Gender Equality 9783319956862, 9783319956879, 9783319956886

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Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Series Editor: Walter Leal Filho

Walter Leal Filho · Anabela Marisa Azul Luciana Brandli · Amanda Lange Salvia Tony Wall  Editors

Gender Equality

Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals Series Editor Walter Leal Filho

The problems related to the process of industrialization such as biodiversity depletion, climate change, and a worsening of health and living conditions, especially but not only in developing countries, intensify. Therefore, there is also an increasing need to search for integrated solutions to make development more sustainable. The current model of economic growth used by many countries is heavily based on the exploitation of natural resources, which is not viable. Evidence shows that a more careful, that is, a more sustainable, approach to the use of our limited resources is needed. The United Nations has acknowledged the problem, and among other measures, it produced a set of documents at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012. In 2015, the UN General Assembly approved the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” On January 1, 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda officially came into force. These goals cover the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. There are to date no comprehensive publications addressing the SDGs in an integrated way. Therefore, the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is being published. It encompasses 17 volumes, each devoted to one of the 17 SDGs. More information about this series at https://www.springer.com/series/15893

Walter Leal Filho • Anabela Marisa Azul • Luciana Brandli • Amanda Lange Salvia • Tony Wall Editors

Gender Equality With 46 Figures and 78 Tables

Editors Walter Leal Filho European School of Sustainability Science and Research Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Hamburg, Germany Luciana Brandli Faculty of Engineering and Architecture The University of Passo Fundo Passo Fundo, Brazil

Anabela Marisa Azul Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology Institute for Interdisciplinary Research University of Coimbra Coimbra, Portugal Amanda Lange Salvia University of Passo Fundo Passo Fundo, Brazil

Tony Wall International Centre for Thriving University of Chester Chester, UK

ISSN 2523-7403 ISSN 2523-7411 (electronic) ISBN 978-3-319-95686-2 ISBN 978-3-319-95687-9 (eBook) ISBN 978-3-319-95688-6 (print and electronic bundle) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95687-9 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Series Preface

The United Nations General Assembly agreed and approved in September 2015 the document “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, which contains a set of measures aiming to balance economic progress and protection of the environment, while at the same time remain aware of the need to address the many disparities still seen between industrialized and developing countries. The Agenda document consists of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These Goals build on the successes of the Millennium Development Goals, while including new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other priorities. The goals are interconnected – often the key to success on one will involve tackling issues more commonly associated with another. The 17 SDGs are: SDG 1, placing an emphasis on ending all forms of extreme poverty. SDG 2, which aims to end hunger and achieve food security with improved nutrition SDG 3, focusing on ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all SDG 4, touches on one of the most important areas, namely inclusive and quality education SDG 5, focusing on gender equality SDG 6, which emphasizes the need for clean water and sanitation SDG 7, advocates the need for affordable and clean energy SDG 8, sustaining inclusive and sustainable economic growth with productive and decent working conditions for all SDG 9, which intends to foster industry, innovation, and infrastructure SDG 10, being about reducing inequalities among countries SDG 11, an attempt to ensure that human settlements and cities are inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable SDG 12, with a focus on sustainable consumption and production patterns SDG 13, with an emphasis on the need for climate action SDG 14, raises the need to preserve life below water, especially rivers and oceans SDG 15, draws attention about the need for a greater care about life on land SDG 16, which advocates peace, justice, and strong institutions SDG 17, a cross-SDGs effort to foster the partnership for the goals and their delivery The SDGs and their specific objectives are very complex. The mandate of the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is, therefore, to v

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Series Preface

clarify and explain a wide range of terms associated with each SDG. It does so by gathering and presenting inputs provided by experts from across all areas of knowledge and from round the world, who explain each term and their implications, drawing also from the latest literature. With 17 volumes and involving in excess of 1,500 authors and contributors, the Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals is the largest editorial project on sustainable development ever undertaken. We hope that this publication will be helpful in fostering a broader understanding of the SDGs, and that this process may inspire and support a wide range of initiatives aimed at their implementation, thus realizing the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Germany

