International Perspective
Gender biasness costing Africa Sh9.6 Trillion
Gender inequality has cost Sub-Saharan Africa an average of Sh9.6 trillion($ 95 billion) annually between 2010 and 2014( six percent) of their Gross Domestic Product, a UN report has shown.
As a result, the United Nations Development Program( UNDP) warned that African countries will fail to meet their poverty reduction targets unless they tackle gender inequality that has proven to be costing billions of dollars.
But inequality, according to the report released during the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development( TICAD-VI), is jeopardising the continent’ s efforts for economic growth.
“ If gender gaps can be closed in labour markets, education, health, and other areas, then poverty and hunger eradication can be accelerated,” said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.
Deeply-rooted structural obstacles like unequal distribution of resources and political power, capped with social institutions that sustain inequality are holding back African women, and the continent, said the Africa Human Development Report 2016 by UN Development Program.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark
“ As our economies grow we must strive to ensure that the gains from our growth are felt by everybody, but not just that they are felt,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Experts said that addressing the unequal treatment of women in the workplace is one area where governments could make a difference.
“ Countries’ development goals are not going to be achieved unless women are fully part of the story, it’ s as simple as that,” said Ms Clark.
“ The cost of not having women participate on the same level as men costs not only women and their family, it costs the whole country because they’ re not able to make the contribution they could make.”
Of Africa’ s 54 countries, 36 are ranked in the bottom bracket of the UN’ s human development index, which measures areas such as life expectancy, infant mortality, education and living standards.
The UN body estimates half of the 36 nations will remain at the lower end of the index in 2030, even as the world’ s goal of eradicating extreme poverty clocks.
The world body report analysed the political, economic and social drivers that hamper African women’ s advancement, indicating that only between seven and 30 percent of all private firms have a female manager.
It further indicates that African women hold 66 percent of jobs in the non-agricultural informal sector and only make Sh70 cents for each dollar made by men— factors driven by social norms which have proven to limit the time women spend in education and paid work, and access to economic and financial assets.
“ Social norms are a clear obstacle to African women’ s progress, limiting the time women can spend in education and paid work, and access to economic and financial assets. For instance, African women still carry out 71 percent of water collecting translating to 40 billion hours a year, and are less likely to have bank accounts and to access credit,” the report said.
Currently, Rwanda is the most gender equal country in Africa and sixth out of 145 countries, according to the 2015 Global Gender Gap Index, by the World Economic Program.
Findings were as a result of calculating how much more wealth would be created if female participation in the labour force was the same as males’ in each country.
Abodoulaye Mar Dieye, the UNDP Africa director, said governments appeared keen to“ break gender issues out of their silo”. But warned that“ focusing only on the politics and the economy won’ t suffice.”
“ There’ s a political economy, the distribution of power among men and women and the harmful social norms,” he said.“ If you don’ t deal with it [ these norms ], your investment on the political and economic front will start having diminishing returns.”
November-December 2016 59