Gender Discrimination Against Women in South Asia

Introduction: Women in South Asia's Patriarchal Context

South Asia consists of seven separate independent states with varied socio-economic and ethnic populations, an array of religious beliefs, different laws, and distinct economic and political obligations — all of which influence the lives of women in this part of the world. Despite this diversity, the region shares several cohesive features, and South Asian women experience identical circumstances on a number of issues. Gradually, on several indicators of welfare, South Asian women are found to be better off today than they were several decades ago: their life expectancy has been rising steadily, more women have attained education and entered employment, many have joined local-level politics, and there is a heightened appreciation of the urgency to address women's issues, understand gender relations, and strive toward justice and empowerment for women. Despite these improvements, the overall picture of women's development has been negatively affected in this age of modernity throughout the world.

The South Asian region is still known as a "patriarchal zone" where the position of women is lower than that of men within kin-ordered social organizations. Women possess low status, have little or no title to property and land, and suffer from non-recognition of their unpaid work. In South Asia, women are frequently prone to discrimination throughout their lives with little or no hope of relief. In childhood, they are not given adequate food, are deprived of education, and are not taken to hospitals. In their teenage years, many are married off without their consent, and some are forced into the sex trade or bonded labor. In their roles as wives and mothers, they are treated as little more than helpers in farming and as child-bearing machines.

If they outlive their husbands, they are often deprived of inheritance rights, banished from their homes, and compelled to live in poverty on the streets. Socio-cultural customs, rooted in patriarchal beliefs widespread in the region, restrict women's freedom of movement and prevent them from taking advantage of opportunities to develop their potential. Gender discrimination is measurable across every sphere — including the narrow field of labor markets and the broader areas of education, nutrition, health, and political participation — and women in nearly every South Asian nation are subjected to unfair treatment in modern society.

Nearly 80 million women in South Asia go unaccounted for — killed in the womb or before their first birthday — as a result of acute gender discrimination. The bulk of work performed by women in this region goes unnoticed and unrecognized, and their financial contribution is a tiny fraction of that of men. The invisibility of women within the economy is a global phenomenon, but in South Asia its effect is especially insidious. Female literacy stands at just one-third of the adult literate population in the region. Furthermore, as a result of discrimination in educational, economic, and social spheres, women are effectively barred from the centers of political power. A mere 7.4% of parliamentarians in the region are women, their representation in the judiciary stands at only 6%, and only 9% of civil servants are women.

Women in these regions are unable to make decisions in their own favor on a wide range of issues. They rarely work for a wage and have little control over resources. Their freedom of movement is restricted, and violence is perpetrated against them by male relatives. In South Asian nations, women have been murdered for dishonoring male relatives — through extramarital relationships, choosing their own marriage partners against their parents' wishes, or seeking a divorce. Throughout South Asia, arranged marriages are customary and can at times be deeply humiliating experiences. Two forms predominate: bride wealth, in which the bride's family effectively transfers her to the highest bidder, and dowry, in which the bride's family pays large sums to the groom's family. Many women have suffered horrific acid attacks as a consequence of inadequate dowry payments.