The Equality Dividend

Select extracts from chapter 2 of the UNFPA State of World Population 2005

As the World Bank reports, gender inequality is inefficient and undermines the effectiveness of development policies. Inequality between women and men is often pervasive and deeply entrenched, though its scope and intensity varies among, and within, countries.

It begins early, can last a lifetime and is often exacerbated by poverty. Poor families struggle with difficult spending choices to benefit all their children. But girls in various settings end up with less education, healthcare and skills than their brothers.

This "gender gap" often widens later in life, limiting women's opportunities for safe work, fairplay and accumulation of economic assets. Although marriage and childbearing are life-altering decisions with important social and economic ramifications, women and adolescent girls in many parts of the world have limited say in them.

Families are major conduits of sociocultural and gender norms, and it is in the family that the roles and responsibilities of women and men, girls and boys, are largely defined. Families are also the basic economic units of consumption and production:

Decisions about education, health, nutrition, child-bearing and political and economic participation are made within the family. Even with the best intentions, these decisions can undermine the human rights and well-being of women and girls and limit their options and choices, thereby perpetuating poverty. Understanding how families and communities make decisions can offer valuable insights into effective policymaking.

Promoting gender equality can expand opportunities for human development and remove costly obstacles to meeting the MDGs. This is because gender discrimination is based on predetermined and often rigid expectations of the appropriate roles of men and women in political, economic, social and family life, regardless of individual abilities or aspirations. Gender discrimination thus restricts the personal development of both men and women and holds back progress towards poverty reduction and development.

Investments that enable girls and women to reach their full potential offer a double dividend, because of women's dual productive and reproductive roles. In addition to their often unpaid vital contributions to household, community and national economies, women bring forth and are the primary caretakers of the next generation.

Investments in the education, reproductive health and economic opportunities of women and girls have immediate, longer term and intergenerational payoffs. These three investment areas represent critical and synergistic elements in the development of the human capital of women, and, by extension, of their children.

The East Asian "economic miracle" of unprecedented growth from 1965 to 1990 offers an example of how these elements can work together. Gender gaps in education were closed, access to family planning was expanded and women were able to delay childbearing and marriage while more work opportunities increased their participation in the labour force.

The economic contribution of women helped reduce poverty and spur growth. 'The UN Millennium Project' refers to East and South-East Asia as the only regions where there has been "tremendous progress" in the reduction of poverty, hunger and gender inequality.'

The power of girls' education.

All girls and boys have the right to education. Education fosters dignity and a sense of self-worth. It offers opportunities to acquire knowledge and skills and enhances life prospects. Along with nutrition, health and skills, education is a pillar of human capital: These essential elements together enable people to lead productive lives and to contribute to their countries' economic growth and development.'

But poverty prevents millions of children, especially girls, from attending school. In the least developed countries, only half of all children complete primary school. While gender gaps in primary education are closing globally, more girls than boys are still out of school.

The gaps are wider still within and among countries: In Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, only 69 and 49 per cent of girls, respectively, complete primary school. At the secondary level, even fewer girls are in school - with only 30 and 47 per cent of them enroled in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, respectively. These gender gaps are evident in literacy rates: Worldwide, 600 million women are illiterate compared to 320 million men.

Secondary, or higher, education for women is particularly strategic. According to the UN Millennium Project, it provides the Greatest payoffs for women's empowerment". Secondary education yields higher returns for women than for men, including increased use of maternal health and family planning services and altered attitudes towards harmful practices.

Women with secondary education are also more likely than illiterate women to understand the dangers posed by HIV and how to prevent its spread. In Egypt, women with secondary education were four times more likely to oppose the genital mutilation/cutting of their daughters than women who had never completed primary school.

Secondary education also plays a more significant role than primary education in reducing violence against women, for example, by empowering women to leave abusive relationships. The social and economic benefits of girls' education are summarized below:

Girls' education contributes to economic growth

Investing in the education of girls is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty. By one estimate, countries that do not meet the MDG target of gender parity in education are at risk of foregoing 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points annually in per capita economic growth. "Economic growth rates in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia could have been nearly 1 per cent a year higher had those countries started with East Asia's smaller gender gaps and made progress in closing them at the rate observed in East Asia between 1960 and 1992.

