OVERVIEW= The revolution for gender equality

One of the defining movements of the 20thcentury has been the relentless struggle forgender equality, led mostly by women, butsupported by growing numbers of men.When this struggle finally succeeds-as itmust-it will mark a great milestone inhuman progress. And along the way it willchange most of today's premises for social,economic and political life.

The Human Development Report hasconsistently defined the basic objective ofdevelopment as enlarging people's choices.At the heart of this concept are three essen­tial components:• Equality of opportunity for all people insociety.• Sustainability of such opportunitiesfrom one generation to the next.• Empowerment of people so that theyparticipate in-and benefit from-develop­ment processes.

Equal enjoyment of human rights bywomen and men is a universally acceptedprinciple, reaffirmed by the Vienna declara­tion, adopted by 171 states at the WorldConference on Human Rights in]une 1993.It has many dimensions:• Equal access to basic social services,including education and health.• Equal opportunities for participation inpolitical and economic decision-making.• Equal reward for equal work.• Equal protection under the law.• Elimination of discrimination by genderand violence against women.• Equal rights ofcitizens in all areas of life,both public-such as the workplace-andprivate-such as the home.

The recognition of equal rights forwomen along with men, and the determina­tion to combat discrimination on the basisof gender, arc achievements equal in

THL RI:\,OLU'llOl\: FOR GL 'DER EQUALITY

importance to the abolition of slavery, theelimination of colonialism and the estab­lishment of equal rights for racial and eth­nic minorities.

A full analysis of the historical andpolitical movement for gender equalityextends far beyond what can be covered inthis Report. No numbers, no indices, nopolicy packages can capture the trueessence of that movement. But they canhelp propel that movement by providing thebackground of professional analysis.

Human development, if notengendered, is endangered. That is thesimple but far-reaching message of thisReport

Human development is a process of en­larging the choices for all people, not justfor one part of society. Such a processbecomes unjust and discriminatory if mostwomen are excluded from its benefits. Andthe continuing exclusion of women frommany economic and political opportunitiesis a continuing indictment of modernprogress.

For too long, it was assumed that devel­opment was a process that lifts all boats,that its benefits trickled down to all incomeclasses-and that it was gender-neutral inits impact. Experience teaches otherwise.Wide income disparities and gender gapsstare us in the face in all societies.

Moving towards gender equality is not atechnocratic goal-it is a political process.It requires a new way of thinking-in whichthe stereotyping of women and men givesway to a new philosophy that regards allpeople, irrespective of gender, as essentialagents of change.

The relentlessstruggle for genderequality willchange most oftoday's premisesfor social,economic andpolitical life

The humandevelopmentparadigm must befully engendered

2

The human development paradigm,which puts people at the centre of itsconcerns, must thus be fully engendered.Any such attempt would embrace at leastthe following three principles:

• Equality of rights between women andmen must be enshrined as a fundamentalprinciple. Legal, economic, political or cul­tural barriers that prevent the exercise ofequal rights should be identified andremoved through comprehensive policyreforms and strong affirmative action.

• Women must be regarded as agents andbeneficiaries of change. Investing inwomen's capabilities and empoweringthem to exercise their choices is not onlyvaluable in itself but is also the surestway to contribute to economic growth andoverall development.

• The engendered development model,though aiming to widen choices for bothwomen and men, should not predeterminehow different cultures and different socie­ties exercise these choices. What is im­portant is that equal opportunities to makea choice exist for both women and men.

In no society do women enjoy the sameopportunities as men

An innovation of this year's Report, thegender-related development index (GDI),reflects gender disparities in basic humancapabilities-and ranks 130 countries on aglobal scale. The four top countries are inthe Nordic belt-Sweden, Finland, Nor­way and Denmark, in that order. This ishardly surprising. These countries, muchconcerned with ending the relative depri­vation of women, have adopted genderequality and women's empowerment asconscious national policies. In these coun­tries, adult literacy rates are similar forwomen and men, and combined enrolmentis higher for females. Life expectancy is, onaverage, about seven years higher forwomen (compared with an estimated globalbiological edge of five years). And women'searned income is around three-fourths of

, .men smcome.