Walter Leal Filho

Volume Preface

The pursuit of a sustainable, that is, environmentally sound, socially correct, economically adequate, and ethically acceptable development is a matter of concern to both individuals and nations alike. It is also a complex process, where science needs to be complemented by political decisions and practical actions, so as to yield the expected benefits. One of the fundamental aspects of sustainable development is gender equality. Therefore, this volume on SDG5 Gender Equality is a timely one. The quest for Gender Equality is based on a number of needs, for instance: (i) UN figures based on data from 87 countries suggest that one in five women and girls under the age of 50 will have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner within the last 12 months. (ii) Harmful practices, such as child marriage, are still widely spread and affect around 15 million girls under age 18 every year. (iii) Nearly 50 countries still do not have legislation in place which may protect women from domestic violence. (iv) In many countries, discrimination against women still exists and negatively affects their professional prospects, both in the private and public sectors. Moreover, gender inequalities are also seen in the industrialized world. One example is the fact that there are still significant pay gaps between male and female workers, even though the levels of responsibility between men and women are the same. Since ending all types of discrimination against women and girls and empowering them is not only the right thing to do but may also help economic growth and development, it is important to intensify efforts to foster a greater gender equality. Therefore, it is important that due emphasis is given toward understanding and addressing the elements that drive and sustain gender inequality, with a view to changing current trends. With this volume, we attempt to emphasize and also showcase the diversity of perspectives related to gender equality, at the same time illustrating the many challenges associated with it. In addition, this volume hopes to show the many ways via which women and girls may be empowered, how their sexual and reproductive health and rights may be defended, and how to eliminate gender-based discrimination in all areas of social, political, and economic life. vii

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Volume Preface

It is time to end the social discriminations faced by women in various dimensions be they within the family and household context, in relation to physical integrity, access to financial resources, or within the political and civil spheres. We also hope that the contributions in this volume will provide a timely support toward the implementation of SDG 5 and will foster the global efforts toward reducing the current gender gaps. January 2021

Walter Leal Filho Anabela Marisa Azul Luciana Brandli Amanda Lange Salvia Tony Wall

List of Topics

Section Editor: Katarzyna Cichos Access to Education and Gender Equality Affirmative Action Measures and Gender Equality: Review of Evidence, Policies, and Practices Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women (Istanbul Convention) (2014) Early and Child Marriage in India: A Framework to Achieve SDGs Gender Equality in the Universal and Regional Human Rights Systems: Prohibition of Discrimination and Beyond Gender Equality in Women’s Health and Reproduction Gender Identity Within a Human Rights Framework: International and European Legal Aspects Human Rights and Gender Equity: Building Sustainable Development Inclusive Maternity Care and Education Participation in Sustainable Development Decision-Making: The Gender Perspective Woman-Centered Pedagogies and Their Role in Attaining Gender Equality Section Editor: Vijaya Deshmukh Adolescence Empowerment, Sustainability, and Gender Equality Equal Citizenship in the Arab Countries: Towards the Achievement of SDG 5 Exploring Intersectionality Through Artful Critical Qualitative Methodologies

Family Law: Path Toward Achieving Gender Equality in India Gender Discrimination and Working Time: A Sustainable Approach Gender Discrimination of Female Sex Workers in Pakistan Gender Representation in Educational Materials: A Focus on Ethiopian English Textbooks Gendered Approach to Reconciliation During and After War in Sri Lanka Gendered Representations in Media Occupational Gender Segregation and Female Labor Force Participation in India Older Women and Health Inequality Unpaid Care: Global Growth and Policies for Sustainability Women and Transport: A Comparative Analysis of Issues and Actions Working Toward Reducing Violence Against LGBTQQIA+ Populations Section Editor: Melissa Haeffner Female Migration and the Global Economy Feminization of Poverty: Causes and Implications Gender Discrimination in the Labor Market Gender Equality and Egalitarianism in the Middle East and North Africa Gender Socialization Gender Wage Gap: Causes, Impacts, and Ways to Close the Gap Gender, Sexuality, and Caste-Based Occupations: A Case Study of the Bedia Community of North India ix

