Dr. Carolina MatosLecturer in SociologyDepartment of SociologyCity University London

Gender equity and citizenship

Core issues Gender inequality in the 21st century: facts and figures World Development Report 2012 (The World Bank): developments

and persistent patterns of inequality Challenges to gender equality The gender and equality debate in the UN UN Conventions on gender equality and elimination of all forms of

discrimination Defining discrimination Criticisms to a universal definition of citizenship Gender politics and the rise of female leaders Seminar questions and conclusions

Gender inequality in the 21st century

UN Women 2014 priority is the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, including access and participation of women and girls to education, training, science and technology, including women’s full employment.

* According to Womenkind Worldwide, women make up just 17% of parliamentarians (Unicef, the State of the World’s Children, 2007)

* Violence against women and girls is still a serious problem: at least 1 in 3 women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex or abused

* The 2014 PwC’s second Women in Work Index underlined that the UK lags behind most European countries on gender pay equality, occupying the 18th position out of 27 OECD countries for female participation and pay.

Developments in closing gender gaps -World Development Report 2012 – The World Bank

What have been some of the achievements of the last decades?: Gender gaps in primary education have closed in most countries of the

world. In secondary education, these have been reversed in many countries, including Latin America, the Caribbean and East Asia

Girls now outperform boys in secondary schools in 45 countries, and there are more women going to universities than men in 60 countries

Since the 1980’s, women are living longer than men in all parts of the world

Over half a billion women have joined the world’s labour force over the last 30 years due to the rise in women’s participation in paid work in most of the developing world

Others include increasing growth of women leaders in politics and government, businesses and in the other traditional male areas (i.e. media)

Persistent patterns of gender inequality*

Gender disparities have persisted throughout the world, and include: 1) Unequal access to economic opportunities – Women are more likely than

men to work as unpaid family labourers and in the informal sector, also work in smaller firms as entrepreneurs

2) Disparities in girl’s schooling – The lower enrolment for girls in primary and secondary education is a still a problem in Sub-Saharan countries and parts of South Asia.

3) Excess deaths of girls and women – Females are more likely to die in many low and middle-income countries than in the richer countries

4) Differences in voice in households and society – In many countries women have less say over decisions and less control over resources. They also participate less in formal politics and are underrepresented in the upper ranks of all sectors of society, including in business, academic, and governments.

* in World Development Report, 2012

Challenges to gender equality: understanding progress and barriers

Gender equality matters. Why?: Because it enhances productivity and improves development outcomes

for the next generation It can also make institutions more representative of a range of voices

(World Development Report, 2012) Despite being a worldwide problem, gender inequality manifests itself

more persistently in poor societies with strong anti-female bias (Sen, 1999, 194-195).

Sen (1999) sees a correlation between high levels of education for women and employment with the reduction of fertility rates, decreasing mortality rates of children.

I.e. Countries with basic gender inequality – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Iran, West Asia and North Africa – often have higher female mortality of infants and children (Sen, 1999).

Equality and democracy: why does it matter?*

Historical perspectives: Political equality started to emerge in the 17th century as a challenge to

hereditary monarchs The 19th century saw battles for universal suffrage and against the

property qualifications of citizenship Democracies hold a thin promise of political equality and popular

participation, but, as many scholars note, no country in the world has managed to live up fully to its ideals (i.e. Blaug and Schwarzmantel, 2000)

I.e. Similarly to the struggles of the African-American civil rights movements in the US in the 1960’s, voting rights were only conceded to women with a lot of reluctance in the first half of the 20 th century, and some as late as 1960

* Philips (1999)

* Philips (1999)

Equality and democracy: why does it matter?*

From J. S. Mill to Habermas: Relationship between democracy, equality, and social inclusion: The quality of democratic decision-making depends on sustained

conditions of dialogue, deliberation and talk There has also been a rejection of an understanding of political equality

as merely the right to vote Notable, the underrepresentation of women and ethnic minorities

threatens the democratic vitality of democratic decision-making. Thus democratic struggle is above all about expanding the space for

the inclusion of a wider citizen body, avoiding exclusions based on property, gender, race or ethnicity

* Philips (1999) and Matos (2012)

Women’s rights and the relationship between economic and political equality

Philips (1999, 16) sees an important relationship between political and economic equality

The author views the pursuit of economic equality as having been abandoned, whilst there has been a growth in concerns with political and civil rights and of egalitarianism

Here political equality is understood not only as the right to participate in politics, but includes a deeper notion of equal intrinsic worth; whereas economic equality is understood as the equality in income, wealth and life-chances.

Thus political equality is understood in a broader sense, as encompassing social or cultural equality.

However, it can be argued that the pursuit of wider economic equality has returned to global agenda

The gender and equity debate in the UN: historical perspectives

The United Nations has been instrumental in the recognition of the importance of women’s rights and gender equality

Late 1960’s and 1970’s – The UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) produced two important documents, the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (DEDAW, 1967) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979)

Documents set new standards with which to measure progress in how governments engaged with women and gave them a template to follow.

