CONTEXT

Women play a pivotal role in a wide range of activities supporting food and nutrition security. They are the powerhouses of the Sahel and West African food economy. Two-thirds of all employed women work across the food system, accounting for half of the labour force. They dominate off-farm segments of food value chains including food processing and selling as well as food-away-from-home. They are also important actors in cross-border trade.

Nevertheless, access to affordable and nutritious foods is beyond the reach of many women and girls. Low income and education levels, discriminatory laws, social norms, and practices such as those revealed in the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), drive food insecurity among women by curbing their ownership over assets such as land, water and energy as well as their access to financial services, social capital, information and technology, agricultural inputs and services. The double burden facing women balancing the demands of agricultural production and unpaid care and domestic work compound these inequalities.

In the Sahel and West Africa, more than 40% of women of reproductive age suffer from anaemia across 14 countries, driving maternal and child morbidity and undermining women’s economic empowerment. Obesity, which was practically unheard of in the region in the past, affects more women than men. Stunting, a measure of chronic malnutrition, often has its origins in utero due to, for example, poor maternal nutrition. Similarly, women who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk of giving birth to heavier babies, putting them at a higher risk of being overweight and obese as adults.

The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) recognised gender-mainstreaming as an indispensable strategy for achieving gender equality, including in the area of food security. Yet, 25 years later, many responses still tend to operate in silos and focus narrowly on improving women’s agency or access to information for example, instead of addressing the social, structural, and institutional barriers that hamper food and nutrition security among women and girls. Policies also often fail to include men and boys, yet understanding the drivers behind their motivations and behaviours is key to addressing unspoken societal barriers to gender equality.The major challenge lies in developing inclusive policy responses that address these barriers. This could help pave the way towards a more sustainable and transformative change within the West African food system and fuel progress towards achieving not only the “zero hunger” goal (SDG 2) but also “gender equality” (SDG 5).

OBJECTIVE

The OECD Development Centre is collaborating with the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat to host an interactive discussion on the Wikigender platform on the topic “Towards a Gender-Responsive Approach to Food and Nutrition Security in the Sahel and West Africa”. The objective is to contribute to a process of mutual learning and dialogue that can inspire more gender-responsive and sustainable solutions to food and nutrition insecurity.

Drawing on your experience and expertise, we would like to identify some concrete and promising examples of gender-responsive food and nutrition security programming, and explore and discuss the key lessons learned. (See: Concept Note)

KEY QUESTIONS

1. What is at risk when food and nutrition security programming fails to take gender into account?
   1. What does “gender-mainstreaming” in food and nutrition security policies and programmes mean in practice?
   2. How can the availability of sex-disaggregated food and nutrition security data be improved?
   3. How can early-warning systems be more gender-responsive?
2. What are some of the key lessons learned from best practices around gender-responsive programming in the area of food and nutrition security? What are the success factors and how can they be scaled-up?
   1. Can cash transfers alleviate food insecurity and strengthen gender equality? What specific measures need to be taken to ensure that cash transfers achieve gender-equitable outcomes?
   2. Emerging research shows that the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to exacerbate the gendered nature of food and nutrition insecurity globally. What actions can be taken to prevent the most serious damage to the economic empowerment of women in general and particularly rural women?
3. What can be done to bring attention to gender-responsive food and nutrition security programming among the region’s decision-making bodies?
   1. Are there lessons to be learned from other regions?
   2. How can women be empowered to exercise their rights and take active participation in decision-making bodies?

DIG DEEPER

OECD/SWAC (2018), “Gender Inequality in West African Social Institutions”, West African Papers, No. 13, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/fe5ea0ca-en.

OECD/SWAC (2018), “Agriculture, food and jobs in West Africa”, West African Papers, No. 14, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://www.oecd.org/swac/topics/food-system-transformations/handout-agriculture-food-jobs-west-africa.pdf.

OECD/SWAC (2019), “Integrating gender analysis into food & nutrition security early warning systems in West Africa”, West African Papers, No. 24, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/abd5f499-en.