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Global Care Chains and Transnational Families Intersectionality and Sustainable Development Women’s Participation in the Labor Market Section Editor: Sandra Hopkins Violence Against Women Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Youth and Their Role in Attaining SDG5 Section Editor: Tamara Hunt Artificial Intelligence, Gender, and Oppression Emotions, Rationality, and Gender Empowering Women Through Microentrepreneurship Gender and Family Planning in Nigeria Gender and Poverty: Its Influence on Household Food Security in Africa Gender and Relationship Status in Later Life Gender Equality Indicators in Higher Education: The SDG 5 Perspective and Bioethical Approach Gender Equality Through Women’s Empowerment in Science Gender Inequality and Corruption: Sextortion Position of Woman as an Author in Serbian Cinematography Women and the Environment: Southern Perspectives and Global Implications Women in Decision-Making Positions: Developments and Stumbling Blocks Youth Mobilization for Civic Rights Section Editor: Nerise Johnson Grassroots Women and Sustainable Development Women’s Access to Decent Work Section Editor: Chhabi Kumar Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment Birth Spacing: Achieving Gender Equality Under Sustainable Development Goals Child Care Services: Possible Solutions to Improve Outcomes Child, Early, and Forced Marriage Dowry System: Unequalizing Gender Equality

List of Topics

Exclusive Breastfeeding: Challenges and the Way Forward Gender Equity: Employment and Performance Gender Stereotypes Gender-Conscious Urbanism and Urban Planning Importance of Training Healthcare Providers About Domestic Violence Improving Women’s Role in Agricultural Production and Food Security Promotion Inclusion of Women and Girls with Disabilities Menstrual Hygiene Management and Sustainable Development Muslim Women’s Human Rights and Law Reform in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Indonesia Public Policy, Public Engagement, and Gender Equality Synergies Between Gender Mainstreaming and Food Security Women and Business Networking: A Social Capital View Women in Cities: The Nexus Between SDG 5 and SDG 11 Section Editor: Julia Mambo Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges Child Abuse in Relation to Girls Empowering Women Farmers in the Context of Farmer Suicides in Maharashtra, India Empowering Women Through the Law Exploring Gender Justice for Attaining Equality Families and Gender in Western and Non-Western Settings Femicide and the Continuum of Gender-Based Violence Gender and Financial Wellbeing Gender Identity: From Biological Essentialism Binaries to a Nonbinary Gender Spectrum Gender in Disaster Settings: Towards Sustainable Gender-Sensitive Disaster Risk Reduction Gender-Responsive Budgeting for Sustainable Development Goals Gender Roles and the Realization of SDG 5 Gender Roles in Inclusive Blue Economy Gender Sensitivity and Its Relation to Gender Equality

List of Topics

Global Perspectives on Gender Sensitivity and Economic Benefits Institutional and Discursive Politics of Gender Mainstreaming in SDGs: The Historical Trajectory Intersection of Working Motherhood and Health Nomadism and Equality: The Irish Traveller and Gypsy Women Reproductive Rights, UN Sustainable Development Goals and International Human Rights Law Sexual Harassment as an Everyday Form of Gender-Based Violence Women Empowerment in the Indian Armed Forces Women, Gender, and Transitional Justice Section Editor: Anagha Paul Exploring Violence Against Children Under Sustainable Development Goals Femininity and Gender Equality: History and Social Practices Human Rights of Women Migrants Human Rights of Women Refugees Women and Uniform Civil Code in India Women Migration and Remittances Section Editor: Andréia Faraoni Freitas Setti Child Marriage and Resistance Movements Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

