Gender and Development Flashcards
what is sens missing women
the shortfall in number of women relative to expected
101 million missing women
how are women treated differently
less likely to go to school
more likely to work at home
not many in politics
cant get access to loan
cant inherit
cant travel
child care
what is the evolution of the field of equality
- women not considered a group
- 1970s = womens movement for equal rights - - criticised development processes = data collected on men only activities = growing inequality between genders
- women should be integrated into the designs and implementation of development programs
what did women in development do contributions
- increase awareness
- increase government representation
- changing discrimination laws
- establishing goals on improving womens status
critiques of women into development
influenced by american feminism = white woman
assumed women all had common problems and interests
deemphasised the family and community context affecting womens activities
theorists from DVC about women and development
- DAWN = make it know that women are undervalued
- need to address patriachy and global inequality
1980s GAD approaches
gender and development
- successful development doesnt target women it empowers them
- development programs that alter repressive class, ethnic and racial structures
what is the impact of development on gender inequality
- reducing poverty
- changing returns to labour
- reduces labour intensive home production
- reduces fertility and maternal mortality
what is the impact of reducing poverty on gender inequality
- positive
- increasing resources = reduce vulnerability of women
- not clear evidence that girls receive less care than boys in normal circumstances = treated the same
- having a girl and a boy is the same price
- but evidence of differential treatments under extreme circumstances
- more girls die in droughts, more witch huntings
- they are treated same by doctors
- if they buffer more girls dont die in droughts
- REDUCING POVERTY WILL HELP WOMEN
what is the impact of changing returns to labour on gender inequality
- there is historical reasons for inequality
- Boserups theory: tools that favoured mens strength affected returns to labour - men that used ploughs, women used hand tools - society builds image than men are better more important
- historical plough use is correlated with current gender attitudes than men make better politicians
- women have weaker property rights Ghana = lower productivity because fallow
what was the impact of economic reforms in tea growing regions
Qian = reform that made growing cash crops more lucrative
- women have a comparative advantage at tea leaf picking
- tea leaf reform = led to fewer missing girls = women contribute more to hh income = less of a son preference = improves her barganing power
what is the impact of shifting composition of jobs on gender inequality
- relative female labour productivity increases with development
- capital raises the relative returns to mentally intensive tasks = women have comparative advantage
- more CA = lower inequality = low fertility = increased capital:labour ratio = increased growth
- services = more females can work
- more opportunities for women
- parents see girls as more of an asset and give them more schooling
what is the U shaped relationship between economic development and FLFP
- Goldin =
- low development = women do unpaid family farm work
- downward U = industrial sector = less women because labour intensive work and stigma
- upward U = sector shift to services = women reenter workforce
example of new jobs for women
Jensen = places job adverts - only women only men, for business process outsourcing
- intervention raised womens career aspirations = enroll in education = delayed marriage
- effect on boys was muted = farm work
spillovers from increased female education
- men are tipped towards endorsing legal rights for women
- care more about grandchildren
- want to get good son in law
what is the reducing labour intensive home rpoduction on gender inequality
- at all levels of income women fo majority of hh work = spending less time in work market
- new technology reduces time spent on houework
- Dinklemen = electrification of southa africa = increased FLFP by 9.5%
what is the impact of reducing maternal mortality on gender inequality
- source of lower parental investment in childhood
- think they will die sooner
- not an investment
- Jayachandran = reducting in mortality rate = convergence of girl boy education levels
is gender enough for fixing inequality
NO
- underlying cultural norms
- sex imbalance at birth is worsening
- parents have preference over having boys
developed and developing countries preference for kids
- developed = higher investment in males - dont have as strong desire to have sons over girls
- US sex ratio of last birth = 1.04 = dont have strong desire for son
- US did exhibit gender gaps
what is sex ratio of last birth and its implications
- last born son disproportionaletly male
- desire to have son = cultural
- girls tend to grow in hh with more children = fewer resources to spend on each child
- girls get breastfed shorter time
- technology = sex selective abortion
- sex ratio worsening as one child policy = having fewer children all together
why does son preference persist
partilocality
old age support
dowry system
partlinearity
role of sons
female safety
partilocality
- couples live with parents
- parents reap the benefit of sons investments
- stronger patrilocal system = more inequality
- invest disproportionately in boys
- give more medical attention to sons
old age support
- Ebenstein = Chinese government instituted the rural old age pension program
- parents had better substitutes for carers than sons
- reduction in skewed sex ratio
- hhs without sons more likely to participate
dowry system
- have to pay when girls get married
- would rather have sons and be paid
- decreases the desire in daughters but not the investment levels
partilinearity
property passes to the son
- after reforms that women should have equal status rights to sons
- 16% of daughters inherited land
- have more bargaining power
- age of married pushed back
- did lead to rise in suicides
role of sons
- sons are more important in religion
- preference to sons in Vedas
why do social norms persist
- gender norms are sticky
- culture not just environment
- evidence of missing girls among US residents or east and south asian origin
- preference for son not necessarily driven by economic setting = dowry, old age, partilocality because it persists in immigrants - even when no dowry and non employment for women abandoned
- they still prefer boys
policy implications to help inequality
- growth isnt fixing inequlity
- growing imbalance in sex ratio in China and India
- getting women into labour force is not fixing the problem
- need infrastructural support, social services, high quality employment
how can reserving political seat for women help
- women aspire to have better jobs
- more investment in girls
- given women power
- policies that reflect female consitituents
- changes in distribution of public goods = drinking water
- improved divorce laws = Indonesia women have more power in marriage = bargaining power
other incentives policies
- financial
= Mexico pay hh if you send your daughters to school = lower drop out rates - commercial TV
= reshaped womens view on family size = change gender views
examples that not all policies have positive outcomes for women
- women targeted interventions dont bring out more benefits that general ones
- no evidence that microcredit to females has larger effects than given to men
- girl targeted education interventions deliver no advantage over general interventions