OECD/SWAC (2019), “Women suffering from anaemia – a major challenge”, Maps & Facts No. 78, Paris, http://www.west-africa-brief.org/content/en/women-suffering-anaemia-%E2%80%93-major-challenge.

OECD (2019), “SIGI 2019 Global Report: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities”, Social Institutions and Gender Index, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/bc56d212-en.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Implications for the SDGs with a focus on women and girls
3. Implications for SDG 5 specifically
4. Additional Resources from OECD on COVID-19
5. References

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a severe threat to the achievement of gender-related SDGs and jeopardises some of the improvements observed since 2015 related to gender equality and women’s empowerment. By looking at the state of the SDGs and their interlinkages pre-crisis, it is clearthat the economic and social consequences of the pandemic will exacerbate existing inequalities and discrimination against women and girls, especially against the most marginalised. As was revealed in West Africa during the Ebola crisis (2014-2015) and in Latin America with the Zika outbreak (2015-2016), public health crises can place a hold on gender-transformative policies and reforms, diverting resources away from the past and current needs of women, while the crises themselves actually increase and expand them. With this, it is important to recognize the impact COVID-19 is having, and will continue to have, on the achievement of the SDGs if progressive actions are not taken.

Implications for the SDGs with a focus on women and girls

Given the widespread and multiple implications of the COVID-19 crisis, all SDGs, and particularly those gender-related targets and indicators, are likely to be affected. Recognizing this impact and its gendered nature is a critical first step to designing socio-economic recoveries that will help, not hinder, the achievement of the SDGs and gender equality. Though not an exhaustive list, by looking with a gendered lens, it is clear that at least the following SDGs will be stalled by the current crisis:

• SDG 8 – “Decent Work”: “Women constitute an estimated two-thirds of the health workforce worldwide, and…make up around 85% of nurses and midwives in the 104 countries for which data are available” (OECD, 2020). This sectoral concentration, as well as women’s over-representation in retail and hospitality, means that women are disproportionately exposed to COVID-19 at work.
• SDG 3 – “Good Health and Well-Being”: Resources for reproductive and sexual health are diverted to the emergency response – as we saw during the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014-2015, this contributed to an increase in maternal mortality in regions with weak healthcare capacities (Wenham, Smith and Morgan, 2020). For example, in Sierra Leone, post-crisis impact studies uncovered that during the crisis, there was a drop in the use of health services which translated to 3,600 additional maternal, neonatal and stillbirth deaths, under the most conservative estimates, in the year 2014-15 (Sochas, Channon and Nam, 2017).
• SDG 4 – “Quality Education”: The Ebola crisis also revealed a significant increase in adolescent pregnancies following the closure of schools during the outbreak, which in turn translated to higher rates of school dropouts especially for adolescent mothers during the post-crisis period (Bandiera et al., 2019). At the same time, the increased workload of unpaid and domestic care work falling on women’s and girls’ shoulders – in particular caring for the sick—will affect girls’ educational prospects.
• SDG 2 – “Zero Hunger”: In countries where social norms imply a preference for boys over girls, the pandemic might magnify these preferences across a wide array of domains. For instance, restricted food resources might lead households where discriminatory social norms are widespread to favour boys over girls, directly affecting SDG 2. Similarly, in a context of limited resources, preference might be given to boys over girls in terms of education and health (SDGs 3 and 4).
• SDG 1 – “No Poverty” and SDG 10 – “Reduced Inequality”: As the economic consequences of the outbreak – e.g. layoffs, income loss, job insecurity—might disproportionately affect women, an increase in women’s poverty levels around the globe is highly likely.

