India's men urged to join the fight for gender equality
Men in India are being urged to do more to prevent violence against women and promote equal rights.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of UN Women, the United Nations’ (UN) women’s rights organization, spoke yesterday at a conference in New Delhi aimed at boosting the involvement of men in the battle for gender equality.
She said that men should actively back expanded economic opportunities for women, and "take a decision not to be violent."
The gender gap in India remains among the worst in the world. In the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, released last week, India’s gender gap was ranked 114th out of the 142 countries assessed, scoring particularly low for female labor force participation levels and earned income for women.
Furthermore, the UN’s World Population Fund and the International Center for Research on Women released a report on Monday, which estimated that 60% of men in India had committed physical, sexual, emotional, or economic abuse against their wives or partners.
The report surveyed men in seven Indian states on gender roles within their close family units. Of the women surveyed, over half said that they had experienced abuse in their lifetime.
Mlambo-Ngcuka acknowledged that improving the situation in India will require broad changes to public education and strong long-term political efforts.
IZA World of Labor authors have evaluated this issue of boosting female labor force participation from various angles. Sher Verick looks specifically at developing countries, finding that women’s participation in the labor force reflects country-specific economic activity, average educational attainment, fertility rates, and social norms. He suggests that policies need to focus on both labor demand and supply to achieve gains in employment quality.
Meanwhile, Siwan Anderson looks at the effects of investing in female human capital. She finds that these policies can boost overall welfare and reduce brideprice and dowry practices.
Lisa Cameron’s article posits that social protection programs need to be designed to specifically reach women, to address the particular daily risks that they face.
Read more here.
Related articles:
Female labor force participation in developing countries, by Sher Verick
Human capital effects of marriage payments, by Siwan Anderson
Social protection programs for women in developing countries, by Lisa Cameron