A presentation held at UBC in Vancouver about the gender gap in Muslim societies. February 23, 2012

1. Reducing the Gender Gap in
Muslim Societies:
The Case of Pakistan
The Maria-Helena Foundation
www.mariahelenafoundation.org

2. What is „equality‟ ?
Equal access to “opportunities that allow
people to pursue a life of their own
choosing and to avoid extreme
deprivations in outcomes”
(World Development Report, 2006)

3. • It measures gaps not levels
Female Male
Country A) 20% 40%
Country B) 40% 80%
Country C) 20% 20%
Countries A and B both have a gap of 0.5
Country C has no gap

4. Why reduce the Gender Gap?
• It‟s a basic human right
• Freedom from male control
• Better health care
• More participants in the economy =
economic growth
• Improved work/life balance for both
women and men

5. Global Gender Gap
• Report of the World Economic Forum
(2010)
• Based on four pillars:
– Economic attainment
– Political participation
– Health
– Education

7. Examples of Sub-indices
Pakistan
Bangladesh

9. Edit this slide.

10. Gender Gap in Muslim Societies

11. The Muslim world

12. Why is the gender gap so high?
o Culture
o Religion
o Structural and systemic
barriers
o Varying levels of
socioeconomic development
o Varying levels of
democratization

13. Culture
• Combination of local pre-existing, pre-
Islamic cultures
• Dictated by morals and values influenced
by pre-existing practices and religion
• A foundation for the way of life: social,
political, economic

14. Religion
• Interpretive nature – various manifestation
of religiosity in secular and traditional
states (Bosnia vs. Saudi Arabia)
• Used to support discriminatory attitudes
and policies
• Absolutist values on social roles, sexuality,
morality
• In some places, immune from public
scrutiny and challenge

15. Structural/Systemic
• Traditional vs. secular governments
• Various types of governance
• Influence of clerics, religious/moral
police
• Culture and religion serve as
foundations upon which systemic
structures are formed and upheld

16. Socioeconomic development
• Low literacy impacts women‟s access to
reproductive and general health
• Low literacy correlates with maternal and
child health/mortality
• Rural areas: problems of infrastructure
• High fertility and poverty mean that
families would prefer to send boys to
school in many cases
• Families may be forbidden to or choose
not to send their daughters to school

17. Democratization
• Laws and policies which support girls and
women are not always enforced
Example: Women in Saudi Arabia and Iran
have high levels of literacy but very low work
sector participation
Example: Women in Saudi Arabia will be
able to vote, but cannot drive or be alone
without male supervision

18. What can governments do?
• Invest in schools, teachers, egalitarian
curriculum development, and scholarships
• Expand access to public education by
removing fees which many parents cannot
afford
• Promote equality*
• Provide equal opportunities for men and
women to be educated and to work
together as equals to build a healthy
society

19. The Case of Pakistan

20. The Benefits and Limitations of
Education as a Development Tool

21. Getting to know Pakistan
THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF
PAKISTAN
95% OF POPULATION IS MUSLIM
INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, 5000
YEARS
POPULATION OF 187 MILLION
Life in a patriarchal society.

22. Education in Pakistan
In practice, no universal or
compulsory primary public
education system.
Low attendance at primary and
secondary schools.
Government vs private
education and the problem of
corruption.
Non-Formal Basic Education reaching girls.
Lack in educational resources.

23. Worldmapper: Primary education
spending
Country size is based on the proportion of all spending on primary
education, measured in purchasing power parity.
In Pakistan, education spending is 2.7% of the GDP.

24. The Situation for Girls
• World‟s bottom 10
for female primary
school enrollment.
• High drop out
rates, especially in
rural areas.
• Lowest literacy
rates in South Asia
• Contrast between
political
environment and
cultural attitudes.

25. Why the Gender Gap in Education?
• Higher earnings for males
• The social organization of families.
• Children as a form of insurance.
• Protecting honour and modesty.

26. Better returns for female education...
Estimated economic returns for
female education is higher than
for males at all education levels.
Importance of low level
education.
Monazza Aslam Reasons?

27. Investment in Female Literacy has the
Biggest Bang for The Buck
Maternal Mortality
5 dollars invested in female
education is worth 100 dollars
Child Mortality
Fertility Rate
invested in economy
Moral of this story?
Invest in female education
Female Literacy Rate

28. Connecting Female Literacy to Human Security

29. Empowering women through higher education
What are the benefits of higher
education for women?
(1) Awareness of legal rights
(2) Economic independence
(3) Better civil society
participation
What are the limitations?
Cultural norms as barriers to legal rights.
Education biases.

30. How the Maria Helena Foundation is reducing
the gender gap
• MHF has 13 primary schools where more than 200 women are
employed.
• MHF has 2 vocational training schools in which several
teachers are employed and are training women for the
garment industry.
• MHF has several scholarships for women only in middle and
high schools.
• As we believe women should have a voice at the decision
making level, MHF has persuaded one of its conservative
partner NGOs to have 3 women on its board. .

31. Education as an important stepping stone...
Female education is an important instrument for social
change.
But education in itself is not enough to rectify gender
discrimination.
Need to increase female labour force participation.
Need to recognize the role of cultural norms and
practices.
Legal rights not just in writing but socially accessible.

32. THE END
?

33. References
• Aslam, Monazza. “Rate of Return to Education by Gender in Pakistan.” 2007. Oxford: Global
Poverty Research Group.
• Bilquees, Faiz, and Najam Us Saqib. 2004. “Drop-Out Rates and Inter-School Movements:
Evidence from Panel Data.” Islamabad: Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
• Malik, Samina, and Kathy Courtney. 2010. “Higher education and women‟s empowerment in
Pakistan.” Gender and Education 23(1): 29-45.
• United Nations Children‟s Fund. 2011. “Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity.” The State of
the World’s Children, 2011. New York, NY: UNICEF.