Implications for SDG 5 specifically 

The pandemic will yield severe consequences on the achievement of SDG 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, specifically. Before the crisis, it was estimated that 2.1 billion girls and women were living in countries that will not achieve gender equality targets by 2030 (Equal Measures 2030, 2020). As the pace of progress slows down, both developed and developing countries require more time and aggressive action to reach gender equality targets. The following SDG 5 targets will be severely affected:

• SDG 5.1 on eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and girls: According to the OECD’s Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), new legislation to enhance gender equality and abolish discriminatory laws have benefited from increasing political commitments before the crisis (OECD, 2019). However, the health crisis has crippled the legislative system hindering many government’s abilities to pass and implement new legislation.
• SDG 5.2 on eliminating all violence against women and girls: While recent data show that 18% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual partner violence in the previous 12 months, new evidence shows that domestic violence has increased, especially under lockdowns. For example, the UK’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline say a 25% increase in the number of phone calls in the first week of lockdown and a 150% increase in visits to its website (UN Women, 2020).
• SDG 5.3 on eliminating all harmful practices: Before the crisis, evidence showed a decline in the practice of child marriage in both South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (OECD Development Centre, 2019). As poverty increases in the wake of the pandemic child, early and forced marriage, which often stem from economic considerations under extreme poverty, might also increase in developing countries. Meanwhile, in low-income countries, the health crisis will severely cripple the financial capacities and resources of governments, yielding profound effects on the legislative and enforcement capabilities of these countries. Prosecution of perpetrators of female genital mutilation, for instance, might become even more uneven, and there have been reports that the practice has become more common since the pandemic began.
• SDG 5.4 on recognising unpaid care and domestic work: Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, women were already performing 75% of household and care work globally (OECD Development Centre, 2019). The present crisis has highlighted the importance of carers who take care of the older members of society as well as those with existing health issues. Moreover, in many places schools have closed, meaning that children are staying home. These dynamics and all that comes with them, increase the time-burden of unpaid care work. It will likely be very challenging to return to the pre-crisis distribution and nearly impossible to achieve an equitable distribution of unpaid care and domestic work between men and women by 2030.
• SDG 5.6 on ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights: Provision of sexual and reproductive health commodities, including menstrual health items may be impacted as supply chains undergo strain from the pandemic response (UNFPA, 2020). Evidence from the Zika crisis in Latin America showed that gang violence in El Salvador and Brazil directly affected women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services, with informal networks controlling who had access to supplies and who did not.

Conclusions

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, there is growing recognition of the impact it will have on the goals set forth in the 2030 Agenda. While the past months have shown that adaptation is indeed possible, there is a need to look forward at the impact responses to COVID-19 will have on human development worldwide. In looking forward, it is possible to understand that action taken now will fundamentally shape the future. With this recognition comes the possibility to craft policies that are sensitive to gender inequalities and will allow for equitable recoveries.

Additional Resources from OECD on COVID-19 

• Women at the core of the fight against COVID-19 crisis (OECD Publication)
• Tackling coronavirus (COVID‑19) Contributing to a global effort (OECD’s COVID-19 platform)

References: 

Bandiera, O. et al. (2019). “The Economic Lives of Young Women in the Time of Ebola: Lessons from an Empowerment Program”. Impact Evaluation series, No. WPS 8760. World Bank Group, Washington D.C. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/452451551361923106/The-Economic-Lives-of-Young-Women-in-the-Time-of-Ebola-Lessons-from-an-Empowerment-Program.

Equal Measures 2030 (2020). Bending the Curve Towards Gender Equality by 2030. https://www.equalmeasures2030.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/EM2030BendingTheCurveReportMarch2020.pdf.

OECD (2020). Women at the Core of the Fight Against COVID-19 Crisis. OECD Publishing, Paris. https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/view/?ref=127_127000-awfnqj80me&title=Women-at-the-core-of-the-fight-against-COVID-19-crisis.

OECD (2019). SIGI 2019 Global Report: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities, Social Institutions and Gender Index. OECD Publishing, Paris. https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/bc56d212-en.

OECD Development Centre (2019). Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB) 2019. https://oe.cd/ds/GIDDB2019.

Sochas, L., A. Channon and S. Nam (2017). “Counting indirect crisis-related deaths in the context of a low-resilience health system: the case of maternal and neonatal health during the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone”. Vol. 32, pp. 32-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czx108.

UNFPA (2020). COVID-19: A Gender Lens – Protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights, and promoting gender equality. UNFPA. https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/resource-pdf/COVID-19_A_Gender_Lens_Guidance_Note.pdf.

