, jokes, gestures, 2000, repealing antecedent laws and comments, pictures, over-attention, ordinances from 1983, 1988 and 1995. ‘accidental’ touching and pushing, This new piece of legislation provides molestation, and even forcible cutting of punishment for rape, as well as trafficking hair. Incidents of public humiliation, in women and children, kidnapping, acid- including public stripping, have become throwing, giving and accepting dowry and more common in recent years. This often dowry deaths. According to this Act, all occurs when the perpetrators wish to the offences mentioned will be non- punish an entire family by publicly bailable ones. The law provides for the humiliating the women of the family. setting up of special tribunals, fixed Sexual harassment in the streets is deadlines for investigations and trials in common, with little note taken unless absentia for perpetrators of violence some serious incident occurs. Where against women and children. attitudes even towards cases of serious It does, however, have its drawbacks. domestic violence, rape and killing are For example, a rapist is legally responsible biased, the chances of success in cases of for maintaining any child resulting from other forms of violence are not likely to the rape. This law is doubly problematic. meet with much success. Cases of sexual First, it is extremely unlikely that a woman harassment and abuse are, therefore, would want to have anything to do with rarely reported unless they take an
96 Human Development in South Asia 2000 extreme form. In Sri Lanka, for instance, workplace. It laid down guidelines for the while over 80 per cent of women using State to follow, including to set up public transport have felt harassed, only complaint cells in all departments, and 46 cases charging sexual harassment were these guidelines have been approved in a filed in 1998. If incidents are reported, 1999 case. the justice system once again intervenes The national women’s machinery has to ensure that the perpetrators receive issued these guidelines to all government minimal penalties. agencies and academic institutions. This In the workplace, women can find that judgement has had a tremendous impact promotions, benefits and job security are on raising awareness around the issue, offered or withheld on the basis of sexual and also created a mechanism where these favours granted. Workplace harassment issues can be easily brought into the open. particularly targets those workers—such In educational institutions in Sri Lanka Women’s mobility as domestic workers, factory and garment and the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, acts and access to workers and bonded labour—with of torture and sexual harassment can be relatively little power vis-à-vis their punished as grave crimes in separate educational and employers. Young, single low-income legislation on ‘ragging’ or ‘hazing’, employment women in the private sector are the worst reinforcing the criminal law on sexual opportunities are the victims. Sexual harassment can present harassment. primary victims of very real physical and psychological In Bangladesh, sexual harassment on dangers, but its primary victims are university campuses has become a sexual harassment women’s mobility and access to significant problem, with two main educational and employment universities in particular experiencing opportunities. Workplace sexual some of the worst incidents of sexual harassment is rarely reported, as this harassment ever reported. In both would put the victim’s reputation at risk. universities, it was the women students Recently, India and Sri Lanka have who were at the frontline of protests— taken the positive step of legally most student branches of political parties recognising workplace sexual harassment not only steered away from the issue but as a crime. Under Sri Lanka’s Penal Code also vehemently attacked such attempts. Amendment Act (1995), sexual A loose network of organisations and harassment was made an offence. In individuals has since formed under the India, two cases led to this change. In a banner of the Jouno Nipiron Protorodh 1995 case, in which a civil servant charged Mancha (Platform Protesting Sexual a former director general of police, it was Harassment). only the Supreme Court that understood that the matter was not ‘trivial’ and that PROSTITUTION. Debates regarding the best the procedures adopted by the lower approach to non-forced prostitution courts were improper. continue. Sri Lanka, Nepal and India have A second case, in 1997, involved the a basically regulatory or ‘abolitionist’ gang rape of a social worker and activist framework of laws on prostitution and in Rajasthan. While the criminal action do not prohibit consensual prostitution. was pending, women activists filed a writ Only Sri Lanka adopts a clear prohibitive petition against the State authorities for approach to child prostitution under 18 failure to create a work environment that years of age in its Penal Code, amended protected workers. The Supreme Court in 1995 and 1998. In India, street interpreted certain constitutional prostitution is criminalised but not other guarantees, including the rights to life and consensual prostitution. equality, within the context of This approach impacts on trafficking international human rights and CEDAW (see box 3.3). Although trafficking of standards, and recognised a right to women and children is illegal and freedom from sexual harassment in the prohibited in all countries, a permissive
Women and the Law 97 and regulatory approach to prostitution earn a living and support their children. makes trafficking laws difficult to enforce. The attacks, ostensibly based on religious It is often difficult to distinguish between sentiment, actually tend to be economic the regulated area of forced prostitution in nature, because a brothel is located on and trafficking, and the legal area of prime real estate. consensual prostitution. While brothel In 1991, over 5,000 women housed in owners and procurers are punished, 10 brothels were forcibly evicted from clients are not, since prostitution is not a their homes, stoned and beaten. The prohibited activity. Further, despite the eviction procedure was finally quelled by permissive, regulatory approach, in all the police, but there were no inquiries countries women involved in the made by the government to the condition sex trade continue to be treated as and plight of the women. In 1999, a Constitutional criminals. woman was strangled in the same area, guarantees and laws The Constitution of Bangladesh states leading to an eviction of the entire area. that ‘the State shall adopt effective The government made the decision to that prohibit caste measures to prevent prostitution’, and rehouse the women, but the number discrimination do there are other laws preventing any helped is very few, increasing the risk to not seem to protect person from forcing anyone into their health and safety. low-caste and Dalit prostitution or ‘immoral acts’. Soliciting is also against the law. However, there OTHER FORMS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST women from acts of are no laws against engaging in sexual WOMEN. In India and Nepal, many cruelty and violence activity in exchange for money, and it is practices such as the devadasi system of sufficient for a sex-worker to have an forced prostitution, and sati (widow affidavit stating that she is above 18 years immolation, see box 5.5) were prohibited for her not to be arrested. However, she by British colonial legislation. still has to face harassment and hand out Enforcement of laws that criminalise bribes to those who protect the area in customary practices can be difficult, which she works, be it the local although some practices such as sati have musclemen or the police. been easier to eliminate. There have been Prostitution is, therefore, technically, only a few isolated instances of sati in neither legal nor illegal. It exists in a legal India in the post-independence era. The limbo, and thus sex-workers neither have Nepali custom of deuki (forced temple much legal protection, nor can the state prostitution), on the other hand, was take any legal measures against them. As prohibited by legislation in Nepal as citizens, they can demand the same recently as in 1993, when a specific fundamental rights and freedoms from provision was introduced into the the state and are protected by the Children’s Act. constitution. They have a right to shelter, Studies indicate, however, that low occupation, food and basic amenities. caste and Dalit (former untouchables) However, their position in society does women continue to be exploited as little to protect them from certain crimes devadasis and deukis. Caste-based violence such as rape, or from HIV/AIDS and in India and Nepal has been raised as an other sexually transmitted diseases. issue of concern during several national In Bangladesh, there are 16 authorised and international forums. Constitutional brothels and numerous unauthorised guarantees and laws that prohibit caste ones. There have been times where the discrimination do not seem to protect red light areas of the country, especially low-caste and Dalit women. Acts of in and around Dhaka, have come under cruelty and violence against them do not physical attack from the general public. merely reflect their disempowerment but The women residing there have been are a disturbing manifestation of a forcibly evicted from their homes and society’s unwillingness to accept the have had to turn to the streets in order to fundamental rights of all people.
98 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Incest was not an offence under British boycotts, for such ‘crimes’ as being raped colonial law, and came within legal scope or allegedly having a pre- or extra-marital in Sri Lanka only recently in 1995, when affair. As in Pakistan, the salish also has the Penal Code provisions on sexual the power to issue a fatwa regarding offences were amended. Incest has social whether or not a man’s statement of legitimacy in some rural communities in divorce is valid. Sri Lanka, and an increasing incidence of incest is now reported in migrant worker Labour and service legislation families where the wife is overseas. In recent years, the phenomenon of The labour and service laws of a country the issuance of so-called fatwas (religious are key areas for women in terms of decrees) has been on the increase in rural ensuring equality of employment Bangladesh as a mechanism for opportunities, job security, benefits and controlling perceived deviant behaviour— occupational health and safety. usually relating to women’s sexuality. The Discriminatory labour and service laws vehicle for delivering these is the salish, a exist in each of the countries, in particular traditional informal conflict resolution with regard to benefits. However, the mechanism that tends to be elitist, laws cannot be examined solely from the patriarchal and gender-insensitive. perspective of overt legal discrimination, Punishments meted out to women and as discrimination often exists under the girls have included lashes and social cover of protective legislation—Nepal’s
Box 5.5 From victim to accused—the Zina Ordinance in Pakistan
Introduced in 1979, the Hudood laws, have become liable under the law, The provisions of the Zina particularly the Zina Ordinance, are several hundreds of cases have been Ordinance are also in violation of the often described as the most damaging reported. Apart from the fact that the constitutional guarantees of equality laws in the context of Pakistani women. law is used to penalise rape victims as and non-discrimination, since for the Under the Zina Ordinance, cases of those who have indulged in extra imposition of the maximum penalty rape often have been converted to cases marital sex, it has also been used by the testimony of female witnesses, as of sexual relations outside marriage, men to control and punish women in well as that of non-Muslims if the which are considered offences under their own families, giving them a tool accused is a Muslim, is excluded. Even the ordinance. to enforce their own notions of the victim’s own testimony is not Thus, the risks for women reporting women’s conduct and to punish any acceptable, because of her sex. rape are manifold. In a society where deviations. Thus, a large proportion of Moreover, the law makes the there is already extreme reluctance to women in jail on zina charges have been Quranic requirement of four adult report rape because of social stigma and put there by their own fathers, brothers Muslim eyewitnesses for proof of dishonour, women are further and husbands. These include girls who adultery against a woman applicable threatened by the law itself. The refuse to marry according to parental to rape, and interprets the rule as attitudes of police are heavily gender wishes, wives who wish to separate or requiring male witnesses. Thus, what biased, with the general presumption terminate their marriages, women who was seen to be a protection for that women who report rape are leave their homes because of abuse, and women under Islamic law against immoral or shameless. Thus, women women who refuse to go into frivolous allegations of adultery has become burdened from the beginning prostitution. been used to deny them justice for with ‘proving’ their own innocence—if Even more ironic is that a girl rape. This essentially ensures that no the police are not convinced, the child—who will never at any age be rapist can ever receive the full penalty, woman can be charged under the law considered a valid witness for awarding as it is virtually impossible that a as a co-accused in the crime of zina. full penalty, even if she herself is the woman would get raped in front of Studies show that almost half the victim of rape—is considered an adult four adult males of good character. women in jails today have been accused for the purpose of fixing criminal Finally, the Zina Ordinance dilutes of zina, most of them awaiting trial. The responsibility and maximum the nature of rape as a male specific vast majority are poor women. punishment. Girls as young as 12 have violent crime against women in two Interestingly, before the Hudood received the penalty of imprisonment ways: by treating it as a criminal Ordinance when only men could be and lashes under the Zina Ordinance, activity of comparable magnitude to punished for adultery there were only and even younger ones have been adultery, and by assuming that rape two reported cases. But since women charged. can be committed by either sex.
Source: RCIW 1997; and Zia 2000.
Women and the Law 99 restrictions on female migration are reserved for members of either sex if they illustrative (see box 5.7). While India and entail the performance of duties which Sri Lanka have relatively more developed cannot adequately be performed by systems of labour legislation overall, the members of the other sex. enforcement of laws remains problematic. While there are, in fact, few specifically Indeed, protective as well as gender-discriminatory rules relating to affirmative action legislation exists public sector employment in Pakistan, throughout South Asia. The formal sector discrimination continues in practice. This is regulated by equal remuneration for can be due to direct recruitment policies equal work laws, and there are quotas for and practices which often favour men; at women within the public sector (see other times, the practice of giving fewer chapter 8). In Nepal, for instance, in field opportunities to women eventually Discrimination often order to redress the under-representation affects their promotion possibilities. It has exists under the of women in high managerial positions in also been reported that earlier policies the public sector, a lower age of entry for that barred women’s entry into certain cover of protective women has been set. In Pakistan, there services continue to influence selection legislation has been an effort made to ensure a and hiring policies although the policies minimum representation of women in no longer exist. And, in practice, social public sector employment. For example, bias often results in denying women entry a 5 per cent quota for women in public into services traditionally considered the sector employment, as well as minimum domain of men, such as the police. quotas for the appointment of women in Maternity leave is provided for in India the subordinate judiciary, are still in and Sri Lanka, and more recently, Nepal. existence. However, these have proved to The Nepalese legislation also provides for be inadequate. In some areas there were breast feeding intervals and creche already more than 5 per cent women facilities in workplaces with more than employed, so the fixing of a lower quota fifty workers. The plantation sector in Sri did not make a difference. At the Lanka also has a limited obligation to provincial level, the initiative remained provide creche facilities. While unmonitored and unenforced. Moreover, entitlement to maternity benefits exists in there was no provision that women had Pakistan, it is tied to a minimum number to be appointed across all sectors and of working hours. Within the context of grades. a restriction placed on women’s working Further, in Pakistan the constitutional hours under the Factories Act, the provision relating to public sector condition is not reasonable. appointments itself allows space for Yet, as discussed in chapter 4, the discrimination against women, as sex majority of South Asian women work as combined with some other factor can be unpaid labour in the domestic sphere or considered a valid basis for on household farms, and in the informal discrimination. It also provides that sector, thus remaining outside the scope specified posts and services can be of regulatory control. South Asian women
Box 5.6 Sati, suicide and widowhood in India
Despite a long-standing ban on sati, the widows kill themselves on their to avoid having to charge every witness 1999 self-immolation of a woman in husband’s funeral pyre. The last with homicide. Women’s groups say Uttar Pradesh and subsequent worship reported case of forced sati, in that whether labelled sati or suicide, the by villagers at the site, has rekindled Rajasthan in 1987, led Parliament to incident illustrates the desperation often debates surrounding the status of enact a law making the failure to felt by rural widows when they are left Indian widows. Sati, arguably based in prevent sati a crime. The 1999 case, on without economic or emotional support Hindu cultural tradition rather than the other hand, was considered as a in a traditional social environment still religion, is the practice by which suicide by authorities, allegedly in order hostile to widows.
Source: Gooneskere 2000; and The News 1999.
100 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Box 5.7 Home and away—laws relating to female migrant workers
Globalization has facilitated an ever- foreign jails, since 1981 Bangladesh has initiatives focus on providing migrant increasing flow of South Asian women had an on-again off-again policy about workers with some support for child out of their home countries, to work in allowing unskilled women workers to care, to prevent the phenomenon of other South Asian countries, in the migrate. As a result, many Bangladeshi abuse of minor children when women Middle East and in Asia as a whole. women leave the country in an extra- travel overseas as migrant workers. A They face discrimination on three legal and undocumented manner, Child Protection Authority was counts: as migrants, as workers and as leaving them particularly vulnerable to established in 1998 with extensive women. Often in low-paying informal abuse. powers, and has given priority in its and unregulated jobs, they are In contrast, Sri Lanka continues to work to safeguarding the welfare of susceptible to violence, economic adopt an open policy, based on the these children through community- insecurity, and falling through the gap recognition that migrant workers based advocacy and awareness raising between the labour and welfare laws of contribute substantially to national programmes. It has a particular focus their home and host countries. wealth through their foreign on the increasing problem of incestuous In this regard Nepal has recently remittances. Legislation has introduced abuse of children by a male parent, prohibited the migration of women to extensive safeguards against the during mother’s absence overseas. the Gulf States. While framed as a exploitative recruitment of women The UN Convention on the Protection of protective legislation, this law violates migrant workers. Employment agencies the Rights of All Migrant Workers and women’s rights to freedom of must be licensed, and a special Foreign Members of their Families to date has not movement and equal opportunity to Employment Bureau has been received the 20 ratifications required for employment. Similarly, Pakistan sets a established to monitor these agencies, the convention to enter into force. Sri minimum age limit of 35 for the supervise contractual arrangements, and Lanka is the only South Asian country migration of women for domestic work. provide training and welfare measures that has ratified the convention; In response to reports of for women migrant workers. Bangladesh has signed the convention Bangladeshi women being held in The most recent Sri Lankan but has yet to accede to it.
Source: FWLD 1999; Gooneskere 2000; MFA 2000; Siddiqui 1998; and Sobhan 2000. tend to face more occupational health and negative implications for the human safety hazards than their male development of the region as a whole. counterparts, not because of Thus, South Asian governments have both discriminatory laws but because women the responsibility and the need to promote are disproportionately found in those the basic rights of women as entrenched industries falling outside the purview of in their own constitutions and in the laws. international conventions to which they are party. Governments can learn from the l l l experience of NGOs in spreading awareness of rights, a process that can be South Asian women face discrimination greatly facilitated by integrating legal both because of laws and despite them. literacy into school curricula. Once Women’s vulnerability to violence and awareness among both women and men economic insecurity based on gender builds, pressure to follow through on discrimination in law and practice has government policies will also mount.
Women and the Law 101 6 Education of Girls and Women
No society has ever liberated itself economically, politically, or socially without a sound base of educated women.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Education of Girls and Women 103 Chapter 6 Education of Girls and Women
Figure 6.1a Illiterate females Of all the discrimination and denial of South Asian average has increased only as a percentage of total opportunity that women of South Asia from 17 to 37 per cent (UNDP 1999c). illiterate population (2000) suffer, perhaps the most damaging is the Of the total illiterate population in South denial of the right and opportunity to Asia 63 per cent are women and of the education. Education is the key to total out-of-primary school children, 71 breaking the vicious circle of ignorance per cent are girls. Figure 6.1 a and b 37% 63% and exploitation and empowering women graphically show the educational and girls to improve their lives. During deprivation of women and girls in South the last 20 years, significant progress has Asia. taken place in the state of education in Pakistan and Nepal have the worst Female Male South Asia, but vast gaps remain between female adult literacy rates at 25 and 21 the educational achievement of men and per cent respectively (see table 6.1). Figure 6.1b Girls out of women and of boys and girls. Although Moreover, while the gender gap in school as a percentage of statistics vary significantly between and education in South Asia as a region is the total out of school children within South Asian countries as a region, largest in the world, this gap is particularly (1997) South Asia presents a shocking profile of glaring in these two countries. educational deprivation of women: Efforts to address gender disparities in education have, in general focussed on 29% • More than half of South Asian adult improving enrolments at the primary, illiterates are women. secondary, and tertiary levels. Yet the 71% • More than two-thirds of South Asian minimum target of universal primary out-of-primary school children are girls. education has been met only in Sri Lanka. • Nearly two-fifths of girls enrolled in The rest of South Asia, has yet to achieve Boys Girls primary school drop out before grade 5. universal primary education even for • Of the already low vocational boys. Progress, however, has been made Source: GOB 1999a; GOI 1999a; GOM education enrolment of less than 2 per 1999a; GOP 1999b; GOS 1999b; HMG in female literacy rates in all South Asian cent, female students comprise only a Nepal 1999b; RGB 1999; and UNESCO countries (see figure 6.2), and primary 1998a. quarter of one per cent. school enrolment ratios for girls in India • The differentials between primary and Bangladesh are fast approaching school enrolments of boys and girls differ those for boys’ enrolments. from 2 percentage points in Maldives to The mean number of years of Figure 6.2 Progress in 31 percentage points in Nepal. Within schooling that South Asian children female literacy Pakistan alone this difference varies from receive is very low: in India, Nepal, 11 percentage points in Punjab to 21 1980 1997 Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Bhutan, girls percentage points in Baluchistan. 100 Maldives 100 receive less than 1.2 years of schooling. 90 90 In this Chapter, we make an attempt Boys’ averages are considerably higher, 80 80 Sri Lanka to analyse the issues behind these indicating that there is a gender gap in 70 70 statistics in order to evolve a learning achievement as well (see figure 60 60 50 50 comprehensive strategy for empowering 6.3). But Sri Lanka and Maldives have 40 40 South Asian women. better records even in this area. 30 India 30 There are two basic indicators to Differences within countries by state 20 Pakistan 20 measure gender gaps in education—adult and province, and urban/rural status are 10 Nepal 10 literacy rates, and enrolment ratios. While marked. However, they also reflect the 0 0 the developing country average for female initiative taken by individual states/ literacy rates has increased from 32 to 63 provinces to address this issue. In India, Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables; and UNICEF 2000. per cent between 1970 and 1997, the for example, while the disparity between
104 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Table 6.1 State of female education in South Asia
India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Bhutan Maldives South Asia Lanka Primary enrolment ratio (Net) 1997 Girls 71 62 70 63 100 12 98 70 Boys 83 71 80 93 100 14 96 81 Total 77 67 75 78 100 13 97 76 Secondary enrolment ratio (Net) 1997 Girls 48 17 16 40 79 2 49 41 Boys 71 33 27 68 73 7 49 61 Total 60 25 22 55 76 5 49 51 Literacy rate (%) 1997 Female 39 25 27 21 88 30 96 37 Male 67 55 50 56 94 58 96 64 Total 54 41 39 38 91 44 96 51 Drop-out-rate (%) 1994 Girls 41 56 33 48 1 16 6 41 Boys 35 46 31 48 2 19 9 35 Completion of primary cycle (%) 1994 Girls 59 44 67 52 99 84 94 59 Boys 65 54 69 52 98 81 91 65 Female teachers (as a % of total 36 35 31 22 96 30 94 37 primary teachers) 1997-98 Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables; GOB 1999a, GOI 1999a, GOM 1999a, GOP 1999b, GOS 1999b; HMG Nepal 1999b; RGB 1999; UN 1999c; UNESCO 1998 and 1998b; and UNICEF 2000. urban and rural areas in female literacy responsible for the low educational rates is large, there is almost parity in net attainment of girls in the region. In some primary enrolment rates. cases, these are country specific but many However, there are huge differences in factors are common to all South Asian female educational achievements between countries. Low female participation in the states in India: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and education system is primarily the outcome Rajasthan have extremely poor female of two factors: low parental demand for education indicators, whereas states such girls’ schooling; and the public and private as Tamil Nadu and Kerala do consistently sectors’ supply of educational services well (see table 6.2). In Rajasthan, girls are only half as likely as boys to attend school while in Kerala there is no gender disparity Figure 6.3 Average years of schooling in education (King et al. 1998). The 8 8 experience in Kerala highlights that a poor state, with appropriate policies and strong 7 6.3 political will, can overcome the hurdles of 6 providing education to females. 5.1 Beyond primary education there are 5 Years 3.9 4 3.5 issues of tertiary enrolment rates as they 3.2 3.1 2.9 indicate the extent to which South Asian 3 women can acquire knowledge and skills 2 1.2 to participate in economic and political 1 0.9 0.7 1 0.5 fields. 0.2
0 Constraints to girls’ education Sri Lanka Maldives India Nepal Bangladesh Pakistan Bhutan Male Female
Complex and interrelated factors are Source: HDSA 2000 Background Tables.
Education of Girls and Women 105 Table 6.2 India: disparities in educational attainment within states 1997
Net enrolment ratio Literacy rate (%) Primary school teachers primary (%) (%) State Male Female Male Female Male Female Bihar 70.1 28.2 60 27 80.5 19.5 Goa 78.1 59.4 92 74.9 32.6 67.3 Haryana 57.6 56 71 41 48.3 51.7 Kerala 71.7 67.4 95 88 30.4 69.5 Nagaland 49.7 39.9 91.9 71.9 60.7 39.3 Punjab 59.3 59.3 67 53 39 61 Rajasthan 78.5 31.8 69 27 71.2 28.8 Tamil Nadu 87.3 82.1 77 54 56 44 Uttar Pradesh 41.8 18.4 64 32 75 25 Urban India 65.5 52 87.7 72.1 64.2 35.8 Rural India 72.8 47.7 64 34 64.2 35.8 All India 71 48.8 70.5 43.9 64.2 35.8 Source: GOI 1999. that do not respond to the communities’ ensuring required enrolment and needs. achievement rates. It is thus important to Traditionally, supply-related factors address the constraints related to demand have received more attention. It was as well as supply. thought that with enough schools, teachers and textbooks, the education system would Demand constraints produce the desired outcomes for girls and boys alike. However, it is increasingly Schooling is never free even when becoming apparent that these factors are governments pay for much of it. Parents necessary but not entirely sufficient for usually bear the costs for books and clothing. Parents also incur opportunity costs because they lose their children’s Box 6.1 Traditions that discourage availability for household chores and wage labour. The poorer the family, the In most South Asian countries married as soon as possible. Early parents prefer to give higher marriage is viewed as a way of more difficult it is to bear both direct education to sons rather than to preserving a girl’s reputation. In and opportunity costs of education. Girls daughters, mainly because boys are Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, perform more chores at home than boys, considered positive economic assets very early marriage (at ages 8-9 years) thus the opportunity cost of sending them to the family. prevents girls from attending school to school is often higher. Parents assess even after grade 1 or 2. Although with increased income- whether the benefits to the family earning opportunities for girls, the In Karnataka it was found that too urban centres in South Asia are seeing much schooling was thought to make outweigh the costs. Where resources are more girls attending schools than it difficult for parents to find a limited priority is given to sons. before, yet for the vast majority of suitable match for their daughter. The One of the most significant factors girls the old tradition of leaving school need to arrange a match with a boy that inhibits women’s access to education at puberty is still a reality. This shows at least as educated as the girl often in South Asia is the perception that the up in the drastic fall in enrolments at induces parents to withdraw girls the secondary level. In a study of from school at an early age. Seventy- investment in educating a girl will not Gujarat (India) it was seen that the five per cent of women in India, benefit her parents once the girl gets proportion of girls attending school Pakistan and Bangladesh were married. Further, South Asian cultures increased until the age of 10-11, after married before the age of 19, 22 and place a high value on the chastity of girls, which it declined. Caldwell et al. found 17 respectively. In Nepal, nearly half and therefore parents are often reluctant the women are married by 19. In in Karnataka that by age 15, only 11 to allow their daughters to be taught by per cent of girls were still enrolled in contrast, in Sri Lanka, only 25 per school. Further, they found that one- cent of rural ever-married females male teachers, to enrol in schools without fifth of all girls were removed from were married before the age of 21 separate facilities for girls, or to attend school at puberty, usually to be and 50 per cent were older than 23. boarding schools in distant towns. Culturally, girls are expected to be isolated Sources: Bhatty 1998a and 1998b; Dube 1997; King and Hill 1991; and Nesac 1998. from males before marriage (see box 6.1).
106 Human Development in South Asia 2000 The quality of education is also Table 6.3 Quality of learning 1997-99 important in determining whether a child will be sent to school or not (see table Pupil- Teachers certified to teach 6.3). This is all the more important in teacher (% primary) case of girls as sometimes parents feel ratio (primary) that the education system is not relevant to the needs of girls. Bangladesh 59.31 69.9 Bhutan 41.40 93.4 India 48.29 87.7 Supply Constraints Nepal 38 n/a Maldives 23.43 63.1 School location, facilities for female Pakistan 48.43 87.2 students and teachers, curriculum and Source: GOB 1999a; GOI 1999a; GOM 1999b; GOP 1999b; GOS 1999b; HMG Nepal 1999b; and examination policies are among the RGB 1999. various school-related factors that can contribute to gender gaps in enrolments. than 20 per cent in the states of Bihar These factors can influence parents’ and Uttar Pradesh—the states that have decisions on whether to educate their the lowest female enrolment rates. daughters. Shortage of female teachers is much Distance between home and school is worse in rural areas. Poor roads, limited a more important deterrent for girls than public transportation, and lack of teacher boys. The further a school is from a girl’s training institutions hinder rural women home the less likely that she will enrol from receiving teacher training. Not and attend because family members surprisingly, road transport in Kerala is perceive long distances as threats to their highly developed, safe, and reliable, daughter’s safety. allowing female teachers from urban areas In addition, the greater the distance to to travel long distances to teach in rural school, the longer it keeps girls away from schools. In Nepal, only 10 per cent of doing household chores. In Pakistan’s the primary school teachers are women. rural Sindh, only 31 per cent of villages And in Bangladesh, where until recently had a girls’ primary school within 1 only 8 per cent of primary school teachers kilometre (see figure 6.4). This is reflected were women, positive discrimination has in the province’s low rural female literacy been introduced to ensure that at least 60 rate of only 13.1 per cent. per cent of all new teacher trainees are In the Indian State of Tamil Nadu, 88 women. per cent of habitations have a primary Girls’ participation also depends on the school within 1 kilometre, which has led availability of single-sex schools, to the state’s significantly better literacy especially after the primary school stage. rates of 73.7 per cent for men and 51.3 Most parents are willing to accept per cent for women. A study in Tamil Nadu reveals that an Figure 6.4 Pakistan’s rural localities with a primary school within 1 km (%) increase in distance to a primary school by one kilometre reduces by 2 per cent 90 the probability of a girl attending the 80 school. Similarly for rural Nepal, it was 70 found that the possibility of a child 60 attending school dropped by 2.5 per cent 50 Boys for every kilometre of distance they had 40 Girls to walk. 30 Shortage of female teachers inhibits 20 girls’ school attendance. In Kerala, which 10 0 has the highest literacy and enrolment Punjab Sindh NWFP Baluchistan National rates in India, more than 60 per cent of teachers are women, compared with less Source: GOP 1999b.
Education of Girls and Women 107 coeducation in primary school but not in benefits in the form of higher lifetime secondary school. earnings for women while the society and Curriculum is often gender biased. The community also benefit from the higher stress on sex-role stereotypes tends to productivity of its labour force. In push girls towards courses of study that Bangladesh, it was found that the average are typically associated with their gender. salary of a secondary-school-educated Kalia’s (1980) content analysis of 41 woman is as much as seven times higher Indian textbooks in four states and Delhi than that of a woman with no education showed males to be exclusive leading (Haq and Haq 1998). actors in 75 per cent of the lessons, while Studies reveal that for each additional females took precedence in only 7 per year of schooling, women’s wages cent of the lessons. She concluded that increase by 10 to 20 per cent. In South In South Asia where women were still being prepared for the Asia where literacy and enrolment rates role requiring only servitude and support. are low, the returns to education are literacy and In contrast, Gunawardena (1987) cited particularly high. In India, it was found enrolment rates are a textbook survey showing that in Sinhala that women who had completed high low, the returns to and Tamil textbooks in Sri Lanka, non- school earned one and a half times more education are stereotyped sex roles outnumbered than those without education and women stereotyped roles. with technical training earned three times particularly high more than women with no education. In Impact of education Pakistan, it was found that women with a primary education earned 24 per cent Education increases the economic, social more than those with no education, while and political opportunities available to men with the same level of education women. In Human Development in South earned only 17 per cent more than those Asia 1998, detailed analysis was with no education (Ashraf and Ashraf conducted on the importance of education 1996). Many studies suggest that rates of on socio-economic development in general return to girl’s education are higher than and on women in particular. those for boys, especially in poorer Education empowers women to take developing countries. control of their lives. It provides them Higher returns to women’s education with greater opportunity and choices to are a direct consequence of the fact that improve their lives and that of their the benefits to society from educating families. Education is the key to women are far greater than that for boys. overcoming oppressive customs and Besides improving human capital and traditions that have neglected the needs increasing economic growth, female of girls and women. Educating women is education also reduces the fertility rate. an important goal in itself. It is also a The lowering in the number of basic human right. dependents is referred to as the In addition to the direct benefits—in ‘demographic gift’. This effect is said to the form of more knowledge, skills, have contributed from 1.4 to 1.9 per cent income earning opportunities, education to the annual per capita growth in East of women has numerous social benefits. Asia. One study reveals that nearly 0.4 to Female education is strongly connected 0.9 per cent of the differences in growth to reduced child and maternal mortality, rates between East Asia and South Asia, reduced fertility, improved family health, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East increased educational attainment of are the result of the larger gender gaps in children, particularly girls. It also leads to education in the latter regions (Klasen women’s improved status in society. 1999). Keeping women illiterate clearly Improved economic growth retards economic growth. Societies that do not invest in girls’ education pay a Education leads to direct economic price for it in terms of slower growth and
108 Human Development in South Asia 2000 reduced incomes. Investments in female emphasis on the quality rather than the education start a ‘virtuous cycle’ that leads quantity of children. Women with more to improved levels of income, growth and than a primary schooling had a smaller gender equality. Inequality in education is gender bias in sending children to school like a distortionary tax that misallocates than women with less than primary resources, thereby reducing economic schooling (Sathar 1997). growth (Dollar and Gatti 1999). Education also increases women’s ability to secure employment in the Lower population growth formal sector. As working women spend time outside the home, they are left with Education increases women’s knowledge little time to look after their children and about controlling fertility and access to are thus inclined to have fewer children. family planning services, and often With education, women also choose to The level of encourages them to delay the age at which marry at a later age both because of the they marry (see table 6.4). Educated time required for studies and also because mothers’ education women become more aware about of greater freedom to make decisions. is a vital factor in contraception methods and are thus able determining infant to plan the number of children that they Improved children’s health and education and child mortality desire to have. They also have more control over household resources and Women’s education greatly improves their greater involvement in reproductive ability to manage basic childcare, increase decisions (Drèze et al. 1995). In the Indian the nutritional content of diets, ensure State of Gujarat, a study found that the more effective diagnosis of diseases, and level of female autonomy as measured by improve elementary health care. Children education was positively related to of educated mothers have a greater contraceptive use. In Bangladesh, it was growth potential. Educated mothers are found that contraceptive use was only 27 also more likely to send both girls and per cent for women with no education, boys to school and to keep them in 35 per cent for those with a primary school longer. education, while for those with an The level of mothers’ education is a education of secondary level and above, vital factor in determining infant and child it was 47 and 66 per cent respectively. mortality. The children of educated Female education also leads to greater mothers have higher survival rates ability on the part of females to through infancy and childhood. Mother’s communicate with their spouses on birth control (see table 6.4). Even primary Table 6.4 The impact of women’s schooling schooling enhances communication among couples on contraception: in Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Pakistan, 18 per cent of uneducated women had discussed family planning Age at marriage with their husbands, compared to 29 and No Schooling 13.8 15 n/a 18.3 21 Primary 13.9 16.8 n/a 18.9 20.9 44 per cent among primary and more Secondary or more 16.1 20.2 n/a 22.5 24 educated women respectively. In India, while 42 per cent of uneducated women Desired family size had discussed birth control with their No Schooling 2.6 3.1 3.2 4.3 3.5 husbands, 58, 65 and 71 per cent of Primary 2.4 2.6 n/a 4.1 3.4 Secondary or more 2.2 2.2 2.4 3.4 2.8 primary, middle, and secondary schooled women respectively, had done so. Contraceptive use (%) Studies find that an extra year of No Schooling 41 34 23 8 54 female schooling reduces female fertility Primary 46 50 n/a 18 62 by 5 to 10 per cent (see chapter 7). As Secondary or more 57 53 45 38 62 more educated women prefer to send Note: Figures are for the latest available year. their children to school there was greater Source: Jeffery and Basu 1996.
