Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Draft Prepared for the Beijng+20 Second Roundtable, December 3, 2014
By Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
With Support from Columbia Global Centers in Amman, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi, and Santiago
Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Chile ......................................... 1
Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in India .......................................... 3
Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Jordan ....................................... 5
Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Kenya........................................ 7
Top 7 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Turkey ....................................... 9
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Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Chile
Draft prepared for the Beijng+20 Second Roundtable, December 3, 2014
By Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
With Support from Columbia Global Centers | Latin America
1) Feminization of Poverty
The “feminization” of poverty continues to grow in Chile. Women’s estimated earned income
is 49% of men’s estimated earned income. Although female participation in the workforce is
getting closer to 50%, this figure mainly focuses on the population of higher income, and has
not come with a redistribution of household and family responsibilities. The overall workload
for women remains higher than men while the wages of women are 30% lower on average for
men receive for the same type of work.
2) Political Empowerment
Despite the fact that two of the three political powers, the legislative and the executive are
under women leadership, women are still weakly represented in Chile politics. With no quota
laws or other affirmative actions to increase women participation in decision making
processes yet, a law project that sets a minimum of 40% of women candidates, doesn’t assure
their election but helps to force a chauvinistic culture not to be so. In the 2013 election,
women constitute 15.8% of the parliament, against 25.7% in the American region. Women
continue to be a minority in decision making processes in civil, political, economic, social,
and cultural spheres of national governments.
3) Violence against Women
Chile’s classification and official approval of femicide includes only femicide committed by a
spouse, partner, parent, child or someone with a similar relationship. This definition does not
consider femicide in the public sector committed by strangers – illegal armed groups, state
agents – outside of partnerships or family relations. There are relatively few protocols to
address gender violence, and women are still facing obstacles getting access to the justice
system. The Ministry of Women Issues is working on making visible all forms of violence
experienced by women, not only happens in the domestic and familiar space, under the design
of the Action Plan on Violence Against Women 2014-2015, that consists in the revision and
extension of the current law of domestic violence; the training of civil servants and public
officials involved in prevention, care, protection and redress violence against women, among
other measures.
4) Sexual Trafficking and Exploitation
Chilean law incorporated in 2011 trafficking in persons into the law number 20.507. Chile has
been considered a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children
subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor. Chilean women and children have been
exploited in sex trafficking within the country, as are women and girls from other Latin
American countries. Data provided by police institutions in Chile (Carabineros and the
Investigative Police) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM - Chile), have
identified in the period 2007-2011, a total of 113 complaints related to trafficking in persons.
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Each of these allegations is associated with an average of 2 victims, of which 38% were
children and 62% of age, with a composition of 48 % women and 52 % men.
5) Health and Reproductive Rights
Chile is one of the 5 countries in the entire world to ban any type of abortion, which cannot
meet needs of women who are forced to resort to illegal services. Women who live with HIV
continue to experience discrimination in the h ealthcare system, especially sexual and
reproductive health, including the denial of right to motherhood via forced sterilizations.
Moreover, there is no legislation that regulates basic sexual education in schools ，leaving the
youngest population unprotected.
References
Inter-Parliamentary Union, PARLINE Database on National Parliaments.
Beijing+20 Regional Document of the Civil Society Latin America and the Caribbean. (Draft)
Columbia Global Centers | Latin America, Chile Gender Repot 2014.
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Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in India
Draft prepared for the Beijng+20 Second Roundtable, December 3, 2014
By Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
With Support from Columbia Global Centers | South Asia
1) Health:
a. Gender Bias: India is one of the lowest-ranking countries in the world in terms of the
gender gap of health and survival according to WEF. India has low female-to-male sex
ratio at birth due to sex selection and female feticide.
b. Malnutrition: There is high level of under-nutrition among women and girls. More than
one third of women in India are underweight.
c.
Reproductive Health: Maternal mortality rate in India is high. The maternal mortality
(deaths per 100,000 births) was 190 in 2013, against a world average of 210.
2) Educational Attainment:
It is a common phenomenon to see girls drop out of school due to gender biasand gender
based roles in families. School dropout among girls and the inability to complete elementary
level of education is high. , Gender gap in adult literacy rate is high. There are also inadequate
school facilities (for example a lack of sanitary facilities) and lack of women teachers in rural
areas of India.
