International strategies for addressing gender inequality in developing nations

¶ … Human rights continue to generate tremendously important social issues on a global scale. In particular, gender-based inequality persists, especially in many third-world countries. Paternalistic social norms continue to result in many forms of social inequality for women in those societies: they are often dependent on their male family members and husbands; they suffer from discrimination in the workplace; and they are also subjected to various forms of exploitation and abuse, including physical and sexual abuse. In some third-world countries, women's rights have improved somewhat compared to previous periods but that is not true in other countries at all. Generally, Western and other first-world nations are powerless to improve the situation except through economic incentives. That is because national sovereignty prevents foreign nations from interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations. Human rights organizations have focused primarily on educational campaigns and on providing resources to help oppressed women improve their situations. The primary purpose of this research project is to help identify the most productive international channels and methods for providing meaningful relief for women suffering from gender inequality in their home countries.

Literature Review

The proposed literature review will consist primarily of Internet-based searches for international and local news reports on the issues relating to gender inequality and reviews of reports and literature published by international human rights organizations and government sources engaged in international relief efforts in the area of gender inequality.

Research Design

The proposed research design will emphasize the review of existing relief organization efforts and those of foreign governments in relation to gender inequality issues in third-world countries. That review will be conducted in conjunction with an empirical review of human rights progress in those countries in the areas of gender inequality. The relative degree of identifiable improvement in gender inequality issues that correspond to existing relief efforts will enable the researcher to determine what approaches are most helpful for improving the lives of women suffering from gender inequality in their countries.

Findings, Implications, and Conclusions

The findings of this study will consist of a qualitative review of factors associated with the quality of life of women living in the target societies. The findings will also include quantitative results wherever the variables (such as employment rates, educational degree completion, earnings, domestic violence rates, etc.) can be quantified empirically. Those results will be used to generate suggestions for the most useful and realistic approaches to resolving gender inequality issues in third world countries.