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Changing the Status of Women
Status of Women
In order to properly address gender inequality in a country requires knowledge of the sources and the depth of discrimination. Legitimate indicators that capture various aspects of gender inequality are indispensable for informing and directing policy. Existing indicators tend to focus on gender disparities related to access to education, health care, political representation, earnings or income and so forth. The aggregate indices that have received the most attention are the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The UNDP's Human Development Reports regularly cover both for individual countries. The GDI is an unweighted average of three indices that measure gender differences in terms of life expectancy at birth, gross enrolment and literacy rates and earned income. The GEM is an unweighted average of three other variables reflecting the importance of women in society. They include the percentage of women in parliament, the male/female ratio among administrators, managers and professional and technical workers,...
They measure the results of gender discrimination rather than attempt to understand its underlying causes. The school enrollment ratio and the percentage of women among managers, for example, are useful in comparing different country situations, but neither explains why these differences arise. They ignore the institutional frameworks that govern the behavior of people and hence the treatment of women. In most developing countries, especially poor ones, cultural practices, traditions, customs and social norms hold the keys to understanding the roots of gender discrimination.
The success of reforms depends very much on the willingness of governments to challenge traditions and privileges in existence for centuries. This calls for a global and coherent approach with careful sequencing. A successful improvement in the situation of women will not occur if the focus rests only on…
References
"Innovative approaches to promoting women's economic empowerment." (2008, September 25). United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://content.undp.org/go/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=2524504
Jutting, J., & Morrison, C. (2005). Changing social institutions to improve the status of women in developing countries. OECD Development Centre. Policy Brief No.27. Retrieved February 16, 2013, from http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/35155725.pdf
The authors further point out that at the time, NWSA did not accept male membership as its focus was firmly trained on securing the voting rights of women nationwide. As their push for the enfranchisement of women at the federal level became more and more untenable, NWSA shifted its focus to individual states. In so doing, it planned to create a ripple effect that could ease the attainment of
Women's Roles THE CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN Course Number & Section Despite sharing a closer percentage of population with men in the world, women are often labeled to be the minority and the marginalized group. This is mainly because of their traditional role of being inferior and submissive especially in the usual patriarchy environment. Although the role of women has changed and improved over the years, they are still considered to be a
This made the United States the only Western nation to criminalize contraception at that time (Time). While women (and men) continued to illegally access birth control, often using devices labeled differently for contraceptive purposes, it would be decades before birth control could be openly used within the United States. In 1916, Margaret Sanger opens the first birth control clinic in the United States, but it is shut down in
Women Empowerment Women comprise an essential part of the society; the role of women in the modern world is becoming more influential compared to the traditional days. The society is realizing the importance of women as leaders in the community and calling upon their ability to ensure that there is growth in the society. The rise of women in the society has been faced with stiff opposition from the male counterparts.
Woman's Suffrage Women in the United States made the fight for suffrage their most fundamental demand because they saw it as the defining feature of full citizenship. The philosophy underlying women's suffrage was the belief in "natural rights" to govern themselves and choose their own representatives. Woman's suffrage asserted that women should enjoy individual rights of self-government, rather than relying on indirect civic participation as the mothers, sisters, or daughters of
The disparity in income of male vs. female heads of household is striking. Analysis of census data revealed that, in 1949, approximately thirty percent of households headed by white males were living in poverty, compared to just under thirteen percent a decade later. For women, more than half lived in poverty in 1949; by 1959, that figure declined to thirty-eight percent. The prosperity of the 1950s was not universally