3) Economic Participation and Opportunity:
Overall, Indian women’s labor force participation is incredibly lower than that of men. Many
women give up their dreams of working in order to take care of their family. India sees one of
the lowest percentages of firms with female ownership. On the other hand, Indian women
contribute a significant portion of domestic labor and low productivity work. India has almost
the highest difference between women and men on the average minutes spent per day on
unpaid work.
4) Land and Property Rights:
There is large scale of gender inequalities in land ownerships. In most Indian families, women
do not have ownership to property under their names, before or after marriage, due to social
norms of male property rights and financial dealings.
5) Child Marriage, Domestic Violence, Trafficking and Violent Attacks on Women:
Violence against women came as a major challenge in India, especially sexual violations and
domestic violence. Men’s habit of alcoholism, and moreover, the patriarchal values and norms
that consider women inferior to men who can be objectified and need to be subservient to the
patriarchal social set up, has the most damaging effects on women’s lives and led to poverty.
In addition, child marriage is a serious problem. Children under the age of 18 are often given
for marriage due to poor socio-economic conditions in rural areas. There are many fatal
consequences of child marriage such as early maternal deaths and violence.
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References
World Economic Forum, “The Global Gender Gap Report 2014”, 2014.
UN Women, “Gender Equality and Sustainable Development: World Survey on the Role of
Women in Development 2014”, 2014.
UN Women, “Hearts & Minds: Women of India Speak---Shaping the Post-2015 Development
Discourse&Agenda”, June 2013.
UNFPA, “The Power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, Youth and the Transformation of the Future”,
2014.
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Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Jordan
Draft prepared for Beijng+20 the Second Roundtable, December 3, 2014
By Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
With Support from Columbia Global Centers | Middle East
1) Poverty and Unemployment:
Nearly 14% of Jordan faces poverty. Groups most affected by poverty include elderly,
widowed women and those without family support. The unemployment rate among males was
9.8% compared with 22.1% among females in 2008. Also, survey shows that the vast majority
of household heads in Jordan are men, which further lowers women’s economic status.
2) Syrian Refugees Face More Obstacles:
Syrian refugee women face major challenges in accessing basic resources and specialized
services due to their restricted ability to leave home without a male family member. This
makes it harder for women to engage in economic activities, receive education, participate in
social activities, or receive aid supplies. One-fifth of girls never even go outside their homes
in Syria and displacement has made it even less likely. The longer the situation of
displacement is prolonged, the greater the likelihood of higher rates of child labour for boys
and early marriage for girls.
3) Marriage Rights:
Jordanian women do not have the same rights as men in terms of marriage and divorce. An
unfortunate phenomenon is Talaq (arbitrary divorce), in which a man can divorce his wife
without providing any legitimate reasons. Also, most divorce policies favor affluent Jordanian
women and do not take into consideration the conditions of poor women.
4) Underrepresentation in Politics:
There was an over 30-year ban on political parties in Jordan, which resulted in weak political
activities, particularly for women. Though now a quota system （10% for women） in
parliament is set up, there is still low presence of women in politics, and political agendas
generally have a lack of concern for gender issues. More than two thirds of government
positions are filled by men.
5) Honor Killing:
Honor Killing is the term used to define killing of women because of shame they have
brought to the family by engaging in extramarital affairs, premarital sex or being raped. The
Jordanian Penal Code says a man who "catches his wife or one of his female close relatives
committing adultery with another, and he kills, wounds or injures one or both of them, can
benefit from the lightening excuse from the penalty." Among teenagers, the belief that "honor
killings" are justified is common. Boys are more than twice as likely to support honor killings.
References:
World Economic Forum, “The Global Gender Gap Report 2014”, 2014.
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UN Women, “Gender-based Violence and Child Protection among Syrian refugees in Jordan, with
a focus on Early Marriage”, 2013
UN Women, “Gender Equality and Sustainable Development: World Survey on the Role of
Women in Development 2014”, 2014.
International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Arab NGO Network for
Development, “Building Democracy in Jordan: Women’s Political Participation, Political
Party Life and Democratic Elections”, 2005.
