Key Facts: Gender and Development
·
The world continues to progress towards gender parity in education as
many countries have successfully promoted girls’ education as part of their
efforts to boost overall enrolment. But persistent inequalities remain in many
regions. The largest gaps are in West and Central Africa and South
Asia.
·
Overall, there is greater progress toward
gender parity in primary education than in secondary education. While 23
countries are not likely to reach the goal of gender parity for primary
education by 2015, almost three times as many countries (63) are not on track
to meet the gender parity goal for secondary education.[1]
·
Despite considerable progress in reducing
maternal mortality, every day about 1,000 women die because of complications
related to pregnancy and childbirth.[2]
MDG 5, which calls for a reduction by three quarters in the maternal mortality
ratio from that of 1990, is the MDG on which there has been the least progress
so far.
·
Developing countries account for 99 per cent of
maternal deaths. Two regions, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, account for 87
per cent of global maternal deaths. The situation is worst in Sub-Saharan
Africa, where in 2008 there were 640 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births,
followed by South Asia, where there were 290 maternal deaths per 100,000 live
births. In stark contrast, the maternal mortality rate in industrialized
countries is 14 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.[3]
·
More women than ever are holding political
office, but there is a long way to go. As of December 2010, women accounted for
19.2 percent of seats in national assemblies, far from the target of 30 percent
reiterated in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995.[4] The percentage of women in national assemblies is uneven across
and within regions, ranging from 12.5 percent in Arab states and 12.6 percent
in Pacific states to 41.6 percent in the Nordic countries.
·
Despite a general increase in
awareness of conflict’s differential impacts on women and girls, women continue
to be under-represented in global conflict and post-conflict fora and remain
largely excluded from national and local-level peace processes and decision-making.
Since 1992, women have constituted less than eight percent of negotiating
delegations in UN-mediated peace processes, and less than three percent of
peace agreement signatories.[5]
·
The combined food, financial and economic
crises that the world has experienced since 2008 have had detrimental impacts
on the economy and on the lives of the poor, the majority of whom are women. Food
prices have risen worldwide by more than 43 per cent, which has resulted in
food shortages and insecurity. The FAO has estimated that in 2010, more than
1.2 billion people live in a state of chronic hunger and pervasive poverty. It
is estimated that 7 out 10 out of the world’s hungry people are women and girls
and 45 per cent of women in developing countries suffer from anemia due to
malnutrition. [6]
·
As primary food providers and care givers, women
are most affected by the food crisis and other climate change related impacts,
such as the destruction of forests and other national resources on which women
rely to meet their families needs for water and energy. Women’s already heavy
burden of unpaid care will increase as they will have to walk longer distances
to fetch water and collect wood.
·
The UN Secretary General’s UNiTE to End Violence
Against Women Campaign estimates that up to 70 percent of women will experience
violence in their lifetime. Worldwide, it is estimated that one in five women
will become a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. Women who
experience violence suffer a range of health problems and their ability to
participate in public life is diminished. Violence against women impoverishes
women, their families, communities and nations; it exists in all nations and in
conflict as well as non-conflict countries.
[1] UNESCO Institute for
Statistics Fact Sheet, September 2010, No. 4.
[2] http://www.childinfo.org/maternal_mortality.html;
figures for 2008 (latest available)
[3] Ibid.
[4] Inter-Parliamentary Union; see http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm.
“Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations:
Connections Between Presence and Influence,” UNIFEM 2010.
[6] FAO Report: “Rural women and the right to food”, 2009