Roles of Third World Women

Roles of Third World Women in Political, Economic, And Social Development

THIRD-WORLD WOMEN

"Liberators yet left behind": The schizophrenic position and roles of women of the developing world in political, economic, and social development

"Liberators yet left behind"

Women have succeeded in the developing world as political figures

Yet statistics show most women also suffer tremendous social, political and economic inequities

India and Pakistan

Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto

Statistics about female morality and literacy

New female leaders

Chilean president

Liberian president

Liberian successes

Successes and failures of Liberation theology

AIDS in Africa

Reasons women predominate in HIV-positive population

Methods of addressing this and other inequities and injustices

Conclusion

Honor successes, recognize challenges of women of the developing world

Call for more female education and economic empowerment to lead to political success

While the conventional construction in the Western media may suggest that Third World women are 'oppressed,' this belies the considerably more complex role they have played in liberating the region from colonial control and reconstructing damaged economic and political infrastructures in Africa and Latin and Central America. Grim statistics, such as the fact that ae of all African women are HIV positive coexist with inspiring anecdotal examples, such as the recent election of the female president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who is one of the most praised and vocal advocates for change in the region (Fleshman 2004, p4; Scott-Johnson 2008). The status of women in the developing world can best be described as schizophrenic. There is substantial evidence that entrenched social, economic and political inequities still exist, even though these facts should not eclipse the achievements and advancements that have occurred in the position of women, as they are evidence of the possibility and hope of change.

Perhaps the first example of the new role of women in the developing world came with the election of Indira Gandhi to the position of Prime Minister of India. Benazir Bhutto later assumed a similar prominent role of leadership in the neighboring rival Muslim state of Pakistan. But these achievements came despite the fact that in a "study in rural Punjab revealed that between the ages of one and 23 months, female mortality rates are nearly twice those of males. Girls born to mothers who already have one or more surviving daughters experience 53% higher mortality...although both sexes receive the same number of calories, girls are given more cereals, while boys receive more highly valued milk and fat" (Lane 1995). Dowry murder is still practiced in many regions of India, where women are murdered for their dowries, and as "female literacy in Pakistan improves about 5% per decade, at which rate it will take 60 years to raise the literacy rate of teenage women age 15 to 19 to 70%" (Lane 1995).