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Top 5 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Kenya
Draft prepared for the Beijng+20 Second Roundtable, December 3, 2014
By Columbia Global Centers | East Asia
With Support from Columbia Global Centers | Africa
1) Health:
a. HIV/AIDS: Kenya has the 4th-largest HIV epidemic in the world. According to statistics,
one out of eight adults suffers from HIV. The rate of women infected is exponentially
higher, especially among young women aged 15-25. In addition, HIV prevalence
among men who have sex with men (MSM) is almost three times that among the general
population. Moreover, most of MSMs are in stable heterosexual relationships thus
transmitting HIV to their female partners.
b. Reproductive Health and Teenage Pregnancies: Early marriage is also a serious
problem: 17% of Kenya women aged 15-19 are married. Adolescent girls are forced into
marriages, resulting in teenage pregnancies, higher chances of prolonged labor, and
maternal mortality. Moreover, there is a primary objection by men to contraceptives,
which does not vary substantially by age, education or wealth. Most of girls in early
marriages are married to older men in polygamous relationship, which placing them at
higher risk of sexually-transmitted-infections including HIV. Kenya’s rate of maternal
mortality is among the highest in the world---estimated 400 deaths per 100,000 births in
2013. Both teenage pregnancies and low uptake of family planning contributes to the
high maternal mortality.
2) Harmful Traditional Practices:
a. Female Genital Mutilation: At least 32 percent of women undergo this procedure,
which supposedly marks a girl’s journey into womanhood. This has resulted in prolonged
and obstructed labor whose common complication is obstetric fistula and in some cases
maternal mortality.
b. Wife Inheritance: When a man dies among ethnic groups, his widow may be
‘inherited’ by the husband’s brother after being ritually ‘cleansed’ by sleeping with a
social outcast. This practice may drive the spread of HIV/AIDs where it’s common. In
the recent past a lot of advocacy mechanisms have been established within the
communities to scale down these harmful practices. The system used is by establishing
the local community council of elders who have been spear heading the advocacy. This
approach of using the community elders to discourage the members from these harmful
practices is yielding fairly good results.
c.
Use of Traditional Birth Attendants: Less than half of the deliveries are attending by
skilled birth attendants in Kenya, with many women opting to deliver at home due to
inaccessibility (either due to cost or distance) of health services. These deliveries are
typically attended by TBAs who are not skilled and not linked to referral services which
places the mothers at risk of complications and even death.
3) Income Gender Gap and Gap in Sex-Segmented Labor Division:
Women produce 70 percent of the food, however, can only receive 10% of that as income.
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Only 29 percent of those earning a formal wage throughout the country are women, leaving a
huge percentage of women to work in the informal sector without any federal support.
4) Low Access to Higher Education:
Gender inequality in higher institutions of learning has been identified as a key factor that
contributes to the marginalization of women. Kenya has a literacy rate female to male ratio of
0.86. And the ratio of enrolment in tertiary education is only 0.70.
One of the central areas related to discrimination of women in higher education include fewer
enrolments by women in higher education. Thus, despite a near-gender parity in enrollment,
retention, completion and progression rates for both boys and girls at primary education levels,
the gender paradox begins when girls complete secondary education and enter university and
other tertiary institutions. Female participation in higher education tends to diminish as one
moves from secondary to university education especially in Science and technology oriented
degree programmes.
In addition to apparent gender disparities in the admission of students to universities, there are
other varied ways in which discrimination against female students in higher education
manifests itself in physical and social forms. For instance, in times of economic difficulties,
often the female child is denied opportunity to gain higher educational skills and, as a result,
participate in economic roles in the public sphere. Girls continue to be seen primarily as
potential mothers with the major responsibility of childbearing and childrearing, while sons
are seen as future heads of households and breadwinners.
While affirmative action has been instituted to increase access, female dropout rates are still
high because of the lack of support systems and gender friendly learning environments.
5) Rural Livelihoods:
a.
Land ownership: Land is the primary asset in Kenya—70% of livelihoods are in
agriculture. However in Kenya, only 5 per cent of registered landowners are women.