Several developing countries and areasalso do quite well in the GDI rankings:

Barbados (rank 11), Hong Kong (17), theBahamas (26), Singapore (28), Uruguay(32) and Thailand (33). These countrieshave succeeded in building the basic humancapabilities of both women and men, with­out substantial gender disparity.

But it is clear from the GDI estimatesthat in no society do women enjoy the sameopportunities as men. The top rank isenjoyed by Sweden, with a GDI value ofO.92-compared with a maximum possiblevalue of 1.00 (maximum achievement withperfect equality). Mter the top 32 coun­tries, the GDI value drops below 0.80­showing how far women still have to traveltowards gender equality even in countriesthat seem to be doing better on this score.More disturbing is that as many as 45 coun­tries in the sample analysis are below a GDIvalue of 0.5, showing that women suffer thedouble deprivation of gender disparity andlow achievement.

Another interesting comparison isbetween the overall HDI rank of a countryand its gender-adjusted rank for the GDI­since this shows how equitably basic humancapabilities are distributed between menand women. The countries showing GDIranks markedly higher than their HDI ranksare fairly diverse. They include Denmark,Sweden, Norway and Finland-and theCzech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, andPoland-and Barbados, Thailand, SriLanka, Malaysia, Jamaica and Cuba.

The countries with GDI ranks markedlybelow their HDI ranks include Argentina,Chile, Costa Rica and several Arab states.Arab countries face a formidable agendafor equalizing gender opportunities­though they have made the fastest progressin the past two decades in several gender­related indicators, particularly in femaleeducation.

Among the countries with sharply lowerGDI ranks are four industrial countries­Canada (a drop from HDI rank of 1 to GDIrank of 9), Luxembourg (-12), theNetherlands (-16) and Spain (-26 ranks).The real difference is in women's share ofearned income compared with men'sshare-a reflection of the much lowerparticipation of women in the labour forceand their lower average wage.

HUMAJ DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1995

Removing gender inequality hasnothing to do with national income

Income is not the decisive factor. Several ofthe world's poor nations have been able toraise female literacy rates. With limitedresources but a strong political commit­ment, China, Sri Lanka and Zimbabweraised adult women's literacy to 70% ormore. By contrast, several richer countrieslag behind.

The decision to invest in the educationand health of people, irrespective ofgender,seems to cut across income levels, politicalideologies, cultures and stages of develop­ment. In many cases, a strong political com­mitment has driven efforts to improvewomen's human development despite ashortage of resources. Countries applyingsocialist models, for example, used socialand political mobilization to achieve rapid-and equal-progress in education andhealth for men and women and to engineersocial transformations to expand opportu­nities for women.

Comparing GDI ranks with the incomelevels of countries confirms that removinggender inequalities is not dependent onhaving a high income. China is ten GDIranks above Saudi Arabia, even though itsreal per capita income is a fifth as high.Thailand outranks Spain in the GDI, eventhough Thailand's real per capita income isless than half of Spain's. Poland's GDI rankis 50 places higher than Syria's, even thoughthe two countries have about the same realincome. So, gender equality can be pursued-and it has been-at all levels of income.What it requires is a firm political commit­ment, not enormous financial wealth.

Every country has made progress indeveloping women's capabilities, butwomen and men still live in an unequalworld

Gender gaps in education and health havenarrowed rapidly in the past two decades,although the pace of this progress has beenuneven between regions and countries:• Female life expectancy has increased

THE RE\'OLUTION FOR GElDER EQUALlll

20% faster than male life expectancy overthe past two decades.• High fertility rates, which severelyrestrict the freedom of choice for women,have fallen by a third-from 4.7 live birthsper woman in 1970-75 to 3.0 in 1990-95.Life choices are expanding as women areprogressively liberated from the burden offrequent child-bearing and from the risk ofdying in childbirth. Maternal mortalityrates have been nearly halved in the pasttwo decades.• More than half the married women ofreproductive age in the developing world,or their partners, used modern contracep­tives in 1990, compared with less than aquarter in 1980. This planned parenthoodhas brought women much greater controlover their lives.