Education of Girls and Women 109 schooling of one to three years is Women’s access to vocational and associated with a 20 per cent decline in technical education the risk of childhood death (Haq and Haq 1998). Evidence indicates that each In South Asia, women have limited access additional year of schooling of mothers to vocational and technical education and translates into a decline in child mortality thus to job opportunities in traditionally by 5-10 per cent. This is because educated ‘male’ fields. This can be attributed to women seek greater and earlier health cultural and traditional attitudes, held by care for sick children as compared to both women and men, towards women’s illiterate women. Educated women are roles and responsibilities in the household less fearful of clinics and modern and labour market. As a result, current procedures and are capable of reading and vocational and technical education Technical education interpreting basic health instructions. programmes in South Asia are seriously Educated women are likely to be more inadequate in scope and relevance. Yet can be an effective aware about nutrition, hygiene, and health among educational investments, returns entry point to care. to vocational and technical education can women’s economic be much greater than those to general and overall Enhanced political and social participation education, when linked to market demand and employment opportunities. Technical empowerment By increasing women’s ability to earn an education can be an effective entry point independent income, education increases to women’s economic and overall women’s status in the community and empowerment. leads to greater input into family and It is important to note that enrolment community decision-making. In rural in vocational and technical training areas in South Asia, where women are programmes relies on strong primary and confined to their homes and men are secondary education systems. Rapid traditionally considered the bread-winners technological change means that the key of the family, education plays a crucial feature of a country’s workforce is role in enhancing the status of women flexibility. Primary and secondary and placing them on a more equal footing education open doors to training by with their male counterparts. A survey providing a foundation of basic carried out in Bangladesh assessed the knowledge so workers can adapt to degree of independence of women with shifting skill requirements. Transferable different educational backgrounds. The and flexible skills are particularly responses to the questionnaire asking important for women because of their women whether they would go to a greater vulnerability during times of political meeting alone were quite economic downturn. revealing. Only 3.6 per cent of those with South Asia faces a troubling paradox: no education were willing to go alone, so few people are technically trained, yet compared to 6.6 per cent of primary half of them are unemployed. This is a educated, 18.1 per cent of secondary reflection of the inappropriate modes of educated, and 46.2 per cent of college training, not of technical education itself. educated women (Haq and Haq 1998). The mismatch between education and Moreover, in educated societies many employment is due to the failure of women participate in the political decision- policy-makers to provide skills relevant making bodies of their countries. Countries to private sector demand. Moreover, with high levels of literacy and smaller unemployment among trainees also gender gaps also have higher rates of reflects on the poor quality of technical women actively involved in government education systems in South Asia. Other and politics (see chapter 8). countries, notably in East Asia, often rely
110 Human Development in South Asia 2000 on the technical education sector to help Figure 6.5 Percentage of females enrolled in the economy adapt to changing second level vocational education development needs. Unemployment in Japan and the East South Korea Asian countries has remained consistently China low because their populations possess Indonesia employable technical skills and because Pakistan of the high economic growth rates that Nepal these skilled populations engineered. The India need for skilled labour is acute in all of South Asia, creating a need for relevant Bangladesh technical education, especially for women Maldives who constitute only 17 per cent of 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 technical students. Increasing the %, female relevance of technical education for girls Source: UNESCO 1998a. and women will help create incentives for parents to send their daughters to school, demand for and participation of women in as well as increase student motivation. technical education. Equal access to training and jobs is a South Asia’s overall enrolment rate in long-term goal: many developed vocational education—1.5 per cent of countries, with fewer cultural barriers and students—registers well below the stronger legal enforcement of gender developing country average of 10.6 per equality, still face serious problems with cent, and below the least developed occupational and educational segregation. countries (LDC) average of 5.1 per cent. While recognising the economic and Of this already low number, females on cultural constraints in place in South Asia, average comprise a mere 17 per cent of we must both work within such technical students in South Asia (see constraints and work to remove them. figure 6.5). Thus, among students overall, These can be mutually reinforcing only one quarter of one per cent are processes: allowing women greater female technical students. economic opportunities can raise their Vocational teaching staff make up 2.5 status and autonomy and thus open doors per cent of female and male teachers in to jobs traditionally dominated by men. South Asia, compared to an average of Unfortunately, there are neither 14.1 per cent among developing countries detailed nor comprehensive statistics on and 7.1 per cent among LDCs. Of the women’s labour force and their already minuscule number of vocational participation in technical education in teachers, female teachers comprise a small South Asia. As mentioned in chapter 4, per cent. In 1990 in Bangladesh women are pigeonholed into certain female technical teaching staff Figure 6.6 India: decline in female occupations in the service sector, such as was a mere 2 per cent, a students in secondary vocational education (%) teaching, nursing, and social work. The reduction from 5 per cent in variations among and within the countries 1980. Over the same time 1981 1997 of South Asia are marked, although no period, however, female 60 60 country or region has approached gender enrolment in vocational equality in technical education. education increased from 2 to 8 In Sri Lanka, which has achieved near per cent. In India, female 40 40 gender parity in primary education students comprised 32 per cent enrolment, 90 per cent of students enrolled of vocational students in 1980- in health-related courses and 66 per cent in 81, but only 15 per cent in 1996- 20 20 teacher education courses are women, while 97 (see figure 6.6). Even in a mere 12 per cent of Sri Lankan absolute terms, female pupils 0 0 engineering students are women. Pervasive decreased from 129,650 in 1980- occupational segregation is reflected in the 81 to 119,113 in 1996-97. Source: UNESCO 1998a.
Education of Girls and Women 111 South Asia lags behind the rest of the Of the nearly one thousand world in engendering vocational education, polytechnics in India, seventy are particularly in comparison to East Asia. In exclusively for women, who still comprise China, 34 per cent of teachers and 46 per only 17 per cent of all polytechnic cent of students in vocational education students. Of the more than 25,000 are females (1996-97). Female enrolment students admitted by 11 Technical in Indonesia increased from 27 per cent in Training Centres (TTCs) in Bangladesh 1980-81 to 42 per cent in 1994-95. In spite between 1988-94, only 6.7 per cent were of the currency crisis in 1997-98, East female. Over the same time period, an Asian countries still possess their average of 8 per cent of teachers in TTCs foundation of economic growth: large were women. stocks of human capital, a significant South Asian governments spend Cultural norms that portion of which stems from investment approximately 4.4 per cent of their in women’s skills. A prime example is the education budgets on technical/scientific perpetuate Republic of Korea, where female education. Expenditure on female educational enrolment in vocational education, at 52 vocational students comprises less than disparities between per cent, exceeds male enrolment. one per cent of the education budget. The boys and girls extend Studies and figures reveal the data presented so far encompasses only inadequacy of current vocational more formal training programmes. Much to and intensify with education systems in South Asia. Of the vocational training occurs through less higher education people trained under Pakistan’s Labour formal modes, such as apprenticeships. Department programmes, less than one Women are extremely marginal in per cent are women. In 1991, women apprenticeship systems for a number of constituted only 20 per cent of students reasons, including lack of women trainers in one of Sri Lanka’s three agricultural and attitudes that perpetuate occupational schools, although half of the agricultural segregation (see box 6.2). labour force is made up of women working as economic producers. In Women’s access to higher education Pakistan, the number of female vocational institutes grew from 46 in 1947 to 109 in Higher education, though a distant dream 1990, but they decreased as a percentage for most South Asian women, is of total institutes. important because those who are able to Box 6.2 Altering attitudes: recruiting and retaining women access it are likely to be among those that push forward the structural changes Changing the attitudes of men and Training institutes should establish needed to achieve gender equality. women toward occupational formal channels of communication One of the biggest challenges to segregation is no simple task. A and recruitment with employers. multifaceted effort must be made to • Technical and vocational engendering higher education is convince women to join, and men to institutions and programmes should increasing access to women from a range accept and encourage, non-traditional have guidance and counselling of backgrounds. To a large extent, higher fields of study. Recruitment efforts services to advise and support education is the preserve of the social, should seek innovative ways to reach women trainees, particularly in non- economic, and political elite. Even when students and their parents. The traditional fields, to prevent scholarship and affirmative action following four ideas can be a part of drop-outs from vocational and a comprehensive plan of increasing technical institutes as well as from programmes exist, the participation of women in non-traditional fields: employment. non-elite women is limited because they • Advocacy and awareness • In view of employer discrimination, often are denied access to primary and programmes for schools, students placement services should be an secondary schooling. Cultural norms that and parents through information integral part of vocational and perpetuate educational disparities between dissemination and formal meetings. technical programmes. Monitoring • Programmes for employers to and follow-up of working conditions boys and girls extend to and intensify with persuade them to accept more and skill development can dovetail higher education. Given the perception women trainees and employees. with enforcement of legal rights. of women’s roles and the degree of gender discrimination in the workplace, Source: Jayaweera 1991. higher education in non-traditional fields
112 Human Development in South Asia 2000 is too rarely viewed as a sound investment education programmes. In India, for for women. example, 38 per cent of the students It must be acknowledged that urban, enrolled in distance education middle class women from educated programmes are women, compared with families are likely to dominate enrolments only 32 per cent in formal university in institutions of higher education. These programmes (UNESCO 1998a). In 1998- are the same women that go on to secure 99, 53 per cent of the students enrolled the few jobs in high-level administrative, at the Allama Iqbal Open University political, and managerial positions that (AIOU) in Pakistan were women. More women occupy. than half the students from Punjab and 37 per cent of the students from the Equal access NWFP are female, which is a much higher proportion than in regular The key to The key to engendering higher education universities (AIOU 1999a). is equal access, not expansion. Given Distance education can be less engendering higher limited budgets, it is difficult to expensive because of higher student- education is equal justify large expenditures on tertiary teacher ratios and is more accessible access, not education when primary and secondary because it can circumvent cultural barriers expansion school enrolments are low. Moreover, to female participation. For many rural investment in higher education may women in particular, access to education increase income disparities. Public is tied to limitations of physical proximity, subsidies as a proportion of unit costs of and also even permission to leave their higher education often far exceed the homes. This is why the region has been subsidies to primary and secondary witness to the successes of home and education. Because students in higher community schools at the primary and education tend to come from the higher- secondary levels, which ensure that the income groups, a large publicly funded cultural barriers to education are dealt higher education system tends to have with. Similarly, distance education adverse effects on income distribution. promises to provide girls and women the For example, professionals make up ability to obtain a higher education, which about 10 per cent of the populations of they otherwise might be restricted from. Asia, but their children represent 43 per Moreover, distance education can play cent of higher education enrolments critical roles in upgrading skills and in (World Bank 1994b). Yet at the same lifelong learning. time, in an age driven by technology, Discussions on distance education South Asian governments can ill afford must involve quality issues. This is a to ignore higher education. The concern for all educational institutions experiences of other countries have across the region, degrees and diplomas shown that women are as capable as their obtained through a distance programme male counterparts in both traditional and need to be at par with a standard tertiary non-traditional fields. Increasing access degree. In many instances, this may not for women has the potential to raise the be the case, and this, sometimes, is a quality of students admitted to higher severe disincentive for any girl or woman education and thus to raise the human from embarking on a distance education capital of South Asian countries. programme. Simply constructing institutions will Teacher training is perhaps the most not necessarily increase women’s access. common form of distance education that Instead the solution involves both women and girls are able to take improving the number of facilities advantage of. Though there are fewer available, and also altering cultural barriers to women in teaching than in constraints. Among types of higher other professions, South Asian countries education, women are more likely to enrol still have not reached gender parity in in open universities and distance teacher training enrolment. Available
Education of Girls and Women 113 international data reveal sharp shifts in Gender gaps in higher education by teacher training policy, with efforts to field of study recruit more women. In Bangladesh, for example, women comprised 27 per cent Even when women have the opportunity of pupils in teacher training in 1980, but to participate in higher education, they reached 72 per cent in 1985. A barrier to are often relegated to traditionally female general education in Bangladesh remains fields such as home economics and the disproportionately smaller percentage health, rather than science and of female teaching staff. Latest data show technology. As mentioned earlier, poor that while female enrolment in teacher training at the secondary level adversely training programmes is 47 per cent, only affects women at higher levels, especially 18 per cent of teaching staff in such in non-traditional fields. There is a need There is a need to programmes is female (see table 6.5). therefore to improve both the access of In Nepal, 64 per cent of the 17,961 women and their inclination, to, non- improve both the female primary and secondary school traditional fields. The reasons for such a access of women and teachers had no formal teacher training shift in focus are discussed below with their inclination to in 1994. Teacher training should specific reference to particular fields. non-traditional fields emphasise training of current teachers in At the same time, it is important to addition to recruiting more women discuss further such traditional teachers. It is important to realise that programmes such as teacher training teacher-training courses can be both courses. While these courses encourage increased in scope and in quality if there female involvement in the workforce, is some minimum standard of education they may also limit women to teaching, required to receive training. which as a traditional occupation, is considered a natural choice. The Enrolment importance of teacher training courses should not be undermined, nor Within South Asia, Sri Lanka and India necessarily should teacher-training have relatively high levels of female courses be reduced, but there should be a enrolment, which also approach and focus on expanding women’s higher sometimes exceed East Asian rates. In educational and therefore occupational 1996-97, the enrolment of women at the choices. This is a tricky proposition third level in India was 34 per cent of because it tends to imply a trade-off total enrolment, but enrolments varied situation. This, however, is not necessarily from a high of 52.4 per cent in Kerala to true. In fact, one possible mutually 18.6 per cent in Bihar. South Asian beneficial solution would be to start countries have a long way to go before teacher training courses in such non- achieving gender equality in higher traditional fields as basic computer skills. education. While Sri Lanka and India A person who has completed a secondary compare favourably to East Asian education is more than capable of enrolment rates, Bangladesh, Pakistan, learning the basic operation of a computer, and Nepal remain far behind. and financial and infrastructural constraints notwithstanding, of imparting such skills to Table 6.5 Staff and pupils in teacher training programmes primary or secondary school students. Comparing enrolments by field of study Teaching staff Pupils enrolled in South and East Asia, it is evident that Country Total % female Total % female East Asia clearly enjoys a greater degree Bangladesh 502 18 5,010 47 of gender equality in enrolment. Bhutan 27 n/a 160 29 In business administration, only Sri Pakistan 2,654 53 33,149 40 Lanka, with 38 per cent female India 977 36 15,349 54 enrolment, approaches the East Asian Note: Latest available year. rates. Pakistan has the weakest female Source: UNESCO 1998a. representation in many fields of higher
114 Human Development in South Asia 2000 education, including business Government commitments to administration (only 8 per cent). In the education for all sciences, including computer science, India and Sri Lanka with female As a follow-up to the Jomtien enrolments of 36 and 44 per cent Conference, all South Asian governments compare favourably with Korea, devised National Plans of Action to show Indonesia and Malaysia at 32, 34 and 48 their commitment to achieving education per cent, respectively. Nepal and Pakistan, for all. Subsequently, review meetings at 15 and 16 per cent respectively, clearly were held to analyse the progress that had face stronger barriers to women’s been made after Jomtien. In Delhi (1993) participation in non-traditional fields. In the EFA Summit of Nine High engineering, Pakistan stands out with a Population Countries, including three dismal 2 per cent female enrolment. For South Asian countries, namely Pakistan, engineering in particular, it is clear that India and Bangladesh, was held. Various occupational and educational segregation measures were initiated by South Asian is not unique to South Asia (see Gender governments to achieve gender parity in Table 4). The Republic of Korea, for education. For example: example, had 8 per cent female enrolment in engineering in 1996-97, and Japan 10 • Incentives schemes, such as per cent in 1994-95, reflecting the fact scholarships for girls up to secondary that only a few privileged women have level, free school meals (India, Bangladesh access to higher education in non- and Nepal), and separate schools for girls traditional fields in any country. This is in each thana (Bangladesh). not to downplay the achievements of • Incentive schemes at school/ such women or the importance of ending community level, such as rewarding occupational and educational segregation; schools with increasing girls’ enrolment rather, it serves to highlight the long-term and completion in Nepal. nature of fully engendering education, and • Increasing number of female school particularly higher education in non- teachers. traditional fields. • Compulsory primary education and Low rates of female enrolment fixing specific targets. contribute to few women working as • Removing gender-bias and sex role administrators, managers, professionals, stereotyping from school curricula. and technicians (see table 6.6). Overall, it seems that women face greater barriers to becoming administrators and Table 6.6 Female professionals managers, perhaps since issues of perception and culture are more salient Female administrators Female professional at the managerial level. In more clearly and managers and technical workers skill-based jobs such as those of (as % of total) (as % of total) professional and technical workers, Sri Lanka 17.6 30.7 however, women have approached gender Maldives 14.0 34.6 equality in East Asia. The same is not India 2.3 20.5 true of South Asia, due in part to a lack Pakistan 4.3 21.0 Bangladesh 4.9 34.7 of trained women as well as other cultural China 11.6 45.1 constraints. Substantial progress is Indonesia 6.6 40.8 possible, especially for such skill-based Korea 4.2 45.0 jobs, if appropriate measures to link Japan 9.3 44.1 credentials with hiring practices are Note: Latest available year. enacted. Source: UNDP 1999c.
Education of Girls and Women 115 • Establishing non-formal education skills necessary to exercise them. In cases programmes for out-of-school children. where choices do not exist for women, • Promoting the value of education of they must organise and create the girl child. opportunities, processes that require gender-sensitive training. Teachers, A truly engendered education does not development practitioners, and end at basic literacy: that is where it bureaucrats need training that helps them begins. Women must also learn about promote gender-sensitive, rather than their rights and choices and acquire the gender-blind, policies and attitudes.
116 Human Development in South Asia 2000 7 Health of Girls and Women
Children are often born to mothers not being attended by trained health personnel ... it is, therefore, not surprising that, too often, this miracle of birth turns into a nightmare of death, with too many children losing their mothers at the time of their arrival on this earth.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Health of Girls and Women 117 Chapter 7 Health of Girls and Women
Women’s health is inextricably linked to continue to predominate, and a large their social status. In many parts of the majority of girls become mothers before world, particularly in South Asia, the age of 20. The use of contraception discrimination against women starts is low, and there exists a substantial before birth and continues until death. unmet demand for family planning In South Asia an The reasons for women’s ill health often services. An estimated 42 million lie within the gender roles they play. currently-married women would like to estimated 208,000 Evidence indicates that women are limit or postpone births, but are not women die annually biologically more robust than men, and practising any form of contraception. A due to pregnancy consequently have a natural edge in terms large proportion of women do not seek of expected life span. In many South pre- and ante-natal care. A majority of and birth-related Asian societies, this biological advantage women suffer from chronic energy deficit complications is completely cancelled out by women’s due to insufficient daily caloric intake social disadvantage. (500-700 calories less than the In most regions of South Asia, women recommended daily adult minimum intake are denied the rights and privileges of 2,250 calories; UNICEF 1996). afforded to their male counterparts, both Women and men in South Asia are within and beyond the domestic sphere. vulnerable to many preventable and Throughout their lives, women endure curable diseases—tuberculosis, malaria discrimination based on gender, the and hepatitis, which become life manifestations of which range from threatening when the diseases are preferential treatment of boys in exacerbated by lack of information, poor provision of food and health care, to rape, health facilities, and the lack of sanitation dowry death and female infanticide. They facilities and safe drinking water. The are expected to eat last, leave the best burden of disease tends to be heavier for food for the men of the family and to women, due to barriers to health facilities, ignore their own illnesses, while managing social and cultural restrictions, and their the entire household. This often results low socio-economic status. Often the in malnutrition, and is one of the main most trivial health problems and normal reasons behind the high rate of morbidity processes of child bearing become a cause and mortality of women in South Asia. of mortality. Further, South Asian women suffer According to the National Health greatly from a lack of access to health care, Survey of Pakistan, the main factors based not only on an absolute lack of which prompt women to seek medical health facilities—particularly in rural care are respiratory difficulties, stomach areas—but also on the relative and reproductive problems (PMRC 1998). inaccessibility of such facilities to them. In India the most common diseases for South Asian women often face traditional women are diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory taboos, based on cultural practice and infections and perinatal conditions religious belief, against consulting doctors. (complications or diseases that occur at Health statistics clearly reflect gender or after twenty-eight weeks of gestation discrimination in South Asia. An or within the first seven days after birth; estimated 208,000 women die annually World Bank 1996). due to pregnancy and birth-related Women need to access health care complications. Norms of early marriage services for fertility control or for care
118 Human Development in South Asia 2000 during pregnancy. For this reason, in to violence, be it in the form of mental developing countries in particular, and emotional torture within the women’s health issues are generally household, or through the denial of their defined as those relating to their right to be born by abortion of female reproductive health, to the exclusion of foetuses, or in the form of rape, acid the physical and mental consequences of burning or dowry deaths. heavy domestic work, or the lack of an Evidence of the high rates of violence adequate diet, water, or sanitation. While imposed on women, discussed in the impact of inadequate kitchen facilities chapter 5, has increasingly placed the is felt by the whole family in terms of issue high on the agenda of women’s food safety, home hygiene and risk of health advocates. Reliable data on the accidents, women and girls are particularly extent of domestic violence is sparse, adversely affected in terms of work particularly in the developing countries. Women in South burden, inconvenience, accidents and Women are often extremely reluctant to Asia are particularly injuries, and exposure to indoor air report attacks for fear of not being pollution. Indoor air pollution—a risk believed or being further victimised. vulnerable to linked almost entirely to kitchen However, estimates from the World Bank violence because of activities—is a contributing factor to (1993) suggest that rape and domestic their low social acute respiratory infection in infants, and violence together account for 5 per cent status within the is also responsible for the high levels of of the total disease burden for women in chronic respiratory and heart disease developing countries, and 19 per cent in household and found in women in some of the world’s developed countries, a proportion community poorest countries, including those of comparable to that posed by other risk South Asia. Most households in rural factors and diseases such as HIV/AIDS South Asia, depend on unprocessed solid and tuberculosis. fuels (biomass) such as dried animal dung, Cases of violence against women are agricultural wastes and wood, which is often considered legal issues, yet the burned in traditional stoves, usually health consequences should not be without a proper ventilation system. ignored. The victims of violence often These fuels release 50 times more toxic need both immediate and long-term pollutants than cooking gas. On average medical assistance. Often more a South Asian woman spends about 6 important, however, is the manner in hours in the kitchen every day, and hence which the experience has shattered a is the worst affected by the pollution. woman’s confidence and left her in need Such indoor air pollution can cause of psychological support and counselling. chronic respiratory diseases. Adverse In the South Asian context, there is a pregnancy outcomes have also been serious need to spend more resources on found to be related to exposure to the mental health aspect of violence. biomass smoke (Dewan 1998). Further, There is often a lack of support from heavy domestic work also damages immediate family and friends of victims women’s health, especially during of violence—in the patriarchal societies pregnancy. of South Asia and around the world, The nature of women’s domestic lives women have been conditioned to suffer can adversely impact their mental health. in silence. The reasons for this are many, including low status awarded to domestic work, as Missing women well as isolation and lack of economic and social support. South Asian women South Asia is one of the very few regions are particularly vulnerable to violence of the world, in addition to China and because of their low social status within parts of the Arab world, where men the household and community. From the outnumber women. The global ratio womb to the grave, women are exposed (excluding South Asia) of females to
Health of Girls and Women 119 males is 106, whereas in South Asia there the introduction of prenatal screening are only 94 women per 100 men (see methods such as ultra-sonography and figure 7.1). This unfavourable ratio is amniocentesis, sometimes even before primarily a consequence of the high levels birth (see box 7.1). In South Asia, of mortality among young girls and excluding the Maldives and Sri Lanka, women in their child-bearing years. For there is evidence of inequitable feeding instance, in Pakistan, the female mortality practices for boys and girls from infancy. rate during peak childbearing years (ages The gender biases in feeding practices 20-29) is twice as high as that for men in continue into adulthood and result in the same age group (Tinker 1998). chronic under-nutrition and micro-nutrient Women’s disproportionately higher deficiencies in girls and women. Failure to Figure 7.1 Missing women of mortality rates are due in large measure nourish girl children limits their capacity South Asia to discriminatory practices, particularly for healthy adulthood through stunting, for when women are perceived as an example, while an overarching reluctance Missing Women economic burden. Women’s lack of to provide medical care compounds these decision-making power also undermines problems. As a result of this their efforts to seek timely health care for discrimination, 79 million women are themselves and their daughters. A survey missing from the region (see figure 7.2).
Women Men in Nepal, for instance, found that the decision for pregnant or post-partum Figure 7.2 Sex ratios in South Asia Sources: UN 1999c; MHHDC staff women to seek medical care is most often calculations. Developed World
made by the woman’s husband, and in Sri Lanka
some cases her mother-in-law; the women Bhutan
themselves are very rarely involved in the Nepal
decision (UNFPA 1999). Bangladesh
In those parts of South Asia where Maldives
education and employment opportunities Pakistan for women are relatively high, the female- India see hard copy to-male ratio is comparable to that of -80 -40 40 80 developed countries (see table 7.1). For O O Less than 1000 + per 1000 O More than 1000 + per 1000 O instance, in Sri Lanka the sex ratio is 102 women per 100 men, and in the Indian Source: UN 1999c. state of Kerala, 104 women per 100 men (Government of Karnataka 1999). Gender discrepancies in life For South Asian women, expectancies discrimination begins at birth, and since Patterns of health and illness are markedly Table 7.1 Sex ratios, illiteracy and income in South Asia different in women and men. Women tend to live longer than men in a given Female/ % illiterate Real GDP per set of socio-economic conditions. Yet male ratio Female Male capita (PPP $) despite their greater longevity, women in (000) most communities around the world report Bangladesh 954 74 51 1,050 more illness than men. Bhutan 981 70 42 1,467 While the nature of this disproportionate India 938 62 35 1,670 female morbidity, and the factors that lie Maldives 945 4 4 3,690 behind it, varies amongst different social Nepal 973 81 47 1,090 groups, the broad picture is one in which women’s lives seem to be less healthy than Pakistan 937 76 46 1,560 those of men. The explanation for this Sri Lanka 1,021 13 6 2,490 apparent paradox lies in the complex SOUTH ASIA 941 62.8 35.9 1,585 relationship between the biological and Source: UN 1999c; UNDP 1999c; and UNFPA 1999. social influences on human health and
120 Human Development in South Asia 2000 illness. When the female potential for new-borns, takes place in only a few greater longevity is not realised, it is an communities in South Asia (see box 7.1), indication of serious health hazards within it is much more often the case that women’s social and physical environments. discrimination in health care cuts short It has not always been the case that the lives of unwanted girl children. women lived longer than men. In Europe The infant mortality rate is among the and America, the female advantage over most sensitive indicators of a population’s males first became apparent in the latter health status. In India, 18 per cent more part of the 19th century, as the life girls than boys die before their fifth expectancy of both sexes increased. birthday, and in the Maldives, with the European experience suggests that the gap second lowest under-5 mortality rate in between female and male life expectancy the region, female children are 51 per cent grew as economic development and social more likely to die before their fifth In many South change removed some of the major threats birthday than their male counterparts Asian communities, to women’s health. At the same time, the (UNFPA 1999; see table 7.2). introduction of new birth control In South Asia, most deaths among a strong son techniques alongside changing values gave children under 5 are due to infectious preference is the women greater control over family size, diseases such as pneumonia and clearest articulation while general improvements in living diarrhoea, combined with malnutrition. of patriarchal standards and the introduction of While there is no evidence of gender maternity services led to a significant differences in the rate of contraction of structures reduction in maternal mortality rates. Thus, such diseases during childhood, there is over the years a range of social factors a higher mortality rate of female children combined to enhance women’s inherent in the under-5 age cohort, reflecting the biological advantage. The majority of tendency to neglect female children. The South Asian women have yet to benefit female biological edge—female children from this socio-biological advantage. In are more robust before and at birth, with Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, a greater number of male foetuses the male-female life expectancy gap is spontaneously aborted or stillborn—is about 5 years; in South East Asia 4 years; again neutralised. and in Sub-Saharan Africa 3 years. Only in South Asia is the gap less than 3 years (see Figure 7.3 Gender differences in life expectancy at figure 7.3). birth female - male (years)
The beginnings of a life of neglect— World 4.2 young girls in South Asia
Sri Lanka 4.5 In many South Asian communities, a strong son preference is the clearest Bhutan 2.5 articulation of patriarchal structures. Over the past fifteen years, genetic testing for sex selection, although illegal, has become Maldives 2.0 a booming business in India, China and South Korea in particular. Female Pakistan 1.8 foeticide has been reported in 27 of India’s 32 states, and in some India 1.5 communities of Bihar and Rajasthan, the birth ratio is as low as 60 females to 100 Bangladesh 0.1 males, against the natural ratio of 97 females per 100 males (UNICEF 1999a). Nepal -0.51 Anecdotal evidence suggests that while outright female infanticide, usually of Source: World Bank 1999.
Health of Girls and Women 121 Box 7.1 Female infanticide and foeticide
Female infanticide—the practice of killing males in 1991 (Chunkath et al. 1997). female children because they are female— Although in Tamil Nadu the juvenile sex is taking root in Indian society. While a ratio of 947 is slightly higher than the century ago female infanticide was an national average ratio, the district of Salem accepted practice among certain South in this state has the worst sex ratio of 849 Asian tribes, over the past two decades females per 1,000 males. The decline in sex there has been a resurgence of the practice ratio may also be attributed to boys in some communities where infant receiving better health care than girls. daughters are often killed by feeding them Although this bias cannot be termed poisoned milk, choking them with salt or outright female infanticide, it is indeed sand, stuffing coarse grain in their mouths, passive infanticide, as violence is not always giving poisonous plants extracts or by required to end a child’s life; neglect and suffocating them. Although there are indifference are often sufficient. Biologically, isolated incidents of female infanticide female children are more robust during the throughout South Asia, this practice is most first six days i.e., early neo-natal period. prevalent in the Indian states of Tamil Hence, the male mortality rate is usually Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar, higher than female and Rajasthan. At the mortality during the same time, in India, Missing Girls immediate neo- China, Hong Kong • In 1984, 40,000 known cases of foeticide natal period. and South Korea, in Bombay. However, a study in medical techniques • India’s primary health centre’s records Tamil Nadu reveals developed to discover reveal 3,178 cases of infanticide in six that in most of the birth defects are districts of Tamil Nadu in 1995. districts, the ratio of increasingly being • In 1989 it was estimated that there were female to male used to determine the 10,000 cases of female foeticide every year deaths is much sex of the child before in Ahmadabad, Gujarat. higher in the first birth, such that the six days of the • Estimated 150 female infants put to death pregnancy can be child’s life—with a ended if the foetus each year in a cluster of 12 villages in mortality rate of is female (UNFPA Rajasthan. It is said that there are only 50 105.3 for females as 1998b; Rajan 1998b). young girls in a population of 10,000 against a male Hence, advancements people. mortality rate of in modern medical • 84% of gynaecologists in Bombay 47.4 in the Madurai science have helped admitted to performing sex-determination district. There is quicken the pace of tests. hardly any gender death for the girl differential in the child: female foeticide is an example of death rate from almost a month after the what can happen when modern science birth to the completion of the first year of collides with the forces of traditional life. This clearly indicates that there are some society. Today, thousands of girls are specific non-biological processes at work; denied even the right to be born. i.e., the tendency of murdering girls as soon It is difficult to get true estimates of as they are born. female infanticide because such crimes are Sons are a major obsession throughout carried out within the domestic sphere, and India particularly in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, at times even the closest witness will not Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and testify. Still, the juvenile sex ratio can Punjab—and indeed South Asia as a whole. provide a broad picture of the incidence of The Green Revolution and rising levels of this practice. In India there has been a education in most of these states have not constant decline in the female to male sex helped to raise the status of women ratio over the last century. According to significantly. Son preference has penetrated the Indian Population Census 1941, the sex all sections of society. Tradition in South ratio of children in the 0-6 years age group Asia considers girls a liability for the family was 1,010 females per 1,000 male children. as they have to be married off, often with This had declined to 945 females per 1,000 huge dowry, whereas boys are considered
122 Human Development in South Asia 2000 an asset as they carry on the family lineage the ideas of dominance in the male child and support the family in times of financial from the cradle. need and bring in dowry. Studies have Although the sex determination tests shown that dowry demands and dowry involve minimal risk for mother and foetus, deaths are one of the main reasons why complications may still arise. For example, parents do not desire to have daughters. amniocentesis can cause damage to the Sex-determination clinics play on this fear, foetus resulting in spontaneous abortion. It advertising these tests with slogans such as can also result in puncture marks on the ‘Providing humane service for women who do not foetus and cause infection in the foetus’s want any more daughters’, ‘Cheaper alternative to respiratory tract (Kapur 1993). Sex dowry’ and ‘Better pay Rs. 500 now than Rs. determination tests do not ensure the birth 500,000 later’. of a male child, they merely ensure multiple Perhaps the most shocking aspect of abortions—which can cause immense harm foeticide is that illiteracy and poverty to the woman. A woman’s health cannot be cited as the reason for such deteriorates with repeated abortions: there cruelty. Families who are relatively affluent are physical consequences including and who can easily afford dowries also infection, haemorrhage and infertility. In resort to foeticide. It is said that most addition, repeated abortions also have an families still appreciate the worth of a adverse impact on women’s mental and daughter but more than one daughter emotional health. In India, one woman dies means a crunch on family resources. As of septic abortion every ten minutes. This dowry is relative to family income, relatively refers only to legal abortions, with almost affluent families also feel future financial as many deaths for illegal abortions (Kapur strain at the birth of another daughter and 1993). Furthermore, widespread female may consider female infanticide or foeticide infanticide and foeticide will worsen the sex the best way to relieve themselves of an ratio, which is already tilted against women. undesirable burden. It has been suggested by some authors that Most studies reveal that women take the such adverse ratios can create certain social decision of prenatal sex determination on problems such as polyandry, abduction, their own (Karlekar 1998). Women often rape, prostitution and greater control over condemn anti-prenatal sex selection women. activists by saying that they are unrealistic The spread of female foeticide has led and do not understand the life of a to a controversy surrounding the ethics of, common woman. Even many educated and right to opt for, abortion. Indian law women are of the view that sex selective permits abortion only under certain abortion is the lesser of two evils, compared conditions, but these can be broadly to what a woman is going to face until the interpreted and abortion can be carried out day she dies. One woman defended the act on demand before the twentieth week of by saying, ‘it is better to be killed in the mothers’ pregnancy (Bumiller 1990). The question womb than be burnt at the mother-in-law’s’. arises that if abortion is legal, why should a Women are oppressed victims of tradition, democratic state interfere in a couple’s and are often forced to undergo abortion decision to abort a female foetus? It has of a female foetus by their families. It is been suggested by some analysts that in the woman who is blamed and ridiculed India abortion or ‘medical termination of for delivering a baby girl. Often parents pregnancy’ is encouraged by the medical insist that their sons re-marry if the establishment as a form of birth and daughter-in-law is unable to bear a son. population control (Karlekar 1998). In a Women are abused by angry husbands if society where families are willing to have they fail to deliver a boy, and are beaten child after child until they get a desired and battered if they refuse to kill an number of sons, female foeticide seems to unwanted female infant. However, at the be the answer, both to keeping family size same time, it is often women who inculcate small and to ensuring the birth of a son.
Source: Bumiller 1990; Chunkath et al. 1997; Kapur 1993; Karlekar 1998; Mosse 1994; Rajan 1998b; and UNFPA 1998b.