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Creating and Enhancing Women Empowerment Through the Policing Profession Domestic Violence Against Women: Relevance, Reflections, and Public Policies Ecofeminism Feminist Movements for a Sustainable Future Feminization of Agriculture and Its Impact on Sustainable Development Gender Equality in the Political Realm Gender Ideology: A Discourse That Threatens Gender Equality Human Rights Accountability for Advancement of Gender Equality and Reproductive Justice in the Sustainable Development Agenda Mobile Technology and Gender Equality Polygyny and Women’s Status: Myths and Evidence Social Movements and Gender Equality Violence Against Women in Brazil: Context and Public Policies Women, Disaster Crisis and Building Resilience Section Editor: Tony Wall Gender Imbalance in Academic Careers Gender Power Relations in the Medical Profession Zero-Tolerance Policy Toward Gender-Based Abuse and Violence

About the Editors

Walter Leal Filho (B.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc., D.Phil., D.L., D.Litt., D.Ed.) is Professor and Director of the European School of Sustainability Science and Research, whose Headquarters are at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He also holds the Chair of Environment and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is Founding Editor of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education and heads the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP), the world’s largest network of universities engaged on sustainable development research. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the World Sustainable Development series with Springer. Prof. Walter Leal serves on the editorial board of various journals. He has in excess of 400 publications to his credit, among which are groundbreaking books such as Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development: Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, Social Responsibility and Sustainability, and Handbook of Sustainability Science and Research. He has nearly 30 years of field experience in project management and has a particular interest in the connections between sustainability, climate change adaptation, and human behavior.

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About the Editors

Anabela Marisa Azul is a Researcher at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC) and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Coimbra (III-UC, Portugal). She graduated in Biology at the UC, where she completed her Ph.D. degree in Biology, specialization in Ecology, with collaboration from Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversität München (LMU, München, Germany). Anabela became an Associate Researcher (Ciência 2009) at the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC), where she remained until 2014. There, she developed a holistic approach for advancing translational research that combined the sustainable development with innovation in food production and public scientific awareness (from early childhood). She currently is interested in functional attributes of fungi in the domain of metabolism, aging, and disease and approaches for knowledge coproduction in metabolism and sustainability research. She has coauthored over 40 scientific publications and book chapters, four books for children, two comics, and an animation. Luciana Brandli Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of Passo Fundo, Brazil, working in the Ph.D. Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her current research interests include sustainability in higher education and green campus, management of urban infrastructure and sustainable cities, and the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. She supervises a number of master’s and doctoral students on engineering, environment, and sustainability issues and has in excess of 300 publications, including books, book chapters, and papers in refereed journals.

About the Editors

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Amanda Lange Salvia has a degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Passo Fundo, Brazil, and graduate studies focused on sustainable cities and universities. Her work centers on the Sustainable Development Goals, the role of universities towards sustainability, and the impacts of climate change. Amanda has experience with international studies assessing aspects related to the 2030 Agenda and sustainability in higher education. She is a reviewer for various journals and is also a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Tony Wall is Founder and Head of the International Centre for Thriving, a global-scale collaboration between business, arts, health, and education to deliver sustainable transformation for the common good. He is passionate about thriving and has published 200+ works, including articles in quartile 1 journals such as The International Journal of Human Resource Management and Vocations and Learning as well as global policy reports for the European Mentoring & Coaching Council in Brussels. Overall, his leadership and international impact in these areas have attracted numerous accolades including the prestigious Advance-HE National Teaching Fellowship and three Santander International Research Excellence Awards.