In adult literacy and school enrolment,the gaps between women and men werehalved between 1970 and 1990 in develop­ing countries. Women's literacy increasedfrom 54% of the male rate in 1970 to 74%in 1990-and combined female primaryand secondary enrolment increased from67% of the male rate to 86%. Female ratesofadult literacy and combined school enrol­ment in the developing world increasedtwice as fast as male rates between 1970and 1990.

The Arab States have led the advance inwomen's education, more than doublingfemale literacy rates. Indeed, the fastestimprovement in women's literacy rates-68percentage points between 1970 and1990-took place in the United ArabEmirates.

Overall, female primary enrolment indeveloping countries increased 1.7% a yearduring 1970-90, compared with 1.2% formale enrolment. Girls' combined primaryand secondary enrolment in the developingworld jumped dramatically, from 38% in1970 to 68% in 1992. East Asia (83%) andLatin America (87%) are already approach­ing the high levels in industrial countries(97%).

Also remarkable is the rapid closing ofthe gap in higher education. In developingcountries, female enrolment at the tertiarylevel was less than half the male rate in1970, but by 1990 it had reached 70%. In

It is still anunequal world

3

The doors toeconomic andpoliticalopportunities arebarely ajar

4

32 countries, more women than men arenow enrolled at the tertiary level.

But it is still an unequal world. Amongthe developing world's 900 million illiteratepeople, women outnumber men two to one.And girls constitute 60% of the 130 millionchildren without access to primary school.Because population has grown faster thanwomen's education has expanded in somedeveloping regions, the number of womenwho are illiterate has increased.

During the 20 years from 1970 to 1990,only half the educational gap between menand women was closed. Another 20 years istoo long to wait to close the remaining half.

Women's special health needs also suf­fer considerable neglect. Many developingcountries do not provide qualified birthattendants, good prenatal or postnatal careor emergency care during deliveries. Inmost poor countries, pregnancy complica­tions are the largest single cause of deathamong women in their reproductive years.Nearly half a million maternal deaths occureach year in developing countries. Toooften, the miracle of life becomes a night­mare of death.

While doors to education and healthopportunities have opened rapidly forwomen, the doors to economic andpolitical opportunities are barely ajar

Major forces in closing the gender gapsover the past two decades are higher femaleenrolments at all levels in developingcountries-and rising women's paid em­ployment in industrial countries. But theopportunities open to women haveremained limited. The Report marshalsdetailed evidence of the unequal access toopportunities. Some telling examples:• Poverty has a woman's face-of 1.3 bil­lion people in poverty, 70% are women. Theincreasing poverty among women has beenlinked to their unequal situation in thelabour market, their treatment under socialwelfare systems and their status and powerin the family.• Women's labour force participationhas risen by only four percentage points in20 years-from 36% in 1970 to 40% in

1990. Compare that with a two-thirdsincrease in female adult literacy andschool enrolment.• Women receive a disproportionatelysmall share of credit from formal bankinginstitutions. They are assumed to have nocollateral to offer-despite working muchharder than men. For example, in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean, women consti­tute only 7-11% of the beneficiaries ofcredit programmes.• Women normally receive a much loweraverage wage than men, because they holdlow-paying jobs or work in the informal sec­tor and because they are sometimes paidless than men for equal work. The averagefemale wage is only three-fourths of themale wage in the non-agricultural sector in55 countries that have comparable data.• All regions record a higher rate of unem­ployment among women than men.• In developing countries, women stillconstitute less than a seventh of adminis­trators and managers.• Women still occupy only 10% of the par­liamentary seats and only 6% of the cabinetpositions.• In 55 countries, there are either nowomen in parliament or fewer than 5%.These countries range from very poor(Bhutan and Ethiopia) to reasonably afflu­ent (Greece, Kuwait, the Republic of Koreaand Singapore).