CEDAW – spelled out for the first time what discrimination against women meant

In the 1970s, there was a shift to the UN conferences, with four UN conferences on women creating new energy for an emerging second wave of the women’s movement (in Jain, 2005)

Setting the stage for the gender equality internationally: the UN debates

“Women at the UN were able to have a significant impact on the founding principles of the world body in its early years because of their decades of experience as activists in freedom struggles, peace movements, political forums and trade unions.”

Latin American women had an important role in shaping the language of women’s rights in the UN’s founding documents due to their experience with the Inter-American Commission of Women (IACW)

In the League of Nations, women from Latin America had asked the body to draft an equal rights treaty and place it on the agenda of the assembly.

The IACW was the first intergovernmental body devoted to women’s issues, established in 1928 at the Sixth International Conference of American States in Cuba (Jain, 2005, 13-15)

UN Women: Gender equality champions

“Men and boys have to see women not as competitors, but as partners. Society is like being in space. It is about being part of a crew. All are

equally important.” (http://www.unwomen.org/en)

The UN and women’s rights*

The UN inscribed equality between men and women into its founding texts, creating a separate human rights body exclusively for women

After being founded in 1945, the UN advocated that women be given full political suffrage worldwide.

In 1952, the General Assembly adopted the Convention on Political Rights for Women, in order to implement the principle of equality of rights contained in the Charter of the United Nations.

A View from the South - From 1956 to 1963, the new member states admitted to the UN were developing countries. Women who represented the developing countries also struggled against the colonial rule.

Equality for women became transposed into the debates on development. * (Jain, 2005)

Advancing women’s rights and recognition of gender discrimination worldwide*

In 1950, the CSW began working with other agencies to collect data about employed women and to strategize about how to improve work opportunities and create policies that would result in equal pay

The commission’s research over two decades outlined the problems, mainly that women around the world faced inequality and discrimination in education and employment.

In 1967, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (DEDAW).

Discrimination was perceived to be based on “difference”, as is the case of religious or ethnic minorities, stigmatized groups or those for reasons of class differentiation are deprived of opportunities for advancement.

Discrimination was seen as the key barrier to enhancing women’s status. *(Jain, 2005)

Gender discrimination There were later concerns on issues such as family laws, bias against

single women and heads of households, many ideas which were picked up and entered the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1979.

Reeves and Baden (2000, 7), from the Institute of Development Studies, have defined discrimination as being “the systematic, unfavourable treatment of individuals on the basis of their gender, which denies them rights, opportunities or resources.”

Some analysts see equality and non-discrimination as formulations of the same principle. Achievement of equality thus meant the removal of discriminatory treatment of women vis-à-vis men

As Reeves and Baden (2007) further note, women’s lack of representation and voice in decision making bodies in the community perpetuates discrimination, in terms of access to public services, among others

Gender discrimination worldwide: facts and figures

Facts and figures adapted from Oxfam (Institute of Development Studies):

* Women work 67% of the world’s working hours * Two out of three of the world’s illiterate people are women * Globally women make up just 10% of representatives in national

governments Gender discrimination in social institutions occurs in both developed as

well as developing countries The Atlas of Gender and Development – How Social Norms Affect

Gender Equality in non-OECD countries (2010) provides some differences between regions, with very high gender discrimination as in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, and lower levels in East Asia and Pacific and Latin America.

Gender discrimination and rigid gender roles: the roots of inequality

What stands in the way of women being equal to men? BBC News (March 26th, 2014)

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayj9EVc2ZLI)

But, after all, are we all equal?: criticisms to the universal view of citizenship

Criticisms to universal definitions of citizenship: According to scholars like Philips (2010) and Young (1990) , the

problem with looking for a core humanity behind all the differences of class, gender and so forth leads to equating equality with sameness, leaving untouched inequalities in power.

Iris Marion Young in Justice and Difference has argued for the need to “acknowledge our differences but also to highlight our similarities as human beings who behave justly to members of all races.” (in Matos, 2012, 147)

Defence of affirmative action to correct past historical injustices and discrimination, or equal opportunities policies

The possibility of producing a de-colonized, post-colonial knowledge in development studies became the subject of much debate during the 1990s

Gender politics and electoral systems: women in politics worldwide (in Norris, 1993; Matos, 2012)

As Lovenduski (in Norris, 1993) argues, during the 1960s and 1970s many second wave feminists were cynical about political institutions and electoral politics

During the 1980s, support for getting more women into politics grew. Feminists started to become active members of political parties.

Rise of female leadership in Latin America with the re-democratization phase:

Panama elected a woman president in 2003, Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004), and soon afterwards Chile and Argentina followed by electing the former president Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010) and Cristina Kirchner (2007), wife of previous president Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) and Dilma Rousseff.