Wenham, C., J. Smith and R. Morgan (2020). COVID-19: the gendered impacts of the outbreak, Lancet Publishing Group. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30526-2.

United Nations (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goal 5. Retrieved from https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5.

United Nations (n.d.). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda.

UN Women (2020). COVID-19 and Violence Against Women and Girls: Addressing the Shadow Pandemic.  https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2020/policy-brief-covid-19-and-violence-against-women-and-girls-en.pdf?la=en&vs=5842

The SIGI shows that women undertake 75% of the unpaid care and domestic work worldwide, and more must be done to recognise, redistribute and reduce this time burden on women.

The #HowICare Campaign

Promundo and Oxfam’s #HowICare Campaign is an opportunity for a wide variety of voices to demand, together, a transformation of the gendered dynamics of unpaid care work. In particular, the campaign aims to “aims to shed a light on the realities, difficulties, and disparities of providing care – specifically in caring for children, in order to advocate for additional support for caregivers – including the parents and care workers who are most impacted – during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.”

The #HowICare campaign is part of a global call for:

1. Universal access to paid sick and family and medical leave.
2. 100% paid leave. 
3. Equal, fully paid, non-transferable parental leave for parents.
4. Action to ensure childcare infrastructures survive the COVID-19 pandemic.
5. A challenge to harmful norms and sexist beliefs.
6. Flexible working hours and conditions.
7. Social protection programs to support caregivers and recognize care as work.

How to Participate?

When? 18 June – 21 June 2020

Where? On Twitter using the hashtag ‘#HowICare’ and tagging @MenCareGlobal as well as @Promundo_US, @Oxfam, and @OxfamAmerica

How? Messaging guidance available here.

Table of Contents

1. Why does gender matter?
   1. Gender vs. sex
   2. Gender formed by culture
   3. Gender, the environment, and gender mainstreaming
   4. Cultural gender norms and water
2. Effect of climate change on women and water
   1. Precipitation pattern changes
   2. Sea level rise
   3. Desertification
   4. Glacier melt
3. See also

Why does gender matter?

Gender vs. sex

Gender and sex connote two different characteristics that can be used to describe individuals. “Sex” refers to biological, physiological structures that differentiate males and females; this terms describes chromosomes, organs, and hormones. “Gender,” on the other hand, refers to the culturally conceived differences between people based on their sex. When discussing femininity and masculinity, womanly or manly characteristics, one refers to gender, not sex. Sex has very little variation; gender, between cultures, can vary widely in what it means (Kimmel 2013). Jennifer Fluri defined gender in relation to how it manifests on one’s body based on one’s biological sex definition: “Gender is an expression of the social roles, norms, and expectations that are mapped onto one’s biological body…[but] differences between women and men are not firmly dichotomous” (Oberhauser et al. 2017, 26). Kimmel also argues that there is a power-relations dynamic inherent in current conceptualizations of gender, and these power relations place men as in power above women, and often above other men (Kimmel 2013).

Gender formed by culture

Gender, by definition, is constructed based on cultural understandings and expectations of how men and women should behave. These behaviors become entrenched in individuals due to the influence of culture on daily lives, and the acceptance of gendered norms of behavior are reinforced through performance, or acting in accordance with mainstreamed expectations of one’s gender. Under the concept of performativity, gender becomes the act doing behaviors associated with a particular sex based on cultural norms, and repetition of this performativity results in gender roles becoming normalized social behaviors. Because gender reflects culture, gender norms can shift over time as society and cultures change (Oberhauser et al. 2017).

Acts of performativity of gender both result from and reinforce dominant social and political concepts of gendered behaviors. Those who do not perform gender according to dominant gender concepts engage in code-switching. These concepts include how different people experience access to natural resources, space, and place. Feminist geographers recognize that gender roles and norms can include differences in how different genders have different experiences and associations with certain spaces and places: “places…are perceived and experienced differently by different groups of people” based on gender, race, class, and other forms of labels and categories. Patriarchal and heterosexual norms can mean that public places and private spaces can hold entrenched expectations of behavior based on gender and identity which can disadvantage people who enter those spaces while also not conforming to these expectations and norms. Gender can further inform how different groups of people move through such spaces, in a concept called mobility, both in terms of large-scale movements of large groups but also including movement in the patterns of everyday life and responsibilities (Oberhauser et al. 2017).