Health of Girls and Women 123 In Pakistan, it has been Table 7.2 Under-5 mortality rates reported that while the percentage of under-5 girls Male Female Ratio (female/male) and boys suffering from Bangladesh 106 116 1.09 diarrhoea was almost the same Bhutan 98 94 0.96 (18 per cent of male and 17 India 82 97 1.18 per cent of female children), Maldives 53 80 1.51 Nepal 110 124 1.13 the average expenditure on Pakistan 108 104 0.96 treatment of diarrhoea was Sri Lanka 22 20 0.91 almost 20 per cent less for SOUTH ASIA 86.9 99.0 1.14 girls. A study of one rural area Source: UNFPA 1999. of Uttar Pradesh (India) Oppression of girls reported that over a one week period will invoke social and cultural taboos to in South Asia tends roughly three times as many boys as girls restrict her to the household. Although were brought to the primary health centre pregnancy is a serious health risk for to increase during for treatment (World Bank 1996). women under 18 years of age, the their adolescence Children under 5 years of age are most tradition of marrying off daughters once susceptible to six deadly diseases—polio, they reach puberty is still prevalent in diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, certain communities of South Asia. A measles and tuberculosis. Throughout the study of 20-24 years women showed that world, campaigns and programmes have 60 per cent were married by the age of been developed to immunize children 18 (see figure 7.4), burdening girls—who against these deadly diseases. There is are often not physically or mentally some evidence of discrimination against prepared—with childbearing, childcare, female children in terms of immunization; and sexual responsibilities. These girls are for instance, in India, more boys than at increased risk of sexually transmitted girls were vaccinated in 1993-94 (World diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Bank 1996). Both anaemia and malnutrition are very Oppression of girls in South Asia tends common among South Asian girls, and to increase during their adolescence. anaemia tends to increase during Once a girl reaches puberty, families often adolescence. Anaemia can be especially problematic during pregnancy and birth, Figure 7.4 Percentage of women aged 20-24 who are first married by especially for a teenager: maternal exact Age 12, 15, 18 and 20 anaemia aggravates the effects of 100 haemorrhage or sepsis at childbirth, and
90 is a major cause of maternal mortality. 86.3 82.1 80 75.7 73.3 71.4 71.9 Nutritional challenges faced by 70 South Asian women and girls 60.3 60 55.4 54.2 47.2 The majority of South Asian women are 50 chronically ill as a result of under- and 40 malnutrition, lack of adequate health care, 33.4 30 and frequent childbearing. About 60 per 26.1 24 19.1 cent of women in their childbearing years 20 in South Asia are under-weight, stunted 11.8 12 7 10 by inadequate nutrition during their own 22 1 childhood (UNFPA 1998a). Eight out of 0 Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka ten South Asian women are anaemic
12 15 18 20 during pregnancy, and many suffer from chronic energy deficit (UNICEF 1996). Source: DHS 1994; RGB 1996; GOI 1995a; HMG Nepal 1997a; GOP 1998d; Singh S. et al. 1996.
124 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Both the quantity and quality of food cereals. Other views include the myth that intake determine nutritional status of an eating more during pregnancy will result individual. As discussed above, in South in a large baby leading to difficult labour. Asia, there is widespread evidence of In Pakistan, women, particularly pregnant inequitable feeding practices for boys and women, are discouraged from eating eggs girls, starting at infancy. Boys are breast- and fruits (PMRC 1998), despite the fact fed more frequently and for longer that the nutrient and energy requirements periods than girls, and throughout the of pregnant women are higher than region (excluding the Maldives and Sri normal. A study in Indian Punjab found Lanka) girls usually receive less food than that although most women realise the boys after breast-feeding. The male bias in need for a more nutritious diet during feeding practices continues into adulthood pregnancy and lactation, they are not and results in chronic under-nutrition in provided with a special diet, and their Poverty is a major girls and women. In Bangladesh, for inferior status in the household makes it contributing factor instance, men consume more fish and difficult for them to demand it (World poultry than women (Chen et al. 1981), Bank 1996). In Pakistan 48 per cent of to the ill health and and boys receive about 16 per cent more lactating mothers have a caloric intake of malnutrition of energy-providing foods than girls. In the less than 70 per cent of the recommended women 5-14 age range, this discrepancy is around level (Qureishi et al. 1999). 11 per cent (Mosse 1994). Diseases like malaria, and parasitic Poverty is a major contributing factor infections, also determine nutritional to the ill health and malnutrition of status. Lack of adequate sanitation women, because in the traditional societies facilities and safe drinking water, and of South Asia as well as other parts of the poor hygiene, increase the vulnerability world, poverty affects women of people residing in rural areas and urban disproportionately. Whatever food is slums to such diseases and infections. available within the household, tends to These infections are exacerbated by be distributed in such a way that women malnutrition and they in turn increase the get a smaller share. In some communities degree of malnutrition. Parasites such as of South Asia, the tradition of sequential hookworm limit the capacity of feeding is practised, i.e., male adults eat absorption of necessary micro-nutrients. first, followed by male children, then High intake of tea and other caffeinated female adults and finally female children. foods, and low intake of vitamins, Such a tradition takes a heavy toll on the particularly vitamin C, also have a health of young girls. Even in families that negative impact on the body’s capacity to eat together, adult women often allocate absorb micro-nutrients. Ignorance is a the portions of food and these allocations major factor contributing to the are illustrative of the gender bias. malnutrition of the people in the region. In households where there is enough In some areas, the way in which food is food to eat, women are still the most cooked decreases its nutritional value. disadvantaged in terms of food Certain low cost foods like vegetables are consumption. There are traditional a rich source of vitamins, which if used notions that prohibit women from in daily diet, would reduce the incidence consuming certain foods that may be of malnutrition. The most pervasive essential for them. For instance, young forms of micro-nutrient deficiencies are girls often are not given certain foods discussed below. because it is thought that they should not grow fast or too much (Dube 1997). Low Birth Weight Hence high protein foods like milk, eggs and meat, and foods with greater fat Low birth weight is defined as less than content are considered to be the privilege 2,500 grams. It has an adverse effect on of male children, while girls are given child survival, and is an important risk
Health of Girls and Women 125 factor for certain adult diseases such as the age of 5 are anaemic (PMRC 1998). heart disease and diabetes. More than Among women aged 15-44 years, one-third of all babies in South Asia are approximately 47 per cent of rural and 39 born with low weight (UNICEF 1996; see per cent of urban women suffer from iron figure 7.5). deficiency (Ibid ). In Nepal, iron deficiency A number of factors cause low birth weight; Figure 7.5 Proportion of infants with low birth weight (%)
these include poor Maldives 13 maternal nutrition, certain Sri Lanka 25 infections, arduous work after mid-pregnancy, and Pakistan 25 short birth intervals. In India 33 Severe anaemia is particular, low birth weight Bangladesh 50 indicates that the mother responsible for 9.2 Source: UNICEF 2000. was malnourished during per cent of maternal her own infancy, childhood, adolescence, is common, especially among young deaths in India and pregnancy. Malnourished mothers pregnant women: 70-80 per cent of give birth to low weight babies, and if Nepali women, and 64 per cent of all those babies are girls, they will be pregnant Nepali women, are anaemic predisposed to poor pregnancy outcomes (HMG Nepal 1998c). Severe anaemia is when they reach childbearing age. In responsible for 9.2 per cent of maternal addition, early pregnancy increases the deaths in India (World Bank 1996), and risk of low weight babies, and more than 88 per cent of all pregnant women are one in six low weight babies are born to anaemic (UNDP 1999c). A study mothers under the age of 18 (UNICEF conducted in the largest cities of India 1996). reveals that in the 6-14 age group, 66.7 per cent of females in Hyderabad, 95.3 Iron Deficiency/Anaemia per cent in Calcutta, and 73.3 per cent in New Delhi suffered from anaemia (World Anaemia causes retardation of physical and Bank 1996). In Bangladesh, it has been mental development, fatigue and low estimated that 58 per cent of pregnant productivity at work, and impairs women, and 45 per cent of non-pregnant reproductive functions. Maternal anaemia women, suffer from anaemia, and 25 per aggravates the effects of haemorrhage and cent of maternal deaths have been sepsis at childbirth, and for this reason is a attributed to this cause (UNDP 1999a). major cause of maternal mortality. Causes of anaemia other than nutrient Protein Energy Malnutrition deficiency include Figure 7.6 Percentage of pregnant women malaria; intestinal parasites Protein energy malnutrition manifests itself with anaemia in South Asia such as hookworms in a combination of stunting (low height
Pakistan 45 and roundworms; for age); wasting (low weight for height); childbearing patterns; and underweight, (low weight for age). Bangladesh 58 and high intake of iron These anthropometric measures, based on Sri Lanka 60 absorption inhibitors skin-fold thickness and arm circumference Maldives 62 such as tea. with reference to age, are considered to be India 72 Anaemia is prevalent important indicators of protein energy
Bhutan 73 among women in South malnutrition. About one-third of the Asia (see figure 7.6). In world’s children are affected by protein Nepal 75 Pakistan, almost 40 per energy malnutrition; 76 per cent of these Percentage cent of women (Tinker children live in Asia—mainly in South Asia. Source: UNICEF 2000; RGB 1998; GOI 1995b; GOM 1996; 1998), and about 9 Women who are stunted are more likely to HMG Nepal 1997b; GOP 1997c. million children under experience obstructed labour and face a
126 Human Development in South Asia 2000 greater risk of dying during childbirth. They world, 585,000 women die from are also more likely to give birth to low preventable pregnancy or childbirth weight infants, passing on the effects of complications (UNICEF 1999a). Over stunting to subsequent generations. A one-third of these deaths take place in sizeable proportion of women in their South Asia. These deaths represent an reproductive ages are both acutely important indicator of the social and malnourished and short-statured, as data economic inequalities between women in from Bangladesh and Nepal indicates. industrialised and developing countries. In This increases the risk of difficult child- industrialised countries, maternal mortality birth. Approximately 28 per cent of is rare, and can be as low as 13 deaths per Nepali women, and 52 per cent of 100,000 live births; in developing regions, Bangladeshi women are both short- however, such as South Asia, this rate is statured and acutely malnourished. high, averaging 480 deaths per 100,000 live The socio-biological Nearly half of the under-5 children in births (MHHDC 1999a). processes of developing countries were moderately or The maternal mortality ratio is as high severely stunted during the 1980s; during as 1,500 per 100,000 live births in Nepal— conception, the 1990s this proportion decreased to where only 10 per cent of births are childbirth and child- 38 per cent. Seven countries, however, attended by trained health personnel, as rearing are still have national rates of 50 per cent or compared to 384 per 100,000 in the profoundly affected more, and three of these are in South developing countries as a whole (UNFPA Asia: Bangladesh, India and Pakistan 1999).1 The average Indian woman is 100 by broader social (UNICEF 1999a). A World Bank (1990) times more likely to die of maternity- and cultural factors, study of Bangladesh found that girls had related causes than a woman in the particularly by three times the rate of boys’ malnutrition, industrial world: about 15 per cent of and that the mortality rate for severely pregnant women in India develop life- inequalities between malnourished girls was 45 per cent threatening complications during the sexes greater. A study in the slums of Delhi pregnancy (World Bank 1996). In Pakistan, revealed that 40 to 50 per cent of female a pregnant woman dies every six minutes infants below the age of one year were (PMRC 1998), and as many as 1 in 38 malnourished. In female children in the women die of pregnancy-related causes age group 5-9 years, this percentage (Tinker 1998). It has been reported that in increased to almost 70 per cent (World Nepal 1 in 12 women die of pregnancy- Bank 1996). related complications (FWLD 1999). Maternal mortality rates vary between Women’s reproductive health regions within a country. In areas where health facilities are not easily available The socio-biological processes of and/or cultural traditions limit women’s conception, childbirth and child-rearing are mobility and freedom to access health profoundly affected by broader social and services, rates are much higher. For cultural factors, particularly by inequalities instance, in urban settlements of Karachi between the sexes in the household. In (Pakistan), the rate is 281 per 100,000 live South Asia, these factors can act as threats births, but in the province of Baluchistan to women’s vulnerable health status, it is reported to be as high as 673 per especially within contexts of socio-cultural 100,000 live births (Tinker 1998). Data restriction and economic scarcity. from Bangladesh show that the maternal
Maternal mortality and morbidity 1 State of the World’s Children 2000, based on national sources, reports a much lower maternal mortality rate for Bhutan and Nepal (380 and 540 per 100,000 live If a pregnancy goes wrong, lack of births respectively), manifesting the tenuous nature of obstetrical care can be fatal. Millions of even basic health statistics in these countries in particular. Since 90 per cent of Nepali women do not have access South Asian women continue to face this to maternal health care, it is likely that maternal deaths risk each year. Every year in the developing go unreported in a majority of cases.
Health of Girls and Women 127 mortality rate in rural areas, at 450/ her surviving young children. For instance 100,000 live births, is 19 per cent higher a study in Bangladesh found that a than that in urban areas (see figure 7.7). mother’s death sharply increased the Such high maternal mortality rates chances of death of her children up to are a consequence of the overall ill-health Figure 7.7 Levels and trends in maternal mortality rates and nutritional deficiencies by residence, Bangladesh, 1995-97 in women of South 500 452 450 Asia. Anaemia / iron 450 445 deficiency is one of the 400 380 major causes for high 375 374 maternal death rate. The 350 300 Maternal death not ill effects of these 1995 1996 1997 only means death of nutritional deficiencies Urban Rural are exacerbated by the Source: UNICEF, Progotir Pathey, 1997. a woman, but also a barriers that women face difficult life for her in gaining access to antenatal and post- age ten years, particularly of her girl surviving young natal care, and emergency obstetric care. children, whereas the death of a father A 1995 survey in Bangladesh found that had no significant effect on his children’s children less than 5 per cent of women with mortality rate (Tinker 1993). obstetric emergencies received Maternal morbidity is also very high appropriate care (UNICEF 1998b). in South Asia. The major reasons for In addition to limited access to antenatal morbidity include a lack of pre- and care (see figure 7.8), three delays account post-natal professional health care, for a large proportion of maternal deaths exacerbated by the low socio-economic in South Asian countries: delay in seeking status of women within the household. care; delay in reaching a health institution; For every woman who dies of a and delay in receiving care at the health pregnancy-related cause in Pakistan, facility. Nearly 10 per cent of maternal there are 16 others who suffer from deaths in Nepal are attributed to these reproductive tract infections (Saeed 2000). three delays (HMG Nepal 1998b). For every maternal death there are 643 Maternal death not only means death cases of morbidity in Bangladesh, and 541 of a woman, but also a difficult life for in India (Pachauri 1999). Almost 5 per cent of Indian women and 32 per cent Figure 7.8 Percentage of pregnant women receiving of Bangladeshi women report at least ante-natal care one life-threatening illness during
98 pregnancy and puerperium. 100 Tetanus toxoid is one of the most 85 90 common diseases contractible by both the
80 mother and the new-born child. Practices 63.2 such as spreading cow dung on the floor 70 and applying it to the new-born’s 60 umbilical cord, and cutting the umbilical 44.3 50 cord with un-sterilised implements, are common causes of tetanus. Although 40 30.4 28.6 neo-natal tetanus can be prevented by 30 immunizing the mother, it accounts for 20 more infant deaths in South Asia than in
10 any other region of the world (UNICEF 1996). 0 Sri Lanka Maldives India Nepal Pakistan Bangladesh Source: DHS 1994; GOI 1995a; GOM 1996; HMG Nepal 1997a; DHS 1990; GOS 1997d.
128 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and For example, a study conducted among a sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) group of pregnant women visiting health facilities for antenatal care services for the In the past, health policies have focussed first time revealed that one-third have had upon family planning issues to the at least one STD-related symptom exclusion of other aspects of women’s (UNICEF 1999a). physical and mental well-being. The main In India, the prevalence of STDs aim of reproductive health policy has among the general population is reported been fertility control to reduce the rate of by the National AIDS Control population growth. Sexually transmitted Organisation to be 5 per cent (GOI diseases (STDs) and reproductive tract 1998a). A study in rural Maharashtra infections (RTIs) were, and still are, (India) revealed that, in 1989, 92 per cent almost totally ignored, especially among of women suffered from one or more The focus of women. The shame and taboos that gynaecological problems, and that a reproductive health accompany these diseases hinder people, majority had never sought any treatment particularly women, from seeking health for these problems (Pachauri 1999). is now shifting to care for such diseases. Many women Similarly, community-based studies in incorporate a greater suffer in silence, or turn to traditional rural West Bengal and Gujarat, and urban emphasis on overall treatments, which often have serious side Baroda and Bombay show that the health status, and a effects. The focus of reproductive health prevalence of clinically diagnosed RTIs is now shifting to incorporate a greater ranges from 19 per cent to 71 per cent, life-cycle approach emphasis on overall health status, and a and in rural Karnataka over 70 per cent to reproductive life-cycle approach to reproductive health of women have clinical evidence of RTIs health (see box 7.3). (Ibid ). The incidence of STDs and RTIs is If not properly treated, RTIs can have common among women of South Asia, serious consequences on women’s health. and is exacerbated by the lack of Childbirth, abortions, and unhygienic information and taboos associated with conditions during menstruation can lead these diseases. Data on the prevalence of to infections of both the lower STDs, including HIV/AIDS, are not reproductive tract, which if untreated may available for all South Asian countries and cause pelvic inflammatory disease, and the are also limited in scope and quality. upper reproductive tract, causing However, available information reveals a difficulty in pregnancy, chronic pain and high prevalence of both STDs and RTIs even infertility. Infertility can be among both married and unmarried particularly traumatic for South Asian adolescent boys and girls, and adult women, since in these societies women and men. motherhood is perceived as a woman’s In Bangladesh, over 40 per cent of primary role. unmarried and married adolescent girls, and 20 per cent of unmarried adolescent HIV/AIDS boys, are reported to have had symptoms of RTIs and STDs (UNFPA 1998a). The advent of HIV/AIDS has added a Community and clinic-based studies new dimension to the already poor health indicate that as many as 50 to 60 per cent situation of the population, with specific of married Bangladeshi women of and serious implications for women’s reproductive age are infected with a RTI health. By the year 2000 it is estimated (UNICEF 1998b). In Sri Lanka, 23 per that over 40 million women and men will cent of the male and 18 per cent of the have been infected with HIV. The female population were reported to have pandemic is concentrated in the poorest had STDs (GOS 1996). Clinic-based parts of the world with 90 per cent of studies in Nepal also reveal a high degree those who are HIV-positive living in the of prevalence of some types of STDs. developing world. The centre of gravity
Health of Girls and Women 129 of AIDS epidemic is now moving from populated regions in the world. Fertility Sub-Saharan Africa to South Asia. rates in most countries of the region are Data, though limited, show a rapidly extremely high compared to those of increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases developed countries, and three (see table 7.3), including those among countries—India, Pakistan and women, particularly adolescent girls and Bangladesh—are among the eight most women involved in the sex trade. As mentioned in chapter 1 India has been Table 7.3 HIV infections in South Asia hit the worst by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, where between 3.5 million Estimated Adult population (The Nation 1999) and 4.1 million people number of adults HIV prevalence infected with rate (%) are HIV-positive, almost 40 per cent of HIV HIV/AIDS presents them are women. In India 1 in every Bangladesh 21,000 0.03 a significant threat 3,300 children under 15 years of age has lost his/her mother or both parents to India 4,100,000 1.00 to the health and AIDS (UNFPA 1999). A Mumbai ante- welfare of South natal clinic reported that 5 per cent of Nepal 25,000 0.20 Asian populations pregnant teenagers consulting the clinic are HIV-positive (Ibid.). Pakistan 62,000 0.09 In Nepal, one-third of diagnosed Sri Lanka 67,000 0.07 HIV/AIDS positive cases were females, Source: UNAIDS 1999. of whom 32 per cent were adolescents (UNICEF/Nepal 1999). In Bangladesh, populous countries of the world, housing 1 in every 3,000 people has AIDS, with 21.3 per cent of world population much higher incidence among high-risk between them (UN 1999c). These three populations such as drug users, and sex countries are also among the ten top workers. contributors to the world population in Despite a growing recognition at the the past five years, accounting for 28.5 government level that HIV/AIDS per cent of world population growth from presents a significant threat to the health 1995 to 2000. and welfare of South Asian populations, The rapid increase in population has awareness-raising campaigns in most been a major issue for the governments countries have as yet been limited in of South Asia. Despite fifty years of scope and effect. Knowledge of HIV/ efforts to check population growth, the AIDS remains limited, particularly in rural use of family planning methods and areas and among women. contraception is very low, and the fertility rate has not declined substantially in most Population Growth countries of the region (see figure 7.9). Even in Bangladesh, where the average South Asia is one of the most densely number of births fell from 4.3 in 1990 to 3.1 in 1997, to achieve the replacement Figure 7.9 Total fertility rates (%) 1995-99 fertility rate of 2.1 per cent per woman, a 1995 further reduction of 33 per cent is 6.47 5.65 5.88 1999 required. In the Maldives and Bhutan, the 5.5 5.3 5.19 5.03 fertility rate would need to be reduced by 4.45 4.13 62 to 63 per cent; in Pakistan and Nepal, 3.59 3.11 3.13 2.39 by 55 to 59 per cent; and in India, by 33 2.1 per cent (UNICEF 1999a). Provision of safe methods of contraception and correct information Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka about its usage can improve and even Source: UNFPA 1999. save the lives of many women by
130 Human Development in South Asia 2000 reducing unwanted pregnancies, and the wanted. Women 35 years and over, and risk associated with abortion of unwanted those with some education, had greater pregnancies and the effects of frequent decision-making opportunities than pregnancies. There exists a very large younger and less educated women. unmet demand for contraception among Women who are employed in paid work currently-married South Asian women. At outside the home also seem to play a least one-third of currently married greater role in determining family size women in Pakistan and Nepal, one-fifth (Sathar et al. 1997). in India, and one-sixth to one-tenth in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka would like to Beyond the International Conference limit or postpone births for some time, on Population and Development—a but are not practising contraception. score card of government initiatives Overall contraceptive use is low in the and challenges Lack of education, region, with the highest rate in Sri Lanka access to (66 per cent), and lowest in Pakistan (18 The International Conference for per cent) and the Maldives (17 per cent) Population and Development (ICPD) was information, cultural (see figure 7.10). Lack of education, held in Cairo from 5 to 13 September taboos and religious access to information, cultural taboos and 1994. The ICPD Programme of Action restrictions are the religious restrictions are the main reasons agreed on a comprehensive and detailed main reasons for low for low contraceptive use. strategy for population and development in the next 20 years contraceptive use Figure 7.10 Contraceptive knowledge and prevalence (see box 7.2). The main in selected countries of South Asia feature of the Programme of Action is that it places 66 Sri Lanka human rights and well- 99 being of women explicitly 18 Pakistan Contraceptive at the centre of all 78 Prevalence 29 population and sustainable Nepal 93 Per cent development activities. It 41 knowing establishes that population India method 95 issues cannot be dealt 49 Bangladesh with in isolation, but must 100 be seen in a broader Source: UNFPA 1999. context of sustainable development. Main features There is a large gap between the of the ICPD Programme of Action proportion of people knowing about include a call for: contraceptives, and those practising contraception. For example, in Pakistan 78 • Gender equity and equality and per cent of women in the age group 15-49 empowerment of women know of at least one family planning • Integration of family planning in method, but only 18 per cent are currently reproductive health using contraception (UNFPA 1999). • Increasing men’s role and South Asian women often have little responsibility in bringing about gender power to make decisions concerning the equity and equality number of children they will have. The • Recognition of reproductive health decision to use contraception almost needs of adolescents as a group always lies with the husband. A study of • Family, the basic unit of society, to be rural Punjab (Pakistan) revealed that only strengthened and protected 15.6 per cent of the women respondents felt they were major decision-makers in To achieve the targets and goals of the terms of the number of children they ICPD and Beijing conference, the
Health of Girls and Women 131 governments of South Asia have adopted focus on the life cycle approach of various plans and programmes. These women’s health. Various policy initiatives plans aim to improve the situation and taken and challenges remaining are condition of women in the region, and detailed in box 7.3.
Box 7.2 Quantitative health-related goals of ICPD
The ICPD has set specific quantitative goals reduce the maternal mortality rate below to be achieved within 20 years in three vital 125 per 100,000 live births and by 2015, a areas of concern. maternal mortality rate below 75 per 100,000. Infant and under-5 mortality rate Reproductive health and family • All countries should strive to reduce their planning infant and under-5 mortality rates by one- third, or to 50 and 70 per 1,000 live births All countries should: respectively, whichever is less by the year • Strive to make reproductive health care 2000. accessible through the primary health care • By 2005 countries with intermediate system to all individuals of appropriate ages mortality levels should aim to achieve an as soon as possible and no later than the infant mortality rate below 50 deaths per year 2015. 1000 and an under-5 mortality rate below • Take steps to meet the family planning 60 deaths per 1,000 births. needs of their population in all cases by • By 2015 all countries should aim to 2015, seek to provide universal access to a achieve an infant mortality rate below 35 full range of safe and reliable family per 1,000 live births and an under-5 planning methods, and to related mortality rate below 45 per 1,000. reproductive health services in accord with their laws and practices. Maternal mortality rate • Provide people with full opportunity to exercise the right to have children by • It calls for significant reduction in the choice. maternal mortality rates. The mortality rate • It should be the goal of public, private should be decreased to half of the 1990 level and non-governmental organisations to by year 2000, and a further one-half by 2015. remove all programme-related barriers to • By 2005, countries with intermediate family planning use by year 2005 through maternal mortality rates should aim to the redesign and expansion of information reduce it to a rate of less than 100 per and services to increase the ability of 100,000 live births, and by 2015 a rate of couples to make free and informed less than 60 per 100,000 live births. decisions about the number, spacing and • By 2005, countries with the highest timing of births and protect themselves maternal mortality rates should aim to from sexually transmitted diseases.
Source: UNFPA 1995.
132 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Box 7.3 Post-ICPD score card in South Asia
Policy Initiatives Remaining Challenges Bangladesh • Developed ICPD National Plan of Action. • To achieve ICPD goals by 2005, the infant mortality rate (IMR) • Developed National Integrated Population and Health Programme, to will have to be reduced by 37%, and under-5 mortality rate by enhance the quality of life of poor and underprivileged by helping 43%. to reduce fertility and improve family health. • Maternal mortality rate (MMR) of less than 100 per 100,000 live • Health and Population Sector Strategy with focus on family planning, births by 2005 will require a reduction of the rate by 77%. child survival and reproductive health. • Although the contraceptive prevalence is high, as compared to • Health and family planning services introduced in villages through other countries, it still falls short of the ICPD goal, and requires a satellite clinics. 6% increase in contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) to meet the • Doubled allocation on health from 0.6% of GDP in 1985-86 to goal. 1.3% in 1995-96. • Per capita expenditure on health and family planning increased by 71% from TK35 in 1990-91 to TK60 in 1995-96. India • National Family Welfare Programme changed from Family Planning • To achieve ICPD goal of less than 50 infant deaths per 1000 live to a more holistic reproductive health approach in 1996. births IMR will have to be decreased by 27%. Failed to achieve • Developed a National Reproductive and Child Health Programme in ICPD goal of under-5 mortality rate by the year 2000. 1997, aimed towards reduction of child mortality by providing • High MMR persisted, which will have to be reduced by 76% by immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases, and reduction the year 2005, to achieve the ICPD goal. in maternal mortality by providing essential emergency obstetric • To reduce the unmet demand to the ICPD threshold, contraceptive care. use should be increased by 44% by 2005. • Government allocation on health and family welfare sector remained more or less stagnant during the last decade.
Nepal • Developed Safe Motherhood Programme to strengthen community • IMR will have to be reduced by 30% and under-5 mortality rate by based maternal health services. 40% to achieve ICPD goals by 2005. • Introduced National Reproductive Health Strategy in 1998 which gives • Nepal has the highest MMR in the region and needs to reduce it a holistic life-cycle approach to the family planning programmes. by 81% by 2005 to achieve ICPD goals. • Established women development cells within ministries and • CPR rate needs to be increased by 90% by 2005, and unmet need support of NGOs and CBO concerned with the uplift of women. to be reduced by 107%. Maldives • Government of Maldives has formulated a health policy which • Failed to reduce under-5 mortality rate considerably. includes reproductive health, with a focus on expansion of primary • To achieve ICPD goal by 2005, MMR will have to be reduced by health care and strategies to improve access to quality reproductive 71% by 2005. health and family planning. • To achieve ICPD threshold of CPR, it should be increased by • Focus of health policy changed from reproductive role of women 72%. to life-cycle approach. • Achieved the ICPD goal of reduction in IMR. Pakistan • Formulated a National population Policy in 1998 which aims at • To achieve the ICPD goal by 2005, IMR will have to be reduced effectively delivering reproductive health and family planning by 47% and under-5 mortality rate by 55%. services, and incorporation of population factors and concerns in • MMR remained high and a decrease of 71% is required in the rate the process of development planning. by 2005, to achieve ICPD goal. • Developed a Reproductive Health Services package which aims to • CPR requires to be increased by 129% in Pakistan to achieve the deliver services at the door step, particularly in the rural areas ICPD threshold by 2005. through lady health workers and village based family planning workers. Sri Lanka • Population and Reproductive Health Policy approved in 1998. • Rate of anaemia still high in the country. • Established Well Women Clinics, with screening facilities for RTIs • Government expenditure on population and reproductive health is and STDs, at the primary health care level. only 4% of total health expenditure. • Achieved the ICPD quantitative goals of infant and under-5 mortality rates, and has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world. • With a MMR of 60 per 100,000 live births, Sri Lanka has achieved ICPD goal of low maternal mortality. • Sri Lanka has also achieved threshold level for CPR.
Health of Girls and Women 133 8 Gender and Governance
Those societies which have given equal access to women and men in economic and political opportunities have progressed much faster than those which denied such access. Gender equality is necessary condition for sound human development.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Gender and Governance 135 Chapter 8 Gender and Governance
Figure 8.1 Women in Women leaders in South Asia dominate parties do not even maintain data on their governance: smallest piece the political landscape. From Indira and female membership and few women are of the pie Sonia Gandhi, to Shaikh Hasina, Khaleda granted party tickets for elections. In
7% Zia and Benazir Bhutto, to Sirimavo some countries women are more visible Bandaranaike and Chandrika Kumaratunga, in local governance structures than in any South Asia’s women leaders are the epitome other governing institution. Most gains of powerful women reaching the highest have been made in India, where one-third echelons of governance. And yet, the of the seats in panchayats are reserved for
93% statistics tell a different story. As detailed women. However, gender bias pervades in the previous chapters, the vast majority at all levels of governance in South Asia, Parliament of South Asian women are illiterate, in which may be one of the reasons for the
9% poor health, invisible in the system of region’s governance crisis. national accounts, and suffer legal, political, economic and social discrimination in all Women in governing institutions walks of life. Women in South Asia also have the lowest rates of participation in Decision-making has traditionally been
91% their governance structures. For example, regarded as a male domain in South Asia. in South Asia: Often using customs and traditions as a Cabinet tool, women have been sidelined from • Women occupy only 7 per cent of the most decision-making processes. While 20% parliamentary seats; the past few decades have witnessed an • Only 9 per cent of the cabinet members improvement in the status of women, are women; especially for the urban middle class • Only 6 per cent of positions in the women who have a degree of freedom in judiciary are held by women; making decisions, for the majority of 80% • Only 9 per cent of civil servants are South Asian women such freedom women; and Local Government remains an elusive dream. This lack of • Only 20 per cent members of local liberty is a tradition that is rooted in the 9% government are women. home and the community, where male As figure 8.1 shows, in the decision- members maintain strict control over making forums in South Asia, women decision-making and follows through to share the smallest piece of the pie. the highest levels of national legislatures The 1999 Report on Human Development 91% and parliaments. in South Asia advocated that if governance Civil Services is to promote human development, it has The parliaments to go beyond being pro-people or people- 6% centred. ‘It has to be owned by the people.’ Female participation in South Asian Women account for half the population parliaments is abysmally poor. Despite the of South Asia, yet they remain mostly fact that four out of seven South Asian invisible in all governing institutions. countries have had female Prime ministers Women hold the top positions in major or heads of state at one time or another, 94% political parties of the region, yet these female participation in parliaments remains Judiciary powerful positions have not translated very low. The 7 per cent participation rate
Men Women into positive outcomes for the majority of women in the parliaments of South Asia of South Asian women. Most political is one of the lowest in the world, lower Source: HDC staff calculations.
136 Human Development in South Asia 2000 even than East Asia and Sub-Saharan The major problem is not with Africa (see table 8.1). The only other reservation itself but with the rules and countries where female representation is regulations for it. Currently, 50 per cent as low or lower than that of South Asia of the constituencies return the same are the Arab countries. candidate to the Lok Sabha in successive Over the past decades, there has been elections. The Reservation Bill proposes some progress, but it is uneven. For rotation of reserved seats that would example, in India the number of women undermine the chances of winning of in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of political candidates. It is mainly because Parliament) has increased from 22 to 48 in of this reason that there is such strong the past fifty years, but it represents less opposition to the Bill. Other possible than 9 per cent of the total strength of the drawbacks are discussed in box 8.1. Lok Sabha. In Sri Lanka today, women Sri Lanka has no specific constitutional Bangladesh is the constitute 4.9 per cent of the parliament. guarantees for women’s representation in only South Asian Pakistan and Bhutan, at 2.6 per cent and 2 governing institutions. The Constitution per cent respectively, are at the lowest rung states that there should be no country that can of women’s parliamentary representation. discrimination on the basis of gender, and boast a proportion While one of the first South Asian no reservations have been made for of female female Prime Ministers was Indira women in the parliament or local parliamentarians at Gandhi, the women of India have only governing bodies. In Sri Lanka, both the recently seen a shift in the attitude of President and Prime Minister are women. par with the world politicians towards them, as an electorate Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, average and as election candidates. Female has been the President of the country since representation in the Lok Sabha has 1994. In 1999, she was re-elected to the remained around 7 to 8 per cent during office. Sri Lanka had the honour of being the past four elections. After the general the first country in the world to elect a elections of 1984, the proportion of female Prime Minister. In 1960, Sirimavo women in the Lok Sabha rose sharply Banadaranaike was elected as Prime from 5.1 per cent to 8.1 per cent only to Minister of Sri Lanka. The assassination decline to 5.3 per cent in the election of of her husband (the Prime Minister of Sri 1989. Since then, the number of women in Lanka from 1956 to 1959) propelled her the Indian Lower House of Parliament has into politics. Her party won the general been increasing steadily. However, it remains much lower than 33 per cent, the Table 8.1 Women in parliament (% 1999) critical mass of women required for Single or Upper House Total meaningful decision-making strength, as Lower House or Senate (Both Houses) expressed in the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Bangladesh 12.4 n/a 12.4 India 8.8 8.5 8.7 Women (CEDAW). Nepal 5.4 15 7.5 India has never had reserved seats for Maldives 6.3 n/a 6.3 women in its national legislature, and Sri Lanka 4.9 n/a 4.9 without reservation or some other Pakistan 2.8 2.3 2.6a affirmative action policy, it will be a long Bhutan 2.0 n/a 2.0 time before 33 per cent of parliamentary South Asia (unweighted) 7.4 7.5 7.3 seats are occupied by women. There has Memo Items been a lot of debate on this issue and the World 13.3 10.6 12.8 consensus of women’s groups is in favour Nordic Countries 38.3 n/a 38.3 Sub-Saharan Africa 11.6 13.2 11.8 of reservation. India’s successful East Asiab 9.5 13.0 10.1 experience at the grassroots level has a: Data represents status of parliaments prior to October 12, 1999. helped to strengthen the case for b: East Asian data does not include Indonesia and Republic of Korea. reservation. But the Bill for reservation Source: De Silva 1995; GOB 1991 & 1996a; GOI 1998b; GOI 1999b; Gooneratne & Karuneratne has not yet been passed by the parliament. 1996; GOP 1998a; HMG Nepal 1999c; and IPU 1999.
