Gender Inequality in Developing Nations: Reasons and Challenges

This report highlights the reason for the gender inequality in the developing nations. It covers social, economic, political and health reasons for the inequality. It also discusses the future of women in developing nations.

GLOBAL MINDSET

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
Reasons for inequality...........................................................................................................................1
Social.................................................................................................................................................1
Economic...........................................................................................................................................2
Political.............................................................................................................................................3
Health................................................................................................................................................3
Future....................................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................4
Introduction
In the modern day society there are many social evils that are still present. One of the primary
challenges that society is facing is Gender Inequality. Gender Inequality refers to the
inequalities that exist in terms of economic, political, health and educational basis among

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men and women. In the past also this has been the case as it has always remained as a male
dominated society where the contribution of women was not given importance (Moser,
2012). In the developed nations women are fighting for extra rights and at the same time in
the developing nations women are still facing challenges related to the gender inequality.
This report highlights the reason for the gender inequality in the developing nations.
Reasons for inequality
The discriminatory practices that women face in their social life are one of the biggest
reasons for this gender gap. There are many social and economic challenges that a women is
facing in the developing nations. This is reducing the power of the women to raise their
voices. This has increased the gender biased division of rights, labours, opportunities,
responsibilities. The occupational segregation, gender based wage gaps and women unequal
representation in informal employment are the two major reasons for their unequal
participation in the economy of developing nations (Benería, Berik and Floro, 2015). It is
seen that companies that requires labour force does not prefer women over men. This is
highest in the formal sector. Their percentage in formal sector is only 35%.
Social
In many developing nations like India, there is a huge sex ratio gap. This is due to the
presence of social practices like killing of female foetus in womb. This is highly common in
the low class community or the communities that are economically weaker. It is also to be
understood that the women in the developing nations does not enjoy equal importance in the
society hence the activities they perform tend to be valued less. This low value to their work
is the major reason for discrimination in the society. An analysis by Hindin of DHSS suggests
that only 12% in Zambia, 4% in Malawi, 17% in Zimbabwe have higher status in job while
their partners have higher status jobs by the percentage 43, 52 and 53 (Antonio and Tuffley,
2014).
This has also become a bigger challenge due to lack of information that a women have
regarding their rights, opportunities and responsibilities. In most part of the world they have
not been given access to information. They are not allowed to participate in the social
activities. It is also seen that women have not been given access to media that further
decreased their voices. The cultural factors played a very negative role in this regards.
Ethiopian women’s access to mass media is at the lowest level (Coffe and Bolzendahl, 2011).

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One of the major reasons for gender inequality has been the education gap between men and
women. In many of the country women are not given education. It is considered in most of
the communities that the role of the women in the society is to do household activities. This
kind of ideology has pushed them backward. In many parts of the world they are given
education till the primary level. This has reduced their chances of getting good jobs. In
clerical and fiscal types of Jobs the percentage of women is 71.3% while in the manual and
custodial type of jobs there percentage is around 51% (Cooray and Potrafke, 2011). In the
developing nation the percentage of women in the administrative and scientific job are only
25% and 18% respectively.
Economic
In the informal sector the women are over represented. Alone in the Sub-Saharan region there
are more than 84% of women in the Agricultural sector which is very higher to 63% of men
in the same sector. In the Latin America this accounts for the number 58% and 48% for
women and men (Gray, 2018). Researches also show that the representation of women is
higher in the works that are for longer hours. For example in the Sub-African region, more
than 18 nations have percentage of women employed in such type of work is greater than
50%. In some of these nations this count goes above 75% (Bose, 2012). It is seen that in most
of the developing nations the women are employed in those kinds of job that has very less
return and adds very little to their financial status. This further degrades the employment
status of the women in the region. Women get dependent on their partners for their livelihood
and in various aspects of the life.
Political
In many countries the problems is because of the fact that their representation in the political
institutions are also on the lower side. It is seen that women are provided with less
opportunities in the political decision making. Even when they have been provided with equal
rights most of these countries, due to lack of political representation; they have not been able
to improve their status. Most of polices of the government for improving the condition of
women in the society have remained on paper and due to male dominance they have not been
given what they deserved. Due to lack of access to the resources of the country they have not
enjoyed the life standards that they deserved. In countries like India women are demanding
for reservations for them in the various institutions. According to UN report percentage of
women seats held by women till 2005 has been around 16%. In developed nation this
percentage is 21 and in developing nation it accounts only to 14% (Duflo, 2012).

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Health
In terms of health status also there had been inequality between both the genders.
Immunization rates for the age group of 2 years children are also less for girls as compared to
boys. Malnutrition rate is also higher among the girl child. At various stages of their lives
women requires different types of nutrition. Since they are not getting access to all these
nutrition hence their health condition has also degraded. In most of these countries the
representation of women in the health sector is also on the lower side. In the rural areas this
condition is very weak (Juhn, Ujhelyi and Villegas-Sanchez, 2014). Number of female staffs
in the health care organisations is also on the lower side which is not good for the process of
improvement in the health condition of women. In many countries they are unable to get
access to the health facilities due to poor economic condition.
Future
Some other social evils are also the major reason that is degrading the health condition of the
women. For example the security of women in the developing nation is poor and hence they
are not allowed to participate in the social activities. The situation of the women that are
divorced or widowed is further poor as most of them do not have economic strength to get
access to the rights that they deserve.
This condition can be improved only when they will be provided with security where they
could work in the terror free environment. In few countries the concepts like Women
reservation could give them higher economic strength (Chen, et. al. 2013). Apart from this
the educational condition of women is going to get increased in the coming years. This will
boost their participation in various socio-economic activities.
Conclusion
From the above based report it can be concluded that there are disparity among the women
and women in various terms. The developing nations are not able to provide equal
opportunities to both men and women. Most of the women works in informal sector or are in
the job that adds less to their livelihood. Their political representation is on the lower side
which does not allow policies to be made in their favour. Future of the women is going to
improve as the government and the society is putting efforts for improving their condition.

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REFERENCES
Antonio, A. and Tuffley, D., (2014) The gender digital divide in developing countries. Future
Internet, 6(4), pp.673-687.
Benería, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., (2015) Gender, development and globalization:
economics as if all people mattered. Routledge.

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Bose, C.E., (2012) Intersectionality and global gender inequality. Gender & Society, 26(1),
pp.67-72.
Chen, Z., Ge, Y., Lai, H. and Wan, C., (2013) Globalization and gender wage inequality in
China. World Development, 44, pp.256-266.
Coffe, H. and Bolzendahl, C., (2011) Gender gaps in political participation across sub-
Saharan African nations. Social Indicators Research, 102(2), pp.245-264.
Cooray, A. and Potrafke, N., (2011) Gender inequality in education: Political institutions or
culture and religion?. European Journal of Political Economy, 27(2), pp.268-280.
Duflo, E., (2012) Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic
Literature, 50(4), pp.1051-79.
Gray, B. (2018) What Boosts Gender Equality in Developing Countries?. [online]. Available
at: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/womens-day-equality-in-developing-
countries-by-bobbi-gray-2018-03?barrier=accesspaylog. [Accessed on 13th Sep 2018].
Juhn, C., Ujhelyi, G. and Villegas-Sanchez, C., (2014) Men, women, and machines: How
trade impacts gender inequality. Journal of Development Economics, 106, pp.179-193.
Moser, C.O., (2012) Gender planning and development: Theory, practice and training.
Routledge.