The Changing Status of Women in Asian Societies Economic, social, and political developments in Asia have brought with them profound changes in the status of women. In general, women’s conditions have improved with economic development and social and political change that fa- vors equality and individual rights. At the same time, cultural traditions, espe- cially those related to family life, continue to have a strong influence on the status of women in the region. Until recently in most Asian countries, few women attended secondary school or university, and few worked outside the home. Over the past 50 years, larger and larger proportions of women have completed primary and second- ary school. The proportion of women attending university, although much smaller, is also growing. More recently, women have started taking up paid employment in greater numbers, particularly in the manufacturing, clerical, and service sectors. Over the past 50 years, women’s life expectancy has im- proved across the region, overtaking men’s life expectancy in nearly all coun- tries. Yet during early childhood, girls are still more likely to die than boys in some Asian countries, while in other countries, unusual birth rates for boys and girls in recent years point to the prevalence of sex-selective abortion. Education levels improving Primary school education is nearly universal in many countries of East and Southeast Asia—both for boys and for girls. Women’s enrollment in secondary school has increased dramatically since the 1960s throughout the region, and, in many countries, the traditional gender gap in secondary school enrollment Rates of change have varied, but is gradually disappearing. education and employment opportu- In Asia as a whole, 14 percent of girls age 15 to 19 were enrolled in school in nities have improved for women and 1950; by 1990, this proportion had risen to 26 percent (Xenos, Kabamalan, and girls across the region (Kuala Westley 1999). East Asia had the highest levels of school enrollment for this age Lumpur, Malaysia) © Stuart group and the greatest increase over the 40-year period—from 36 percent in Franklin/Magnum 1950 to 74 percent in 1990. In Southeast Asia, the enrollment rate for girls age 15 to 19 increased from 12 percent in 1950 to 34 percent in 1990. In South Asia, enrollment rates have been much lower, but the trend is similar—from 8 per- cent in 1950 to 16 percent in 1990. Table 1 shows trends in female secondary and tertiary school enrollment from 1975 to 1995 for 20 Asian countries. By the mid-1990s, more than 60 per- cent of girls of secondary-school age were attending school in all East Asian countries plus Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore in Southeast Asia and 41 Sri Lanka in South Asia; 30 to 60 percent were attending secondary school in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam; and fewer than 30 percent were attending secondary school in Cambodia, Laos, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan (UNESCO 1999). In some Asian countries, women’s secondary-school enrollment is steadily catching up with enrollment levels for men. In South Korea, Thailand, and Hong Kong, secondary-school enrollment is nearly the same for both sexes, while in the Philippines enrollment is slightly higher for women. Yet in many countries, substantial gender gaps remain, especially in South Asia. Figure 1 shows trends in three countries that exemplify these patterns—South Korea, the Philippines, and India. Women are much less likely to attend college or university than they are to attend secondary school (Table 1). In most Asian countries, they are also much less likely to attend college or university than are men (UNESCO 1999). In South Korea, for example, 38 percent of women in the appropriate age group were enrolled in university in 1995, compared with 66 percent of men. In India, 5 percent of university-age women were enrolled, compared with 8 percent of men. Thailand and the Philippines are exceptions with unusually high univer- sity enrollment rates for women. In Thailand, 20 percent of university-age women were enrolled in 1992, compared with 17 percent of men. In the Philip- pines, 33 percent of women were enrolled in 1995, compared with 25 percent of men. Figure 1. Percentage of all girls 120 and boys at secondary-school age enrolled in secondary school: 100 South Korea boys South Korea, Philippines, and India, 1970–95 South Korea girls 80 Philippines girls 60 India boys Philippines boys 40 India girls Percentage of age group in school 20 0 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 Year Source: UNESCO (1999). Note: The percentage enrolled can be more than 100 if girls and boys outside the normal age range are also enrolled in school. 