Gender, the environment, and gender mainstreaming

Feminist political ecology (FPE) seeks to question and inform understanding regarding how gender, and other social labels and classifiers, influence how people relate to and interact with the natural environment. In particular, FPE examines how gender roles and power relations influence divisions of labor along gender lines in sectors closely tied to the environment, such as agriculture and subsistence farming, population studies, and family health. FPE research and literature views human-environmental relations as heavily influenced by gender, power relations, and divisions of labor (Oberhauser et al. 2017). Recognizing this branch of scholarship and connections between gender roles and natural resource use, development-focused organizations often attempt integrate gender equality goals into development and sustainability projects by paying increased attention to women’s roles in community engagement with the environment (Ivens 2008). Gender becomes integrated into these environmentally-focused and development-oriented policies, projects, and programs through gender mainstreaming, which further encourages the convergence of women’s issues and gender equality with natural resource protection and development projects (Dankelman 2010).

Cultural gender roles and water

Beginning in the 19th century, water management, access, and technology was considered a masculine domain. In contrast to this culturalized dimension of masculine technological control, water gathering and supply to family units remains primarily a woman’s task in most regions of the world where water gathering is a main chore. This water work is also largely unpaid household work based on patriarchal gender norms dictating that women are the main actors responsible for most tasks involving water, such as laundry, cooking, and child care (Bennet, Davila-Poblete, Rico 2008). Gender norms can negatively affect how men and women access water through such behavior expectations along gender lines–for example, when water collection is a woman’s chore, men who collect water may face discrimination for code-switching and performing perceived women’s work (CAP-NET and GWA 2006). On the other hand, the same norms often result in women being pressured to collect and use water in an efficient and timely manner, without the advantages of modern technology (Krishnaraj 2011).

Effect of climate change on gender and water

The warming of the earth’s climate has had many adverse effects on societies all over the world. In many areas, people suffer from drought, flooding due to sea level rise, and other threats to their food and water stability and accessibility. It has been noted that gendered vulnerabilities that may already be present in some societies have been amplified due to the threats posed by climate change. Disparities between gendered roles in the household and who holds a family’s assets become even more drastic when a family unit is faced with competition for essential resources like water (Eastin 2018). Additionally, gendered accessibility to disaster relief and resources allows for marginalized groups to be disproportionately affected by climate change related disasters (Knight et al 2012). These are all factors that need to be addressed through a combination of empathy, policy, ethics, and action as a greater number of marginalized groups are being affected and displaced by the effects of climate change.

Precipitation pattern changes

In the past ten years, the Brazilian Amazon has already faced some of the most disastrous droughts and floods due to changes in precipitation attributed to climate change. Other climate changes in this area have been noted such as an increase in the dry season length, increased river discharge, overall reduced precipitation and temperature increase projections (Menezes et al 2018). Areas of Northern Brazil were studied to determine the vulnerability of the people that live here and determine the factors that influence their vulnerability (Menezes et al 2018). This study focused on the systems in place to address future hydrometeorological climate change disasters as well as socioeconomic conditions already present.

People that live in highly impoverished were found to be more vulnerable to the effects of climate change (Menezes et al 2018). As found in another study, it is common that societies with less access to resources due to poverty tend to reinforce gendered societal structures because of low socioeconomic mobility of women (Eastin 2018). Those already in power in societies unequally impacted by climate change receive the majority of available resources while those already in poverty continue to be discriminated against and given very little to survive.