Gender and Governance 137 election in 1994 as well, and she is currently Today, Bangladesh is the only South finishing another term as Prime Minister. Asian country that can boast a proportion Despite this, at 4.9 per cent, the proportion of female parliamentarians at par with the of women in Sri Lanka’s Parliament remains world average. It is the only country in the well below the world average. world where the both Leader of the Box 8.1 A question of reservation
Deep-rooted patriarchal traditions, bodies has a positive influence on legislature fell drastically to only 3 per norms and attitudes limit the policy in terms of gender sensitivity. cent in the Senate and House of opportunities available to the women For instance, in Nordic countries, Deputies combined. By 1995, there of South Asia, especially in public life. having female legislators has influenced were only 2.1 per cent women in the Over the years various governments labour policy so that parenthood has Senate and 4.1 per cent in the House have reserved seats for women to become easy for a working mother, of Deputies. Similarly, in Hungary, the increase their political participation. with benefits such as both maternity proportion fell from 30.1 per cent in While this has helped to increase the and paternity leave and flexible working 1980 to 7.3 per cent in 1990. In the number of women in governing bodies, hours. Russian Federation as well, the it has also led to a lot of debate about In Pakistan, seats were reserved for proportion of women fell from over 30 the usefulness of reservation. women in both the National Assembly per cent to below 10 per cent. With the Seats have been reserved for women and Provincial Assemblies until the second phase of elections, the at the national level in Bangladesh, 1988 general elections under the 1973 proportion of women has risen in these Pakistan and Nepal. In India, while Constitution. As a result, the number countries, but only slightly. Similarly, in there is a one-third reservation for of women steadily increased through Pakistan, while the number of women women in the local bodies, so far no the years. The highest number of has shown an increase since the 1990 seats have been reserved for women at women sat in Pakistan’s National elections, the numbers are still well the national level. The Bill for Assembly in 1988, when 24 women below 10 per cent. reservation of parliamentary seats for were elected to the Lower House of Currently, Bangladesh reserves thirty women has been brought up twice for seats for women in its national debate but has been allowed to Reservation & representation: legislature. This number was raised lapse. Several arguments are pulling the seat from under from fifteen in 1975 to improve extended against reservation, 35.0 female representation. While there including low levels of literacy, 30.0 n------n l l are currently 41 women in the and lack of managerial and 25.0 national parliament, the clause for 20.0 political experience. At the same reservation will lapse in the 15.0 n l l time, it has been argued that since 10.0 © n n upcoming elections. At that point, © l these women are not elected 5.0 © © the number of women in through direct franchise, they are 0.0 © 1985 1988 1990 1993 1998 Bangladesh’s parliament is likely to not true representatives of women Years fall below 10 per cent. Whenever or men. Also, most of the women © Pakistan ------n Russian Federation ------l East Europe there has been reservation, female elected to the parliament on participation has been higher. For reserved seats belong to the elite. As Parliament. However, after the abolition instance, in Nepal, seats are such, women tend to become mere of reserved seats, female numbers in reserved for women in the Upper figureheads with no real bargaining the national legislature declined sharply House but not the Lower House. power. However, it is for these very to only two: a decrease of nearly 92 per As a result, at 25 per cent, there is reasons that affirmative action policies cent. proportionally greater female are needed to raise the number of The best comparison of such a presence in the Upper House than women in parliaments; and to ensure pattern can be found in the former in the Lower House (11 per cent). that their number is sufficient enough communist bloc of East European There is a need for a critical to form a coherent voice on its own. countries, where abolition of reserved mass to be created at all levels of By 1988, several of Pakistan’s female seats has reduced female representation governance, so that women are politicians had emerged from middle in parliaments considerably. Overall, given the opportunity to voice their class, educated families. Reservation female representation in national needs and concern; to contribute to had helped these women enter a field legislatures fell from 35 per cent to policy. Reservation is only a they would otherwise have been denied. below 10 per cent, in the first free stepping stone and the first step While it may be argued that elected elections for new parliaments. In toward election through direct representatives of the people, whether Romania, women accounted for 34.4 franchise. It is not the end, but the men or women should be able to meet per cent of the members of the means to an end, and one that may the needs and concerns of their unicameral parliament in 1985. After be the only way to ensure the future constituents, experience has shown that democratization in 1990, the proportion of female political empowerment in having women in decision-making of women in the now bicameral South Asia. Source: Ashworth 1996; Baidya 2000 (mimeo); Gopalan 2000 (mimeo); Guhathakurta 2000 (mimeo); IPU 1995; IPU 1999.
138 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Parliament and Leader of the House are Assembly through direct election and two women. From its very inception the were appointed to the Senate. Two women Bangladesh Parliament has had a policy of parliamentarians were also appointed to encouraging women’s participation in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet as Ministers public policy-making. According to Clause for Women’s Development and Youth 65 of the Bangladesh Constitution, fifteen Affairs and for Population Welfare. In seats were reserved for women candidates October 1999, the economic and who were to be indirectly elected by governance crisis in the country led to the members of Parliament. This clause did dissolution of the existing government and not exclude women from contesting direct a military-cum-civilian set-up was put in elections for the 300 general seats. The place. In the current government one provision for reservation of seats for woman sits on the eight member National women was made given the social Security Council and another in the The overall impediments against women contesting Cabinet. Women have also been included consensus within elections openly with men. It was expected in the provincial cabinets and the various that due to Clause 65, the rate of women’s think tanks that have been established to the women’s participation in public affairs would assist the government in policy movement in increase and that eventually there would formulation. The government has made a Bangadesh is for remain no need for the clause. However, commitment to raise the status of women direct election of since the situation did not improve for and is making efforts to include women at women towards the end of the decade, all levels of governing institutions. women, by women the number of reserved seats was raised to The experience of female only thirty in the Second National Assembly parliamentarians in South Asia has been from 1979 to 1982 by way of an mixed. Their limited representation in amendment. This has been the rule until national and provincial legislatures has now, but this provision is expected to lapse meant limited participation as well. There by the end of the term of the Fifth are many laws and practices across the National Assembly in the year 2000. The region that continue to discriminate against clause is unlikely to be renewed. While women and are justified in the name of many Bangladeshi women have expressed culture or religion. Such discrimination has their opinion in favour of reserved seats, been allowed to exist because women the overall consensus within the women’s parliamentarians continue to be a minority. movement is for direct election of women, Further, guided more by party ideologies by women only. However, there is no than specific women’s issues, female consensus on this issue between the ruling parliamentarian opinion has also differed and opposition parties. As a result, once on various issues. In some instances, this constitutional provision for reserved national issues have taken priority over seats lapses, it is very likely that the women’s issues. For example, in Sri Lanka, number of women in Bangladesh’s while there have been several initiatives parliament will fall sharply. The untimely for women’s development, women’s issues removal of reserved seats, without any have not received the attention they change in supporting systems and deserve because of the continuing civil institutional mechanisms will lead to a strife in the country. However, it would decline in female participation under direct be incorrect to say that female election. parliamentarians have not been vocal In Pakistan, the number of women in about women’s issues. There are instances parliament peaked at 10 per cent in the of female parliamentarians taking up 1988 general election, the last held under women’s issues even when the initiative the reservation clause, but has declined was not forthcoming from their parties. since then (see box 8.1). In the last general Aided by women’s lobby groups, they have election held in Pakistan in 1997, six played a very crucial role in advocating women won seats to the National women’s rights. It is in large part due to
Gender and Governance 139 their efforts that women have had some House of Representatives (Lower House form of representation in the governing of Parliament) has increased from only one bodies, and why women have been in 1960 to 12 in 1999, overall female protected from some of the more representation remains particularly low at discriminatory practices. only 5.3 per cent. In the Indian Upper House of In South Asia’s predominantly Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, female patriarchal societies, women have been for representation declined between 1980 and the most part assigned a secondary role. 1999 from 12 per cent to 8.5 per cent. Cultural norms strengthened by religious Currently, there are 20 women in the Rajya dogmas do not look kindly upon women Sabha. While the Deputy Chairperson of who enter the public arena. Politics, the Rajya Sabha, Najma Heptullah, is a because of its public nature, is mostly A problem faced by woman, women face increasing thought to be a male domain. In the less female ministers all competition from male politicians for economically developed regions of nomination to the Rajya Sabha, especially Pakistan, for example, women are not across South Asia is since political parties prefer to give seats allowed to participate in the political that they are seldom to their important members who have lost process, including voting. Women from appointed to in the general elections. More often than Punjab or Sindh, especially urban women, ministries that are not, these important members are male. enjoy a much greater degree of freedom Similarly, women politicians in of movement and choice as compared to normally considered Pakistan have faced a hard time being the women from NWFP or Baluchistan. high powered or nominated to the Senate. Since members For example, until 1993 women from influential of the Upper House of Parliament are Baluchistan were present in the assemblies nominated through an electoral college only through the provision of reserved composed of members of the national seats. Similarly in India, while the and provincial assemblies, women have differences between female representation very little chance of being elected, given within states are only slight, states with the underlying patriarchal attitudes. In significantly higher levels of literacy 1977, 3 of the 63 members of the Senate generally show higher proportions of were women. This was the highest female representation. Thus, the state of number of women in Pakistan’s Senate. Kerala boasts 9.2 per cent women in its Ironically, after the 1988 election when state legislature as compared to 3 per cent there were 24 women in the National in Bihar or 5 per cent in Orissa, where the Assembly, only one woman was elected literacy rates are below 50 per cent. to the Senate. In the election of 1985, no woman had been elected to the upper The cabinet house. Similarly in Sri Lanka, while the Upper House of Parliament was abolished Female representation in South Asian in 1971, only 6 women were elected to it cabinets is also negligible. Currently, only Table 8.2 Women in in the twenty-five years of its existence. 9 per cent of cabinet ministers across South cabinets (1999) In Nepal, by contrast, there are Asia are women (see table 8.2). A problem Women Men proportionally more women in the Upper faced by female ministers all across South India 8 76 House of Parliament than the Lower. Asia is that they are seldom appointed to Sri Lanka 4 29 Women have fared better in the National ministries that are normally considered high Bangladesh 4 41 Assembly (Upper House), whose members powered or influential. Social welfare Pakistan 3 26 are elected by the members of the Lower related ministries are generally assigned to Nepal 1 31 House. There are also three seats reserved women ministers. For instance in 1999, Note: Data for Pakistan refers to for women. However, except for the the only woman member of the Council situation prior to October 1999. Upper House of Parliament the present of Ministers, Nepal’s highest executive Source: Chowdhry 1994; GOB 1996a; Constitution of Nepal does not provide body, was a State Minister who held the GOI 2000a; Gooneratne & Karuneratne 1996; and GOP for any other reservations for women. portfolio of the Ministry of Women and 1998a; HMG Nepal 1999d. Thus while the number of women in the Social Welfare. Further, since she did not
140 Human Development in South Asia 2000 have an independent portfolio, she could been appointed to the cabinet, they have not participate in cabinet meetings. been given fairly low-profile portfolios in In India, the first woman cabinet the Children and Women’s Affairs minister was Mrs Indira Gandhi who was Ministry or the Cultural Ministry. appointed Minister for Information and However, by virtue of being Prime Broadcasting. In 1966 when she became Minister, both Khaleda Zia and Shaikh the Prime Minister, no woman was Hasina have retained control over appointed to her cabinet. During her time Defence, Information and the Cabinet as Prime Minister, the two significant Division during their respective contributions made for women were the governments. Currently, of the four introduction of Medical Termination of women in the cabinet, two have been Pregnancy Act (1972) and the Equal Pay given important portfolios of the Minister for Equal Work Ordinance (1976). In of Agriculture and the Minister for Since women 1969, a woman was appointed to the Environment. Both these women have ministers are Ministry of Social Welfare. She was had long political careers and extensive India’s second female cabinet minister. grassroots experience, which has enabled generally assigned Since then women have been consistently them to influence policy. less influential present in the Indian Cabinet through the No South Asian woman has yet held a portfolios, they have social welfare portfolio. Women ministers Ministry of Foreign Affairs or a Ministry little influence in have also been appointed to urban of Finance portfolio. Since women development, external affairs, and youth ministers are generally assigned less the decision-making and sports portfolios. Currently the influential portfolios, they have little Minister of Railways is a woman and a influence in decision-making. The tragedy further seven women are Ministers of of the female parliamentarian or cabinet State. minister is that even women in influential In Pakistan, only six women have been positions, have tended to focus on appointed to cabinet in 53 years. Of these, “national” rather than women-specific two were appointed after the 1997 issues. election, as Minister for Women’s Development and Youth Affairs and Female participation at the provincial level Minister for Population Welfare and a third as Special Advisor to the Prime In the three South Asian countries with Minister. Currently, Pakistan has a woman state or provincial legislatures, India, Minister for Education. Pakistan and Sri Lanka, women have Few women have been appointed to generally fared better in the national the Sri Lankan cabinet. From 1960 to legislatures as compared to the sub- 1994, there was consistently only one national. The overall female woman in a cabinet of more than twenty representation in provincial or state men. At present, there are four women legislatures remains less than that in the in the cabinet, including the President and national assemblies (see figure 8.2). In Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. The other India, however, female representation in two female cabinet ministers have been some states such as Kerala, Himachal given charge of the Ministry of Women’s Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Affairs and Ministry of Social Services. is either higher than or at par with the In Bangladesh, two women were national level. For instance, in Kerala appointed as State and Deputy Ministers women currently occupy 9.2 per cent of within the cabinet after independence in the seats in the state legislature. Similarly, 1971. Over the years, while professionally in Delhi (National Capital Territory) competent women such as Barrister female representation is as high as 13 per Rabeya Bhuiyan who held the post of cent. However, in the remaining states, state minister for women’s affairs, have the average proportion of women is about
Gender and Governance 141 Figure 8.2 Women’s presence in national vs. provincial/state seats in these provincial councils. legislature (% 1999) However, given the constitutional structure of these councils, one of the 9 major disadvantages has been the ease 8 with which seats can be transferred to 7 other people. While this is not common 6 practice, after the elections of 1999, two 5 of the successful female candidates 4 stepped down to give their seats to their 3 husbands. On the positive side however, 2 these elections also saw a greater number 1 of women contesting provincial council National 0 seats. Nearly two hundred women India Sri Lanka Pakistan Provincial announced their candidacies for the 1999 elections as compared to only twelve in Source: GOI 1999b; GOS 1999c; Shaheed et al. 1998. the previous one. Furthermore, a 5 per cent. In some states such as Gujarat, woman’s group also contested elections Bihar and Orissa, it is as low as 2 or 3 as members of an independent group. per cent. Despite the fact that they failed to win In Pakistan too, the proportion of even a single seat, it illustrates that women in provincial legislatures is very increasingly women are realising that if low. Prior to 1990, when seats were there is to be any solution to their issues reserved for women in provincial and concerns, they must participate in the assemblies, the number of women decision-making process at every level. legislators had reached as high as twenty- seven in the four provinces combined. Women in local governance During the next election, with the removal of the quota for women, Organisation at the grassroots level allows however, the number of women people to contribute significantly to the plummeted to only five, declining further governance of their communities. For to three in the following elections. women, successful grassroots experience Provincial councils were established in has meant a chance to form a coherent Sri Lanka nearly twelve years ago in voice, to be heard and to make a response to the escalation of ethnic difference in their communities. Across violence. The third phase of election for South Asia, the experience of women in these councils was held in 1999. Women local government has varied, with some hold between 2 and 3 per cent of the countries being more successful than others in attaining greater female Figure 8.3 Women in local governments (1990s) participation.
Incorporating the marginalized Sri Lanka
Nepal As figure 8.3 shows, with the exception of India and Bangladesh, women’s Pakistan representation within local bodies in South Asia remains minimal. Even in these two Bangladesh countries, female representation barely rises
India above 20 per cent. In 1992, the Government Men of India passed the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India. 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Women Termed the ‘silent revolution’, these Source: GOI 1999c; GOS 1997a; HMG Nepal 1999c; Qadir 1999; Shaheed et al. 1998. Amendments paved the way for women’s
142 Human Development in South Asia 2000 entry into local governance by reserving 33 In Bangladesh, women have been per cent of seats for them in all Panchayats incorporated into local governance and their Presidencies (see box 8.2). In most through reservation at the Union Parishad states, reservation of seats has met with level. Bangladesh has experimented with success, with female representation different forms of local government exceeding the 33 per cent quota in states throughout its political history— such as Karnataka, Kerala and Manipur. sometimes at the village level, the Gram However, in some regions female Sarker and sometimes at the sub-district participation remains low. For instance, in level, the Upazila. But the Union Parishad, Madhya Pradesh only 2.99 per cent of the which consists of representatives from Panchayat members are women. Experience several villages, has remained the most over the last decade has shown that effective administrative body at the local women who have gained access to the level. Currently there are about 4,276 Panchayats and Municipalities have Union Parishads in Bangladesh. Since 1997, performed well. Some of them have a quota of 3 seats or one-fourth of the already established excellent records of total has been reserved for women in the service and even won distinguished awards Union Parishads. This has brought up for their performance. Being mostly women’s representation from a minimal illiterate, a large number of them have few to over 20 per cent. However, placed a high priority on acquiring literacy reforms suggested for one-third female to be able to perform better at their jobs. participation at the sub-district and Substantial numbers of teachers, lawyers district levels remain unimplemented. and other functionaries at the grass-roots Local government is also an integral level have been able to win elections and part of the Nepalese governance system. become members of the Panchayats. Since adopting a policy of
Box 8.2 Panchayat Raj: an act of positive discrimination
In India, the government functions at Panchayats, 37,523 in the Panchayat decision-making. Moreover, to achieve three levels—the federal, the state or Samithis and 3,161 in the Zilla balance, a system of nominations has regional level and the grassroots level, Parishads. Under the Constitutional been instituted that recognizes the called the Panchayat Raj. The Panchayat Amendments, women can be members individual attributes of women. Raj system covering the village, tehsil as well as chairpersons of these local Where the nature of participation and district has brought government to government institutions. Elections has translated from simple numbers to the doorsteps of the masses. under this system have already been active involvement, women have In 1992, the government of India held once, and some states are prioritized and worked towards the enacted the 73rd and 74th Amendments preparing for a second round. resolution of issues that concern not to the Constitution of India to provide The experience has been positive in only themselves but also the entire for one-third representation of women states such as Gujarat and West Bengal community, such as health and hygiene. in local government. The aim was to but a host of issues still remain. For instance, in Haryana, women correct the existing gender imbalances Resistance from male power centres to members have been in the forefront in in local government. By 1993, all states devolution, discrimination on the basis establishing mother and child care except Bihar had ratified these of class and caste and opposition from centres. In many cases, women have amendments. Previously, Panchayats religious elements are just some of the also had water taps installed in village were governed by State Panchayat Acts, challenges these women face. In centres to lessen the burden of carrying which allowed the nomination of only addition, lack of political skills and water from distant place to home. The two or three women. As a consequence exposure also act as constraints for all-woman Panchayat of Vitner in the in all the 2,23,000 Panchayats across women. However, experience over time state of Maharashtra is a model for India, only 13 per cent members were has allayed some of these concerns, as planning and achievement for women. women. However, with the onset of the women have been quick to grasp In the Western Kutch area, 61 villages silent revolution in the form of these operational strategies and have are managed and run by young and Constitutional Amendments, the established good records of service. A middle aged women. The all-woman numbers of women rose to 33 per cent substantial number of NGOs have also Panchayat of Vitner was recently or one million. Presently, there are setup training programs that cater to awarded as the best Panchayat in West 6,55,629 women members in the Gram this new class of women entering Bengal.
Sources: Gopalan 2000; Jaamdar 1995; Poornima and Vayasulu; and Sharma 1998.
Gender and Governance 143 decentralisation, local governing bodies Until recently, female representation in have over the years acquired increasingly local governance in Pakistan was greater authority in Nepal. The Local Self- negligible. The current government has Governance Act of 1999 is by far the scheduled fresh elections, starting most progressive act in terms of December 2000, for local government at devolving authority from central to the three levels—the Union Council, the local governing bodies. Local governing Tehsil Council and the District Assembly. institutions now have some taxation Fifty per cent of seats at the union level authority at the local level as well as have been reserved for women. At the limited judicial authority to tackle local tehsil and district levels women will be level disputes. allocated 5 and 10 seats respectively, However, female representation in forming roughly about 15 per cent of the South Asian women local governing institutions has been very total seats. have a severe lack of limited in Nepal. Currently, there are less Since politics is traditionally a male than 10 per cent of women in the District domain and as all financial, economic, access to and control Development Committees (DDC) and commercial and political negotiations over financial Village Development Committees (VDC) conducted outside the home are by males, resources combined. Not a single woman is the South Asian women have very limited Chairperson of a DDC or Mayor of any access to decision-making powers, and Municipality. Out of 3,913 VDCs, there they have a severe lack of access to and are only 13 chairpersons who are women. control over financial resources. This On the positive side, one out of every effectively reduces women’s chances of five seats in each ward of a VDC and contesting elections. Political equality is Municipality is reserved for women as yet an elusive ideal in most South Asian candidates. This has ensured the countries, even though some progress has participation of an additional 36,023 been made. As men have control over women at the ward-level governance of assets and have relatively better education, VDCs and municipalities. they have a dominant position in terms Sri Lanka’s current system of of political power and women remain governance consists of three tiers—the surrogate actors in the political process. Municipal Councils, Urban Councils, and Tokenism is more evident and the Pradeshiya Sabhas. While total problematic at the local level than at higher membership of these councils exceeds levels of government. Women councillors three thousand, less than 3 per cent are may not necessarily be educated. Lack of women. In the last local bodies’ elections, awareness leads to situations where they held in 1997, only one woman was elected may become dependent on male Mayor of a Municipal Council in the councillors or political parties, focusing province of Jaffna. Unfortunately, in 1998 more on issues of men’s interests than on she became the victim of political women’s concerns. In some cases women assassination. In the Urban Councils, are elected as councillors without actually while there are currently two female Vice- participating in the functioning of local Chairpersons, women occupy none of the bodies. Many women councillors in 36 posts for Chairperson. At present, Bangladesh concede that having fathers or three of the Chairpersons and two Vice- husbands in the local bodies facilitated Chairpersons in the Pradeshiya Sabhas are their own entry into local level politics. women. Despite this, women represent Similarly in Baluchistan (Pakistan), while only 1.72 per cent of the total the proportion of women councillors was membership of the Pradeshiya Sabhas. as high as 16 per cent prior to the 1998 Currently the government has also put local election, many of the women were forward a recommendation for fixing a council members only on paper. This is quota of 25 per cent for women in local the situation for a majority of women government. councillors throughout South Asia. Most
144 Human Development in South Asia 2000 women lack any effective power or elections. However, they lack autonomy influence in local governance structure. and decision-making power and have Many of them do not have the necessary rarely, if ever, influenced party agendas. skills to present ideas effectively. Lack of While traditionally women’s wings should awareness of the possibilities of political have been stepping-stones for women participation means inadequate into mainstream politics, few members of contribution to public affairs on the one women’s wings have risen through the hand and women’s empowerment at the ranks of party workers. There remains a other. Women councillors themselves wide gap between party leadership and recognise these problems. In Nepal, women workers, thus marginlizing programmes such as the Women women and women’s issues to the Representatives Training Programme have confines of the wings. On the positive been initiated to strengthen women’s side however, these wings have raised Decentralisation is a capabilities and make them more active consciousness among women about the prerequisite for and participatory members of local importance of their vote. In some governance. Similarly, several Indian countries, this has compelled political effective NGOs act as support systems for women parties to address women. For instance, mainstreaming of Panchayat members by providing guidance in Sri Lanka, the two main candidates in women’s concerns in and training for acquiring negotiation and the last presidential election in 1999 management skills. addressed women’s issues in their development Local bodies, if properly utilised can campaigns. be the vehicle by which women’s In recent years, political parties in India participation is effectively mainstreamed. have also come alive to the strengths of Since these institutions function at the the women’s movement and of increased grassroots level, representatives, both female voter turnout during elections. men and women, are more aware of, and National as well as regional political can be more responsive to the needs of parties across South Asia have also had women and children as well as to the women leaders in top party positions (see problems of rural communities. Tapping table 8.3). Nonetheless, political parties into the latent capacity of women is have not necessarily given adequate Table 8.3 Women leaders essential to substantially enhancing the number of positions to women in their of political parties socio-economic development of South hierarchies. Women account for only 9.1 India Sonia Gandhi Asia. Decentralisation is thus a per cent of the membership of all (Indian National Congress) Jayalalitha prerequisite for effective mainstreaming executive bodies in the major political (AIADMK) of women’s concerns in development. parties of India. Recently, the Indian Lakshmi Parvathi However, unless existing mechanisms and National Congress is reported to have (NTR Telugu Desam Party) Mayawati attitudes that deny women equal chances decided to reserve one-third of the (Bahujan Samaj Party) in decision-making are not modified, executive positions in the party hierarchy Mamta Banerjee simple devolution of power will not be for women. (All India Trinamool Congress) Pakistan Benazir Bhutto enough to ensure greater female Nepalese women are also quite active (Pakistan People’s Party) participation in decision-making. in party politics. All major national Ghinwa Bhutto political parties have women’s wings with (PPP-Shaheed Bhutto) Bangladesh Shaikh Hasina Female participation in political the specific goal of mobilising women for (Awami League) parties particular causes. Yet, as with other South Khaleda Zia Asian countries, women are not (Bangladesh National Party) Sri Lanka Sirimavo Bandranaike Political party membership and female leadership adequately reflected in the governance of (SLFP) their parties. The proportion of women Chandrika Kumaratunga Most political parties in South Asia have in the governing bodies of Nepal’s major (SLFP) Sirimani Athulathmudali their own women’s wings. Yet women’s national political parties has never (DNULF) participation in party hierarchies remains exceeded 10 per cent. Recent years have Source: Gopalan 2000; Guhathakurta limited. The main purpose of these wings witnessed a change in the attitudes of 2000; GOP 1999; and is to mobilise women voters during Nepalese women themselves. Women are Jayawardena 2000.
Gender and Governance 145 better informed about their rights and exception of one political party, all other more willing to stand up to protect those parties in Pakistan have women’s wings. rights. The majority of Nepalese women According to one estimate, women form vote. Political parties are aware of these less than 5 per cent of the membership trends and realise that it is to their of any political party in Pakistan. Female advantage to increase women’s representation in the decision-making participation at all levels including party structures of political parties, the ‘central governance at the central level. However, executive committees’ (CECs), is change comes slowly. From 1994 to 1998, negligible, and few women actively the number of women in the central participate in their functioning once governing bodies of major Nepalese appointed. Evidence suggests that female political parties increased from 5.6 per membership of CECs does not exceed Women form less cent to 7.9 per cent only. Most women more than 15 per cent at best. For than 5 per cent of do not have a voice in the governance of example, two of Pakistan’s leading parties, parties and when they are given tickets the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League the membership of by their parties, it is generally for those (Nawaz group), have only 3 out of 21 any political party constituencies where the party’s chances and 5 out of 47 female members in their in Pakistan of success are not high. central executive committees, In Bangladesh, there is limited female respectively. involvement in party hierarchical Most mainstream political parties in Sri structures with only 5.1 per cent of Lanka also have women’s wings, but women in the decision-making bodies of membership in these wings remains low. all political parties. The Awami League Funding and infrastructure for these and the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) wings are minimal. Women-related have the highest proportion of women in activities of these wings remain sporadic decision-making structures. Twenty-three and confined mostly to mobilisation of per cent of the members of the Awami women for political purposes. Currently, League’s Presidium are female, while 9.2 two of the major political parties have per cent are on the executive committee. women leaders; the Sri Lanka Freedom The BNP has 14.7 per cent women on its Party (SLFP) and the Democratic United executive committee. Both the Awami National Lalith Front (DUNLF). League and the BNP have included Sirimavo Bandaranaike, president of the women’s issues on their agendas and aim SLFP is also currently the Prime Minister for gender equality. The third largest of Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka one of the party, the Jatiyo Party also supports equal major threats that female party workers rights for men and women. On the other have faced in recent years has come not hand, the Jammat-e-Islam and the from within party structures, but from Communist Party of Bangladesh, have no outside. Along with the steady escalation women in their top leadership. of pre-election violence, a number of Though female participation in female party workers have been singled Pakistan’s politics was minimal in the out as targets for sexual violence. This earlier decades of independence, a huge kind of harassment is increasingly utilised transformation occurred with the as a deterrent against opposition parties, establishment of the Pakistan People’s as well as to prevent women’s political Party (PPP). The PPP mobilised a participation at the level of canvassing significant number of women during its and grassroots campaigning. election campaign for the 1970 and 1977 Women politicians face discrimination general elections. However, this within their parties as well. Most political mobilisation did not follow through into parties in South Asia do not keep gender- large-scale participation of women in disaggregated records of their politics. Currently, women’s membership membership. Despite the fact that women in political parties is very low. With the party workers are very active during
146 Human Development in South Asia 2000 elections in rallying female voter support, in 1978 have made it difficult to contest there is no concrete documentation of elections independently. The female participation in the political effort indispensability of aligning oneself with a of these parties. This has only served to mainstream political party to secure perpetuate a lesser status for most female election has discouraged many women party workers and has made it more who wish to enter politics independent difficult for them to be nominated by of party politics. their parties as election candidates. Political parties are reluctant to grant election tickets to women for a number Women as election candidates of reasons, the foremost of which is the party imperative to select a ‘winnable’ Political parties nominate a minimal candidate. Political parties place a high number of women as candidates for premium on the ‘winnability’ of Political parties elections and very few women participate candidates. The biggest reservation that nominate a minimal in their decision-making bodies. During parties have regarding the nomination of the 1998 and 1999 Indian general elections, women is the gender bias in society. It is number of women as all major political parties committed assumed that given the patriarchal their candidates for themselves to securing one-third attitudes of the majority of the voting elections and very reservation for women in the national and electorate, they would rather vote for a few participate in state legislatures. However, their actions man than a woman. Women leaders like have not met with their stated objectives. Sonia Gandhi of India, Khaleda Zia and their decision- During the 1999 elections, out of over Shaikh Hasina of Bangladesh or Benazir making bodies 4,000 candidates fielded, only 6.5 per cent Bhutto of Pakistan are considered to be were women. Similarly, in Bangladesh, the exceptions who have the legacy of their number of women who contested election husbands and fathers behind them. Thus, has remained less than 3 per cent (see when tickets are allotted to women, it is figure 8.4). only to the few who have the guaranteed Despite the low numbers, many support of their constituency. women apply for election tickets, which In India, for example, caste, religion, they are mostly denied. As such their only traditional patterns of voting and the choice is to contest as independent personal strength of the candidate candidates or not at all. For instance, of the more than fifty women who contested Figure 8.4 Female candidacy for the 1997 general election in Pakistan, only elections (1990s) 6 were fielded by the Pakistan Muslim 1,410
League-Nawaz Group (PML-N) and 9 by 4,254 the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and its coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League- 1,811 Junejo Group (PML-J). At the same time, 3.9 26 per cent of the women who contested 6.53 election ran as independent candidates. 1.71 However, the success-rate of independent 6.39 1.69 candidates is very low. None of the India independent female candidates in the Bangladesh 2,238 1997 general election in Pakistan won a Nepal seat. Similarly, in India, of the 78 Pakistan 2,774 Sri Lanka independent female candidates who ran in the 1999 general election only one was Note: In the figure, the outer ring represents the total number of successful. candidates that stood for election and the inner ring represents the proportion that were women. Support of a party is extremely Source: Chowdhry and Hassanuzzaman 1993; GOI 1999b; important for entering legislative bodies. Gooneratne and Karuneratne 1996; GOP 1997a; HMG Nepal In Sri Lanka, changes in the Constitution 1999c.
Gender and Governance 147 become important factors to reckon with Commission, the continually rising cost in selecting a candidate for election. Very of campaign has made it very difficult for often, women candidates who are new women to compete in general elections. entrants seldom find place in the overall Women’s lack of mobility and matrix of these criteria. In ordinary interaction with male counterparts puts circumstances when women do not have them at a disadvantage. Since all financial, a power base, political parties have fielded economic, commercial and political women candidates in constituencies negotiations conducted outside the home where their chances of success were are by males, women’s role in decision- negligible. In Nepal, political parties are making is marginalized. Further, there is required by the Constitution to field at opposition from male office-bearers least 5 per cent female candidates during within the parties many of whom feel that The biggest elections. Political parties usually tend to most women do not qualify on merit. reservation that fill this constitutional requirement by Such biases make it very difficult for fielding relatively weak female candidates women to break through the power parties have from constituencies where the party is structures. regarding the likely to lose. During the last general Yet, women are coming forward. In nomination of election in Sri Lanka, in 1996, only 3.8 Bangladesh, intensive grassroots women is the gender per cent of the candidates who stood for mobilisation and voters’ education has led election were women. While proportional to a massive turnout of women voters in bias in society representation has made it comparatively the last two elections. The recent changes easy for Sri Lankan women to be in having women directly contest reserved nominated as election candidates, many seats in the local elections may change factors, including lack of finances and things for women seeking party experience, prevent them from doing so. nominations in the future. Many women One of the biggest constraints that with experience in grassroots mobilisation women politicians in South Asia face is in non-governmental organisations financing their campaigns. Restricted (NGOs) are also likely to come forward. financial assets not only reduce their Although it is true that religious decision-making powers in the household, orthodoxy in many areas of Bangladesh wage inequalities mean that women earn still prevents women from coming out to less and are less able to afford political vote, let alone contest elections, women campaigns. Furthermore, political parties, like Motia Choudhry are finding assuming that women are generally innovative ways to strategise their unaware of happenings beyond their local campaigns. For instance, during the last areas, of their legal rights and elections, she encouraged villagers to raise responsibilities and the dynamics of the goats that would provide them with a political process, are reluctant to lend steady income. Her strategy was so them financial support for a public successful that not only did she win the campaign. For instance, political parties election, today she is the Minister of in Pakistan are not responsible for Agriculture of Bangladesh. extending financial support for the If female representation within political election campaign. While men have parties is to be increased, a conscious personal sources of income, women effort has to be made. On their part, depend largely on their male family political parties can set quotas and targets members for financial support for any for women within their ranks and political campaign. This in effect reduces decision-making structures. Having token women’s chances of being allotted tickets women’s wings for the sole purpose of by their political parties since few are able getting votes is not enough. These wings to garner sufficient finances for an should be given some decision-making election campaign. Similarly, in Nepal, authorities and influence within their despite limits imposed by the Election respective parties.