Gender politics and electoral systems: women in politics worldwide (in Norris, 1993; Matos, 2012)

As Norris et al (1993) note, women have made demands on political parties since the issue of female suffrage was first raised.

Women’s issues were brought to the political agenda, and these have included demands for policies to secure sex equality in employment, equality in childcare, reproductive rights and family policies.

One of their main aims has been to secure changes in attitudes As the authors note, demands for women’s representation have ben

quite successful in Scandinavia. In Norway, the challenge to attitudes was particularly successful, who

were pioneers in advocating the integration of women into the existing party structure.

I.e. At least 40% of the members of every Norwegian

Government since 1986 have been women.

Gender politics and electoral systems: women in politics worldwide (in Norris, 1993; Matos, 2012)

The gains made during the 1970s and 80s were a result of a large mobilization of women

I.e. Feminists who entered the Italian parties, such as the Democratic Left, were active in forcing the implementation of party initiatives favouring women’s concerns. This happened also with British Labour Party and the German Social Democratic party during the 1980s.

What were some of the demands?: Parties were put under pressure to promote policies to attract women

voters, to recruit women members, to promote women into key positions in the party organization and to nominate women candidates.

Party programmes have expanded to include policies on equal opportunities and reproductive rights

Positive action and mandatory quotas

Forbes 2014 Power Women list

Final rank Category Last name First Name

1st Politics Merkel Angela

4th Politics Rousseff Dilma

6th Entertainment Clinton Hillary

8th Politics Obama Michelle

19th Politics Kirchner Cristina

25th Politics Bachelet Michelle

35th Politics Queen Elizabeth

50th Entertainment Jolie Angelina

52nd Media Huffington Arianna

The countries where gender equality has advanced - Gender equality Index: World Economic Forum

The Global Gender Gap Index 2012 According to the report, out of the 111 countries covered in 2006-2012,

88% have improved in their performance, while 12% have widening gaps.

In some countries, progress is occurring slow, regardless of whether they are starting out near the top or the bottom of the rankings, and independent of their income.

Countries such as Iceland, Bolivia, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Lesotho, Yemen and others have made much progress relative to their own situation in 2006

Latin America has also made some progress: surveys have shown that women’s economic participation increased significantly in the 1990s, as did political participation, but women still face higher levels of unemployment than men.

The Global Gender Gap Index 2012 Iceland 1

Finland 2

Norway 3

Sweden 4

Ireland 5

New Zealand 6

Denmark 7

Phillipines 8

Nicaragua 9

Switzerland 10

Netherlands 11

Belgium 12

Germany 13

How to achieve wider gender equality* The need to tackle persistent patterns of inequalities and

discrimination: * Income growth by itself does not deliver greater gender equality by

itself. Where gender gaps have closed, it is because of how markets and have functioned and evolved (i.e. opening new employment opportunities for women)

* Gender gaps persist where girls and women face other disadvantages, such as in poorer countries. These disparities are larger when poverty combines with other forms of exclusion, such as ethnicity and class

* Markets, institutions and households can combine to limit progress. Gender gaps in productivity are driven by deep-seated gender differences in time use, in rights of ownership, etc.

* Globalization can help, connecting women to markets and economic opportunities (* World Development Report 2012 – The World Bank)

Conclusions and questions for thought Women have come a long way since gaining political rights and the

vote, but various forms of discrimination and traditional attitudes persist worldwide

What are the barriers still for wider gender inequality? What can we learn from the experiences of the countries that have been

successful? How can we help the countries that have been less? How can women change social institutions and attitudes? Gender quotas in political parties have helped women advance, but

there are limits Female bosses does not directly translate either in more opportunities

for women in the workplace

Seminar questions

I. Choose one of the questions and discuss it briefly with your neighbour. Prepare yourself to answer these in the end of the next session.

1. Examine the relationship between gender discrimination and equality. What are the links and why does equality matter?

2. What have been some of the successes that we have in the world today? How far have we come? Think of examples

3. What are the challenges still to gender equality and citizenship? Think of a particular country to focus on and discuss what it has achieved in the last decades and what are the roadblocks that exist now that prevent further gender advancement in the future?

Selected bibliography Jain, D. (2005) Women, development and the UN – a 60 year quest for

equality and justice, Bloomington: Indiana University Press Lovenduski, J. and Norris, P. (1993) Gender and party politics,

London: Sage Publications Matos, C. (2012) Media and politics in Latin America: globalization,

democracy and identity, London: I.B. Tauris Philips, A. (1999) Which equalities matter?, London: Polity Press Sen, A. (1999, 2001) Development as Freedom, Oxford Paperbacks Young, I. (1990) Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton Press Reports The Atlas of Gender and Development – How Social Norms Affect

Gender Equality in non-OECD countries (2010) The Global Gender Gap Index and World Development Report 2012 –

The World Bank