Sea level rise

Sea level rise may be one of the most impactful side effects of climate change and will influence the lives of countless people. As habitable area like coastal and low lying areas become inundated with ocean water, the percentage of the population that is affected by this sea level increase will also rise (McAdam et al 2016). There has been widespread disruption to global water resources as a result of increased ocean transgression and loss of freshwater sources. Over half a billion people live in low elevation areas that will be affected by sea level rise and the influences it may have on agriculture, freshwater availability, and habitable spaces (McAdam et al 2016).

The right to water is not explicitly stated in the United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) report, which although implicitly stated, may become problematic as people affected by sea level rise may need to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere (McAdams et al 2016). Disaster relief has been and continues to be gendered, and leaves room for discrimination and allows marginalized groups to be disproportionately affected by natural hazards (Knight et al 2012). As has also been seen before, when resource availability decreases, marginalization increases, and already structured societal discrimination is reinforced (Eastin 2018). The gendering of resources available to those affected by sea level rise and other natural disasters caused by climate change is a jarring reality of current social systems around the world.

Desertification

In Africa, women are responsible for nearly 80 percent of agriculture and water collection, and yet they remain in poverty (Zoloth 2017). As farms become infertile and water tables run dry from desertification, families are forced to move their homes and find refuge elsewhere. Particularly in areas that rely heavily on agriculture, desertification results in a widespread loss of fertile land and ultimately adds to gendered vulnerability by reinforcing previously established gendered roles (Eastin 2018). When food is unavailable in a community due to desertification, women have reduced bargaining power, and are less likely to obtain independent socioeconomic status and are more reliant on the systems that discriminate against them (Eastin 2018). A lack of water means women in these areas of the world means it is more difficult for women to safely carry a pregnancy to term, give birth, nurse their children while maintaining self hygiene by washing and caring for themselves and their infants (Zoloth 2017). The large disparity between overconsumption of rich countries and the lack of access to basic resources in the poorest areas of the world needs to be addressed through a combination of ethics, policy, and action. Doing so will increase resource accessibility which will then indirectly lessen the reliance on gendered societal structures and allow women to have more mobility and bargaining power within political and societal systems.

Glacier melt

The majority of the world’s glaciers are being adversely affected by climate changes and have been retreating due to the global increase in temperature. The mountain glaciers found in the high altitudes of the Andes are not exempt from this general trend. The large scale retreat of the Andean glaciers, although temporarily providing extra water supply to groups of people downstream of the meltwater during the dry season, there is a long term threat to dry season river discharge (Vuille et al 2018). The fresh meltwater from the glacier is used for agriculture and drinking water in Peru and many other highly populated areas downstream of the retreating Andean glaciers.

Additionally, in Peruvian culture, there are strong connections between masculinity and power over water, and ultimately, a decrease in water availability will lead to further discrimination and a gendered power imbalance for water (Delgado and Zwarteveen 2007). Much like the incidents in previous case studies, in the face of a lack of resources, societies rely upon the patriarchal structures in which creates a greater gendered imbalance. Those who began in power continue to receive the majority for the resources while those in poverty and with little independence or social freedom continue to suffer must rely upon the system (Eastin 2018).

See also

Bennet, Vivienne, Davila-Poblete, Sonia, and Maria N. Rico. 2008. Water and gender: the unexpected connection that really matters. Journal of International Affairs 61(2): 107-126.

CAP-NET and GWA. 2006. Why Gender Matters: a tutorial for water managers. Multimedia CD and booklet. CAP-NET International network for Capacity Building in Integrated Water Resources Management, Delft.

Dankelman, Irene. 2010. Gender and Climate Change: An Introduction. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Delgado, Juana Vera, and Margreet Zwarteveen. 2007. “The Public and Private Domain of the Everyday Politics of Water: The Constructions of Gender and Water Power in the Andes of Perú.” International Feminist Journal Of Politics 9(4): 503.

Eastin, Joshua. 2018. Climate change and gender equality in developing states. World Development 107: 289-305.

Ivens, Saskia. 2008. Does increased water access empower women? Development 51: 63-67.

Kimmel, Michael. 2013. The Gendered Society. 5th Ed., New York: Oxford University Press

Knight, Kyle. Gaillard,JC, Sanz, Kristinne. 2012. Gendering the MDGS Beyond 2015: Understanding Needs and Capacities of LGBTI Persons in Disasters and Emergencies. Global Thematic Consultation.