148 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Women voters: rights and participation in general that women’s identity cards do not have elections their photographs on them, especially in rural areas. These cards can thus, be used Attitudes of political parties toward by other people to cast votes under the women voters vary across South Asia. names of these women. This not only Election Commission data on India’s deprives the women of their right to vote, 1998 general election revealed that voter it abuses that right. Furthermore fewer turnout was as high as 70 per cent in women than men actually have identity those states that had higher levels of cards—a prerequisite for voting. adult literacy or a higher density of Since women in South Asia are not population and lower in the states with very mobile, lack of information about lower levels of adult literacy. Illiteracy prospective election candidates also acts and lack of awareness about their as an impediment against women in Illiteracy and lack of fundamental rights prevents many casting their votes. Thus most female awareness about women from voting. The Indian votes tend to be influenced by the voting Election commission maintains gender- pattern of their male counterparts. their fundamental disaggregated records of voter turnout. However, exceptions exist. For instance, rights prevent many The difference shows in the attitude of during the 1999 presidential elections in women from voting political parties that have begun to Sri Lanka, a last minute vote swing in realise the importance of the female favour of the current President was constituency. While the ratio of female attributed to the female vote. participation remains less than that of The issue of women’s voting in South males, the gap has come down from 16 Asia is not only restricted by cultural per cent to less than 10 per cent during constraints, but also by the development the past four decades and female voter of the political process. Since most South turnout is as high as 58 per cent. Asian countries do not maintain gender- Most women in Nepal vote. According disaggregated records, it is difficult for to a study (Shakti 1995), 85 per cent of political parties to assess how much of rural women and 88 per cent of urban their voter support comes from women. women in Nepal regularly vote during The general perception that women vote elections. The result is that at 7.9 per cent, for the same candidates as their male Nepal has one of the highest proportions household members leads most parties to of women in Parliament in South Asia. target men rather than women during Similarly, with a voter turnout as high as election campaigns. This reduces the 70 to 80 per cent, many of the voters are importance of the female vote in the women. In Bangladesh, female voter electoral process. Where gender- turnout is as high as 49 per cent. In disaggregated data is available and there contrast, in Pakistan many people have is awareness about the importance of the become disillusioned by the electoral female vote, there is a distinct difference process and the result has been a in the attitudes of political parties towards declining voter turnout in the last few women. For instance, several Indian elections. During the 1997 general political parties promised introduction of election held in Pakistan, the total voter prohibition as part of their election turnout was only 35 per cent. Out of the campaigns of 1999 in direct response to 56 million registered voters 44.6 per cent women’s demands to curb domestic were women and fewer actually voted. violence due mainly to alcoholism (see There is evidence to suggest that in some box 8.3). rural parts of Pakistan, women are Urban educated women in South Asia prohibited from casting their ballot due are more likely to be aware of their rights to cultural constraints. and the policies and procedures to be In Pakistan, the plight of women followed to attain those rights. However, voters is further exacerbated by the fact women in rural areas have to be made
Gender and Governance 149 aware of the importance of their votes subordinate judiciaries of South Asia is no and be enabled to participate in political more than 5 to 10 per cent combined. discourse on terms that meet their The first woman judicial officer in political needs. There is a need for greater India, was Anna Chandy, who was effort on the part of the state and civil appointed as Munsiff in 1937, in the state society as a whole to encourage women of Kerala. She later became a judge in the to exercise their right to vote. High Court of Kerala. In India, there have been two women in the Supreme Women in the judiciary Court so far, Fatima Beevi, who is now the Governor in the state of Tamil Nadu, The judicial system of any state is and Sujata Manohar. During her tenure, reflective of the values of that society. Justice Sujata Manohar, contributed How laws are interpreted and upheld has toward some landmark judgements on a crucial bearing on the attitudes of human rights and other important social society. This makes the roles of the issues. Currently, there are 15 female upholders of justice—the lawyers and the judges in the Indian High Courts. These judges—even more crucial. women have also made significant contributions to the judiciary and have Women as judges won recognition for their work. However, women judges are subjected As with the national and provincial to the same social constraints as other legislatures, female presence in South women in executive positions. Support Asian judiciaries is also very limited. While both at the family and organisational level no overall figures exist, the proportion of varies from person to person and younger female judges in both the higher and women are at a greater advantage than
Box 8.3 Anti-liquor struggle in India
The anti-liquor struggle in India is a spread like wild fire covering the entire signed a memorandum demanding a fight against domestic abuse. Alcohol- state of Andhra Pradesh; and after three ban on liquor. With the slogan ‘Roti induced violence has led many women years of sustained agitation, the women Banam Sharab’ (bread vs. liquor) the to take a stand against this menace. In succeeded in forcing the newly elected memorandum was submitted to the Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party’s State Chief Minister. However, despite the anti-liquor struggle emerged from a Government to introduce prohibition Chief Minister’s assurance to the literacy class in Doubgunta village. in 1995 and fulfil its electoral promise contrary, the liquor shops were not Soon, it became a source of inspiration to them. However, in the absence of closed. for the women’s clubs established in similar policies in neighbouring states, This led to protest by the women in almost all the villages of the district. implementation became a problem. the form of a Chakka Jam (traffic These women adopted various This along with the loss of revenue due blockade). Over a hundred women were strategies including demonstrations, to prohibition, made the Government arrested. This only boosted their morale gheraos, dharnas (sit-ins), destruction of reverse its decision two years later in and enthusiasm. ‘I will continue to fight liquor shops and use of broomsticks to 1997. against this evil. I do not care even if it restrain and close down these shops. In Madhya Pradesh, the anti-liquor means an end to my life,’ says Vimal Literacy activists and neo-literates made struggle began with the initiatives of the Dhandi, an activist of Mahila Jagriti tremendous efforts to spread awareness Mahila Jagriti Sanghathan (Women’s Sanghathan. However, success has so far and help these women in every way Awareness Organisation) when they eluded them in Madhya Pradesh, possible. Around 40,000 women of the found that liquor was the root cause of especially for want of support from the district participated in a dharna against four successive rape cases. Initially, political parties. Looking for other the auction of liquor shops. A large women from various communities tried avenues, these women have found number of petitions from every village to close down bhathis (breweries), but support in the Sarpanches and Ward in Nellore, filling 30 to 40 gunnybags, failed as all of them were licensed. They Panches in Gram Panchayats. At present, were submitted to Government thus shifted focus from the breweries women’s organisations in Madhya authorities to stop the sale of liquor. to the vendors. Sale of liquor was Pradesh have joined forces with Harassment and torture by bootleggers, discouraged through various means Panchayats, using the reservation of one- their agents, the police and including beating vendors with shoes third of the seats for women, to their administration failed to suppress the where necessary. On 12 February 1996, advantage in the struggle to achieve enthusiasm of the women. The struggle nearly 40,000 women from Chattisgarh total prohibition in the state. Source: Tripathi, Vandana, ‘Women Against Liquor’, Voluntary Action.
150 Human Development in South Asia 2000 those who came into the profession Interestingly, 4 out of the 9 judges in the earlier, because of the increasing gender Primary courts are women. sensitisation of the judiciary. In Nepal, the judiciary has become In Pakistan’s higher judiciary, there are more independent and powerful after the only two women judges—in the Lahore restoration of multi-party democracy in and Peshawar High Courts, respectively. 1990, but remains virtually an exclusive The Sindh High Court had one woman male club. The Supreme Court of Nepal, on its bench, but she resigned in 1999. has never had a woman member. There Prior to 1994, when 5 women were are only 2 women in the Court of Appeal appointed to high courts in Pakistan, out of a total of 103 judges at this level there had been no female judges in the and only 3 out of 102 at the lowest level higher judiciary. Of these 5 women, 3 of the judiciary, the District Court. While were appointed to the Lahore High the first woman judge was appointed in The majority of Court, one to the Sindh High Court and the 1970s, female participation has not women who pass bar another to the Peshawar High Court. This increased much over the years. Currently, was the first time that a female judge had there are only 5 women judges out of a examination end up been appointed to any High Court in total of 247. There are very few chances not taking up the Pakistan. Since these appointments were that the proportion of women in the legal practice part of an initiative to increase female Nepalese judiciary is going to increase in representation at all levels, they were the near future. While the process of largely seen as political appointments, and appointing of judges in Nepal is two of the judges were later removed by considered quite fair, law does not seem a court decision, both from the Lahore to be a profession of choice for many High Court. To this day, no woman has Nepalese women. As is a tendency in ever been appointed to the Supreme most of South Asia, Nepalese women Court of Pakistan or to the Federal generally tend to shy away from public Shariat Court. arguments, since this is a behavioural Similarly, no woman has ever been norm which Nepalese society traditionally appointed to the Supreme Court of values among women. This could be one Bangladesh. The judiciary in Bangladesh of the reasons why women refrain from exists largely within a conservative joining the legal profession. The majority framework. While women have to pass of women who pass bar examination end the same tests as men to qualify for their up not taking up the legal practice. law degrees and to meet the basic As part of affirmative action policies, requirements of their jobs, as elsewhere, some South Asian governments have they also have to surmount the hurdles established quotas for women within the of discrimination and gender bias. Only 9 judiciary. In Bangladesh 10 per cent of per cent of all judges in the judiciary of judicial posts are reserved for women. Bangladesh are women. Most of them are Similarly, in Pakistan, quotas have been in the lower judiciary. In June 2000 the established for women in the subordinate first woman was elevated to the Dhaka High Court (see table 8.4). Table 8.4 Women in High Courts (1995-2000) Sri Lanka, on the other hand, has a woman on the Supreme Court bench. Men Women Women Elected in 1996, Shirani A. Bandaranayake (as a % of men) is the first female Sri Lankan judge to be Sri Lanka 26 2 7.69 appointed as a Justice of the Supreme India 488 15 3.07 Court. Currently, there is also a female Bangladesh 45 1 2.22 judge in the Court of Appeal in Sri Lanka Pakistan 94 2 2.13 and there are two in the High Courts. Nepal 101 2 1.98 However, at the lower level nearly 25 per Total 754 22 2.92 cent of the judges are female. Source: GOB 1999, GOI 2000b, GOS 2000, HMG Nepal 2000, Zia and Bari 1999.
Gender and Governance 151 judiciary—2 per cent for civil judges and 5 Courts has made these courts less effective. per cent for district and sessions courts. Similarly, the government of India has also However, even these minimal quotas established a few ‘Mahila Courts’ (Women’s remain unfulfilled. In Bangladesh, of the Courts), although there are not enough only 9 per cent women judges, the largest female judges to sit in these courts. number of women is at the post of senior The National Commission for Women or assistant judges (see figure 8.5). In the of India is currently experimenting with a Punjab province of Pakistan, despite the 5 new kind of court, the ‘Mahila Lok per cent quota for women as district and Adalat’. These Adalats have been sessions judges, there are no women in sponsored by the Commission through a these posts. What makes this especially network of NGOs and in collaboration astonishing is that crimes under the with the High Courts of the states in Hudood Ordinance are tried by the which they are operating. The experiment Sessions Court in Pakistan. Since the has been successful so far. A large Hudood Ordinance mostly relates to number of pending cases have been crimes that involve women—crimes of presented in these adalats, and many of rape and adultery—it is vital that at least them have resolved disputes in favour of half the judges at the Sessions Courts be women and their families. A large number women. However, there are only 8 female of women lawyers have appeared in many sessions judges in all of Pakistan, 7 of of the ‘Mahila Lok Adalats’ representing whom are in Sindh and one in Baluchistan. cases of custody, divorce, alimony, etc. However, the proportion of female judges in the lower judiciary is relatively higher Women as lawyers than that in the higher judiciary, especially in Sindh, where 12.4 per cent of all judges The community of lawyers in India has at the subordinate level are women. been very important in translating laws In 1988, the Indian government into effective instruments of social established Family Courts with the objective change. Currently, there are 630,000 of speedier resolution of family disputes. lawyers registered with the Bar Council However, these courts have met with some of India. While concrete data on the problems. Firstly, as Family Courts prohibit proportion of female lawyers is not contest through lawyers, they have met available, in recent years many women with severe opposition from the lawyers’ have joined the legal profession. It is community; and secondly, the absence of estimated that at least 10 per cent of the adequate numbers of judges in the Family lawyers in India are women. In Sri Lanka, there are over 5,000 female lawyers. Figure 8.5 Women in lower judiciary (% 1999) Compared to female judges, the proportion of female lawyers in Pakistan is slightly greater. While their numbers are still relatively small, female presence is Nepal more evident in courts now, especially in Karachi. Currently, there are 353 women Pakistan lawyers in the Punjab, 300 in Sindh, and 455 in NWFP. Similarly, in Nepal, the Bangladesh number of female practitioners has been increasing. On the average, 4.4 per cent of
Sri Lanka the legal practitioners are women. In South Asia, many women lawyers 0 20 40 60 80 100 do not take up practice after obtaining
Women Total their licenses and many others quit after they get married due to societal pressures. Source: Dawn 1999; GOB 1999b; GOS 2000; HMG Nepal 1999f; Zia and Bari 1999. Such pressures across South Asia have
152 Human Development in South Asia 2000 discouraged many from entering the in reality personal biases may tend to profession. The majority of working enter into judgements given by courts. In women prefer more traditional a patriarchal society with a male professions, such as banking, teaching dominated judiciary, biases and and medicine. Thus, the number of intolerance towards women can easily be women who enter the judiciary remains strengthened. limited. In Pakistan, a number of female Cultural perceptions that prefer males lawyers are actively involved in protecting to females prevent most women lawyers women’s rights. Women like Asma from establishing themselves Jahangir and Hina Jilani have come to independently. Most of them practice as the forefront because of their continuous juniors or associates in major law firms participation in human rights activities. and there is seldom a female lawyer at The AGHS Legal Aid Cell, founded by While the the top of a law firm. In Pakistan and Jahangir and Jilani, provides legal aid to constitutions of all Nepal, most female lawyers tend to women, bringing attention to cases where handle civil cases. Very few take up rights have been violated. The Pakistan South Asian criminal or corporate cases. In Nepal, Women’s Lawyers Association (PWLA) countries state that aside from taking civil cases, women also provides legal aid to women. The there will be no lawyers, especially those affiliated with PWLA is an important forum for female discrimination on women’s legal aid groups, generally lawyers because it not only advocates specialise in women’s issues. An women’s rights and legal reforms, but also the basis of sex, in unwritten code of conduct within the encourages other women to join the reality personal female lawyer community in Nepal is that profession. biases may tend to they will not take up cases that would in There have also been numerous such enter into any way demean women or be initiatives in India. The Lawyers detrimental to their interests. Collective, a lawyer’s organisation with 50 judgements given by Contrary to the general trends in the per cent female membership, takes up courts rest of South Asia, women lawyers in Sri sensitive social issues and puts up studied, Lanka are comparatively more visible. In strong and strategic battles to win gender 1983, Maureen Seneviratne was the first justice and social justice. Despite the and only woman to be conferred silk obstacles, some women lawyers in India (President’s Counsel) in Sri Lanka. While have successfully carved a niche for most female lawyers practice in the lower themselves in this profession and are courts, nearly 48 per cent of the lawyers associated with landmark judgements, registered with the Supreme Court are which have had positive outcomes for women. Many women lawyers are human rights, and for women’s rights. attached to the Attorney General’s office For instance, a recent judgement on and the Legal Draftsman’s department. custody of children, which recognised the In many government departments, mother of a child as its ‘natural guardian’ statutory corporations and statutory was the effort of a woman lawyer and boards, women lawyers head or hold very her associates. high positions in the legal branches. In Bangladesh as well, since the While the purpose of the judiciary is women’s movement has begun addressing to remain unbiased, the personal mindset the gender-discriminatory nature of laws of the court has at many times made a in the country, women lawyers are mockery of the existing laws that promote becoming increasingly concerned with justice and equality. Cultural norms issues of women’s rights. The Bangladesh pervade every level of the judiciary, Government over the years has initiated especially where women are concerned. piecemeal legal reforms to protect the Thus, while the Constitutions of all rights of women such as the Dowry South Asian countries state that there will Prohibition Act (1980), Cruelty to be no discrimination on the basis of sex, Women (Deterrent Punishment) Act
Gender and Governance 153 (1983) or the Family Courts Ordinance the society as whole is made more (1985). However, not only are these laws tolerant and gender sensitive, insufficient for the protection of women’s discrimination cannot be rooted out. rights, experience indicates that whatever legal rights are granted to women, when Women in the civil service it comes to enforcing the law, most of the rights exist only in theory. Women In all South Asian countries, men and practising in the family courts realise that women both have to take the same the complex nature of legal procedure competitive examinations before being and existing loopholes only works to inducted into the civil service. This should discourage women from seeking redress. leave little chance of discrimination. Yet Most South Asian women judges and discrimination persists in postings and Mandating a lawyers are not gender-sensitised. Thus, in promotions, in the attitudes of peers and greater number of a region where there are discriminatory colleagues, and it persists in entire systems laws against women, especially in cases of that leave more than half the female women in the marriage, property rights, divorce and population educationally disadvantaged. As judiciary, especially custody rights, many women who sit on a result, the overall proportion of women at the higher levels, the bench tend to give judgements by the in the civil services throughout most South is important to word of law, which actually work against Asian countries remains less than or at 10 women seeking justice. In Bangladesh, a per cent, with the majority concentrated enable positive training program is currently underway by in social sectors (see table 8.5). changes in the the Bar Council to overcome this problem. In the early years of the Indian civil attitudes of the Women judges in Bangladesh have also service, there were restrictions on marriage formed an association of their own, mostly for women, particularly in the Indian to lobby for their rights in the profession. Foreign Service. Married women could not In Pakistan, in an effort to reduce appear for the competitive examinations. discrimination, proposals have been put Consequently, very few women chose the forward to have a female Ombudsman to civil services as a career. These restrictions help solve disputes involving women. India have since been removed and in the past has launched gender-sensitisation-training two decades, the proportion of women in programs for judges. This has helped to the civil service has increased significantly. provide better insight into gender issues Currently 8.4 per cent of all civil servants for judges. Recent judgements on various in India are women. cases, including the one on sexual The first woman joined the Indian harassment in work places, are indicators Administrative Service (IAS) in 1951. of the active participation of the judiciary However, it was not until after 1980 that in establishing greater gender justice in women were appointed as District societal behaviour. Magistrates or Collectors. Prior to 1970, Mandating a greater number of women were not allowed to join the women in the judiciary, especially at the Indian Police Service. While the higher levels, is Constitution of India provides for equal Table 8.5 Women in civil service (1990s) important to access irrespective of sex, in reality, access Women in the civil Women at decision making enable positive to sensitive and ‘prestigious’ positions in dervice (% of total) positions (% of total women) changes in the civil service is rarely available to women. India 6.80 n/a attitude of the Despite being equally competent, women Bangladesh 7.88 0.012 courts. Gender- face greater chances of being Pakistan 5.35 0.266 sensitisation discriminated against. No woman has yet Nepal 7.66 0.463 programmes are held the post of Cabinet Secretary, Home Sri Lanka 21.1 10.23 essential in the Secretary, Defence Secretary or Finance Note: Decision making levels are assumed to be additional secretaries, joint short term for Secretary to this day. As an exception, secretaries, secretaries and heads of departments. Source: Chowdhry & Hassanuzzaman 1993; GOB 1992; GOP 1993, Gopalan all of South however, a woman held the position of 2000; HMG Nepal 1999a; Jayawardena 2000. Asia, but until Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister
154 Human Development in South Asia 2000 in 1987. In general, women officers are women civil servants in Bangladesh. assigned to positions related to social Similarly in Pakistan, gender development such as Women and Child imbalances persist throughout the civil Development, Education, Health, or in service. According to the 1993 Civil some regulatory bodies. Further, it has Servants Census, only 5.4 per cent of civil been observed that even within social servants were women. Women account sectors, posts concerned with ‘economic for less than 10 per cent of the total and financial’ portfolios are viewed as employment in Ministries such as male preserves. For instance, in the Planning and Development, Finance and Indian Forest Service, men are Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs. concentrated in the field. Women are During the mid-1980s and early 1990s given less challenging postings at there were only 5 per cent women in the headquarters: posts to monitor Foreign Service of Pakistan. At the same Gender imbalances management, planning, publicity, social time, in the Ministry of Education, 51 persist throughout forestry and extension. Similarly, in the per cent of employees at middle level are Indian Police Service, women District women. Similarly, again at the middle the civil service Superintendents of Police are given level, women account for nearly 30 per charge of less hectic districts compared cent of employees in the Ministry of to men. In the Customs Service posts Health. Very few women hold posts in involving preventive investigation, anti- the upper echelons of the Pakistani civil smuggling work and arduous field duties service. Compared to the more than 800 are given to men. men serving as Joint Secretaries, In 1976, the Government of Chairmen or Directors only 19 women Bangladesh introduced a mandatory 10 held posts of Joint Secretaries in 1993. per cent quota for women in all Currently, there is one woman serving as ministries, directorates and autonomous the Cabinet Secretary. Women have also bodies to increase female participation in been appointed as Secretary in the government. However, little had Ministry of Women’s Development. improved by 1988 when only 7 per cent Female representation in the Sri of all civil servants were women. It was Lankan civil service, however, is as high only in 1996, twenty years after the quota as 20 per cent. While prior to 1963 was established, that female participation women could not enter the civil service rose to just over 10 per cent. One of the at all, with the establishment of the Sri reasons for this has been that after Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS), clearing the civil services examinations, new doors were opened up for women in many women would not take it up as a the civil service. However, as with the career due to a multitude of factors Indian Civil Service, there were including household responsibility, restrictions for married women. They had perceived difficulties in adjusting to to have the written permission of their postings and better job opportunities. spouses before they could appear in the Data on civil services from 1986 to 1991 competitive examinations for the SLAS. show that on the average 14 per cent of Further, the intake of women was the successful candidates of the restricted to 20 per cent and only six competitive examinations were women. women entered the first batch of SLAS However, only 7 to 8 per cent were in 1965. After being reduced to 10 per inducted into the civil services. Currently, cent in 1972, the quota for women was there are very few women at the upper actually raised to 25 per cent in 1978. echelons of the civil service in However, after 1993 the government of Bangladesh. With most women Sri Lanka abolished the quota restriction concentrated at lower posts, there is only when it became a signatory to CEDAW. one Secretary, one Additional Secretary Currently there are just over 21 per and three Joint Secretaries among the cent of women in the three highest grades
Gender and Governance 155 of the SLAS. The number of women has only for those positions, which are been increasing steadily over the years. In specifically reserved for them such as the last eleven years, female nurses and maternal child health workers. representation in these grades has In the entire history of Nepal’s diplomatic increased by about 1.5 per cent annually. services there has been only one female Currently there are 135 women at the ambassador. highest grade, compared to only 12 in These imbalances only highlight the 1998. In 1999, out of 32 Secretaries to discrimination women face due to cultural Ministries, only one was a woman. stereotyping throughout South Asia. However, at the same time, there were Women are almost invariably assigned to nearly 36 per cent women at the posts of the social sectors, many of them in Additional Secretaries. subordinate positions. Statistics show that Women are almost While entrance is based solely on merit, as pay, status and decision-making invariably assigned promotions to the highest grades are authority increases female representation influenced by politics. There is no proper drops. Women are disadvantaged because to the social sectors, placement policy. Most women in the Sri they have to perform significantly better and many of them in Lanka Administrative Service are than men to be considered equal. subordinate positions concentrated in the health and education In order to rectify such imbalances, the sectors. Few of them are in decision- Department of Personnel and Training making positions. For instance, in the in India, launched a campaign in the late health sector, 89 per cent of the nurses are 1980s to attract more women into the women but few are in high-level decision- civil services. Television serials were also making roles. Similarly, of the total of 12 organised for this purpose. During 1998, Chancellors of Universities, only one is a the National Academy of Administration woman. The first female Vice Chancellor, at Mussoorie also organised a series of Professor Savitri Goonesekere was workshops to sensitise the bureaucracy appointed in April of 1999. toward gender issues. The results have Civil service has always been been positive: the recommendation of the prestigious employment in Nepal. Fifth Pay Commission of India for 135 However, the overwhelming number of days of maternity leave and 15 days of male candidates and the educational paternity leave during the period of disadvantage that women face, makes it confinement has been accepted and very difficult for the majority to implemented by the Government. successfully compete in the Public In Bangladesh, on the other hand, Services Commission (PSC) examinations there are no public reforms that address for entry into the civil service. Despite gender issues. While it is common this, female participation in the Nepalese practice that married couples within the civil service is on the rise. While the total civil service may apply to be posted in size of the civil service has nearly doubled the same place, it is not necessary that in the last twenty years, the number of their request be granted. The present women in the civil service has gone up government has developed a National five times. The proportion of women in Women’s Development Policy. The the civil service has risen to 7.7 per cent policy framework is based on the Beijing in 1999 as compared to just 2.6 per cent Platform of Action, CEDAW and other in 1978. Three women are currently international conventions. One of the serving in the Special Cadre—the highest objectives of this policy is to ensure the level of civil service in Nepal. However, administrative empowerment of women. 93 per cent of women are employed as But concrete steps have yet to materialise support staff rather than in the in its implementation. professional cadres. The largest number There have been several administrative of female civil servants is engaged in the reform efforts in Nepal, with the latest health sector. Mostly, women are hired being the High Level Administrative
156 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Reform Commission of 1991. However been a shift towards other careers such none of these reforms has focused on as banking and finance. However, it will women’s issues, needs or concerns. be some time before women are Instead, they have focused on general significantly represented in the corporate issues of concern for the civil service in boardrooms of South Asia. Nepal, which did not encompass women’s issues. Women as decision-makers in public and private In Pakistan, on the other hand, the enterprises only civil service reforms were made in 1972 when the entire service was opened Many women in India have become to women. However, these reforms were lawyers, doctors, scientists and not augmented by further affirmative entrepreneurs. By 1988, there were over action, the result of which has been 10,000 businesses whose major Most educated declining female participation in shareholders were women. In the private women opt for Pakistan’s civil service. Similarly, in Sri sector, female employment is mostly Lanka, all civil service reforms that have concentrated in larger business careers in teaching taken place after 1963 have been gender establishments, with only 13 per cent of or medicine since blind, especially with respect to women in smaller sized businesses. these are the most promotions and placement policy and However, very few women are in acceptable careers thus, women have not been able to reach managerial and influential positions. their full potential in the civil service. Women also have a significant presence for women to follow Despite these hindrances, women in the public sector. Nearly 48 per cent generally consider the civil service to be a of women in the formal sector are source of secure employment. While glass working in government offices, mostly in ceilings and patriarchal attitudes pose local bodies. At 17 per cent, their second serious obstacles, many women feel that largest concentration is in the State there is great potential in the civil services Governments. The proportion of women as a career and are thus willing to take up in the Central Government has nearly the challenge. doubled in the last fifteen years. In 1989, the Government of Pakistan Women in economic management established the First Women’s Bank to extend loans to female entrepreneurs. Today, more South Asian women are Women hold all officer and executive active participants in the economy than posts of this bank. But in government- they were just a decade ago. Female owned public enterprises, women literacy has increased significantly from managers are virtually non-existent. At 17 per cent in 1970 to nearly 40 per cent present less than 2 per cent of all in 1999, with the Maldives and Sri Lanka employed women are working as taking the lead. Most gains have been legislators, managers and other senior made in primary education, but higher officials. However, at 6.17 per cent, a education and especially professional and relatively significant proportion of women technical education remain limited for are working as professionals. Most women. Limited opportunities have educated women opt for careers in hampered women’s progress from the teaching or medicine since these are the very beginning. Most of the female labour most acceptable careers for women to force is concentrated in the informal or follow in Pakistan. In the last two unorganised sector and many educated decades, many have also entered the and career oriented women in South Asia banking and media professions. In 1997, opt for careers in medicine or teaching, women constituted nearly 2 per cent of which are generally considered suitable all bank employees in the three largest for women. In recent years, there has nationalised commercial banks in
Gender and Governance 157 Pakistan. During the last decade some public sector. In the private sector, most effort has been made to include more female-occupied managerial positions are women at the higher decision-making concentrated in manufacturing, financing, levels. One woman was appointed as the insurance and business services. Women Chairperson of the Small Industries are increasingly joining financial Corporation of Punjab during 1994-95, institutions. By 1997, banking and finance but such instances are rare. accounted for 23 per cent of the total In Bangladesh, the proportion of women employed in managerial positions. female officers in public corporations is On the other hand, most of the women very low. Despite a 10 per cent quota in in public sector managerial positions are nationalised banks in Bangladesh, only 6.4 concentrated in community, personal and per cent of bank employees are female. social services. Many of these women are Women have not Women constitute less than 5 per cent of at the middle or lower levels of been able to break all employees in the autonomous bodies management. and various corporations across Out of the 70,000 employees in public through the glass Bangladesh. However, at the enterprises in Nepal, 10,000 are women. ceilings beyond a Departmental and Directorate levels, The proportion of women in public certain limit as yet which are centrally located in the capital sector enterprises has increased over the and are in effect extensions of the years, but mostly in the non-professional Secretariat, women’s representation is and support staff categories. At the significantly higher at just over 13 per professional and managerial level, there cent of all employees. The government are less than 300 women compared to of Bangladesh maintained a policy of 10 over 3,000 men. At 25 per cent, there are per cent district-wise quota for women more Nepalese women in the private which has recently been raised to 30 per sector managerial positions than in the cent. However, as with the nationalised public sector. One of the main reasons banks, women constitute less than 5 per for this preference is that the private cent of employment at the district level. sector is perceived by job-seekers to be In the private sector in Bangladesh, the more performance-oriented and less largest concentration of female workforce influenced by patriarchal conventions. is in the garment industry, where 90 per Thus, women have better chances of cent of all employees are female. Yet few promotions and recognition of their work are in managerial posts. Women are there than in the public sector. In increasingly joining the pharmaceutical, contrast, Bangladeshi women are electronics, jute, and textiles industries. increasingly opting for the public sector, According to a 1991 survey of urban which they believe offers greater job industries in Dhaka, women occupied 12 security and other benefits that may not per cent of the managerial posts within be available in the private sector. these industries. These women are Whether in the public or private sector, generally more educated and receive on the number of women dwindles at the the job training and are thus relatively top level of management (see table 8.6). better off. Despite high literacy rates, few women Table 8.6 Climbing the corporate ladder in Sri Lanka are in managerial and decision-making positions. For the past Women at managerial and professional levels decade, the proportion of women in (% 1990s) managerial positions has remained static Sri Lanka 22.3 at around 17 per cent. Women have not Nepal 17 been able to break through the glass Bangladesh 12 ceilings beyond a certain limit as yet. In Pakistan 4 recent years, the private sector has offered India n/a more opportunities to women than the Source: Baidya 2000; GOP 1998b; GOS 1999a; Islam 1992.
158 Human Development in South Asia 2000 In public sector enterprises, there are very been implemented. Currently, efforts are few women at high-level executive posts. underway to include women in think In the private sector, the situation is only tanks and committees established by the slightly better. Discrimination exists new government, including the Economic openly. Discrimination is not only Advisory Board. manifested in job placement and wages, Women are also periodically included but also in the way women are treated at in various parliamentary committees in the workplace. Bangladesh. However, discrimination exists, especially against women who have Women in parliamentary committees entered Parliament on reserved seats. There are some exceptions. For instance, Parliamentary Committees are important Mrs Chitra Bhattacharya, a female policy-influencing forums. Yet, as with parliamentarian on a reserved seat, heads There are an other governing institutions across South Bangladesh’s Financial Committee. Since estimated 500,000 Asia, women’s voices are barely heard in 1996, the Government of Bangladesh has these forums. With the exception of also made efforts to include members of non-governmental India, where it is mandatory to include the Opposition in the Parliamentary organisations every Member of Parliament in Committee work to ensure equitable (NGOs) in India committee work, female representation in participation and greater cooperation for alone, and many of parliamentary committees is negligible. better governance. There are over 30 committees in the Lok At the other end of the spectrum, in these are involved in Sabha. While there is female presence on Nepal and Sri Lanka, female presence in women’s issues most of them, only a few women have such committees is non-existent. Even been appointed as chairpersons of within the National Planning Commission important committees such as the Joint of Nepal, which plays an important role Committee on Women’s Reservation Bill. in allocation of resources for In Pakistan, until recently, permanent developmental activities within the councils and committees such as the country, there has never been a woman National Economic Council and either as chairperson or even a member. Economic Coordination Committee have In Sri Lanka, despite having a female had only male members. There are President and Prime Minister, women exceptions as well. For instance, some constitute less than one per cent of provincial committees such as the Jail committee membership. The only Committee and the NGO committee in committee that has a significant number Baluchistan have only women on them. of women on it is the National The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has Committee on Women, established in one woman on its 20-member board, as 1993. It has only female membership. stipulated in the Constitution. Women However, it is unclear what influence it have served on committees set up exerts for women’s development. temporarily by various ministries from time to time. For example, the Ministry Women in civil society of Women’s Development established several committees to draft the National South Asia is the home of some of the Plan of Action (NPA) for women and most vibrant civil societies in the world. the National Report on the Beijing There are an estimated 500,000 non- Follow-up Conference. Most of the governmental organisations (NGOs) in members of these committees were India alone, and many of these are women. Women have also been given a involved in women’s issues across the voice in the various committees and region. In 1929, the All India Women’s commissions on women in Pakistan. Education Fund was established, focusing Unfortunately, only few of the solely on education. It was followed by recommendations given by them have the All India Women’s Conference.