Despite considerable progress in de­veloping women's capabilities, their partici­pation in economic and political decision­making remains very limited.

Another innovation of this year'sReport, the gender empowerment mea­sure (GEM), looks at women's represen­tation in parliaments, women's share ofpositions classified as managerial and pro­fessional, women's participation in theactive labour force and their share ofnational income. It ranks 116 countrieswith comparable data.

Once again, the ordic countries leadthe world, with Sweden and Norway ontop. These countries are not only good atstrengthening female capabilities but havealso opened many opportunities in eco­nomic and political fields. The Nordiccountries have crossed the critical 30%

HUMAN D[VELOP~I[J\:T REPORT 1995

FIGURE 1

Expanding capabilities. limited opportunities

The human development index (HOI) measures theaverage achievement of a country in basic humancapabilities. The HOI indicates whether people leada long and healthy life, are educated and know­ledgeable and enjoy a decent standard of living.

The gender-related development index (GDI)measures achievement in the same basiccapabilities as the HOI does, but takes note ofinequality in achievement between womenand men.

The gender empowerment measure (GEM) exam­ines whether women and men are able to activelyparticipate in economic and political life and takepart in decision-making.

Global comparisonsGNP Industrial~:~ita countries(1992) $21,352

• World

• Developing countries

• Industrial countries

Economic and political opportunitiesare universally denied to womenin both industrial and developing countries.

Expanding human capabilitiesare increasingly more equally shared.

0.300

1.000 HDI value

00400

Developing G ~~.v..~~~_: G EM valuecountries

Industrial ~924

0.900 __ __~9..':.l_i'!!~~~~. _.~••':-:--~__~_~__,..", ~-_--:.::.-;:,;-_;::._:.;__::,__::_-.:_,::__:.::_,::__:..:._::__.:.__:..:_,:__~_~

0.700

0.800

World .- _

0.600

:-~o~- --D~:~~~~~;~~--·---:------------------------ _=_

Developing countries as a grouphave attained an HOI two-thirdsthat of industrial countries despitean average income of less than

----------. - one-twentieth that of industrialcountries.

0.200- ---------------------- --~-- ------ ----- ----------- ----- -------.---------

Regional comparisons

GNP Latin Americaper and the Caribbeancapita $2,799(1992) Arab States $1,662

Sub-Saharan LeastAfrica developed1$365 1 countries $356

1.000 HDI value GDI value GEM value

0.900

0.800-------Tiltfii-Amerfca--

and the Caribbean ""., _0.700 _~ ~ • w ... =_~ _

Arab States •_~:~9~ A~j@l ~~::::_.",__""" :;;:.:..:.:.

0.500

0.200

• Latin America andthe Caribbean

Asia

Sub-Saharan AfricaLeast developed countriesArab States

Note: All figures are calculated for the 104 countries for which estimates of HOI, GOI and GEM are available. The graphs Include 27 countries in Africa, 11 Arab States, 17 countries In Asia,25 countries In Latin America and the Caribbean and 28 of the least developed countries

11 II. R.E\'OLlJTIO. ' FOR GL DER LQUALITY 5

The non­monetized,invisiblecontribution ofwomen is $11trillion a year

6

threshold for women's participation ill

these spheres of life.Only nine countries have GEM values

above 0.6, compared with 66 countries witha GDI value above 0.6. On the other hand,39 countries have a GEM value below OJ,compared with only 13 countries with aGDI value below 0.3. Since the GDI mea­sures gender equality in basic human capa­bilities and the GEM gender equality ineconomic and political opportunities, thiscomparison makes it clear that many coun­tries have a longer distance to travel inextending broad economic and politicalopportunities to women than they havealready traveled in building basic femalecapabilities.

