Women's contributions and rights in world history

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, and the female/male GDP per capita ratio calculated from female and male shares of earned income (Jutting & Morrison, 2005).

Discussion

According to Jutting and Morrison (2005) both of these indices have a fundamental problem. 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 improving females' education, health care and credit markets. These measures are important, but success demands challenges to discriminatory institutions.

Changes and improvements in the situation of women do not depend on specific levels of income or dominant religions. Changing social institutions in existence for centuries requires approaches at both the national and the community levels. Reforms need to take into account enforcement as well as modifications in legal structures. They should include incentives for potential allies of change, respect feasible sequencing and provide some compensation to men if or when they lose from the changes. The socio-economic context is highly important, and different approaches may be necessary in urban and rural areas.

The successful generation of social change demands analysis of the real makeup of a society rather than an attempt to deal with gender problems from a pre-conceived standpoint. It requires examining social power relations and seeking changes in traditional values and habits, to identify appropriate reforms and put them into place. A flexible strategy is preferable. Interventions should take into account religion, culture and history and ensure male support so as to implement reforms successfully (Jutting & Morrison, 2005).