Gender and Governance 159 Currently, this organisation is functioning All Pakistan Women’s Association across India and has chapters in all major (APWA). The All Pakistan Women’s urban centres of the country. Association was established as a voluntary In 1953, the government of India non-political organisation with the aim of established the Central Social Welfare enhancing women’s welfare. It not only Board in recognition of the need to opened schools for children in poor harness the energies of voluntary localities and provided health facilities, organisations as partners in development. but was also at the head of the social Then onwards funds were channelled to movement within Pakistan, rallying for these organisations for the welfare of women’s rights during the 1960s. It women, children and the disabled. The successfully lobbied with other women Community Development Programme activists for the inclusion of Muslim The entry point of initiated Mahila Mandals (women’s groups) Family Laws, which are progressive most NGOs in for raising awareness among women on a Islamic Laws, in the Constitution of range of issues for their advancement. In Pakistan. With the passage of the Hudood Bangladesh was some states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Ordinance in 1979 and increasing through these groups were systematically intolerance towards women in the 1980s, rehabilitation and registered as women’s societies and the Women’s Action Forum (WAF) was reconstruction work formed into an organisational network for formed. When the Qisas and Diyat undertaking various social development Ordinance was tabled in 1980, WAF was activities. at the forefront of civil society’s efforts From 1975 to 1985, the International to stall the Bill since it would have Decade for Women, many civil society effectively reduced the rights and status organisations worked exclusively on of women of Pakistan. In 1992, when it women’s issues. In 1985, the Government was eventually passed, some of the more of India established the Council for derogatory clauses had been taken out. Advancement of People’s Action and According to various estimates, the Rural Technology (CAPART), which number of NGOs in Pakistan currently created space for civil society to ranges between 10,000 and 29,500. In the participate in rural development, province of Punjab alone there were infrastructure development, employment about 6,000 NGOs registered with the and water and sanitation projects. A large Social Welfare Department of which number of women and men are currently nearly 2,000 listed their objective as engaged by NGOs in such activities. The women’s development. Many others are National Commission for Women has working in related fields such as networked with over 10,000 NGOs since education and health. 1993 to generate awareness on a variety Following a similar pattern, the entry of related issues with special emphasis on point of most NGOs in Bangladesh was women. through rehabilitation and reconstruction After independence in August 1947, work after independence in 1971. there was a huge influx of refugees into However, with the realisation of the need Pakistan. In 1948, the Women’s to increase production, by the mid- Volunteers Service (WVS) was formed seventies many NGOs started directing with the aim of helping the displaced their efforts towards provision of credit population with basic facilities. The WVS and inputs for increasing production. In encouraged women to take on a range of 1976 the Grameen Bank was established responsibilities from administering first by Professor Yunus as a project that aid and dealing with health problems to offered credit to the poor and landless. distribution of food and clothing to In 1983, it was transformed into a providing moral and emotional support. specialised financial institution for the It became the precursor for the first truly rural poor through a government women’s organisation in Pakistan—the ordinance. It has been in the forefront of
160 Human Development in South Asia 2000 giving credit to women. Many NGOs, city. Among these, only 22 per cent have through their experience of close and women as chief contact persons. Women continued work with women in the rural also head some civil society organisations. areas, realised that women’s development Their activities range from research on needs to address both poverty and women’s issues at the national level to patriarchy, which marginalizes women community service at the district and and excludes them from channels of village levels. socio-economic power and decision- During the last decade, civil society making. Others have focused on social organisations have mushroomed in consciousness and gender sensitisation Nepal. Prior to 1990, there were only 229 through extensive information generation, NGOs registered with the Social Welfare dissemination and media campaigns. Council. Most activities of NGOs were Currently, there are more than 500 such tightly controlled and monitored by the Many NGOs, organisations operating in Bangladesh and government, which perceived civil society through their their combined female membership to be a threat to stability. However, since exceeds two million. the restoration of multi-party democracy experience of close In Sri Lanka as well, civil society and promulgation of the 1990 and continued work organisations have focused on people’s Constitution of Nepal, there has been with women at the participation in development. Most of the phenomenal growth in the number of rural level realised growth in civil society organisations NGOs. By 1998, there were 15,000 occurred after the mid-seventies. In fact NGOs in Nepal of which over 5,000 have that women’s 65 per cent of all the NGOs currently been registered with the Social Welfare development needs active in Sri Lanka were established after Council. Nearly 600 of these NGOs are to address both 1977. exclusively working for women’s issues The first local NGO oriented towards and concerns. Virtually all the women- poverty and women and development was the Lanka focused NGOs are headed by women patriarchy Mahila Samithi, established in 1930. It activists and majority of their membership focused on development through rural is also female. women’s participation in civil society. Many other civil society initiatives such Role of civil society in women’s development as the Women’s Political Union, Sri Lanka Federation of University Women were Apart from aiding the women’s also organised during the following movement, civil society continues to play decades. In 1944, the All Ceylon a crucial role in women’s development. Women’s Conference was established as In conservative, mostly patriarchal an apex association for all these societies of South Asia, reaching out to organisations. It successfully lobbied for women can be difficult because of strict the Women’s Bureau set up under the purdah laws or their lack of mobiliy and Ministry of Plan Implementation. The access to information. Most women, establishment of a separate Ministry for especially in rural areas, are unaware not Women’s Affairs is also considered a only of their rights, but also issues that result of NGO pressure. Currently, there concern them such as health and are over 50,000 civil society organisations education. There are a significant number in Sri Lanka, most of them operating at of women working for civil society the micro level. According to a survey of organisations, either as volunteers or 291 NGOs in 1996, nearly 29 per cent employees. Being women they have were involved in gender-related activities, greater access to other women, be they in including development and gender rural or urban settings. awareness. Although the government has Civil society initiatives have helped to made attempts to encourage rural-based organise women and to create awareness NGOs, almost 50 per cent of the NGOs on a range of issues. In the Pakistani are based in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital village of Thatta Ghulamka, women’s
Gender and Governance 161 doll-making expertise has been turned and women as health workers who teach into an income generating enterprise. In communities about the importance of India, the Self-Employed Women’s family planning besides imparting basic Association (SEWA) has helped to health education. Various NGOs are also organise women workers in the informal involved with issues of sexual violence. sector. Prior to these efforts, women in The Nurses’ Association in India is an the informal sector faced exploitation in all women’s movement that has waged a the form of low wages and job insecurity. tenacious struggle for better working Other civil society organisations such as conditions for its members. They have Grameen Bank in Bangladesh or Working successfully confronted threats of Women’s Forum in India have extended violence and sexual crimes like rape, support to women by offering them victimisation and harassment. The broad- Civil society credit for micro-enterprise. Such efforts based coalition of Shommilito Nari Shomaj initiatives have have helped many women become self- (United Women’s Front) or the Juono sufficient and more active in economic Nipiron Nari Protirodh Moncho (Platform helped to organise decision-making within their families. Protesting Sexual Harassment) are women and to create Apart from extending credit, spearheading similar efforts in awareness on a organisations such as the Aga Khan Rural Bangladesh, creating awareness and range of issues Support Program (AKRSP) and other protesting the discrimination with which rural support programs in South Asia, women are treated in of cases of sexual have focused on mobilising villages to harassment (see box 8.4). form community organisations that work In Sri Lanka, Women in Need (WIN) on development projects. Women are an is an NGO that helps women victims of integral part of these communities. violence. It has also established several Participation in such organisations has shelters for battered women. A large not only empowered women but also number of the micro-level NGOs or raised their status within the community. community-based organisations as they Civil society has played a great role in are referred to, are established in rural advancing non-formal education (NFE). areas. Among these women’s societies are The non-formal education initiative has some of the most active. Most of them been highly successful in India and are affiliated with Ministries or Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Rural Departments in Colombo. The advantage Advancement Committee (BRAC) has has been that women’s organisations have been at the forefront of pioneering been able to lobby for a range of issues experiments in non-formal education since such as sanitation, employment, housing 1985. Similarly, in India, Lok Jumbish or and nutrition for the women of their people’s movement has been involved in communities. non-formal education since 1992. In Pakistan, the Asthan Latif Welfare Society, Women in trade unions the Orangi Pilot Project, better known for its sanitation project in the slums of Trade Unions provide member workers Karachi, and Bunyad are among the more with a platform to voice their needs and successful non-formal endeavours. concerns and to protect them from Many civil society organisations are exploitation. Unfortunately, very few also involved in creating awareness about women are part of any trade union in a range of health issues, from the South Asia and information is scant. Most importance of sanitation to reproductive trade unions operate in traditionally male health. Civil society organisations with dominated areas. A significant majority multifaceted agendas such as AKRSP or of women work in low paid industries Sungi, have been working with like garments, food and agriculture-related communities to raise the importance of industries. These women have virtually no sanitation. They have also trained men access to trade unions. Due to the low
162 Human Development in South Asia 2000 level of financial contribution affordable recent years, while trade unions have by workers in such industries, trade begun to pay attention to women unions have not targeted them. workers, with AITUC, INTUC and CITU Furthermore, a larger number of women in the lead, there are discrepancies. remain unorganised and exploited in the As early as 1979, women’s concerns informal sector that does not come under were put on CITU’s agenda. That year a the scope of trade unions and thus, are national convention of working women largely ignored by trade unions. Most was held and the union also started a women are simply unaware of the journal called the ‘Voice of the Working concept of trade unions. Those who are Woman’. However, according to 1995 members have to deal with the patriarchal data, there was no female executive in its attitudes of the union leadership and national office. In the same year, the workers. In many cases, the agenda of AITUC had only two women in its 27 Women’s issues and the trade union is that of the male member national office. Similarly, concerns have been majority. Exacerbated by such attitudes, INTUC, which recently established a women’s issues and concerns have been separate woman’s wing within the union pushed back on the pushed back on the trade unions’ agenda. in an effort to bring women’s issues to trade unions’ agenda Interestingly, the first person to form the forefront, has only one woman in its a trade union in India was a woman: in 22 member national office (see table 8.7). 1917, Anasuyaben Sarabhai founded the On the other hand, while the number first trade union in Ahmedabad and of women in trade unions or as collective remained its president till her death. Yet bargaining agents in Pakistan remains few women have held leadership limited, their representation is slightly positions in the trade unions of India. In better than other South Asian countries.
Box 8.4 Campaign against violence in Bangladesh
The women’s movement in Bangladesh This was only the beginning of a as the Jouno Nipiron Protirodh Moncho came together against violence against series of campaigns led by the women’s (Platform Protesting Sexual Harassment) women as early as the 1980s, but until movement to curb violence against that includes both men and women in its recently many organisations were women. More recently a new struggle to end discrimination. hesitant to identify existing institutions development which has taken place Women’s organisations have actively as the real perpetrators of violence. outside the mainstream women’s solicited the cooperation of the press and However, the rape and murder of movement in the last year has had other mass media. Sustained contact with Sultana Yasmin Akhter, a 14 year old important consequences for the the press has resulted in publishing girl of Dinajpur in August 1995 by development of women’s rights in the material related to violence against three policemen, and the abduction and civil society of Bangladesh. Two of the women, malpractice in health care and subsequent disappearance of Kalpana more centrally located university family planning services. Other Chakma in June 1996, the 23 year old campuses of the country, Dhaka innovative media like street theatre, Organising Secretary of Hill Women’s University and Jahangirnagar University posters, videos, and folk songs have also Federation, led to the emergence of the experienced some of the worst incidents been tapped quite effectively. Intense and Shommilito Nari Shomaj (United of sexual harassment ever reported. But broad-based campaigns for removing Women’s Front)—a common platform in both Universities, first in gender discrimination and gender- for all women’s organisations. They Jahangirnagar and then in Dhaka violence through legal redress have been held nation-wide street demonstrations University, it was the women students undertaken by both local and national and protests. A photographic exhibition who were in the frontline of protests. women’s organisations in Bangladesh. on women’s resistance to violence was The young students who protested were These have included campaigning for an dedicated to Yasmin. The Shommilito supported by only a few students group enactment of new and stringent laws Nari Shomaj also declared 24th of August of left leaning who were willing to take providing deterrent punishment for as a day of Resistance to Violence on board gender issues in their political gender-violence, enactment of a uniform against Women; the day that Yasmin’s agenda. After the crisis was over, the family code to supplant the various dead body was found on the roadside. networks developed during these times personal laws perpetuating gender The aim of this movement was to seek endured and efforts to translate them inequality within the family in various accountability of the state and instill into sustained social movement has led religious communities and full ratification democratic values in administration. to the formation of new platforms such of CEDAW.
Source: Guhathakurta 2000 (mimeographed).
Gender and Governance 163 Table 8.7 Indian trade unions: women in The All Pakistan Trade teachers, men dominate leadership decision-making positions (1995) Union Federation positions and women’s needs and (APTFU), for example, has concerns do not receive the attention they Women 20 women (26 per cent) on deserve (see box 8.5). Trade Union Women Men (as a % of total) its executive body holding Female representation in the three AITUC 2 25 7.41 important positions nationally recognized trade unions in Bhartia Mazdoor including that of the Nepal is also minimal. At 24 per cent, the Saba 3 45 6.25 INTUC 1 21 4.55 Chairperson and the Vice Nepalese Trade Union Congress (NTUC) CITU 0 17 0.00 President. Some unions has the highest proportion of women in have been organised its national executive committee. In the Source: GOI 1995. specifically for women such Democratic Confederation of Nepalese as the Pakistan Nurses’ Federation (PNF) Trade Unions (DECONT), one of the that has over 5,000 members. During the four female executive committee 1990s, efforts have been made to unionise members holds the post of its Vice more women, but the scope has been Chairperson. Each trade union has a limited. The biggest challenge faced is seperate women’s department that is unawareness. Currently, there are various headed by a woman. However, since initiatives such as the Women Workers’ women form only a minority on the Centre in Karachi whose aim is to raise executive committes, their influence in awareness among women and to the decision-making remains minimal. encourage their unionisation. The Organising women in the rural areas is Working Women’s Federation was a bigger challenge. While there is a established in 1994 in Multan to organise proportion of women who have been women on a platform that would be formally organised through the efforts of sensitive to their specific needs and NGOs into community based concerns. The Women Workers’ organisations, there are still many more Organisation (WWO) was established in who remain unaware of their rights, trade Punjab as early as 1986 to organise unions and other platforms that may women and promote their unionisation. empower them. Despite such trends, Various trade federations have also reserved there is some hope. The pioneering work seats for women in their executive bodies done by SEWA in Ahmedabad and the to encourage their participation. However, Working Women’s Forum in Tamil Nadu, such initiatives are few and their India, has brought large numbers of poor membership consists mostly of women working women in the unorganised sector from the formal sector of the economy. into the trade union movement and In Sri Lanka, it is estimated that created an expanding space for them in women form less than 20 per cent of the the trade unions. trade union membership, and of that, less than one per cent hold leadership Other Professional and Business Associations positions. The mobilisation of women and concern about their well being is a Career women in South Asia lack low priority in the trade unions. The fact adequate support systems and networking that only a few women participate in trade that can help them form a single coherent union activities including strikes may be a voice to be heard and acknowledged. contributing factor to this neglect. Professional associations provide women However, during the 1980s it was with a chance to create these networks observed to the contrary that women and support systems. Associations such took active part in strikes such as those as Women Lawyers’ Forum and Women’s waged by garment-factory workers and Press Corps in India, the Pakistan nurses. Even in unions where the majority Womens’ Lawyers Association and the of workers are female such as tea Business and Professional Women’s Club plantations, secretaries, clerks, nurses and female lawyers with a platform. However,
164 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Box 8.5 Sri Lanka profiling women’s participation in trade unions
In Sri Lanka, some trade unions have union activities. Reasons cited for the dominance and cultural factors that large number of women members. low participation of women in trade constrain women to lower positions However, few are in leadership union activity include male dominance, have adversely affected the position of positions. The following selected profiles cultural constraints, family burdens, women teachers within the union and indicate the extent of female and non-availability of time as women outside. For instance, female teachers participation in trade unions. work longer hours (CENWOR 1998). qualified to teach higher grades have The Sri Lanka Jatika Sevaka Sangamaya Unfortunately, such issues keep women often been confined to the primary (JSS) was established in 1960. The first at the lowest levels of the hierarchy level. Despite their qualifications, few women joined the union in 1986, but it within the CWC and since men have been promoted to higher grades. was not until 1998 that any woman was dominate the upper management, these However, the union has not made any considered for a position in the main concerns are seldom addressed. efforts to resolve this issue. Instead, committee. That year, the union The Jathika Saukiya Seva Podu Sevaka male teachers have been encouraged to reserved two seats for women in the Sangamaya is the only trade union in Sri take up these posts. main committee. Recently the main Lanka where women participate in large The Rajya Seva Jathika Vurthi committee has decided to increase numbers. Formed in 1974, the union’s Saamithi Sammelanaya presents an female representation to 25 per cent in membership consists of health workers. interesting picture. It is another trade the committee and is taking an interest However, due to its political affiliation union with political affiliation and total in women’s concerns such as transport some of the workers have been membership is about 800 of whom facilities for women workers, maternity victimised after elections and a number only 5 are women. However, while leave and sexual harassment. Female of women members have been female participation in trade union members of this union have also been transferred to distant places as activities is negligible, two of the active in the rehabilitation of women punishment. Currently, the union is women are actually on the Executive and children in the border villages. headed by a man. Committee. One of them is a Vice- The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Sri Lanka Nidahas Guru Sangamaya or President of the committee as well. established in 1939, consists of mainly the Independent Teachers’ Union was Thus while women are present in plantation workers. Women constitute established in 1972. Eighty per cent of large numbers in trade unions in Sri 53 per cent of CWC’s membership. This the union’s membership is female. Lanka, their participation in trade union is the only trade union in Sri Lanka However, as with the CWC, actual activities has remained limited. They where female members outnumber the participation of women remains limited have very limited roles in decision- males. However, in terms of actual at less than 10 per cent. Women occupy making, and it is seldom that women’s participation, more men (76 per cent) only 14 per cent of the posts in the concerns are highlighted in the union’s than women (24 per cent) participate in executive committee of the union. Male agenda. Source: Jayawardena 2000. their representation in such bodies economic systems of governance, in both remains negligible. For instance, in administrative and decision-making Pakistan’s High Court Bar Councils, positions. The strategies for a concerted women form less than 2 per cent of the effort by all stakeholders—women, men, total membership (see table 8.8). government and civil society—are Similarly, while many female journalists suggested in the following chapter. have been members of the Press Association of India, only a few have held decision-making positions. In contrast, the Women’s Press Corps has developed a membership of about 200 women in a short span of five years. Table 8.8 Female representation on bar councils in Pakistan (1999) l l l Women Men Women’s quantitative and qualitative Punjab Bar Council 2 80 participation at all levels of governance NWFP Bar Council 1 20 Sindh Bar Council 1 32 structures is absolutely essential for Baluchistan Bar Council 0 4 empowering women in South Asia. A Pakistan Bar Council 0 22 critical mass of women must be given the Total 3 158 opportunity to join political and Source: Zia & Bari 1999.
Gender and Governance 165 9 Towards Gender Equality in South Asia
What is needed is nothing less than a revolution for gender equality. Development must be engendered. Societies cannot succeed while suppressing the talents of half their members.
– Mahbub ul Haq
Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 167 Chapter 9 Towards Gender Equality in South Asia
The Beijing Conference was a milestone travel to realise the ideal of complete in the progress towards women’s gender equality, which is a sine qua non for advancement. A far-reaching Platform for both development and peace in the Action, based on the Nairobi Forward- region. looking Strategies, provided global The contents of this Report make it Forced to live in commitments and action points in a wide clear that millions of South Asian women range of areas to achieve the three have entered the 21st century in desperate poverty, objectives of the Conference—equality, conditions closer to those of the 19th deprived of the development and peace. century Industrial Revolution than those means of acquiring All the UN conferences in the 1990s— of the post-industrial period. Forced to basic needs for the World Summit for Social live in desperate poverty, deprived of the Development in Copenhagen, the Vienna means of acquiring basic needs for themselves and their Conference on Human Rights, the Cairo themselves and their families, they families, South Conference on Population and personify a gender and class-specific Asian women Development, the Rio Conference on poverty of opportunity. Environment and Development, the After three decades of research personify a gender Children’s Summit in New York, and the focussed on gender and development, it and class-specific Education for All Conference in is clearer than ever that there is a critical poverty of Jomtien—not only underlined the need for a gender-specific development opportunity essential links between women’s paradigm. The essential issue is how best empowerment and social and economic to incorporate awareness of the development but provided frameworks implications of gender into all areas of for action and follow-up mechanisms. policy-making and planning so that The Beijing Platform for Action is a women’s needs can be met, their consolidation of all these previous global capabilities enhanced, and their commitments, strengthening some areas, opportunities enlarged. The critical adding others, and thus the Platform, in questions are: by what means can its final form, emerged as a Magna Carta women’s capabilities—as individuals, as for gender equality. citizens, and as members of families—be The Beijing Platform urged each enhanced? Through which institutional government to draw up its own national mechanisms can the wide gaps between plan of action and formulate specific current situations and potential strategies for eliminating existing gender improvements be bridged? How can gaps in access to education and pervasive inequities be corrected? And healthcare, opening up economic and how can the women of South Asia political opportunities for women and achieve greater degrees of autonomy in ensuring their human rights. In South their personal, economic and political Asia, as well as in other regions, progress lives? has been made in raising consciousness While equality and the empowerment and undertaking research to identify of women require actions in a number of bottlenecks and actions to improve areas, four areas stand out as most critically women’s position and conditions. Yet important for achieving the equality of gender equality has remained an elusive South Asian women with men. These are: goal in most societies. The previous a) Building women’s capabilities. chapters show how far South Asia has to Although gender gaps in education and
168 Human Development in South Asia 2000 health have narrowed over the last two established the structural framework of decades, the pace of progress has been the post-colonial women’s movements. inadequate and uneven within and among These movements originated, in South South Asian countries. Asia as elsewhere, when women b) Improving opportunities for collectively acted on two realisations: (i) women. Without improving the that they were discriminated against opportunity to earn income or to because they were women and (ii) that participate in decision-making forums, there is no necessary procedure through South Asian women’s concerns and which priorities and needs that are potentials will remain marginalized and important to women will be incorporated hostage to patriarchal prejudices. into the agendas of political parties or c) Ensuring legal justice to women; and other social movements. Women’s d)Establishing/strengthening movements act on the assumption that Without improving institutional machinery to ensure all socio-economic, political and the opportunity to implementation and monitoring of ecological issues are ‘women’s issues’ and gender-empowerment policies. argue that if women do not work to put participate in these issues onto political or social-action decision-making Each of these areas is discussed in the agendas, it will not happen. forums, South Asian following pages in the context of the Many of the organisations formed after women’s concerns proposed agenda for women’s equality. Independence adopted a social-welfare First, however, we need to briefly approach in their work with the victims will remain examine the history of South Asian of wars of independence. Efforts to marginalized women’s roles in social, historical and alleviate poverty through ‘uplift’ for the political movements of this region in poor were a necessary starting point, order to put the whole issue of women’s given the desperate need of millions of struggle for equality into historical women. A social-welfare approach has perspective. remained the modus operandi for some elements of women’s movements, playing Women’s movements in South Asia a vital role in helping millions of poor women meet their economic needs. South Asian women’s mass involvement However, this approach does not address in social change began with Independence the patriarchal structure of South Asian movements, when millions of women societies. Furthermore, a welfare joined men in public actions that approach, with middle-class women challenged colonial rule. It can be argued helping the ‘deserving poor’ does not that Independence could not have been acknowledge that power resides in the won without women’s participation. hands of middle-class activists, and that Some women joined armed struggles, those being ‘uplifted’ remain relatively although the majority participated in powerless and dependent. satyagrahas, marches and other forms of Members of women’s movements passive resistance. Many women went to grapple with the issue of establishing prison, thereby challenging gender common ground as women across social stereotypes and demonstrating their divisions of class, ethnicity, religious ability to resist intimidation. When community, and political commitment. It Independence was won, however, women has often been charged that elite, western- were expected to relinquish their educated women have determined the involvement in public activities. A form and content of South Asian number of high-profile women resisted women’s movements and that their this assumption and held public office, concerns do not represent the interests but the majority complied. of the majority of women. However, After Independence, a number of South Asian activists have insisted that nation-wide organisations in each country responses to the problems of South Asian
Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 169 women must come from within their own expenditures for social development, as cultures and they resist both critiques and they do in many South Asian countries. proposed solutions that originate in other Through decades of research and cultural settings. activism, South Asian women’s Large-scale, grassroots women’s movements have struggled to put all of movements have arisen in response to the the issues addressed in this Report— economic discrimination faced by the women’s lack of political power, gender- millions of South Asian women and men based economic disparities, reproductive who have been disadvantaged by post- health issues, the need for economic colonial development processes, and justice, human rights issues, the need for whose means of livelihood have been peaceful development—at the centre of threatened by globalizing economies. NGO and government development Women’s movements Contemporary women’s movements have agendas. The struggle is a difficult one, have led the way in also joined forces with environmental given the lack of commitment by movements to voice alarm about governments, the power of feudal and incorporating gender environmental degradation that threatens patriarchal social structures and the into development lives and livelihoods. One of many demands of globalizing economies for theory and practice examples is the Narmada Bachao cheap labour and high profits. Andolan, whose proponents argue that the livelihoods of tens of thousands of An agenda for equality of women with villagers are being sacrificed to the men interests of agro-industries and urban dwellers, as the damming of the river Despite the very rich history of South proceeds. The defining moment of the Asian women’s efforts, today women in Chipko movement in Uttar Pradesh, South Asia suffer greater poverty of when a number of women protected the education, health and nutrition, and trees that were a source of sustainable greater lack of access to economic, livelihood, rather than a commodity, for political and legal opportunities, relative them, is another well-known example. to their male counterparts as well as to Women’s movements have led the way women around the world. Although the in incorporating gender into development degree of discrimination varies from one theory and practice. Poverty alleviation, country to another, the overall picture is for example, has always been an issue for that of a region where pervasive inequality the women’s movement. Women’s in one form or another has perpetuated organisations across South Asia have the prevailing unequal structure. What is worked against efforts to control needed is not only to raise the collective women’s religious and ethnic identities consciousness of the region for speedy and against the politicisation of religion. implementation of the global and national These efforts have occurred in the commitments that governments have context of wider religious and ethnic made, but also to put structures and struggles, when male religious or political finances in place for proper leaders have defined women as the implementation. bearers of culture and tradition and At the United Nations Special Session thereby sought to control women’s in June 2000 to review the follow-up of participation in society. Beijing commitments by governments, South Asian women have also joined South Asia showed some gains, especially forces to work for peace and to alleviate in areas of awareness raising, in building the suffering of victims of war, forced capability of women in education and relocation and inter-caste and community training, and in expanding some job violence. They reiterate the long-standing opportunities. But violence against argument that development cannot occur women in all forms, trafficking of women when military expenditures exceed and children, and inadequate legal redress
170 Human Development in South Asia 2000 raised the concern of the world regarding review laws related to women, especially the precarious situation of South Asian those dealing with violence; and the women. The Special Session adopted a Prevention of Women and Children follow-up document to accelerate Repression Act has been passed to deal progress toward achieving women’s more effectively with rape, trafficking of equality with men, keeping in view the women and forced prostitution. religious and cultural context of each • In India, a Women’s Bureau is country. The document has called for undertaking a review of discriminatory removing laws that discriminate against laws. Also, several Supreme Court rulings women by the year 2005, including were favourable to women in cases tougher measures on sex trafficking and related to dowry demand, adoption of violence against women. It also called for children by single women, and inheritance universal education and closing of gender laws. Achieving gender gaps in primary and secondary education • In Pakistan, citizenship laws equality in by the year 2015. The document is non- discriminatory to women have been binding on governments, but it sets revised. patriarchal societies standards to be followed by international But, as our analysis in chapter 5 shows, entails a radical organisations. It also provides a basis for the legal umbrella for South Asian women change in the long- advocacy and monitoring by hardly protects them, especially the vast standing premises governments, parliaments and non- majority of poor, uneducated women who governmental organisations. always receive the worst treatment from But what would be the components of both law breakers and law enforcers. an agenda for equality? Achieving gender Various degrees of legal discrimination equality in patriarchal societies entails a against women persist in most countries radical change in the long-standing in matters related to marriage, divorce, premises of social, economic, political and criminal punishment, child custody, job cultural life. Prevailing inequities in these security, inheritance and property rights. areas will stand in the way. Determined Thus the first priority for gender equality commitment and action by governments is to achieve legal equality for women. and all sections of civil society are needed To achieve this, there has to be legal to surmount the barriers. Incremental action in at least seven areas; changes will not bring about gender parity; (i) Enforcement of constitutional rights revolutionary strategies are needed. It is in of women. While constitutional this spirit that we propose the following jurisprudence varies across South Asia, agenda. However, this is to be seen as a constitutional review and revision to framework for action rather than a ensure legal justice can be a powerful blueprint for each country to follow. catalyst for change. Constitutional Countries will need to prepare their own guarantees can also contribute to policy agendas for gender equality in light of the formulation and enactment of laws that advances they have already made. In that are equitable to women. Several examples spirit, we identify four areas for priority of positive decisions related to women’s action to achieve gender equality. fundamental constitutional rights have been cited in chapter 5. Equality under the law (ii) Repeal of discriminatory laws. Most laws that discriminate against women are During the last five years, numerous steps ostensibly there to protect women from have been taken in South Asia to establish the misuse of laws, and yet that is exactly institutional mechanisms for review and what happens in the interpretation of reform of laws discriminating against those laws. This calls for a review of women. For example, discriminatory laws, their progressive • In Bangladesh, a Permanent Law interpretation by judges who have been Commission has been established to made gender sensitive through training,
Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 171 and the repeal of those laws that are on laws of different religions practiced against the true spirit of religion. here. Most of these laws are (iii) The principle of affirmative action discriminatory to women, although has to be enshrined in law and strictly attempts have been made by various enforced. From admission to school, governments to surmount the obstacles colleges, to recruitment of jobs, political in order to ensure equity. Yet, inordinate appointments, party tickets for contesting sufferings of poor and illiterate women elections to the various echelons of at the hands of men and male law governance structures, the principle of enforcers make it imperative for the law- affirmative action must be applied if we makers to make sure that these laws are are serious about equalising opportunities used and interpreted in a gender-sensitive between women and men. way. The principle of (iv) Rape must be treated as a crime (vii) Governments and NGOs must affirmative action against humanity by courts. The continue and strengthen their efforts to prevalence of violence against women, provide women-positive legal education has to be enshrined rape being the cruelest of all, received a to: (a) law enforcement and legal officials in law and strictly lot of international attention at the UN so that they perform their duties in a enforced Special Session. Both the UN Secretary manner that is both gender-sensitive and General and the First Lady of the United in accordance with international standards States called on the international of human rights; (b) women and men so community to stop this crime against that they understand their rights and humanity. ‘Even though most countries realise their responsibilities as citizens; have legislated against it, violence against and (c) girls and boys so that they grow women is still increasing—both in the into aware and responsible citizens. home and in new types of armed conflict which target civilian populations with Equality of access to capability building women and children as the first casualties,’ said Kofi Annan, Secretary Over the last twenty years significant General of the United Nations. In South improvements have been achieved across Asia, various countries have introduced South Asia in building the capabilities of positive legislation in this regard. For women and girls. The average literacy rate example, in India legislative reform and of women has doubled from 17 per cent judicial developments have strengthened in 1960 to 37 per cent in 1997. Girls’ the law on sexual offences. In Sri Lanka primary school enrolment rate has risen the definition of rape has been significantly, reaching parity in Sri Lanka significantly altered by only requiring and the Maldives, and near parity in proof of the absence of consent. several states of India and in Bangladesh. (v) So-called ‘honour killing’ should be But in Pakistan, Nepal and some states in treated as murder under the law. ‘...when India, gender disparity in enrolment is still honour killings continue to be tolerated, very wide. More importantly, two-thirds our work is far from done,’ lamented of the out-of-school children are girls, Hillary Clinton at the UN Special Session. and half the enrolled girls drop out before This injustice is not limited only to South completing the primary cycle. This Asia; it is being committed in every region situation then affects enrollment for and in every society, as the Special Session secondary and vocational/technical noted. Governments have to play a education and later on in the job market. proactive role in this issue to put the Access to basic preventive healthcare power of the law behind this crime and has also resulted in dramatically reducing punish the offenders. mortality rates, and improving the rates (vi) The family laws have to be applied of child immunization. Yet South Asia’s equitably. The area of family law is a maternal mortality rate, at over 400 per difficult terrain in South Asia as it is based 100,000 live births, is one of the worst in
172 Human Development in South Asia 2000 the world. Within this South Asian • The system of technical and average, again Sri Lanka and the Maldives vocational education in the region needs have better records of achievement. both quantitative and qualitative However, all the countries have basic improvement, especially keeping in mind policies in place for universal primary women’s special requirements for training education and immunization of children. in non-traditional fields. Huge challenges remain in achieving gender equality in access to education, Table 9.1 Capabilities and opportunities of South Asian women health and nutrition, as discussed in chapters 6 and 7. Table 9.1 indicates the South Sub-Saharan East Asia All Develop- gender disparities in education and health, Asia Africa (excl. China) ing Countries and economic and political opportunities CAPABILITIES for women as compared to men. Equality Education Profile of access to all social services, most Adult female literacy rate 1997 37 49.6 94 63 importantly education and health, must Female as % of male 58 75 96 79 be one of the priority commitments and Primary school enrolment 1997 97 56.2 97.9 85.7 Female as % of male 77.2 85 101 94.0 policy decisions taken by those Tertiary school enrolment governments that have failed to achieve (female as % of male) 48 46 6.1 44.0 this so far. To reduce gender disparity in Mean years of schooling education, particularly basic education, of females 1992 1.2 1.3 6.2 3.0 Human Development in South Asia 1998 Health Profile Report suggested a seven-point agenda Female life expectancy which is as valid today as it was then. at birth 1997 63.2 50.3 76.2 66.1 Maternal mortality rate That agenda includes: focusing on putting (per 100,000 live births) 1990-98 405 979 114 491 all girls in schools in order to reach the Total fertility rate 1997 3.3 5.5 1.7 3.0 goal of universal primary education; Women using contraceptives (%) taking practical steps, such as enacting 1990-98 39 17 58.2 56 compulsory primary education laws, to OPPORTUNITIES translate governments’ rhetoric into Economic Opportunities action; providing schooling facilities Earned income share sensitive to girls’ needs and concerns; (female as % of male) 1995 33 35.5 33.2 48 recruiting and training female teachers; Economic activity rate (female as % of male age) supportive policies and incentives 15 and above) 1997 52.4 73.9 69.7 68 schemes; community participation in planning and management; and improving Occupation Administrative and the status of women. In this Report, managerial (%) 1992-97 2.7 6.1 13.7 10 however, our suggestions go beyond Professional and technical primary education in order to ensure (%) 1992-96 21.4 17.2 45.0 n/a gender equality at all levels of education Political Opportunities and training. Share of females in • First to reiterate the Parliament (% of total) 1999 7.3 11.2 4.5 10 recommendations of the 1998 Report, the Share of females at ministerial level (1995) 4.2 6.8 4.5 5 goal of universal high-quality primary education has to be translated into Human Development Indicators policies and actions. This means Human Development compulsory primary education laws Index (HDI) 1997 0.532 0.463 0.849 0.637 should be enacted and strictly enforced. Gender-related Development It also means the application of the Index (GDI) 1997 0.511 0.454 0.843 0.630 principle of affirmative action in hiring Gender Empowerment Index (GEM) 1995-97a 0.236 0.339 0.318 0.374 female teachers and locating schools. Some South Asian countries are already Sourcess: Haq 1997; MHHDC 1999a; UNDP 1995a, 1998a, and 1999c, UNICEF 2000; WB 1999. Note: a: Latest year available. implementing these policies successfully.
Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 173 • Accessible and cost-effective facilities women’s economic status is a necessary for higher education and distance starting point, but that commitment must education should be made available to be supported by proper implementation women. Access to non-traditional, machinery. At the minimum, actions are professional education for women should required in the following seven areas: be encouraged through affirmative action • Legislative actions to improve and financial incentive schemes. women’s economic opportunities are needed on three fronts: a) to abolish To reduce gender disparity in discriminatory legislation related to healthcare, the following core strategies economic activity, b) to initiate proactive are suggested: legislation, such as minimum quotas for • Each country must set time-bound public sector jobs for women, and c) to Meaningful efforts to targets to reduce infant and maternal honour commitments to international enhance women’s mortality rates, as well as to reduce conventions established to protect population growth rates. workers’ rights. Also legislation must be economic activity • A law against foeticide is to be enacted and enforced to protect the rights and remuneration enacted and/or strictly enforced where of informal-sector workers. require a the law already exists. • Minimum-wage levels, the same for combination of • Access to health services in rural women and men, must be established and areas, especially for reproductive health, enforced in the formal and informal enlightened must be improved in quantity and quality. sectors as well as in agriculture. legislation, • Budgetary allocations for social • Job creation for women must be comprehensive sectors, including education, health, made a priority and should be linked to drinking water and family planning political accountability. In other words, research, and services, at central and state/provincial the female workforce should be thorough data- levels have to be increased. No equality acknowledged as a constituency. collection in this area is possible without overall • Innovative efforts need to be made improvement of the social service delivery to move women out of gender-segregated system. employment, and into non-traditional occupations. Equality of economic opportunity • Affordable credit for micro- enterprises has proven to be an effective As described in chapter 4, South Asian way to improve women’s income and to women are almost invisible in national reduce poverty. South Asia has many economic accounting systems. Even when success stories in this field; these women are counted as workers, they successes must now be replicated on a constitute only 33 per cent of the total larger scale so as to make a decisive official labour force. Women earn only difference in the lives of poor women. half as much as men, are concentrated in • Rural economies, agricultural and the informal and agricultural sectors, and non-agricultural, must be revitalised so have almost no bargaining power as that there are more economic regards the conditions of work. opportunities for women. Efforts to ensure economic equality • A gender-disaggregated accurate must take into account women’s economic database is a must for analytical and circumstances, economic capabilities and policy-formulation purposes. Nowhere is the current state of a country’s economic the paucity of database as acute as in the activity. Meaningful efforts to enhance area of women’s economic activity. women’s economic activity and remuneration require a combination of Equality in governance enlightened legislation, comprehensive research, and thorough data-collection. Just as in the economy, South Asian Political commitment to improving women are also invisible in the governance
174 Human Development in South Asia 2000 structures. The shocking statistics in and members of local governments. is chapter 8 are the result of pervasive critically important for achieving gender discrimination against women in the social, equality in governance. economic and legal spheres and oppressive systems of patriarchy. South Asian women Implementing an agenda for equality: occupy only 7 per cent of the the institutional imperative parliamentary seats, 9 per cent of the cabinets, 6 per cent of the judiciary, and 9 A meaningful and feasible agenda for per cent of the civil service. Even in the gender equality requires action at every structures of local governance, where so level of political and social organisation much advance has been made by some at international, national and local levels. countries recently, only 20 per cent of seats It also requires changes in political are occupied by women. The major institutions and in the institutions of civil With women in the political parties have women in top society. In this section we call for specific roles of decision- positions, yet large gender disparities action and for new relationships in order pervade all levels of governance. A note to bring about the necessary making and of caution is in order here. The regional transformations. implementation, averages presented here hide the significant During the last five years many significant change in achievements made by some countries, developing nations have formulated public policy in particularly Sri Lanka and India. Yet the thoughtful blueprints for women’s fact remains that today in no South Asian advancement. Many of these have favour of women is country is there a critical mass of women succeeded only marginally because of a bound to follow in positions of power to bring meaningful lack of adequate funds for changes in the lives of women. implementation or because no specific With women in the roles of decision- targets or timetables were set or because making and implementation, significant there was no monitoring body to assess change in public policy in favour of the progress made. women is bound to follow. For that to The overarching problem is the lack happen, actions are needed in at least five of a powerful institution with a global areas: vision and a mandate for ensuring gender • The critical threshold of 33 per cent equality. A proposal for establishing an of seats must be reserved for women in international body capable of creating the all legislative, judiciary and executive institutional machinery to bring this about bodies. In India, the introduction of is presented in the following section. Panchayat Raj has led to the participation The Beijing Platform for Action of over a million women in local provided a wide-ranging blueprint for governments. women’s equality. But it failed to provide • Political parties should be legally the institutional structure needed for its required to reserve a minimum quota for implementation. Five years after Beijing, women in party decision-making bodies we are realising how the institutional void and in giving party tickets for elections. has hampered making substantial progress • The principle of affirmative action in the implementation of Beijing Platform must be upheld in selecting women for Action (BPfA) nationally and globally. parliamentarians for powerful cabinet Among the existing United Nations positions and in recruitment for the civil institutional structures for implementing service. and monitoring progress towards BPfA, • The capacity of women in the UN Commission on the Status of governance structures, in all sectors and Women (CSW) monitors the work done at all levels, should be enhanced through by the agencies at the global and national training and access to information. levels. The other UN institutional • Gender-sensitisation training for male mechanisms that carry on research, parliamentarians, judges, civil servants advocacy and implementation of catalytic
Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 175 projects such as the United Nations Fund institutional arrangement as an efficient for Women (UNIFEM), UN Division for and cost-effective way of using existing the Advancement of Women (DAW), and structures and resources. the gender focal points in all UN agencies Those arguments are more valid today have been strengthened to some extent, than they were then. Today there is an as per the recommendations of BPfA. But urgent need for a single, highly visible the main characteristics of these UN agency for women to take forward institutional arrangements at the global policy advocacy for women every day and level still remain limited financial not every five or ten years. Women resources, diffused mandates and deserve an institutional constituency at inadequate interaction with national high- the global level that keeps on fighting for level policymakers. At the review of the their rights, that keeps their concerns on Sustained progress UN Special Session, it was obvious how top of national and international agendas, in women’s little progress had been made in terms of and that applies pressure in the UN and concrete achievements in reducing gender in the Security Council on issues of development cannot gaps in opportunities, although progress development and peace that affect be made without a had been made in raising awareness and women (Haq, K. 1999). high-level UN building capabilities. At the national level in South Asia, agency dedicated to Sustained progress in women’s women’s ministries, departments, development cannot be made without a commissions and bureaux remain under- women’s high-level UN agency dedicated to funded and lacking in the authority advancement women’s advancement—on the same required to plan and implement policies pattern as UNICEF, which is dedicated and programmes for women’s to children’s causes. About a dozen years advancement and equality. While women ago, a proposal was floated (Haq, K. remain severely under-represented in 1989) to establish a United Nations political office, the civil service and other Agency for the Advancement of Women public bodies, the application of the (UNAAW) in order to address the need principle of affirmative action is not only for adequate institutional machinery at rare, on many occasions it is used on international as well as national levels for behalf of men and against women. Despite formulating and implementing policies constitutional guarantees, discriminatory and strategies for women’s advancement. legislation remains in place, and protective But at the Beijing Conference no serious laws are inadequately enforced. Social consideration was given to the proposal. sector budgets, which include programmes Those UN agencies which were already for women, remain severely inadequate. in the field, but were rather small with The time is long past when a small bureau limited mandates and even more limited can look after some welfare projects for resources, worried that they would be women. No one can belittle the need for further marginalized. Others argued that women-specific projects to respond to the women’s concerns were all-embracing concerns and livelihood needs of poor, and could not be pigeon-holed in a marginalized women. Those concerns separate agency; all agencies should deal must be met. But our agenda for women’s with them. But the advocates of the equality addresses even broader issues— proposal argued that a distinct agency, to fight the pervasive inequality at all levels like UNAAW, could become the most in order to equalise the institutional ardent and professional advocate for structures, instead of marginalizing women gender equality. Such an agency could be in low-profile, under-funded bodies. set up as an umbrella organisation with To implement the agenda we have some existing facilities and programmes outlined, it is imperative that there be a grouped under its jurisdiction. The stronger women’s ministry with authority original idea was not to create a new and human and financial resources as the institution but to conceive this ministry of finance or foreign affairs. As
176 Human Development in South Asia 2000 our agenda advocates for a paradigm shift stage of programme implementation and in social structures, it cannot be evaluation to assess their impact, both implemented through existing positive and negative, on women. governmental machinery currently in place. At the global level we are Civil society for women’s equality advocating the establishment of a strong UN agency for women which should have Achieving meaningful and sustainable political power equivalent to the gender equality requires the creation of a economic power of the Bretton Woods new relationship between governments, Institutions. At the national level we civil society and international require a counterpart with the equivalent governmental and non-governmental power of the Ministry of Finance. Also, agencies. Although governments must act at the national level we need an equivalent in those spheres which are their Achieving structure of the Commission on the responsibility, the best hope for meaningful and Status of Women, such as Permanent engendering the kind of change that is National Commissions on the Status of necessary lies with the institutions of civil sustainable gender Women, to monitor the progress made society. In most South Asian countries, it equality requires the in each country. Each country will have is these institutions—grassroots, creation of a new to decide on the structure and community-based and non-governmental relationship between composition of these bodies. But that organisations, professional groups, and there is a need for stronger and more the media—which have gender-specific governments, civil authoritative institutions to take forward agendas, have identified the problems society and national and global commitments for faced by women, and have specific international women’s equality can no longer be programmes of action. agencies debated. Most of these NGOs have established To operationalise this strategy for networks of members and affiliated women’s equality, governments will have bodies. They are able to react more to play a much more active role than quickly than governments to acute before in setting up stronger situations, having more flexible implementing and monitoring bodies, as organisational structures. They also have suggested above; setting goals, specific valuable experience of successes and targets and timetables; and earmarking failures in implementing programmes. sufficient resources for implementation. Some of these groups work to alleviate Achieving the goals of equality in the law, poverty and to enable economically- and of access to education, health and marginal women to earn a living. Some economic and political opportunities will provide informal education and require sustained and committed vocational training to working women. governmental action in numerous areas. Others pressure governments to meet This is where a committed leadership, national and international commitments with a clear and long-term vision, will be on women’s rights and to enact gender- the most important factor. sensitive labour legislation. Some States must be made to live up to the publicise human-rights issues, such as requirements, enshrined in their ‘dowry deaths’, domestic violence, and so- Constitutions, of equality for all citizens. called ‘honour killings’, which threaten Achieving this requires governments to many women. Some groups function as go far beyond rhetorical commitments to women’s healthcare advocates. For some, gender equity, and beyond either token workers’ rights are the focus: there are numbers or quotas to be filled. It requires organisations of domestic workers, both proactive and responsive efforts. It agricultural workers and home-based requires elected and appointed officials labourers. There are also organisations to examine every aspect of economic whose purpose is to influence public and policy, bureaucratic structure, and every governmental discourse on the host of
Towards Gender Equality in South Asia 177 issues related to peace and the women are invisible to policy makers and environment. elected officials, their needs and their capabilities are ignored. Relations between women and men The Report is calling for nothing less than equality with men—but not equality Familial relations are at the heart of social of misery and deprivation. Increasing relations. They reflect and reproduce all women’s social and economic well-being social values—religious, ethical, is a means of enhancing a whole society’s economic, institutional. Relations between social and economic well-being. Ensuring women and men reflect and reproduce that women’s rights are respected is one deeply embedded cultural attitudes about way of increasing the likelihood that the such things as the behaviour and rights of the wider society are met. Courage is what is responsibilities appropriate to women and Governments must be made to realise that needed to bring men. Because intra-household relations it is in their own best interest to are based on unequal power and incorporate gender into planning and about an equal and authority, and the inequality favours men, policy-making, and that the claim to be equitable society efforts to change those relations are concerned with development and progress fraught with difficulty. In times of great cannot be substantiated when the majority change, when social values are perceived of women are deprived of the most basic as being under threat, there is a tendency rights. Putting gender at the centre of to uphold the status quo. development planning requires nothing Some changes in power relations will less than total commitment. It requires the inevitably occur when women are able to courage to find the political will to put command economic resources and when gender at the heart of new development they are educated. As discussed earlier, paradigm and to resist the backlash that some aspects of relations between women will arise from this effort. It requires vision and men can be changed through and long-term commitment to implement legislation. changes that are truly comprehensive in This call for a new, gender-centric scope, rather than ad hoc. Governments paradigm of development requires taking and those sectors of society which have seriously the arguments put forth in this benefitted from post-colonial social Report: for example, that keeping women transformations and economic growth out of development planning impedes must take to heart the fact that if the national economic development; that benefits of development are not more labour-force growth requires attention to equitably distributed, their own well-being women’s needs and capabilities, because is jeopardised. more women than men are joining the Courage is what is needed to bring labour force; that female peasant farmers about an equal and equitable society which who live in patron-client relationships this region needs desperately to unleash with feudal landlords are in no position the creative energies of all its people. As to make decisions about educating their Mahbub ul Haq always reminded us: ‘In children; that increasing women’s the intellectual world, often it is courage agricultural output increases GNP; that if that is lacking, not wisdom.’
178 Human Development in South Asia 2000 References
Background Papers Chapter 2 draws on the following: Bhasin et al. 1994; Jackson and Pearson 1998; March et al. 1999; Visvanathan et al. 1998; Wieringa 1994. While there Acharya, Meena. 2000. ‘Women and the are no specific references to some of these texts, Economy in Nepal.’ they can be considered as important background Atapattu, Danny. 2000. ‘Women and the reading. Economy of Sri Lanka.’ Chapter 3 draws on the following: ESCAP Baidya, Bal Gopal. 2000. ‘Women in 1999a; UNIFEM 1999; UNSecGen 2000; and all Governance: A Case Study of Nepal.’ listed Beijing Plus Five review documents and National Plans of Action prepared by governments, Goonesekere, S. 2000. ‘Women’s Rights NGOs and NGO coalitions, and international and the Legal System in Some agencies. Countries of South Asia: India, Nepal, Chapter 4 draws on the following: AKF 1999; Sri Lanka.’ Beneria 1995; Elson and Evers 1996; Floro 1995; Gopalan, Sarala. 2000. ‘Gender and Folbre 1998; Fontana, Joekes and Marika 1998; GOB 1996b; GOP 1997b; GOS 1998; Haddad, Governance: India.’ Richter and Smith 1995; Jain and Chand 1982; Guhathakurta, Meghna. 2000. ‘Gender Klein and Nestvogel 1999; Omvedt 1992; Parajuli and Governance: Bangladesh.’ 1991; Ribe and Carvalho 1990; Sathar and Kazi Jayawardena, Kumari. 2000. ‘Gender and 1997; Shaheed and Mumtaz 1990; Shramshakti Governance: Sri Lanka.’ 1988; Sudarshan and Kaur 1999; UNICEF 1998; Mahmud, Simeen. 2000. ‘Women and the Visaria 1999; World Bank 1989. Chapter 5 draws on the following: AGHS Economy in Bangladesh.’ 2000; FWLD 1999; RCIW 1997. Apart from these Mehta, Aasha Kapur. 2000. ‘Women and references, the chapter draws heavily from the Economy in India.’ background papers mentioned in the beginning. Sobhan, Salma. (principle author), F. Chapter 6 draws on the following: AIOU Pereira and 1999a, 1999b and 1999c; Bhatty 1998a and 1998b; Dollar and Gatti 1999; Dreze, Murthi and Guio S. Rahman. 2000. ‘Bangladesh: Women 1995; Dube 1997; GOB 1999; GOI 1999; GOM and the Law: A Case Study.’ 1999; GOP 1999; GOS 1999; Haq 1998; HMG Zia, Shahla. 2000. ‘Women and Law: Nepal 1999; Jayaweera 1991; Jeffery and Basu Pakistan.’ 1996; King and Hill 1991; King, Filmer and Pritchett 1998; Klasen 1999; RGB 1999; Sathar Bibliographic Note and Kazi 1997; UNESCO 1998a and 1998b; and World Bank 1994b. Chapter 7 draws on the following: Bumiller Chapter 1 draws on the following: 1990; Dewan 1998; Kapur 1993; Karlekar 1998; Anisuzzaman 1999; Fernandes 1998; Gupwell Tinker 1998; UNFPA 1998, 1999a and 1999b; 1999; Haq 1995; Haq 1997; Haq and Haq 1998; World Bank 1996; and WHO 1998. Khan 1996; Khan 1997; Marwah and Klein 1995; Chapter 8 draws on the following: CENWOR Menon 1999; Naqvi, Ahmed and Khan 1984; 1995; GOP 1998; Shaheed 1998; Zia and Bari Quibria 1993; Srinivasan 1994; Srinivasan and 1999. Canonero 1993a; Srinivasan and Canonero 1993b; Chapter 9 draws on the following: Haq, K Tahir and Sajid 1996; Thakur 1994; World Bank 1989; Haq, K 1999. 1999; World Bank 2000;
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Statistical Profile of Gender in South Asia 191 Contents
Note on statistical sources for gender tables 194 Table 1: Summary of Key Gender Data 195 • Female population (as a % of total population) • Share of earned income (female as a % of male) • Female literacy rate • Share of women in parliament (as a % of total (as a % of total female population) parliamentarians) • Female primary net enrolment ratio • Women at administrative and managerial level (%) (as a % of total female population) • Female life expectancy (number of years) • Female 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level gross enrolment ratio • Female average age at marriage (as % of female population) • Maternal mortality rate • Female labour force (as a % of total labour force) • Female refugees (as a % of total) • Adult female economic activity rate (as a % of male) • Gender-related Development Index (GDI) • Female unemployment rate (as a % of male) • Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) Table 2: Economic Participation 196 • Female population (number) • Female unemployment rate • Female population (as a % of total) (as a % of female labour force) • Total female labour force • Adult female economic activity rate • Female labour force (as a % of total) (% of male) • Percentage of female labour force in: • Real GDP per capita (female) – agriculture; • Real GDP per capita – industry; (female as a % of male) – services • Female unpaid family workers (as % of total) • Women (as a % of total): – administrative & managerial; – professional & technical Table 3: Female Health & Nutrition 197 • Female life expectancy (number of years) • Contraception prevalence rate (any method) • Total fertility rate • Number of malnourished children under 5 • Births attended by trained health personnel (% female) • Pregnant women with anemia (age 15 to 49) • Annual number of deaths (female under-5) • Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) • Probability of dying before age 5 (per 1000) Table 4: Profile of Female Literacy 198 • Adult female literacy rate (%) • Female tertiary enrolment • Female literacy rate (as a % of male) • Percentage of female students in: education; humanities; • Female primary school net enrolment ratio (%) law and social science; natural sciences; • Net primary school attendance (% male and female) engineering; medical sciences; business administration • Female percentage of cohort reaching grade 5 • Female out of school children • Female primary drop out rate • Female teachers at primary level (as a % of total) • Female secondary net enrolment ratio (%)
192 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Table 5: Female Participation in Governance 199 • Women in parliament (% of total) • Number of female judges in: – upper house; – supreme court; – lower house; – high courts/court of appeal – cabinet • Female lawyers (as a % of male) • Total size of civil service • Year women received right to: • Female civil servants (% of total) – vote; • Percentage of female civil servants in: – stand for elections; – diplomatic services; – first woman elected or nominated – district management; • Total number of registered female voters – commerce & trade; • Female voters (as a % of total) – police services; • Female voter turnout at the last election – others (as a % of male) • Female judges (as a % of total) Table 6: Status of selected international conventions and international labour standards in South Asia 200 Convention/covenant on: • Prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide • Protection of rights of migrant workers • Suppression of traffic in persons and prostitution • C89 - Night work (women) • Status of refugees • C100 - Equal remuneration • Economic social and cultural rights • C103 - Maternity protection • Civil and political rights • C149 - Nursing personnel • Elimination of racial discrimination • C156 - Workers with family responsibilities • Elimination of discrimination against women • C171 - Night work • Against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment • C177 - Home work • Rights of child • C182 - Worst forms of child labour
Statistical Profile of Gender in South Asia 193 Note on Statistical Sources for Gender Tables
The key gender data for this Report have civil servants in India covers only 19 out been collected from various international of a total of 40 services. On the other and national sources. Principle hand, data for Bangladesh covers all civil international sources include the UN services. systems and the World Bank. For National data were collected from all instance, data on health and education South Asian countries directly, except have mostly been collected from Bhutan and Maldives. International international sources. National data has sources have been mostly utilised for the been compiled from various government latter two countries. Certain data have and non-government sources. been specifically compiled for the Since regional international purpose of this Report such as the data comparability is limited for data obtained on women in the judiciary. In some cases from national sources, sincere effort has gender-segregated data were not readily been made to use international data available, especially with respect to voter wherever available. However, due to the turnout. As is clearly visible, there is a nature of the data required, national scarcity of data of the nature used in this sources were also used extensively. The Report at both the national and the table on female participation in international level. governance relies mostly on national Moreover, the latest reliable data remain sources. Extra care has been taken to unavailable for several important gender ensure that the information provided at indicators such as the statistical invisibility the national level is both reliable and of women and degree of involvement in consistent. Nevertheless, data from decision-making structures of governing national sources should be used with bodies in the public, private and social caution, especially while carrying out sectors. In order to formulate effective cross-country comparisons. This is mainly polices that address gender issues there is because at times only partial data has been an urgent need for up-to-date and accurate made available. For instance, data on the data on all these issues.
194 Human Development in South Asia 2000 1. Summary of Key Gender Data
South Asia India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted average) Female population (as a % of total population) 2000 48 46 49 50 50 50 47 48 Female literacy rate (as a % of total female population) 1997 39 25 27 21 88 30 96 37 Female primary net enrolment ratio (as a % of female population)* 1997 71 62 70 63 100 12 98 70 Female 1st, 2nd and 3rd level gross enrolment ratio (as a % of male)* 1997 76 50 75 71 103 71 101 74 Female labour force (as a % of total labour force) 1998 32 29 42 41 36 … … 33 Adult female economic activity rate** (as a % of male) 1997 50.3 40.3 77.2 69.6 55.4 66.7 78.2 52.4 Female unemployment rate (as a % of female labour force) 1996 … 13.7 2.3 … 17.6 … … … Share of earned income (female as a % of male) 1995 34 26 30 50 55 48 55 33 Share of women in parliament (as a % of total parliamentarians) 1999 8.7 2.6 12.4 7.9 4.9 2 6.3 7.3 Women at administrative and managerial level (%) 1992-97a 2 4 5 … 18 … 14 3 Female life expectancy (number of years) 1997 63.9 62.59 58.2 57.1 75.4 62 68 63.2 Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) 1990-98a 410 340 440 540 60 1600 202 405 Female refugees (as a % of total) 1997 52 49 51 49 … … … 50.7 Gender-related development index (GDI) 1997 0.525 0.472 0.428 0.441 0.712 0.444 0.711 0.511 Gender empowerment measure (GEM) 1997 0.24 0.176 0.304 … 0.321 … 0.342 0.236 Note: * relevant age group ** does not include the invisible work done by women a: Latest available year Source: Row 1: UN 1999c, GOP 1998e; Row 2: UNDP 1999c, UNICEF 1999b; Row 4: UNDP 1999c; Row 5: World Bank 2000; Row 6: UNDP 1999c; Row 7: ILO 1998; Row 8: UNDP 1998a; Row 9: IPU 1999, GOP 1998a, GOI 1999b, GOB 1991, De Silva 1995, HMG Nepal 1999c; Row 10: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1998a; Row 11: World Bank 1999; Row 12: World Bank 2000; Row 13: ESCAP 1999f; Row 14,15 : UNDP 1999c.
Statistical Profile of Gender in South Asia 195 2. Economic Participation
South Asia India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted average)
Female population – number (million) 2000 491 66 63 12 9.5 1.05 0.14 643 T – as a % of total 48 46 49 50 50 50 47 48
Female labour force – number (million) 1998 138 14 27 5 3 … … 187 T – as a % of total labour force 32 28 42 41 36 … … 33
Percentage of female labour in 1994-97 – agriculture 78.0 66.4 41.7 93.7 41.5 … … 73.1 – industry 10.9 10.6 27.8 1.4 30.8 … … 12.7 – services 11.1 23.0 30.5 4.5 27.7 … … 14.4
Women as (% of total) 1990-99* – administrators & managers 2.3 4.3 4.9 … 17.6 … 14.0 2.9 – professional & technical workers 20.5 21.0 34.7 … 30.7 … 34.6 21.7
Female unemployment rate (as a % of female labour force) 1996 … 13.70 2.30 … 17.60 … … …
Women’s share in the economy Female economic activity ratea (as % of male) 1997 50.3 40.3 77.2 69.6 55.4 66.7 78.2 52.4
Real GDP per capita (PPP$) 1997 – female 902 701 767 763 1,452 985 2,698 874 – female as % of male 37.8 29.7 58.1 54.2 41.0 50.8 58.3 39.3
Female unpaid family workers (as a % of total) 1990-97* … 33 71 61 53 … 29 12
Note: * latest available year a: does not include the value of the invisible work done by women Source: Row 1: UN 1999c, GOP 1998e; Row 2: World Bank 2000; Row 3: GOI 1994, GOP 1997b, GOB 1996b, HMG Nepal 1996, GOS 1995; Rows 4,6,7,8: UNDP 1999c; Row 5: ILO 1998.
196 Human Development in South Asia 2000 3. Female Health & Nutrition
South Asia India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted average) Female life expectancy – number of years 1997 63.9 62.59 58.2 57.1 75.4 62 68 63.3
Total fertility rate 1998 3.1 5 3.1 4.4 2.1 5.5 5.3 3.3
Births attended by trained health personnel (%) 1990-99* 34 18 8 9 94 15 90 30
Pregnant women aged 15-49 with anaemia (%) 1975-91* 88 … 58 … … 30 … 84
Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) 1990-98* 410 340 440 540 60 1600 202 405
Contraception prevalence rate (any method) 1990-99 41 17 49 30 66 19 17 39
Number of malnourished children under 5 (% female) 1995 52 … 55 50 25 … 26 46.6
Annual number of deaths in 1000 (female children age under-5) 1998 2590 722 368 78 6 9 1 2096.3
Probability of dying (per 1000) under-age 5 1998 male 82 108 106 110 22 98 53 86.7 female 97 104 116 124 20 94 80 99
Note: * latest available year Source: Row 1: World Bank 1999; Rows 2,3: UNICEF 2000; Row 4: UNDP 1999c; Row 5: World Bank 2000; Row 6: UNICEF 2000; Rows 7,9: WHO 1999; Row 8: UNICEF 2000.
Statistical Profile of Gender in South Asia 197 4. Profile of Female Literacy
South Asia India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted average) Adult female literacy Female literacy rate 1997 39 25 27 21 88 30 96 37 – as a % of male 58 45 54 38 94 52 100 58 Primary Education Female primary school net enrolment ratio (%) 1997 71 62 70 63 100 12 98 70 Net primary school attendance (%) 1990-98* male 75 71 75 80 … … … 74 female 61 62 76 60 … … … 62 Female percentage of cohort reaching grade 5 1994 59 44 67 52 99 84 94 59 Female primary drop out rate (%) 1994 41 56a 33b 48 1 16 6 41 Secondary Education Female secondary school net enrolment ratio (%) 1997 48 17 16 40 79 2 49 42 Tertiary Education Female tertiary enrolment 1992 4.2 1.5 1.3 2.7 4.0 … … 3.6 Percentage of female students in – education 45.0 21.0 … 19.0 60.0 … … 37.8 – humanities 41.0 22.0 33.0 54.0 … … 35.0 – law & social sciences 3.0 8.0 37.0 … … … – natural sciences, engineering 36.0 16.0 15.0 44.0 … … 30.1 – medical sciences 32.0 19.0 49.0 45.0 … … 28.0 – business administration 29.0 8.0 16.0 38.0 … … 23.8 Teachers Female teachers at primary level (as a % of total) 1997-98 36 22 31 22 96 30 94 35 Primary school pupil teacher ratio 1995-96 64 38 71 39 28 31 31 61 Out-of-school children Out-of-school children at primary level 1997 – number (millions) 28 7 5 0.6 0.0 0.22 0.001 40 – percentage female 61 54 54 85 0.0 50 40 59
Note: * latest available year a,b: year 1998 Source: Rows 1,6: UNDP 1999c; Row 2: UNDP 1999c, UNICEF 1999b; Row 3: UNICEF 2000; Rows 4,8,9: UNESCO 1998a and 1998b; Row 5: UNESCO 1998b, GOB 1999a, GOP 1999b; Row 7: Haq and Haq 1998; Row 8: MHHDC 1998; Row 9: GOB 1999a, GOI 1999a, GOM 1999a, GOP 1999b, GOS 1999b, HMG Nepal 1999b and RGB 1999; Row 10: UNESCO 1998b; Row 11: UNDP 1999c, GOB 1999a, GOI 1999a, GOM 1999a, GOP 1999b, GOS 1999b, HMG Nepal 1999b and RGB 1999.
198 Human Development in South Asia 2000 5. Female Participation in Governance
South Asia India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted average) Women in Parliament Upper house (Total) 1999 20 2 … 9 … … … 31 T – as a % of total 8.5 2.3 … 15.0 … … … 7.0 Lower House (Total) 1999 48 6 41 11 11 3 3 123 T – as a % of total 8.8 2.8 12.4 5.4 4.9 2.0 6.3 8.4 Cabinet (Total) 1999 8 3 4 1 4 … … 20 T – as a % of total 10.8 10.3 8.9 3.1 12.1 … … 10.4 Women in Government Total size of the civil service (000’s) 1990-99 253 175 930 99 … … … 304.63 Female civil servants (as a % of total) 6.8 5.4 10.4 7.7 … … … 6.91 Female civil servant in (as a % of that category) 1990s – diplomatic services 11.0 5.3 6.8 … … … … 9.65 – district management 10.5 2.8 11.7 … … … … 9.45 – commerce & trade 3.3 4.9 12.6 … … … … 4.28 – police services 3.4 0.0 0.7 … … … … 2.71 – others 5.6 8.5 … … … … … … Women in the Judiciary Female judges (as a % of total) 1999 3.13a 1.5 8.85 1.67 20.47 … … 3.74 Number of female judges (1995-99) in – supreme court 1 0 0 0 1 … … 2 T – high court/court of appeal 15 2 0 2 3 … … 21 T Female lawyers (as a % of male) … … 14.3 4.4 … … … … Year women received right to – vote 1952 1948 1972 1951 1931 1953 1932 … – stand for elections 1952 1948 1972 1951 1931 1953 1932 … – first woman elected (E) or nominated (N) 1952 E 1973 E 1979 E 1952 N 1947 E 1976 E 1979 E … Female Voters Total number of registered female voters (millions) at last election 289.19 25.17 27.96 6.85 … … … 349.17 T Female voters as % of total 47.73 44.45 49.29 50.74 … … … 46.84 Female voters turnout at last election (as a % of male) 57.88 … … … … … … … Note: a: year 1996 Source: Column 1: GOI 2000a; GOI 1999b; GOI 1999d; GOI 2000b; Bar Council of India 1999; UNDP 1998a; Column 2: GOP 1998b; GOP 1993; Zia & Bari 1999; GOP 1997a; UNDP 1998a; Column 3: GOB 1996a; Chouwdhry 1994; GOB 1992; GOB 1999b; Bangladesh Bar Council 1999; UNDP 1998a; Column 4: HMG Nepal 1999c; HMG Nepal 1999d; HMG Nepal 1999a; HMG Nepal 1999f; Bar Council of Nepal 1999; UNDP 1998a; Column 5; De Silva 1995; Gooneratne and Karunaratne 1996; GOS 2000; UNDP 1998a; Columns 6,7; IPU 1999.
Statistical Profile of Gender in South Asia 199 6. Status of selected international conventions and international labour standards in South Asia
Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide 1948 ● ● ● ● ● ● Convention for the suppression of the traffic in persons and of the exploitation of the prostitution of others 1950 ● ● ● ● Convention relating to the status of refugees 1951 International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights 1966 ● ● ● ● International covenant on civil and political rights 1966 ● ● ● International convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination 1966 ● ❍ ● ● ● ● ● Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women 1979 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 1984 ● ❍ ● ● Convention on the rights of the child 1989 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● International convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families 1990 ❍ ● C89 Night work (women) convention (revised) 1948 ● ● ● ● C100 Equal remuneration convention 1951 ● ● ● ● C103 Maternity protection convention (revised) 1952 ● C149 Nursing personnel convention 1977 ● C156 Workers with family responsibilities convention 1981 C171 Night work convention 1990 C177 Home work convention (not yet in force) 1996 C182 Worst forms of child labour (not yet in force) 1999 ● Ratification, accession, approval, notification or succession, acceptance or definitive signature. ❍ Signature not yet followed by ratification. Sources: UNDP 1999c; UN 2000.
200 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Human Development Indicators for South Asia
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 201 Contents
Note on statistical sources for human development indicators 204 Key to indicators 217 Table 1: Basic Human Development Indicators 205 • Estimated population • Infant mortality rate • Annual population growth rate • GNP per capita • Life expectancy at birth • GNP growth rate • Adult literacy rate • GNP per capita annual growth rate • Female literacy rate • Real GDP per capita • Combined first, second and third level gross • Human Development Index (HDI) enrolment ratio • Gender-related Development Index (GDI) Table 2: Human Deprivation Profile 206 • Population in poverty • Illiterate female adults • Population without access to health services • Malnourished children under five • Population without access to safe water • Under-five mortality rate • Population without access to sanitation • Daily calorie supply • Illiterate adults • People with disabilities Table 3: Trends in Human Development 207 • GNP per capita • Adult literacy rate • Real GDP per capita • Infant mortality rate • Human Development Index (HDI) • Fertility rate • Life expectancy at birth • Underweight children under five • Gross enrolment ratio for all levels • Daily calorie supply Table 4: Education Profiles 208 • Adult literacy rate • Pupil-teacher ratio • Male literacy rate • Children dropping out before grade five • Female literacy rate • Tertiary, natural and applied sciences enrolment • Primary enrolment • R&D scientists and technicians • Secondary enrolment • Public expenditure on education (as % of GNP) • Combined enrolment for all levels • Children not in primary school • Mean years of schooling Table 5: Health Profile 209 • Population with access to health services • Daily calorie supply per capita • Population with access to safe water • Maternal mortality rate • Population with access to sanitation • Women using contraception • Population per doctor • Public expenditure on health • Population per nurse • Pregnant women aged 15-49 with anaemia Table 6: Gender Disparities Profile 210 • Female population • Real GDP per capita (female as per cent of male) • Adult female literacy • Earned income share • Female primary school enrolment • Economic activity rate • Female first, second, and third level gross • Administrators and managers enrolment ratio • Share of females in parliament • Mean years of schooling • Gender-related Development Index (GDI) • Female life expectancy • Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
202 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Table 7: Child Survival and Development Profile 211 • Population under eighteen • One-year-olds fully immunized against measles • Population under five • Births attended by trained health personnel • Infant mortality rate • Low birth-weight infants • Under five mortality rate • Child economic activity rate • One-year-olds fully immunized against tuberculosis • Child labour Table 8: Profile of Military Spending 212 • Defence expenditure • Armed forces personnel • Defence expenditure annual % increase • Number of soldiers (per 1000 population; • Defence expenditure as % of GNP per 1000 doctors; per 1000 teachers) • Defence expenditure as % of central • Employment in arms production government expenditure • Military holdings • Defence expenditure per capita • Aggregate number of heavy weapons • Defence expenditure as % of education and health expenditure Table 9: Profile of Wealth and Poverty 213 • Total GDP • Public expenditure on education and health • Real GDP per capita (PPP$) • Gross domestic investment • GNP per capita • Gross domestic savings • Income share: ratio of highest 20% • Industry (as % of GDP) to lowest 20% • Tax revenue (as % of GDP) • Population below poverty line • Exports (as % of GDP) • People in poverty, urban (%) • Debt servicing ratio • People in poverty, rural (%) • Total net official development assistance received • Social security benefits expenditure • Total external debt Table 10: Demographic Profile 214 • Population • Male labour force • Population growth rate • Female labour force • Population doubling date • Annual growth in labour force • Crude birth rate • Unemployed/underemployed labour • Crude death rate • Employed labour force in agriculture, • Total fertility rate industry, and services • Total labour force • Annual growth rate of real earnings per employee Table 11: Profile of Food Security and Natural Resources 215 • Food production per capita • Irrigated land • Food imports per capita • Deforestation • Cereal imports per capita • Annual rate of deforestation • Food aid in cereal per capita • Reforestation • Food aid (million $) • Production of fuel wood and charcoal • Land area • Internal renewable water resources per capita • Forest and woodland/arable land as a • Annual fresh water withdrawals percentage of land area
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 203 Note on Statistical Sources for Human Development Indicators
The human development data presented is greatly handicapped in the absence in these annex tables have been collected of up-to-date data. with considerable effort from various (b) Time series are often missing for even international and national sources. For the the most basic data as population most part standardised international growth, adult literacy, or enrolment sources have been used, particularly in the ratios. An effort must be made to UN system and the World Bank data build consistent time series for at least bank. The UNFPA and UNIFEM offices some of the important indicators. graciously made their resources available (c) In certain critical areas, reliable data to us for this Report. are extremely scarce: for instance for Countries in the indicator tables are employment, income distribution, arranged in descending order according public expenditure on social services, to population size. Since data for Bhutan military debt, foreign assistance for and Maldives were particularly sparse, human priority areas, etc. national sources were sometimes used. (d) For certain indicators, such as These data have to be used with some maternal mortality rates, discrepancies caution as their international exist within data presented in comparability is still to be tested. different international sources as well Several limitations remain regarding that need to be reconciled. the coverage, consistency, and (e) Information regarding the activities of comparability of data across time and NGOs in social sectors remains fairly countries. The data series presented here sparse. will be refined over time, as more accurate and comparable data becomes It is time for policy-makers to make a available. In particular policy-makers are significant investment in collection and invited to note the following deficiencies analysis of up-to-date, reliable, and in the currently available statistical series consistent indicators for social and human and to invest sufficient resources to development. If development is to be remedy these shortfalls: targeted at the people, a great deal of effort must be invested in determining the (a) Generally the latest data are not true condition of these people. readily available for several indicators. It is to be hoped that the various gaps Some statistical indicators date back visible in this annex will persuade national ten years or more. Analysis of the and international agencies to invest more current economic and social situation resources and energy in investigating human development profiles.