But it is precisely the participation ofwomen at the highest decision-making lev­els in political and economic life that candrive the change for greater equalitybetween men and women.

A major index of neglect is that many ofwomen's economic contributions aregrossly undervalued or not valued atall-on the order of $11 trillion a year

The undervaluation of women is reflectedin the undervaluation of their work and inthe absence of recognition of the contribu­tion that they make. The debate thereforemust cover equality of rewards as well asequality of opportunity. Data on time use bywomen and men for a sample of 31 coun­tries tell a dramatic story:• Women work longer hours than men innearly every country. Of the total burden ofwork, women carry on average 53% indeveloping countries and 51% in industrialcountries.• On average, about half of this total worktime of both men and women is spent ineconomic activities in the market or in thesubsistence sector. The other half is nor­mally devoted to unpaid household or com­munity activities.• Of men's total work time in industrialcountries, roughly two-thirds is spent inpaid activities and one-third in unpaidactivities. For women, the situation is thereverse. In developing countries, more than

three-quarters of men's work is in marketactivities. So, men receive the lion's share ofincome and recognition for their economiccontribution-while most ofwomen's workremains unpaid, unrecognized and under­valued.

With no economic value given to theseactivities, the contribution of women isseriously underestimated, and there is noadequate reward or recognition for the bur­den of work that women carry. In fact, thefailure to value most of their work reduceswomen to virtual non-entities in most eco­nomic transactions-such as property own­ership or offering collateral for bank loans.

Since status in contemporary society isso often equated with income-earningpower, women suffer a major undervalua­tion of their economic status. But they carrya higher share of the total work burden.And men's work in the market-place isoften the result of "joint production", not asolo effort, since much of it might not bepossible if women did not stay at homelooking after the children and household.

If women's unpaid work were properlyvalued, it is quite possible that womenwould emerge in most societies as the majorbreadwinners-or at least equal breadwin­ners-since they put in longer hours ofwork than men.

The monetization of the non-marketwork of women is more than a question ofjustice. It concerns the economic status ofwomen in society. If more human activitieswere seen as market transactions at the pre­vailing wages, they would yield giganticallylarge monetary valuations. A rough order ofmagnitude comes to a staggering $16 tril­lion-or about 70% more than the officiallyestimated $23 trillion of global output. Thisestimate includes the value of the unpaidwork performed by women and men as wellas the value of the underpayment ofwomen's work in the market at prevailingwages. Of this $16 trillion, $11 trillion is thenon-monetized, invisible contribution ofwomen.

Such a revaluation ofwomen's work willthoroughly challenge the present conven­tions. For husbands to share income withtheir wives will become an act of entitle­ment rather than benevolence. The basis of

property rights, divorce settlements, collat­eral for bank credit-to name only a fewareas-will have to change completely. Menwill also have to share more of the burdenof household and community work.

If national statistics fully reflect the"invisible" contribution of women, it willbecome impossible for policy-makers toignore them in national decisions. or willwomen continue to be regarded as eco­nomic non-entities in market transactions.

Another major element ofdiscrimination is the unacceptably lowstatus of women in society, withcontinuing legal discrimination andviolence against women

The starkest reflection of the low statusaccorded to women is the discriminationagainst them in the law. In many countries,women still are not treated as equal tomen-whether in property rights, rights ofinheritance, laws related to marriage anddivorce, or the rights to acquire nationality,manage property or seek employment.

In 1979, the United ations approvedthe Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW), a path-breaking charter of thelegal and human rights of women. But 41UN member states still have not signed theconvention, 6 have signed without ratifica­tion, and 43 have ratified the conventionwith reservations about some of its provi­sions. In other words, 90 countries have notyet accepted all the tenets of legal equalityfor women and men. Even in some coun­tries ratifying CEDA~ the implementationof the convention has remained half­hearted and incomplete. So, even underlaw, the equality ofwomen is not yet assuredin many societies-let alone in practice.

