Gender Inequality and Womens Empowerment

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Gender Inequality and Womens Empowerment
2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3)
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Why Measure Gender Inequality and Womens
Empowerment in NFHS-3?

• Important public health consequences for women
  and children
• Strategic theme of NPP 2000
• Theme Empowering women for improved health and
  nutrition
• Millennium Development Goals 3 4
• MDG3 Promote gender equality and empower women
• MDG4 Eliminate gender disparity in education

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Why Measure Gender Inequality and Womens
Empowerment in NFHS-3?

• MDG 4 Eliminate gender disparity in primary and
  secondary education preferably by 2005, and at
  all levels by 2015
• Four specific indicators
• Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary, and
  tertiary education
• Ratio of literate women to men 15-24 years old
• Share of women in wage employment in the
  non-agricultural sector
• Proportion of seats held by women in national
  parliaments

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Content of Presentation

• Selected indicators of gender disparity
• Access and control over resources
• Womens decision making role
• Freedom of movement
• Acceptance of gender unequal norms

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Gender Disparity in Literacy
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Gender Disparity in Higher Secondary School
Completion
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Gender Disparity in Media Exposure

• Not only are fewer women than men literate but
  fewer are also regularly exposed to media
• Percentage of men and women age 15-19 regularly
  exposed to print media, TV, radio, or cinema
• Men 88
• Women 71
• Gender Disparity 19

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Employment Another Area of Gender Disparity

• Among the population age 15-49
• Men are 2 times as likely to be employed
• Men are 2.7 times as likely to be employed for
  cash
• Among the employed, 64 of women vs. 91 of men
  earn cash
• Female share of population employed for cash is
  39

Percent
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The majority of employed women are engaged in
agricultural work
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Does employment empower women financially?

• NFHS-3 asked married employed women and men who
  controlled their own earnings and who controlled
  the spouses earnings (if relevant)
• 20 of employed married women said they earned at
  least as much as their husband
• 24 of men with an employed wife said that their
  wife earned at least as much as them

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Control over Womens Earnings as Reported by
Currently Married Women and Men
Percent
Womens report about their own earnings
Mens report about their wifes earnings
Mainly husband
Husband wife jointly
Mainly wife
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Are some women more likely than others to NOT
participate in the use of their earnings?
Percent of currently married women
Residence
Age
Wealth Index
Education
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Do married women have access to any other
financial resources?
Percentage of women who
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Education, employment, or wealth do not ensure
that women have money that they control
Percentage of women age 15-49 who have money
which they can decide how to use
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Do married women participate in other household
decision making?
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• Older women are much more likely than younger
  women to participate in household decisions
• Differentials by other characteristics are small
• However, less than half of even the oldest,
  urban, more educated, employed or wealthier women
  participate in all four decisions

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What are some of the other hurdles that prevent
women from attaining gender equality?

• Limited freedom of movement
• Gender norms that promote mens control over
  women. NFHS-3 asked women and men questions about
  norms regarding
• Wife beating
• A husbands right to have sex with his wife
  irrespective of his wifes wishes

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Percentage of women age 15-49 who are allowed to
go alone to
The majority of women have little freedom of
movement. Only one-third go alone to all three
destinations the market, health facility and
outside the village or community.
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Percentage who agree that a husband is justified
in hitting or beating his wife if she
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Although urban, educated, employed and wealthier
persons are less likely to agree with wife
beating, these characteristics are not sufficient
to supplant beliefs in gender inegalitarian norms
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Attitude towards refusing sex with husband by
Situation, Women and Men
Percentage who agree that a wife is justified in
refusing to have sex with her husband when she
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Percentage of men age 15-49 who consider that,
when a woman refuses to have sex with him when he
wants, he has the right to

• Get angry and reprimand her - 20
• Refuse her financial support - 6
• Use force to have sex - 6
• Have sex with another woman - 4

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Key Findings

• Women are disadvantaged absolutely and relative
  to men in terms of access to education, media
  exposure, and employment for cash.
• The majority of married women do not have the
  final say on the use of their own earnings or all
  other household decisions asked about.
• Traditional gender norms, particularly those
  concerning wife beating, remain strongly
  entrenched.

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• Thank You