About the Section Editors

Katarzyna Cichos Cardinal Stefan Wyszyńki University in Warsaw Warsaw, Poland

Vijaya Deshmukh National Institute of Fashion Technology Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

Melissa Haeffner Environmental Science and Management Portland State University Portland, OR, USA

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About the Section Editors

Sandra Hopkins International Thriving at Work Research Group University of Chester Chester, UK

Tamara Hunt University of Chester Chester, UK

Nerise Johnson Leadership and Management QA Higher Education London, UK

About the Section Editors

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Chhabi Kumar Department of Sociology and Social Work Rani Durgavati University Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Julia Mambo African Willow Johannesburg, South Africa

Anagha Paul Recycle to Save Resources Foundation Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India

Andréia Faraoni Freitas Setti Department of Biology CESAM Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies University of Aveiro Aveiro, Portugal

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About the Section Editors

Tony Wall International Centre for Thriving University of Chester Chester, UK

Contributors

Obreniokibo Ibifubara Amiesimaka Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany Manuel Angeles Department of Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico Giovanna Guilhen Mazaro Araújo Center for Sustainable Development/ Research Centre on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil Uduak Archibong Centre for Inclusion and Diversity, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK Madalina Armie Department of Modern Languages, University of Almería, Almería, Spain Lavanya Shanbhogue Arvind Centre for Disasters and Development, Jamsetji Tata School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India Mohammed Asaduzzaman Department of Public Administration, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh Risha Baruah Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India Christina Beninger Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa Lindsay J. Benstead Department of Political Science, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA Mamata Bhandar Manipal GlobalNxt University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Urmi Nanda Biswas The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India Narnia Bohler-Muller Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Pretoria, South Africa Karie Boone University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA xxi

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Jessica Boulet World Federalist Movement Institute for Global Policy, New York, NY, USA Chris Bradshaw School of Education and Social Sciences, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK Swgwmkhang Brahma Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and Management, Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim, India Wojciech Burek Institute of European Studies, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland Ivaní Nadir Carlotto FP-ENAS, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto, Portugal Gabriela Carpejani Centre for Sustainable Development (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianopolis, SC, Brazil Brenda Caroline Geraldo Castro Center for Sustainable Development/ Research Centre on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil Consuelo Chacartegui University Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain Chiam Chooi Chea Cluster of Business and Management, Open University Malaysia, Bandar Baru Bangi, Malaysia Harish Chellani Department of Pediatrics, Safdarjang Hospital and Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, New Delhi, India K. P. Chitra Department of Social Work, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India Saigita Chitturu Centre for Lifelong Learning, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India MacKenzie A. Christensen Sociology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA Tracy Collier School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia Victoria L. Crittenden Marketing, Babson College, Babson Park, MA, USA William F. Crittenden D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA Sonia Regina da Cal Seixas Center for Environmental Studies and Research (NEPAM), State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil Camilla Gomes da Silva Centre for Sustainable Development (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianopolis, SC, Brazil José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra Center for Sustainable Development/Research Centre on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil

Contributors

Contributors

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Aashima Dabas Department of Paediatrics, Maulana Azad Medical College and Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India João Luiz de Moraes Hoefel Núcleo de Estudos em Sustentabilidade e Cultura – NESC/CEPE, Centro Universitário UNIFAAT, Atibaia, Brazil Mércia Gomes Oliveira de Carvalho University of Brasília (UnB), Brasília, Brazil Federal University of Piauí, Teresina, Brazil Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil Council of Municipal Health Secretariats of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil Luíza Luchi de Paulo Gewehr University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, Brazil Liliana De Simone Facultad de Comunicaciones, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Género and Ciudad, Santiago, Chile A. Jéssica de Souza Mauro Center for Sustainable Development/Research Centre on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil Fiona Dias Department of Political Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India Nikki DiGregorio School of Human Ecology, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA, USA Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis FP-ENAS, University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto, Portugal Gabriélli do Livramento Gonçalves Center for Sustainable Development/ Research Centre on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil Felix Kwabena Donkor College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), Johannesburg, South Africa Wiktor Dynarski Institute of Applied Social Sciences, Centre for Social Studies on Sexuality, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland Alys Einion-Waller Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, UK Zelda Anne Elum Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria Jannatul Ferdous Department of Public Administration, Comilla University, Cumilla, Bangladesh Juana Figueroa Vélez Gimnasio Femenino, Bogotá, Colombia Carla Patrícia Finatto Centre for Sustainable Development (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianopolis, SC, Brazil