The most painful devaluation of womenis the physical and psychological violencethat stalks them from cradle to grave. Fortoo many women, life is shadowed by athreat of violence.• The devaluation begins even before lzfebegins. In some countries, testing is used todetermine the sex of the fetus, which maybe aborted if it is female.

• It scars early lzfe. A third of the womenin Barbados, Canada, the Netherlands,New Zealand, Norway and the UnitedStates report sexual abuse during child­hood or adolescence. An estimated one mil­lion children, mostly girls in Asia, are forcedinto prostitution annually. And an esti­mated 100 million girls suffer genitalmutilation.• It becomes a part ofmam"age. Studies inChile, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and theRepublic of Korea indicate that two-thirdsor more of married women have experi­enced domestic violence. In Germany, it isestimated that up to four million women ayear suffer from domestic violence.• It is sometimes manzfested in rape. Studiesfrom Canada, New Zealand, the UnitedKingdom and the United States suggestthat about one woman in six is raped in herlifetime.• It may end in murder. More than half ofall murders of women in Bangladesh,Brazil, Kenya, Papua New Guinea andThailand are committed by present or for­mer partners.• Or in suicide. Cross-cultural evidencefrom Mrica, South America, severalMelanesian islands and the United Statesestablished marital violence as a leadingcause of female suicide.

Although violence stalks women's lives,laws can do little unless present cultural andsocial values change.

The revolution towards gender equalitymust be propelled by a concrete strategyfor accelerating progress

Engendering the development paradigminvolves radical change in the long-standingpremises for social, economic and politicallife. And the free workings of economic andpolitical processes are unlikely to deliverequality of opportunity, because of the pre­vailing inequities in power structures. Whensuch structural barriers exist, governmentintervention is necessary-both throughcomprehensive policy reforms and througha series of affirmative actions.

Each nation will need to adopt its ownagenda for overcoming obstacles to equal

The free workingsofeconomic andpolitical processesare unlikely todeliver equality ofopportunity

7

Governmentintervention isnecessary-throughpolicy reforms andaffirmative actions

8

rights. This Report identifies a five-pointstrategy for accelerating progress.

1. National and international efforts mustbe mobilized to win legal equality within adefined period-say, the next ten years. Toachieve this objective, the internationalcommunity will need to move on severalfronts:• A campaign should be launched forunconditional ratification of CEDAW bythe 90 UN member states that have not yetsigned or ratified it or that have enteredreservations. Public pressure should bemobilized for this purpose.• The monitoring of CEDAW's imple­mentation should be strengthened withinthe UN system, and regular, candid reportsshould be published on legal discriminationin countries.• An international non-governmentalorganization-World Women's Watch­should be set up to prepare country-by­country reports on key aspects of legaldiscrimination and on progress towardsgender-related targets fixed by nationalgovernments and international forums. Itcould base its reports on information fromnational NGOs and mobilize pressuregroups and political lobbies in alliances forchange.• Pools of legal professionals should beorganized to offer legal advice for winningequality before the law.• Legal literacy campaigns could be orga­nized to make women aware of their legalrights and to encourage more women tostudy law through the generous provisionof scholarships.• To facilitate women's access to legalsystems, it may be desirable to set up legalombudswomen at national and globallevels.• Violence against women as a weapon ofwar should be declared a war crime, pun­ishable by an international tribunal.

2. Many economic and institutionalarrangements may need revamping to extendmore choices to women and men in the work­place. For example:

ENCOURAGING MEN TO PARTICIPATE IN FAMILY

CARE. In the 1980s, in most industrial coun-

tries, maternity leave was changed fromprotecting mothers' health after birth toproviding parents with legal rights forparental care. The concept of paternityleave supplemented maternity leave. Japanintroduced parental leave in 1992-forboth mother and father. The United Statesin 1994 endorsed limited parental leave,but without pay.