Krishnaraj, Maithreyi. 2011. Women and water: Issues of gender, caste, class and institutions. Economic and Political Weekly 46(18): 37-39.

McAdams, Jane, Burson, Bruce, Walter, Kalun, & Weerasinghe, Sanjula. 2016. International Law and Sea-Level Rise: Forced Migration and Human Rights. FNI Reports, (1), 1.

Menezes, J., Confalonieri, U., Madureira, A., Duval, I., Santos, R., Margonari, C. 2018. Mapping human vulnerability to climate change in the Brazilian Amazon: The construction of a municipal vulnerability index. Plos ONE  13(2):1-30.

Oberhauser, Ann M., Fluri, Jennifer L., Whitson, Risa, and Mollett, Sharlene. 2017. Feminist Spaces: Gender and Geography in a Global Context. Florence: Taylor and Francis.

Vuille, Mathias, Carey, Mark, Huggel, Christian, Buytaert, Wouter, Rabatel, Antoine, Jacobsen, Dean, Soruco, Alvaro, Villacis, Marcos, Yarleque, Christian, Elison Timm, Oliver, Condom, Thomas, Salzmann, Nadine, & Sicart, Jean-Emmanual, 2018. ‘Invited review: Rapid decline of snow and ice in the tropical Andes – Impacts, uncertainties and challenges ahead’, Earth-Science Reviews, vol. 176, pp. 195-213.

Zoloth, Laurie. 2017. At the Last Well on Earth: Climate Change is a Feminist Issue. ProjectMUSE 2:139.

The Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB) is the only database providing researchers and policymakers with key data on gender-based discrimination in social institutions. Covering 160 countries, the GID-DB contains comprehensive information on legal, cultural and traditional practices that discriminate against women and girls. The GID-DB covers five sub-indices including discriminatory family code.

Discriminatory family code captures social institutions that limit women’s decision-making power and undervalue their status in the household and the family. These formal and informal laws, social norms and practices co-exist in different types of legal systems including civil or common law, customary law, and religious laws and cover areas such as marriage, parental authority and inheritance. Women’s decision-making power and status determine both their ability to choose their own development pathways and the well-being of their families.

The GID-DB includes the following variables under the discriminatory family code sub-index:

• Legal age of marriage
• Early marriage
• Parental authority during marriage
• Parental authority after divorce
• Inheritance rights for widows
• Inheritance rights for daughters
• Divorce
• Unpaid care work

See the enitre GID-DB here

Learn about the other sub-indices:

• Restricted physical integrity
• Son bias
• Restricted resources and assets
• Restricted civil liberties

Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review

Supporting working parents: Pregnancy and return to work National Review is a national review of discrimination related to pregnancy, parental leave and on return to work after parental leave – a critical area of unpaid caring work. The full report can be found on the Australian Human Rights Commission web site.

In 2013, the Australian Government asked the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission, to undertake a National Review into discrimination related to pregnancy, parental leave and return to work after parental leave. The aims of the National Review were to:

• provide national benchmark data and analysis on the prevalence, nature and consequences of discrimination at work related to pregnancy, parental leave, or on return to work after parental leave
• engage stakeholders (including government, industry and employer groups, unions and workers) to understand perspectives and experiences, and consider the prevalence data and its implications
• identify leading practices and strategies for employers supporting pregnant employees and men and women returning from parental leave
• provide recommendations for future actions to address the forms of discrimination identified through the project.

Methodology

In conducting the National Review, the Commission collected quantitative data through a National Prevalence Survey. This survey provided the first representative data on the experiences of pregnancy/return to work discrimination by working mothers. It has also provided data on the experiences of discrimination of fathers and partners who have taken time off to care for their child.
In terms of qualitative data, the Commission undertook a wide-ranging consultation and submission process with stakeholders (including individuals affected by discrimination, unions and community organisations, employers and business and industry peaks) in the capital cities of every state and territory across Australia, as well as in some regional areas.