Educated mothers increase human capital through their influence on the health, education and nutrition of their children.

Daughters of educated mothers are more likely to attend school. A mother's education also translates into higher immunization rates and better nutrition for her children, both of which increase enrolment and improve school performance. Every year of mothers' education corresponds to 5 to 10 per cent lower mortality rates in children under the age of five.

Education improves a family's economic prospects by improving women's qualifications and skills. As better-educated women participate in paid employment, families enjoy higher income and overall productivity increases. In rural economies, the education of women and girls may translate into higher agricultural production. In Kenya, for example, one study estimated that crop yields could rise up to 22 per cent if women farmers enjoyed the same education and decision-making authority as men.

Education improves reproductive health

Educated women are more likely to seek adequate prenatal core, stalled attendance during childbirth and to use contraception. They tend to initiate sexual activity, marry and begin childbearing later than uneducated women. They also have fewer children: Every three years of additional education correlates with up to one child fewer per women. When women have fever children, the well-being and development prospects of each child are generally enhanced.

Closing the gap

Many countries have made progress in girls' education. But despite the evidence of its power for reducing poverty and stimulating development the latest estimates suggest that a number of countries will miss the MDG target for eliminating gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015: At least 21 countries will miss the target relating to primary education, and 27 countries will miss it for secondary education.

The earlier time line - to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education "preferably by 2005" has already been missed by several countries.

In UNFPA's Global Survey on progress since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 58 of 142 countries reported an increase in public school spending and only 14 countries launched initiatives to promote girls' education. Of 129 countries reporting, 23 passed laws on equal education for girls and boys, and 16 increase the number of secondary schools for girls.

For poor families, the costs of sending girls to school need to be weighed carefully against the possible benefits, an analysis that often reflects and reinforces gender norms. In societies where women's life options are typically limited to marriage and childbearing, for instance, a girl's education may be considered a luxury, especially after her contribution to household chores, agricultural work and child or elder care is factored in.

Moreover, marriage may be seen as a transfer of the investment in daughters to another family, with little benefit to the girl's parents.

To realize the full benefits of girls' education, countries need to overcome the barriers that keep girls from attending school. Effective strategies to close gender gaps in education focus on poor communities and address specific obstacles.

The safety of daughters in school and in transit to and from school, for instance, is an important issue for parents.

This can be addressed by adding female teachers, improving security measures, reducing travel times by increasing the number of schools and generally making schools more "girl-friendly". (Simply adding a separate washroom for girls can make a difference.) Eliminating school fees and other costs can lower economic hurdles: Bangladesh, Mexico, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, among others, have found success with offers of free school meals, subsidies and scholarships.

Efforts to improve enrolment at the secondary level are vital, including special efforts to retain married and pregnant adolescents. At the global level, UNESCO's Education for All and the UN Girls' Education Initiative promote girls' schooling.

It is important to improve the quality as well as the quantity of education. Addressing issues such as shortages of teachers, overcrowded classrooms, and the content and relevance of education are essential to enable young people to acquire the skills they need, whether to prevent HIV infection or seek better jobs.

Improved quality also demands gender-sensitive curricula to eliminate gender stereotypes that affect how girls and boys are treated in the classroom and what subjects they study. This enables girls to obtain the most from their education and better equips them to transcend rigid gender norms that undermine their full potential.

It may, for instance, encourage them to consider a wider variety of jobs, including non-traditional ones." Skills in information and communication technologies (ICTs) can open up a world of opportunities, especially as countries improve ICT literacy levels and rural infrastructure. Several countries have begun programmes for girls and women. the Islamic Republic of Iran, for example, is offering training in information technology to rural women, especially housewives.

The power of girls' education for poverty reduction, gender equality and development is unquestionable. But education alone is insufficient in the absence of supportive social institutions and systems that expand women's opportunities and freedoms, access to resources and control of decisions affecting their lives.

Simultaneous efforts to improve women's reproductive health and economic opportunities can maximize the social and economic dividends of girls' education.