The Nordic countries have perhapstraveled furthest. In Finland starting in1990, parents could choose between twoalternatives: after a 12-month maternityleave, either parent can stay at home untilthe child is three years old, with monetarycompensation and job guarantees. Or thecommunity must arrange for child carewhile parents work outside the home. SomeNordic countries have legislation thatallows parents to reduce their daily workinghours to take care of family commitments:since 1976, Finland has allowed parents ofchildren under age four-and Sweden par­ents of children under age ten-the right toshorten their workday by two hours.

FLEXIBLE WORK SCHEDULES. If workerswere to have the opportunity to staggertheir working hours, they would be in a bet­ter position to combine paid work withother responsibilities, such as child care.Sweden already allows interim part-timework, with the option to return to full-timehours, so that women and men can combinea career with family commitments. Ger­many and Japan have devised "flextime"practices to enable their workers to com­bine their family needs with productionschedules. And increasingly, employers areallowing workers to work out of the homeor to bring their home to work (by provid­ing child care at the workplace).

EXPANDING THE CONCEPT OF PUBLIC SERVICES.

Some countries have expanded public ser­vices beyond education and health to childcare, including public day-care centres andschool lunches. The private sector couldalso provide such services, helping womenand men to pursue careers.

CHANGING TAX AND SOCIAL SECURITY IN­

CENTIVES. Some countries have revised theirtax and social security systems toaccommodate family structures differentfrom the one-breadwinner, two-adult fam-

I lOMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1995

ily norm. Sweden has separate taxation forpart-time and full-time work to increaseafter-tax earnings for part-time work. InZambia, an income tax amendment wasintroduced in 1987 allowing women toclaim child allowances and deductions ontheir insurance contributions-and remov­ing some tax discrimination against women.

CHANGING LAWS ON PROPERTY. INHERITANCE

AND DIVORCE. Once women are recognized asthe main or equal "breadwinners" in mostfamilies, a convincing basis exists for a moreequitable sharing of rights in property,inheritance and divorce. The distribution ofland during agrarian reform would requirejoint landholding, with women having equalaccess to assets. Current restrictions onwomen's collateral for bank loans would nolonger hold.

These changes cannot all originate fromthe state. Many will start from movementsin civil society. And some must come fromchanges in the business community.

3. A criticaL 30% threshoLd shouLd beregarded as a minimum share of decision­makingpositionsheldby women at the nationaLLeveL. Few countries have reached or evenapproached this target, recommended in1990 by the UN Commission on the Statusof Women. In parliamentary or cabinet rep­resentation, only Denmark, Finland, theNetherlands, orway, Seychelles andSweden have crossed the 30% threshold.Progress is somewhat better in administra­tive and managerial positions (15 countrieshave crossed the 30% threshold) and inmunicipalities (8 countries). But most coun­tries are still far from this 30% threshold inmany of the key decision-making fields.

The Report recommends that eachnation identify a firm timetable for crossingthe 30% threshold in some key areas ofdecision-making. The 30% threshold shouldbe regarded as a minimum target, not as theultimate goal. But achieving this thresholdwould build considerable momentum forattaining complete equality.

4. Key programmes shouLd embraceuniversaL femaLe education, improved repro­ductive health and more credit for women.These programmes can make a decisive

nlE REVOLUTION rOR GENDrR EQUALIW

difference in enabling women to gain moreequitable access to economic and politicalopportunities.

Analysis of experience shows that inthree critical areas-access to education,reproductive health and credit resources­women face barriers that can be overcomeonly through determined policy action. Aslong as these barriers persist, women willnot have equal access to opportunities andto the benefits of development.

The returns from educating girls havefew parallels in any other type of socialinvestment. There are measurable benefitsfor women, for their families and for thecommunity. If universal girls' enrolment isto be ensured at primary and secondary lev­els over the next 15 years; an additionalinvestment of $5-6 billion a year isrequired.

