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.

“Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections Between Presence and Influence,” UNIFEM 2010.

[6] FAO Report: “Rural women and the right to food”, 2009