42 The Future of Population in Asia Table 1. Trends in female secondary and tertiary enrollment in 19 Asian countries and Hong Kong: Percentage of girls in the appropriate age groups who were enrolled in 1975, 1985, and 1995 1975 1985 1995 Country Secondary Tertiary Secondary Tertiary Secondary Tertiary East Asia China 38 0 33 2 62 4 Hong Kong SAR 47 5 73 NA 76 20 Japan 92 17 96 20 104 36 Mongolia 83 8 95 28 68 21 South Korea 48 5 91 21 101 38 Southeast Asia Cambodia 5 NA 19 NA 20 1 Indonesia 15 NA 35 NA 48 8 Laos 5 NA 19 1 21 2 Malaysia 39 NA 53 5 63 NA Myanmar 20 NA 22 5 30 7 Philippines 54 19 65 26 78 33 Singapore 53 7 61 10 70 31 Thailand 22 3 28 NA 37 20 Vietnam 41 1 41 NA 46 NA South Asia Afghanistan 2 0 5 NA 11 NA Bangladesh NA 1 11 2 13 1 India 16 2 26 4 38 5 Nepal 4 NA 12 1 30 3 Pakistan 7 1 10 1 17 2 Sri Lanka 49 NA 66 3 78 4 Source: UNESCO (1999). Notes: Reference years for individual countries may vary slightly from those indicated. The percentage enrolled can be more than 100 if girls outside the normal age range are also enrolled in school. NA: Data not available. The Changing Status of Women in Asian Societies 43 Better employment opportunities Over the past half-century, women’s participation in the labor force has increased steadily in many Asian countries, particularly in the rapidly growing economies of East and Southeast Asia (Figure 2). Singapore is a clear example. There, rapid industrialization generated a strong demand for labor, but few could be drawn from the countryside because the agricultural sector was already small. Thus economic growth relied in large measure on women’s movement into the labor force. About 22 percent of women age 15 to 64 were employed in 1957 (Bauer 2001), rising to 55 percent by 1999 (ADB 2001). In Thailand at the beginning of industrialization, women were already widely employed in agriculture, so their overall employment rates have not gone up. However, many have moved from agriculture into other sectors of the econ- omy. In South Korea, women’s employment levels have gone up steadily since about 1980, while in Taiwan, women’s employment stagnated during the 1990s with economic setbacks in Asia. In 1999, half or more of women age 15 to 64 were employed in all sectors, including agriculture, in nine Asian countries (ADB 2001). These were: I East Asia: China (74 percent), Mongolia (66 percent), and South Korea (53 percent) I Southeast Asia: Cambodia (65 percent), the Philippines (53 percent), Singapore (55 percent), and Thailand (68 percent) I South Asia: Bangladesh (56 percent) and Pakistan (86 percent) Figure 2. Labor force participa- 80 tion rates (percent) for women Thailand 70 age 15 to 64 years: Thailand, Singapore, South Korea, 60 Singapore and Taiwan, 1970–99 50 40 South Korea Taiwan 30 Percent in labor force 20 10 0 1970 1980 1990 1999 Year Source: Bauer (2001) and ADB (2001). Note: Reference years for individual countries may vary slightly from those indicated. 44 The Future of Population in Asia In addition to women’s traditional employment in agriculture, some have argued that Asia’s labor-intensive, export-led industrialization drives would not have been possible without the participation of women. In developing countries, it is common for women to work as unpaid family labor with little or no direct income or other benefits of employment. Mason (1995) considers this a form of employment “that is least likely to yield power or control over resources.” In many Asian countries, economic development and gains in education have increased opportunities for women seeking paid employment outside the home. Although direct information on women’s con- trol over their earnings is rarely available, the expansion of opportunities to earn wages outside the family environment can probably be viewed as a gain in women’s status. The distribution of workers in three employment categories—paid employee, self-employed, and family worker—provides an indication of what types of employment opportunities are available for women. In Japan, more than eight out of 10 women who work are employed for wages, while only one out of 10 works as unpaid family labor (Figure 3). In Bangladesh, by contrast, fewer than one in 10 women works for wages, and nearly eight out of 10 work as unpaid family labor. Women’s employment status in South Korea and Sri Lanka falls in between these two extremes. In all four countries, men are much less likely than women to be employed as unpaid family labor. The distribution of women’s and men’s employment between these three categories in more- and less- advanced economies suggests a decline, but not a disappearance, of gender inequality in Asia’s labor markets.