204 Human Development in South Asia 2000 1. Basic Human Development Indicators
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Total estimated population (millions) 2000 1,014 138 129 24 19 2.10 0.30 1,326 4,867 Annual population growth rate (%) 1995-2000 1.7 2.6 1.6 2.7 1.1 3.1 3.7 1.8 1.8 Life expectancy at birth (years) 1998 63 64 58 58 73 61 65 63 62 Adult literacy rate (%) 1997 54 41 39 38 91 44 96 51 71 Female literacy rate (%) 1997 39 25 27 21 88 30 96 37 63 Combined 1st, 2nd and 3rd level gross enrolment ratio (%) 1997 55 43 35 59 66 12 74 52 59 Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 1998 69 95 79 72 17 84 62 72 64 GNP per capita (US$) 1998 440 470 350 210 810 470 1,130 436 1,250 GNP average annual growth rate (%) 1997-98 6.2 3.0 5.9 2.7 4.6 5.5 7.1 5.8 1.0 GNP per capita average annual growth rate (%) 1997-98 4.3 0.5 4.2 0.3 3.3 2.4 4.4 3.8 -0.5 Real GDP per capita (PPP$) 1997 1,670 1,560 1,050 1,090 2,490 1,467 3,690 1,600 3,240 Human development index (HDI) 1997b 0.545 0.508 0.440 0.463 0.721 0.459 0.716 0.532 0.637 Gender-related development index (GDI) 1997c 0.525 0.472 0.428 0.441 0.712 0.444 0.711 0.511 0.630
Note: a: Population figures for 2000 are taken from UN: World Population Prospects: The 1998 Revision. (Medium variant). Population figures for Pakistan have been calculated using 1998 Population Census, GOP. The population growth rate has been calculated by using the formula {[(new value/old value)^1/n]-1}*100 b: The Human Development Index (HDI) has three components: life expectancy at birth; educational attainment, comprising adult literacy, with two-thirds weight, and a combined primary, secondary and tertiary enrolment ratio, with one-third weight; and income. Any significant difference in the HDI for the South Asian countries is due to the change in methodology for calculating the index. Please refer to UNDP’s Human Development Report 1999. c: The Gender-related Development Index (GDI) adjusts the HDI for gender equality in life expectancy, educational attainment and income. Source: Rows 1,2: UN 1999c, GOP 1998e; Rows 3,7: UNICEF 2000; Rows 4,5,6,11,12,13: UNDP 1999c; Rows 8,9,10: World Bank 2000.
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 205 2. Human Deprivation Profile
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Population below poverty line (%) 1989-94 – $1 a day 53 12 29 53 4 … … 45 32 – national poverty line … 34 48 … 22 … … 40 … Population without access to health services 1995 – number (millions) 143 63 68 … 1.3a 0.6 0.1b 276 T 910 T – as a % of total population 15 45 55 … 7c 35 25d 22 20 Population without access to safe water 1990-96 – number (millions) 180 50 19 12 10 0.80 0.01 272 T 3292 T – as a % of total population 19 40 16 56 54 42 4 22 29 Population without access to sanitation 1990-96 – number (millions) 797 87 79 21 9 0.57 0.09 994 T 3456 T – as a % of total population 84 70 65 94 48 30 34 80 71 Illiterate adults 1997 – number (millions) 446 87 76 14 1.7 0.95 0.01 630 T 1367 T – as a % of total adult population 46 59 61 62 9 56 4 49 29 Illiterate female adults 1997 – number (millions) 285 54 45 9 1.1 0.60 0.01 386 T 856 T – as a % of total adult female population 61 75 73 79 12 70 4 63 37 Malnourished children under 5 1990-97* – number (millions) 59 9 8 2 0.54 0.10 0.002 79 T 167 T – as a % of total population 53 38 56 47 34 38 43 51 31 Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) 1998 105 136 106 100 19 116 87 107 95 Daily calorie supply 1997 – quantity 2,415 2,408 2,105 2,339 2,263 … 2,495 2,379 2,628 – as a % of total requirements 114 107 97 108 99 … 82 111 115 People with disabilities 1992 – number (millions) 1.80 6.50 0.92 0.63 0.07 … … 9.92 T 110 T – as a % of total population 0.20 4.90 0.80 3.00 0.40 … … 0.87 2.60
Note: a, c: year 1985-95 b, d: year 1991 * latest available year Source: Rows 1,2: UNDP 1998a; Rows 3,4: World Bank 2000; UNDP 1998a; Rows 5,6,7,9,10: UNDP 1999c, Row 8: UNICEF 2000.
206 Human Development in South Asia 2000 3. Trends in Human Development
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) GNP per capita – 1973 130 130 80 90 230 … … 126 880a – 1988 440 470 350 210 810 470 1,130 436 1,250 Real GDP per capita (PPP, US$) – 1960 617 820 621 584 1,389 … … 648 790 – 1997 1,670 1,560 1,050 1,090 2,490 1,467 3,690 1,598 3,240 Human development index (HDI) – 1960 0.206 0.183 0.166 0.128 0.475 … … 0.204 … – 1997 0.545 0.508 0.440 0.463 0.721 0.459 0.716 0.531 0.637 Life expectancy at birth – 1960 44 43 40 38 62 37 44 44 46 – 1998 63 64 58 58 73 61 65 63 62 Gross enrolment ratio for all levels (% age 6-23) – 1980 40 19 30 28 58 7 … 37 46 – 1997 55 43 35 59 66 12 74 52 59 Adult literacy rate (%) – 1970 34 21 24 13 77 … 91 32 43 – 1997 54 41 39 38 91 44 96 51 71 Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) – 1960 144 139 151 212 90 175 158 144 137 – 1998 69 95 79 72 17 84 62 72 65 Fertility rate – 1960 6.0 7.0 6.7 6.0 5.4 6.0 7.0 6.1 6.0 – 1998 3.1 5.0 3.1 4.4 2.1 5.5 5.3 3.3 3.0 Underweight children (% under 5) – 1975 71 47 84 63 58 … … 69 40 – 1990-97 53 38 56 47 34 38 43 51 31 Daily calorie supply (as % of requirement) – 1986 100 97 83 93 110 … 80 98 107 – 1997 b 114 107 97 108 99 … 82 111 115
Note: a: year 1979 b: 1995 has been used as base year for required calorie supply Source: Row 1: World Bank 2000, World Bank 1995b; Rows 2,3,5,6,9: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1994; Row 4: UNICEF 2000, UN 1996; Rows 7,8: UNICEF 2000, UNICEF 1998c; Row 9: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1994; Row 10: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1990.
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 207 4. Education Profile
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Adult literacy rate (%) – 1970 34 21 24 13 77 … 91a 32 43 – 1997 54 41 39 38 91 44 96 51 71 Male literacy rate (%) – 1970 47 40 47 22 86 … … 47 55 – 1997 67 55 50 56 94 58 96 64 80 Female literacy rate (%) – 1970 19 5 9 3 68 … … 17 32 – 1997 39 25 27 21 88 30 96 37 63 Primary enrolment (%) gross – 1970 73 40 54 26 99 … … 68 76 – 1996 100 74 92b 109 109 73c 131 97 108 Secondary enrolment (%) gross – 1970 26 13 … 10 47 2 … 25 … – 1996 49 26d 19e 42 75 5f 49g 44 58 Combined enrolment for all levels (%) – 1980 40 19 30 28 58 7 … 37 46 – 1997 55 43 35 59 66 12 74 52 59 Mean years of schooling 1992 – males 3.5 2.9 3.1 3.2 8.0 0.5 5.1 3.5 4.9 – females 1.2 0.7 0.9 1.0 6.3 0.2 3.9 1.2 3.0 – total 2.4 1.9 2.0 2.1 7.2 0.3 4.5 2.4 3.9 Pupil-teacher ratio (primary level) 1997-99* 48 48 59 38 30 41 23 49 33i Percentage of children dropping out before grade 5 1990-95 41 52 53 48 2 17 7 43 25 Tertiary natural and applied science enrolment (as % of total tertiary) – 1992 26 … 25 17j 34 … … 26 30 R&D scientists and technicians (per 1000 people) 1990-96 0.3 0.1 … … 0.2 … … 0.3 0.4 Public expenditure on education (as % of GNP) – 1960 2.3 1.1 0.6 0.4 3.8 … … 2.0 2.5 – 1993-96 3.4 3.0 2.9 3.1 3.4 … 6.4 3.3 3.6 Children not in primary schools (in millions) 1997 28 7 5 0.60 0.00 0.22 0.001 40 …
Note: a: year 1985 b,d,i,j: year 1995 c,e,f,g: year 1993 * latest available year Source: Rows 1,6,12: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1994; Rows 2,3: UNDP 1999c, UNICEF 1997; Rows 4,5: UNICEF 2000, UNESCO 1998a, World Bank 1999, World Bank 1998a, World Bank 1997; Row 7: MHHDC 1999a; Row 8: UNESCO 2000; Row 9: UNICEF 2000; Row 10: UNDP 1998a; Row 11: UNDP 1999c; Row 13: UNDP 1999c; GOB 1999a, GOI 1999a, GOM 1999a, GOP 1999b, GOS 1999b, HMG Nepal 1999b and RGB 1999.
208 Human Development in South Asia 2000 5. Health Profile
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Population with access to health services (%) 1995 85 55 45 … 93 65 75 78 80 Population with access to safe water (%) – 1985-87 57 44 46 29 40 … … 54 55 – 1990-96 81 60 84 44 46 58 96 82 71 Population with access to sanitation (%) – 1985-87 10 20 6 2 45 … … 11 32 – 1990-96 16 30 35 6 52 70 66 22 29 Population per doctor – 1984 2,520 2,910 6,730 32,710 5,520 23,310 20,300 3,720 4,590 – 1993 2,083 1,923 5,555 20,000 4,348 5,000 5,263 2,273 1,316 Population per nurse – 1980 4,674 5,870 14,750 7,783 1,262 2,990a 600b 4,162 … – 1993 3,323 3,330 11,549 2,257 1,745 6,667 … 4,091 4,715 Daily calorie supply per capita 1996 2,415 2,408 2,105 2,339 2,263 … 2,495 2,379 2,628 Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) 1990-98 410 340 440 540 60 1,600 202 405 … Women using contraception (% age 15-49) – 1970 12 4 22 1 8 … … 12 18 – 1990-98 41 17 49 30 66 19 17 39 … Public expenditure on health (as % of GDP) – 1960 0.5 0.3 … 0.2 2.0 … 2.4 0.5 0.9 – 1990-98 0.6 0.9 1.6 1.3 1.4 4.0 5.3 0.8 1.9 Pregnant women aged 15-49 with anaemia (%) 1975-91 88 … 58 … … 30 … 84 …
Note: a, b: year 1984 Source: Row 1: UNDP 1998a; Rows 2,3: World Bank 2000, UNDP 1998b; Row 4: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1992; Row 5: MHHDC 1999a; Rows 6,10: UNDP 1999c, Row 7: World Bank 2000; MHHDC 1999a, Row 8: UNDP 1999c, Haq and Haq 1999b; Row 9: World Bank 2000.
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 209 6. Gender Disparities Profile
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Female population 2000 – number (millions) 491 66 63 12 9.5 1.05 0.14 643 2,395 – as a % of male 94 92 95 100 102 98 93 94 97 Adult female literacy (as % of male) – 1970 41 35 35 12 80 … … 40 … – 1997 59 46 55 37 93 52 100 57 79 Female primary school gross enrolment (as % of male) – 1970 64 37 48 20 92 6 107 60 79 – 1990-97* 82 61a 86 71 98 77b 97 80 94 Female 1st, 2nd and 3rd level gross enrolment ratio (as % of male) 1997 76 50 75 71 103 71 101 74 86 Mean years of schooling (female as % of male) – 1980 32 25 29 33 79 33 77 32 53 – 1992 34 23 29 31 79 33 76 33 55 Female life expectancy (as % of male) – 1970 97 99 97 97 103 104 95 97 103 – 1998 102 103 100 98 107 103 97 102 105 Real GDP per capita (PPP$) (female as % of male) 1997 38 30 58 54 41 51 58 39 48 Earned income share (female as % of male) 1995 34 26 30 50 55 48 55 33 48 Economic activity rate (age 15+) (female as % of male) – 1970 43 11 6 52 37 52 35 37 53 – 1997 50 40 77 70 55 67 78 52 68 Administrators and managers (% female) 1992-97 2 4 5 … 18 … 14 3 10 Share of females in parliament (%) 1999 8.7 2.6 12.4 7.9 4.9 2.0 6.3 7.3 10 Gender-related development index (GDI) 1997 0.525 0.472 0.428 0.441 0.712 0.444 0.711 0.511 0.630 Gender empowerment measure (GEM) 1997 0.240 0.176 0.304 … 0.321 … 0.342 0.236 …
Note: * latest available year. a,b: 1993 Source: Row 1: UN 1999c; Row 2: UNESCO 1994, UNDP 1999c; Row 3: UNICEF 2000, UNICEF 1998c; Rows 4,7,12,13: UNDP 1999c; Row 5: UNDP 1991, UNDP 1994; Row 6: UNICEF 2000, UN 1994; Row 8: UNDP 1998a; Row 9: UNDP 1999c, MHHDC 1999a; Row 10: UNDP 1999c, UNDP 1998a, Row 11: IPU 1999, GOP 1998a, GOI 1999b, GOB 1999b, GOS 1999c, HMG Nepal 1999c.
210 Human Development in South Asia 2000 7. Child Survival and Development Profile
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Population under 18 1998 – number (millions) 396 68a 56 11 6.2 0.98 0.14 470 1844 – as a % of total population 40 52 45 48 33 49 50 42 38 Population under 5 1998 – number (millions) 116 19 15 3.4 1.6 0.33 0.04 155 536 – as a % of total population 12 15 12 15 8 17 14 12 11 Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) – 1960 144 139 151 199 83 175 180 144 138 – 1998 69 95 79 72 17 84 62 72 64 Under 5 mortality rate (per 1000 live births) – 1960 236 226 247 297 133 300 300 235 216 – 1998 105 136 106 100 19 116 87 107 95 One year olds fully immunized against tuberculosis (%) – 1980 14 9 1 43 63 9 8 13 … – 1995-98 79 66 91 86 90 94 99 79 81 One year olds fully immunized against measles (%) – 1980 1 3 2 2 0 18 30 1 … – 1995-98 66 55 62 73 91 71 98 65 72 Births attended by trained health personnel (%) 1990-99 34 18 8 9 94 15 90 30 54 Low birth weight infants (%) 1990-97 33 25 50 … 25 … 13 33 18 Child economic activity rate (% age 10-14) 1997 13 17 29 44 2 55b 6c 15 16 Child Labour (millions) 1994 100 19 15 … … … … 134 …
Note: a: includes age groups 0-19; b and c: year 1995 Source: Rows 1,2: UNICEF 2000, GOP 1999c; Rows 3,4,7: UNICEF 2000; Rows 5,6: UNICEF 2000, UNICEF 1984; Row 8: UNDP 1999c; Row 9: World Bank 1998b, Haq and Haq 1998; Row 10: UNESCO 1995.
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 211 8. Profile of Military Spending
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Defence expenditure (US $ millions 1993 prices) – 1985 7,207 2,088 308 22 214 … … 9,839 189,727 – 1997 9,800 2,900 480 40 680 … … 7,870 163,700 Defence expenditure annual % increase 1985-97 2.6 2.8 3.8 5.1 10.1 … … -1.8 -1.2 Defence expenditure (as a % of GNP) – 1985 2.5 5.1 1.3 0.7 2.6 … … 3.0 7.2 – 1997 2.7 4.5 1.1 0.8 4.6 … … 2.7 2.9 Defence expenditure (as a % of central government expenditure) – 1980 19.8 30.6 9.4 6.7 1.7 … … 21 … – 1997 16.1 20.7 … 0.6 17.0 … … 14.7 … Defence expenditure per capita (US$, 1993 prices) – 1985 9.4 22 3.1 1.3 14 … … 10 52 – 1997 10 23 3.9 1.7 38 … … 11 34 Defence expenditure (as a % of education & health expenditure) – 1960 68 393 … 67 17 … … 113 143 – 1995 57 181 46 22 100 … … 71 … Armed forces personnel (no. in thousands) – 1985 1,260 484 91 25 22 … … 1,882 16,027 – 1997 1,145 587 121 46 115 … … 2,014 14,050 – % increase 1985-97 -10 18 25 46 81 … … 7.0 -14 Number of soldiers – per 1000 population 1997 1.2 4.6 1.0 2.0 6.4 … … 1.6 2.9 – per 1000 doctors 1990 4,000 9,000 6,000 35,000 25,000 … … 5,594 18,500 – per 1000 teachers 1990 300 1,500 300 400 400 … … 434 600 Employment in arms 1997 production (000’s) 250 50 … … … … … 300 3,930 Military holdingsa 1997 index (1995=100) 175 152 153 40 926 … … 168 105 Aggregate number of heavy weapons 1997 10,330 5,330 309 10 250 … … 16,229 208,800
Note: a: military holdings include combat aircrafts, artillery, ships & tanks that a country possesses. The index is a calculation based on the aggregate number of heavy weapons Source: Rows 1,2,7,10: BICC 1999, BICC 1998; Row 3: BICC 1999, BICC 1997, UNDP 1998a; Row 4: BICC 1999, BICC 1997, UNDP 1999c, World Bank 1995; Row 5: BICC 1999, UN 1999c, GOP 1998e; Row 6: MHHDC 1999a; Row 8: BICC 1999, UN 1998, GOP 1998e, Rows 9,11: BICC 1999.
212 Human Development in South Asia 2000 9. Profile of Wealth and Poverty
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Total GDP (US $ billions) – 1998 430 63 43 4.8 16 0.4 0.3 558 T 6,194 T Real GDP per capita (PPP$) – 1997 1,670 1,560 1,050 1,090 2,490 1,467 3,690 1,600 3,240 GNP per capita (US$) – 1998 440 470 350 210 810 470 1,130 386 1,250 Income share: ratio of highest 20% to lowest 20% 1995-97 5.7 4.3 4.9 5.9 5.4 … … 5.5 … Population below poverty line (%) 1989-94 – $1 a day 53 12 29 53 4 … … 45 32 – national poverty line … 34 48 … 22 … … 40 … People in poverty (%) 1990 – urban 38 20 56 19 15 … … 37 … – rural 49 31 51 43 36 … … 47 … Social security benefits expenditure (as % of GDP) 1993 0.3 0.2 … … 2.5 … … 0.4 … Public expenditure on education and health (as % of GNP) 1995 4.2 3.6 3.7 4.3 4.5 … 13.3 4.1 … Gross domestic investment (as % of GDP) 1998 24 17 22 22 25 43 … 23 24 Gross domestic savings (as % of GDP) 1998 21 13 17 10 19 32 … 20 24 Industry (as % of GDP) 1997 30 25 27 22 26 38 … 29 36 Tax revenue (as % of GDP) 1997 11 13 8 9 16 6 21 11 … Exports (as % of GDP) 1997 12 16 12 26 36 31 … 13 27a Debt service ratio (debt service as % of exports of goods and services) 1997 20 35 11 6.9 6.4 5.1 6.7 20 18 Total net official development assistance received (US$, millions) 1997 – quantity 1,678 597 1,009 414 345 70 26 4,139 T 34,469 T – as % of GNP 0.4 1.0 2.3 8.4 2.0 21.3 8.4 0.8 0.9 Total external debt 1998 (US$, billions) 98 32 16 3 9 … … 157 2,536 T
Note: a: year 1995 Source: Rows 1,9,10: World Bank 1999c, UNDP 1999; Rows 2,11,13,14,15: UNDP 1999c; Row 3: World Bank 1999; Row 4: World Bank 1998a; Row 5: UNDP 1998a; Row 6: UNDP 1996; Row 7: MHHDC 1999a; Row 8: WHO 1999, UNDP 1999c, World Bank 1997; Row 12: UNDP 1999c, GOB 1998; Row 16: World Bank 1999, World Bank 1998b.
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 213 10. Demographic Profile
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Population (in millions) – 1960 442 50 51 9 10 1.0 0.1 563 T 2,070 T – 2000 1,014 138 129 24 19 2.1 0.3 1,326 T 4,867 T Population growth rate (annual) (%) – 1960-70 2.3 2.8 2.6 2.0 2.4 1.8 2.0 2.4 2.5 – 1970-80 2.2 2.6 2.8 2.6 1.7 2.0 2.7 2.3 2.2 – 1980-90 2.1 3.6 2.1 2.6 1.6 2.2 3.2 2.3 2.1 – 1990-95 1.9 2.7 2.0 2.0 1.1 3.7 2.6 1.9 1.8 – 1995-00 1.7 2.6 1.6 2.7 1.1 3.1 3.7 1.8 1.6 Population doubling date (at current growth rate) 1995 2036 2022 2039 2021 2058 2018 2014 2034 2039 Crude birth rate (per 1000 live births) – 1960 43 49 47 44 36 42 41 44 42 – 1998 25 36 28 34 18 38 35 27 25 – % decline 1960-97 42 27 40 23 50 10 15 39 40 Crude death rate (per 1000 live births) – 1960 21 23 22 26 9 26 21 21 20 – 1998 9 8 10 11 6 10 7 9 9 – % decline 1960-97 57 65 55 58 33 62 67 57 55 Total fertility rate – 1960 6.0 7.0 6.7 6.0 5.4 6.0 7.0 6.1 6.0 – 1998 3.1 5.0 3.1 4.4 2.1 5.5 5.3 3.3 3.0 – % decline 1960-98 48 29 54 27 61 8 24 46 48 Total labour force 1998 (in millions) 431 49 64 11 8 … … 563 T 2,416 T Male labour force 1998 (in millions) 293 35 37 6 5 … … 376 T 1,447 T Female labour force 1998 (in millions) 138 14 27 5 3 … … 187 T 969 T Percentage annual growth in labour force – 1970-80 1.7 2.7 2.0 1.8 2.3 … … 1.8 … – 1980-98 2.0 2.9 2.5 2.3 2.2 … … 2.0 2.0 Unemployed/Underemployed labour (as a % of total) 1993 22 13 12 43 16 6 1 21 … Employed labour force (%) 1997 – agriculture 60 46 60 94 46 94 20 59 … – industry 18 22 22 0 23 1 33 19 … – services 22 33 18 6 31 6 48 22 … Real earnings per employee annual growth rate (%) 1980-92 2.5 … -0.7 … 1.4 … … 2.2 …
Source: Rows 1,2: UN 1999c, UN 1994; Row 3: UN 1999c; Rows 4,5,6: UNICEF 2000, UNICEF 1997; Rows 7,8,9,10: World Bank 2000; Row 12: ILO 1998; Rows 11,13: Haq and Haq 1998.
214 Human Development in South Asia 2000 11. Profile of Food Security and Natural Resources
South Asia Developing India Pakistan Bangladesh Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives (weighted Countries average) Food production per capita 1997 (1989-91=100) 119 134 111 116 115 107 113 120 132 Food imports per capita 1993 (1980=100) 46 114 86 137 553 … … 69 … Cereal imports per capita (1,000 tons) 1994 (1980=100) 2 195 33 79 87 … … 68 70 Food aid cereals per capita (1,000 tons) 1994-95 (1980=100) 46 23 91 33 126 … … 57 63 Food aid (US$ million) 1992 99 190 240 6 63 3 1 602 T 3,130 T Land area (1000 ha) 1997 297,319 77,088 13,017 14,300 6,463 4,700 30 412,917 T 7,494,675 T Percentage of land area under 1997 – forest and woodlanda 22 2 8 35 28 59 3 19 26 – cropland 57 28 63 21 29 3 10 54 11 Irrigated land (as % of cropland) 1997 34 81 45 38 32 25 … 40 20 Deforestation (1000 ha per year) 1980-89 1,500 9 8 84 58 1 … 1,106 866 Annual rate of deforestation (%) 1990-95 0.0 2.9 0.9 1.1 1.1 0.3 … 1.0 … Reforestation (1000 ha per year) 1980-89 138 7 17 4 13 1 … 103 797 Production of fuel wood and charcoal (1000m3 per year) – 1980 201,956 16,683 22,941 13,732 7,305 1,027 … 263,644 T 1,253,900 T – 1996 279,350 276,470 32,020 20,718 9,780 1,381 … 370,889 T 1,669,840 T Internal renewable water resources per capita (1000m3 per year) 1998 1,896 1,678 10,940 7,338 2,341 49,557 … 2,937 6,055 Annual fresh water withdrawalsb – as % of water resources 21c 63 2 2 15d 0 … … 63 – per capita (m3) 612e 1,269 217 154 503f 13 … 638 496
Note: a: Data refers to the year 1995; b: Data refer to any year between 1987-96 unless otherwise stated; c & e: year 1975; d & f: year 1970 Source: Rows 1,13: UNDP 1999c; Rows 2,3,4: World Bank 1997; Row 5: World Bank 1995a; Rows 6,8: FAO 1998; Row 7: FAO 1998, UN 1997; Rows 9,11: UN 1990/91; Rows: 10,14: WRI 1998/99; Row 12: FAO 1996.
Human Development Indicators for South Asia 215 Selected definitions
System of National Accounts (SNA) is a Drop out ratio refers to the percentage description of economic activities of a of children starting primary school who nation in terms of the value of goods and leave school before completing Grade 5 services produced. Production is calculated (or the duration of primary school). on the basis of value of the physical Education/Military expenditure ratio is the product generated and services rendered ratio of total education expenditure to in the market. As per the current total military expenditure. definition, all goods produced are within Combined gross enrolment rate is the ratio the SNA boundary. However, only traded of persons of all ages enrolled at the 1st, services are included. 2nd, and 3rd levels to the country’s Labour force participation rate refers to the population at these levels. proportion of a population that is in the Out of primary school children refers to labour force. Sometimes this is used children not attending primary school. synonymously with economic activity rate. These ratios may be influenced by over- The definition of labour force used in aged and under-aged children. different countries may vary. Percentage of female teachers is the number Informal sector is usually defined relative of female teachers, at the level specified, to the formal sector. In general, much of expressed as a percentage of the total the economic activity in South Asia, as in number of teachers at the same level. For much of the developing world, is in the secondary education, the data refers to informal sector. Basic characteristics of the general education only. informal sector include exclusion from the Pupil-teacher ratio represents the average tax net, lack of contractual obligations, and nmber of pupils per teacher at the level of absence of legal guarantees for workers. education specified. Since teaching staff Export processing zones (EPZs) refer to includes in principle both full and part- particular zones, or areas within which any time teachers, comparability of these ratios industry can operate without paying duties may be affected as the proportion of part- or taxes of any kind. All production from time teachers varies from one country to these zones is then exported. A common another. example of an industry found in EPZs in School age population refers to the South Asia is garments. population, in millions, of the age-group Under–5 mortality rate is the probability which officially corresponds to a particular of dying between birth and exactly five level of schooling. years of age per 1000 live births. This is Vocational education refers to exactly how another figure, probability of programmes that aim to prepare people dying before age five is defined and any directly for a trade or occupation at a inconsistency in these figures can be semi-skilled or skilled level. attributed to differences in calculation. Technical education refers to post- Total fertility rate refers to the number of secondary courses of study and training children that would be born per woman if that aim at preparing technicians to work she were to live to the end of her as middle-level, or associate professional, childbearing years and bear children at staff. each age in accordance with prevailing age- Voter turnout refers to the actual number specific fertility rates. of voters that cast a vote, i.e. it is the Adult literacy rate is the percentage of number of votes polled divided by the persons aged 15 and over who can read total number of registered voters. and write.
216 Human Development in South Asia 2000 KEY TO INDICATORS
Indicator Indicator Original Indicator Indicator Original tables international tables international source source A, B, C Enrolment, primary level 4 WB; UNICEF Annual number of death female 6, 1g,4g WB; UNICEF female children 3g UNICEF Enrolment, secondary level 4 WB Armed forces personnel 8 BICC female 4g UNDP Births attended by trained Enrolment, combined 1st, health personnel 7,3g UNICEF 2nd & 3rd level 1,4 UNDP Calorie supply (daily) 2,3,5 UNDP female as % of male 6,1g UNDP as % of total requirement 2 UNDP Enrolment ratios, gross 3 UNDP per capita 5 UNDP Equal remuneration Cereal imports per capita 11 WB convention 6g UNDP Child economic activity rate 7 UNDP; WB Exports, % of GDP 9 WB Child labour, total 7 UNESCO Expenditure on education Child labour convention 6g UNDP and health 9 UNDP; WB Children not in primary schools 4 HDC Civil service, total size 5g National sources F, G number of women 5g National sources Female administrators & Cohort reaching grade 5 female 4g UNESCO managers 6,1g,2g UNDP Contraceptive prevalence rate 3g,5 UNDP percent of total 2g Convention/covenant on Female share in parliament 6,5g UNDP Prevention of genocide 6g UNDP % of total 1g National Sources Trafficing & prostitution 6g UNDP Status of refugees 6g UNDP Female students in selected Economic & cultural right 6g UNDP fields 4g UNESCO Civil & political rights 6g UNDP Female professionals & Racial discrimination 6g UNDP technical workers 2g UNDP Discrimination against women 6g UNDP Fertility rate, total 3,10,3g UNICEF Inhuman treatment 6g UNDP Food aid, total 11 WB Rights of child 6g UNDP cereals per capita 11 WB Rights of migrants 6g UNDP Food imports per capita 11 WB Crude birth rate 10 UNICEF Food production per capita 11 UNDP Crude death rate 10 UNICEF Fuel wood & charcoal production, total 11 FAO D Gender Empowerment Measure 6,1g UNDP Debt, total external 9 WB Gender-related debt service ratio 9 UNDP Development Index 1,6,1g UNDP Defense expenditure, total 8 BICC GDP, total 9 WB annual % increase 8 BICC GDP, real per capita 1,3,9 UNDP as % of GNP 8 BICC; UNDP female 6,2g UNDP as % of govt. exp. 8 WB; BICC GNP, growth rate 1 WB per capita 8 UNDP;BICC GNP per capita 1,3,9 WB as % of education & GNP annual average growth 1 WB health expenditure 8 UNDP;WB GNP per capita growth rate 1 WB Deforestation, total 11 UN Gross domestic investment 9 WB % annual rate 11 WRI Gross domestic savings 9 WB Disabilities, total 2 UNDP % of population 2 UNDP H, I, J Drop out rate of children Health expenditure, public (before grade 5) 4 UNESCO (as % of GDP) 5 WB Health services, % with E access 5 UNDP Earned income share 6 UNDP % without access 2 UNDP female as % of male 6,1g UNDP Heavy weapons, aggregate 8 BICC Earnings per employee 10 HDC Human Development Index 1,3 UNDP Economic activity rate female 6 UNDP Illiterate adults, total 2 UNICEF female 1g,2g UNDP female 2 UNICEF Education, public exp. Immunization against (as % of GNP) 4 UNDP; UNESCO Measles 7 UNICEF;UNDP Employment in arms Tuberculosis 7 UNICEF;UNDP production 8 BICC Income poverty, 1 $ a day 2,9 UNDP National poverty line 2,9 UNDP
Key to Indicators 217 Indicator Indicator Original Indicator Indicator Original tables international tables international source source H, I, J P, Q, R Income share: ratio of top People in poverty 20% to bottom 20% 9 WB urban 9 UNDP Industry (as % of GDP) 9 WB; UNDP rural 9 UNDP Population Infant mortality rate 1,3,7 UNICEF annual growth rate 1 UN Judiciary, women in 5g National sources doubling date 10 UN estimated (millions) 1, 10 UN; National K, L sources Labour force, total 10 WB Female (as % of male) 6 UN female 10,1g,2g WB Female (as % of total) 1g, 2g UN male 10 WB Population under 18 7 UNICEF % annual growth 10 WB Population under 5 7 UNICEF % unemployed/ Population underemployed 10 WB per doctor 5 UNDP % of female in per nurse 5 UNDP industry 2g National sources Primary school attendance agriculture 2g National sources female 4g UNICEF services 2g National sources Primary dropout rate, female 4g UNICEF Female unemployment Pregnant women with anaemia 3g,5 UNDP % of female labour 1g, 2g ILO Probability of dying % employed 10 WB before age 5 3g WHO Land area 11 FAO Pupil-teacher ratio 4,4g UNESCO irrigated land 11 WB Refugees arable land 11 FAO female as % of total 1g ESCAP Life expectancy at birth R&D scientists & total 1,3 UNICEF technicians 4 UNDP female 1g,3g UNICEF; WB female (as % of male) 6 UNICEF S Literacy rate, total 1,3,4 UNICEF Safe water, % with access 5 WB female 1,4,6,1g,4g UNICEF % without access 2 WB male 4 UNICEF Sanitation, % with access 5 WB Low birth weight infants 7 UNDP % without access 2 WB Soldiers M, N, O per 1000 population 8 BICC Malnourished children per 1000 doctors 8 BICC under five 2 UNICEF;UNDP per 1000 teachers 8 BICC % female 3g WHO Social security benefits, Maternal mortality rate 5,1g,3g WB;UNICEF expenditure 9 National sources Maternity protection convention 6g UNDP Tax revenue, % of GDP 9 UNDP; National Mean year of schooling 4 UNDP sources male 4 UNDP female 4,6 UNDP T, U, V Military holdings 8 BICC Teachers Night work convention 6g UNDP female at primary level 4g National sources Number of soldiers 8 BICC;UNDP Tertiary, natural & applied Nursing personnel convention 6g UNDP sciences enrolment 4 UNDP ODA received, total 9 UNDP female 4g UNESCO as % of GNP 9 UNDP Underweight children Out of school children (under 5) 3 UNDP at primary level 4g National sources; Under-5 mortality rate 2,7 UNICEF UNDP Unemployment rate % female 4g National sources; % of female labour force 1g UNDP UNDP Unemployed labour 10 WB Unpaid family workers female 2g UNDP Voter turnout, female 5g National sources
218 Human Development in South Asia 2000 Indicator Indicator Original tables international source W, X, Y, Z Water withdrawals, fresh 11 WRI Water resources, per capita 11 WRI Workers with family responsibility convention 6g UNDP Year women received right to vote 5g UNDP to stand for election 5g UNDP
Note: ‘g’ is added to table numbers that appear in Profile of Gender in South Asia
Key to source abbreviations ADB Asian Development Bank BICC Bonn International Centre for Conversion FAO Food and Agriculture Organization ILO International Labour Office IMF International Monetary Fund UN United Nations UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund WB World Bank WHO World Health Organization WRI World Resources Institute
Key to Indicators 219