The International Conference on Pop­ulation and Development in Cairo inSeptember 1994 underlined the principle"that advancing gender equality and equityand the empowerment of women, and theelimination of all kinds of violence againstwomen, and ensuring women's ability tocontrol their own fertility, are cornerstonesof population and development-relatedprogrammes" .

Choice in the spacing and number ofchildren has enabled women to control theirlife choices. It has meant control over howtheir time is spent, released them from con­tinuous child-bearing and child-rearing andenabled them to participate more freely inpublic life. But half a million women dieevery year from pregnancy-related causes,and millions more are disabled. The Cairoconference estimated that attaining com­prehensive coverage of family planning overthe next decade would require an additionalinvestment of $5-6 billion a year. A similaramount would be required for reproductivehealth services. The policy challenge is notonly providing services. but ensuring thatthese policies and services enable women tomake free choices on their own.

Access to productive resources is criticalto enhancing women's economic choices.For low-income women-the vast majorityof women in the world-lack of access tobank credit is a persistent barrier to attain-

Access toproductiveresources is criticalto enhancingwomen's choices

9

to encourage self-employment schemes,microenterprises and opportunities for thepoor to enter the market.

TARGETED PROGRAMMES FOR POVERTY REDUC­

TION. Poverty reduction requires an overallnational strategy on many fronts. But it alsodemands some targeted programmes andaffirmative action for the poorest groups­among them landless peasants, urban slumdwellers, deprived ethnic minorities, eco­nomically disenfranchised women.

CAPACITY BUILDING AND EMPOWERMENT.

Considerable decentralized capacity willhave to be built in each country-in thepublic sector, in the private sector andamong grass-roots organizations-so thatdisenfranchised groups can participate indesigning and implementing the new pro­jects and programmes.

What vision should inspire gender relationsin the 21st century? A new world order thatwould embrace full equality of opportunitybetween women and men as a basic con­cept. It would also eliminate the prevailingdisparities between men and women andcreate an enabling environment for the fullflowering of the productive and creativepotential of both the sexes.

This new world order would promotemore sharing of work and experiencebetween women and men in the workplaceas well as in the household. It would respectwomen as essential agents of change anddevelopment and open many more doors towomen to participate more equally in eco­nomic and political opportunities. And itwould value the work and contribution ofwomen in all fields on par with those ofmen, solely on merit, without making anydistinction.

The new world order would thus putpeople-both women and men--dearly atthe centre of all development processes.Only then can human development be­come fully engendered.

The new worldorder must putpeople-bothwomen and men­at the centre of alldevelopmentprocesses

ing economic independence and wideningchoices. Experience in many countriesdemonstrates that poor women investmoney wisely and make sound decisions tomaximize returns. The policy challenge is tosupport effective grass-roots credit schemesand intermediaries and to ensure that low­income women have assured credit fromthe formal financial system.

5. National and international effortsshould target programmes that enable people,particularly women, to gain greater access toeconomic and political opportunities. Someelements in such a package:

BASIC SOCIAL SERVICES FOR ALL. As endorsedby the Social Summit in Copenhagen, inter­ested developing countries should moveprogressively towards earmarking at least20% of their budgets-and interesteddonor nations 20% of their aid budgets­to human priority concerns, including basiceducation, primary health care, safe drink­ing water, family planning services andnutrition programmes for the mostdeprived people.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE. Although pri­mary health care and essential family plan­ning services are already included in the20:20 compact, they need to be supple­mented by another $5-10 billion to ensurereproductive health care services. Theseadditional sums should be priority items inthe enlarged effort.

CREDIT FOR POOR PEOPLE. As arguedabove, access to credit is one of the key ele­ments in empowering people and inenabling them to participate in marketopportunities. Since formal credit institu­tions rarely lend to the poor, special institu­tional arrangements may become necessaryto extend credit to those who have no col­lateral to offer but their enterprise.

SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD FOR ALL Remu­nerative employment opportunities are thekey to the attack on poverty. But not all ofthem need to be in the formal, organizedsectors of the economy. What is essential is

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10 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1995