While women can legally
inherit land under the 2010 constitution, and impetus
was given to gender equity in terms of land ownership and inheritance, social
b.
stipulations still prohibit a woman inheriting land in some parts of Kenya.
Unsafe drinking water: In Kenya 19% of rural households spend over 1 hour a day
fetching drinking water---mainly women and girl. Due to the lack of clean water nearby,
many women and infants face hardship. School attendance may drop, and water borne
diseases such as diarrhea are one of the biggest causes of high child mortality.
References
World Econo mic Foru m, “The Global Gender Gap Report 2014”, 2014.
Foundation for Sustainable Development, “ Gender Equity Issues in Kenya”.
The Nature Conservancy Central Sciences, “Kenya’s
Implications
for Conservation: a
Gender
National Gender
Context
and its
Analysis”, July 2013.
UNFPA, “The Power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, Youth and the Transformation of the Future ”, 2014.
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Top 7 Key Issues on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in Turkey
Draft prepared for the Beijng+20 Second Roundtable
By Columbia Global Centers | East Asia, December 3, 2014
With Support from Columbia Global Centers | Turkey
1) Women’s Economic Participation and Opportunity
Turkey is one of the lowest performing countries from Europe and Central As ia on women’s
economic empowerment, according to World Economic Forum. Only 30%-40% of
working-age women (aged 15-64) in Turkey are in labor force. Moreover, they are often
concentrated in the low-productivity and low-paid agricultural sector. There is a gender gap in
wages as well. For the same work, women only get paid 61% compared to men.
2) Gender Income Gap
In Turkey, the estimated earned income female-to-male ratio is 0.39. Moreover, lower incomes
women have even less control over earnings. Only 2% of married women in the richest fifth of
the population have no control over earned cash income, a proportion that swells to 28% in the
poorest fifth.
3) Violence against Women
In Turkey nearly 45% of married women have been subject to violence by their partners,
whether physical (39%), sexual (15%) or emotional (44%), according to a 2009 report from the
Ministry of Family and Social Affairs. Turkey is now making efforts on establishing pilot
Violence Prevention and Monitoring Centers, monitoring and evaluating the National Action
Plan on Combating Violence against Women and replicating the national research on domestic
violence.
4) Gender Gap in School Graduation Rate
While enrollment rates for boys are nearly universal in Turkey, girls are disproportionately kept
out of school. Girls who do attend school are far less likely to complete it than are boys. When
families experience an income shock, girls’ education suffers more than boys’. Girls in Turkey
were more likely than boys to drop out of school in response to lower household budgets.
5) Political Empowerment
When considering political participation in Turkey, women show less opportunity to enter into
parliament and ministerial position with respectively 17% and 4% women-to-male ratio. In
terms of the business sphere, the ratio of professional women on corporate boards in Turkey
has remained around 4-5% over past five years. Male dominance in political and business
world is also conduit to exacerbating the power distance in the society.
6) Conservative Values on Gender Policies
The active women’s movement over the last decades has mobilized to change the
understanding of gender roles and promote the empowerment of women. They’ve also made an
impact on legislation and have developed non-governmental initiatives to address the
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challenges that women face from the grassroots level to the overall societal level. In recent
years though, a number of these gains have been overturned due to the conservative orientation
of the current government, which tends to define gender policies based on traditional values
rather than internationally accepted human rights standards. This has meant that the dominant
discourse in politics and the media undermines gender equality norms, leading also to
rollbacks in programs and policies designed for the empowerment of women.
7) Syrian Refugees in Turkey
Of the 2 million Syrian refugees now based in Turkey, 75% are women and children. They are
an especially vulnerable population facing several risks: health, education, poverty, violence
and sadly, trafficking.
References
http://www.unwo men.org/en/news/stories/2012/12/breaking -the-silence-survivors-of-vio lence-tell-how
-they-used-their-experience-to-enact-change#sthash.qq8AH4o1.dpuf
http://goo.gl/KReBeo
http://goo.gl/cVnTR2
Women Hold Up Half the Sky. (2008, 04) Global Economics Paper No : 164. GS Global Economic
Website, Econo mic Research fro m the GS Institutional Portal at https://portal.gs.com.
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