Download Religion, Gender, and Development

Religion, Gender,
and Development
November 24, 2004
Religion, Gender and Development

Does gender inequality retard development?

Is religion responsible for gender inequality?
Development as Freedom: Amartya Sen

The goal of development is the enhancement
of human freedom

The enhancement of human freedom is the
chief instrument of development
Gender Inequality:
100 Million Missing Women

Gender-based poverty

Infanticide

Perinatal mortality

Health Inequalities

Violence
What Does Religion Have To
Do With Gender Inequality?
Male/Female Sex Ratios

22 of 32 countries with sex ratios exceeding
102/100 are Muslim

India has a sex ratio of 106/100

China has a sex ratio of 117/100
Male/Female Literacy Gap

Muslim countries: 18.7

Catholic countries: 4.3

India: 26

China: 19
Variation Between Muslim Countries

Turkey

Indonesia
“The central values separating Islam and the
West revolve far more centrally around Eros
than Demos.”
- Pippa Norris and Ron Inglehart,
Sacred and Secular (2004)
How Does Gender Equity Promote
Development?

Increases GDP


Reduces fertility


Reduce illiteracy gap, raise GDP 1%
Raise education level 3 years, reduce birth rate
by 1 child
Reduces inequality

1% increase in labor force with secondary education
increases income to poorest 40 percent by 6-15%
The China-India-Kerala Comparison:

China: compulsory one-child policy 1979-92
reduces birth rate to 2.0

India: non-compulsory family planning
reduces birth rate to 3.7

Kerala: female literacy, health care program
reduces birth rate to 1.8
Increase Female Employment

Raises marriage age

Increases birth spacing

Increases household income

Improves child survival rates

Improves child weight-height measures

Reduces spousal abuse
Progress in Empowering Women
Improve Female Political Participation

Makes government less authoritarian?

Improves welfare and health expenditure?
Women’s Empowerment: How to
Get There

Electoral quotas for representation

Targeted investment in female education

Microfinance loans to women
Case Study: Grameen Bank, Bangla Desh

Female poverty and credit
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Credit and purdah
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Credit and gender discrimination

Microcredit and Islam
Personal Status Law

Liberalize and equalize divorce law

Equalize women’s rights in sharia law

Enforce property rights for females:
inheritance, divorce, succession
Opposition

Authoritarian political leaders

Patriarchal family heads

Religious authorities

Women
Women’s Opposition

The value of religious freedom

The value of women’s autonomy
How to Bring Them Along:

Frame this as a development program, not as a
women’s issue

Frame this as a local strategy, not a Western one

Work with men, not against them

Work within local institutions, not against them

Secure women’s consent: do not take it for granted
Is Religion Responsible for
Gender Inequality?

Religion as a language of social justice

Religion as a language of patriarchal authority
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Religion as a language of individual improvement

Religion as a site of political struggle