Analysis of the gender gap in South Asian countries : What are the main causes? Are there differences between the countries in this region?

Abstract

This overview of the gender gap in different areas of society in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan has given us a good view on the situation of women in these countries. On almost all measures – except for political participation – Sri Lanka is performing much better than its neighboring countries. Pakistan on the other hand is often the worst (mainly on education, employment and constitutional rights). In general, we can state that cultural and religious norms are still at the basis of most of the discrimination of women. All over South Asia, they are expected to assume their traditional role as wife and mother. As a girl, they do not get the same educational opportunities than their male peers because their parents expect them to become a good wife, not to become an academic. This gap in education is where all aspects of the gender gap start. It induces high illiteracy rates and causes a lack of information of girls and women on multiple subjects such as their legal rights, health issues,… This is the basis of the gender gap for employment and political participation. Other major causes of the gender gap include the poverty in large areas of the South Asian region. Large groups of people are still living below the poverty line. It is remarkable to see that wealthier families in all of the countries under study are performing better on educational attainment, health care access, employment and political participation. We can say that within the group of women, there is a small group of privileged women that do not experience the gender gap to the same extent than their underprivileged peers. They can even become President or Prime Minister of their country, while the Parliament still lacks a large representation of women. Overall, South Asia is making progress on this issue. The gender gap is becoming smaller, but the rate of improvement has slowed in the past decade. Governments should keep working on the improvement of the position of women. The main policy options on each of these gender gap aspects have been listed in this paper.