Findings

Both the quantitative and qualitative data demonstrate that discrimination towards pregnant employees and working parents remains a widespread and systemic issue which inhibits the full and equal participation of working parents, and in particular, women, in the labour force.

In addition to the negative impacts of discrimination on individual women and men, the National Review found that discrimination has a tangible impact on women’s workforce participation. The National Prevalence Survey revealed 32% of all mothers who were discriminated against during pregnancy, parental leave or on return to work went to look for another job or resigned. Such discrimination, particularly where it results in job loss or the withdrawal from the workforce, can have significant long-term effects.
Discrimination places an economic impost on employers, industries and individual organisations and on the Australian economy, particularly to the extent that it contributes to women’s under-participation or withdrawal from the workforce.

It has been estimated that increasing women’s workforce participation in Australia by 6% could increase the national GDP by $25 billion.Grattan Institute, Game-changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia (2012), p 39. Increased participation of women and greater gender diversity at senior levels in an organisation has tangible benefits in terms of better efficiency, performance and innovation, as well as increased access to the female talent pool and improvements to organisational reputation.

The National Review also identified the structural barriers that women and men face. These include the limited availability, affordability and accessibility of early childhood education and care services, as well as the underlying stereotypes and assumptions about childbearing, parenting and the roles of women and men in the home and in the workplace.
Workplace cultures that are informed by the existence of pervasive harmful stereotypes about ‘the pregnant employee’, ‘the employee with family or caring responsibilities’, ‘the flexible worker’ and stereotypes about the ‘ideal worker’ contribute to this discrimination.

Many employers also shared the difficulty they encountered in understanding their legal obligations – from the multiplicity of legislation with which they must comply, through to challenges in implementing their obligations. This was particularly evident in relation to accommodating the specific needs of pregnant employees, managing return to work for parents after parental leave (such as managing flexible work), and shifting ingrained stereotypes and attitudes that can impede the successful implementation of policy for, and management of, working parents.

Recommendations

Although the existing legal framework is reasonably comprehensive, better protection against discrimination could be provided by strengthening it in a number of areas. However, the strategy with the highest impact in reducing discrimination in this area is to address the gap that currently exists between the law and its proper implementation within organisations.
Several complementary strategies and actions are necessary to address this gap. These include ensuring employers and employees gain an increased understanding of the legislative framework, improving the clarity and dissemination of information, conducting effective training, changing workplace cultures to remove harmful stereotypes, practices and behaviours, and monitoring the implementation of policies. With strong leadership within organisations, reforms that shape more supportive and successful workplaces can occur.

Many workplaces in Australia recognise both the importance of supporting working parents and the cost of discrimination to their organisations. The National Review met with and heard from workplaces that were implementing leading practices and strategies. They agreed that removing discrimination is a business imperative.

The principal finding of the National Review is that pregnancy/return to work discrimination is pervasive and has a cost for everyone – the person affected, their family, their workplace, on employers and on the national economy. Its existence is limiting the participation of women in paid work and the productivity of organisations and the national economy. Addressing workplace discrimination in this area is therefore not only a human rights imperative, but also a business priority.

See also

• Online Discussion: Unpaid care in the post-2015 agenda (20-24 October 2014)

References

External links

• Australian Human Rights Commission, Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review (https://www.humanrights.gov.au/supporting-working-parents-pregnancy-and-return-work-national-review-0).

Activities

WRI offers resources for:

• capacity building and networking
• advice and information for national groups, through our website
• research into the status and condition of widows and their children
• legal action for widows’ rights
• assistance to raise international awareness of degrading practices
• advocating creation of international instruments protecting widows’ rights
• supporting regional meetings to promote social justice for widows

WRI offers financial assistance for:

• pioneering activities by & for widows which provide examples of best practice
• activities to establish legal precedents; heighten public awareness; repeal of laws inimical to widows
• action to influence international agencies to condemn practices which deny widows their rights
• action to train widows and legal personnel in rights awareness

References

• http://www.widowsrights.org

See also

• Afghan widows