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 Reduce illiteracy gap, raise GDP 1%

Reduces fertility 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

Credit and purdah

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

Religion as a language of individual improvement

Religion as a site of political struggle