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Jayne Flynn-Sankoh Kanu and Associates-Law Firm and CEO Brighter Future Foundation, Freetown, Sierra Leone Ching Fui-Fui Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Beatriz Galli Ipas, Chapel Hill, NC, USA Alba E. Gámez Department of Economics, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico Júlia Garraio Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal André Geraldes The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia Pontifical University of Sao Paulo (PUC/SP), Sao Paulo, Brazil Angela Gissi Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Meena Gopal Advanced Centre for Women’s Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India Trish Hafford-Letchfield School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK Elham Hoominfar Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA Sandra Hopkins International Thriving at Work Research Group, University of Chester, Chester, UK Saleemul Huq International Centre for Climate Change and Development, Independent University, Dhaka, Bangladesh International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK Reina Ichii RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Mohamed Jabbie Balance of Payment Analysis and External Relations Section, Research Department, Bank of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone Maryland, USA Emerson Abraham Jackson Sustainable Livelihoods Research, Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK Model Building Analysis Section, Research Department, Bank of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone Judith Jackson Leicester University, London, UK Tapan Kumar Jena School of Health Sciences, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India Debbie Dyana Jun Jinideh Planning and Development Economics, Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Contributors

Contributors

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Alison Duncan Kerr St Andrews Institute for Gender Studies, Arché Philosophical Research Centre, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK Tehmina Khan School of Accounting, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Elizabeth Kiester Department of Sociology, Albright College, Reading, PA, USA Momoko Kitada World Maritime University, Malmö, Sweden Carolyn Koestner New England Interstate, Water Pollution Control Commission, Albany, NY, USA Marina Kovaleva Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Germany Tânia A. Kuhnen Universidade Federal do Oeste da Bahia (UFOB), Bahia, Brazil Chhabi Kumar Department of Sociology and Social Work, Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India Rajeev Kumar Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, India Kumar Ravindra Department of Social Work, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, India Wangchu Lama Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and Management, Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim, India Mary Larkin Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK Nimkit Lepcha Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and Management, Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim, India Xing Lu Rehabilitation International, New York, NY, USA Bhawana Maheshwari National Institute of Fashion Technology, Jodhpur, India Maria Martinho United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, New York, NY, USA Hiroaki Matsuura Shoin University, Atsugi, Japan Ram Krishna Mazumder Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Chattogram, Bangladesh Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA Atieno Mboya Feminism and Legal Theory Project, Vulnerability and the Human Condition Initiative, Emory University Law School, Atlanta, GA, USA

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Contributors

Pamela McMullin-Messier Department of Sociology, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA, USA Verónica Membrive Department of Modern Languages, University of Almería, Almería, Spain Solomon Melesse Mengistie Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia Miloš Milošević Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Management, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia Mashiat Mostafa RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Janet Munakamwe African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) and Wits Mining Insitute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Miriam Murambadoro Social Economic Applications, South African Weather Service, Pretoria, South Africa Saleem Mustafa Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Zeinab NasserEddine Protection, Baalbeck, Lebanon

International

Rescue

Committee,

Subash Ranjan Nayak Indira Gandhi National Open University, Regional Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Janice L. H. Nga Planning and Development Economics, Faculty of Business, Economics and Accountancy, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Rikki Oden Environmental Science and Management Department, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA Louise Oldridge Human Resource Management, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK Nokuthula Olorunju Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES), Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Pretoria, South Africa Orhan Özçatalbaş Department of Agricultural Economics, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey Fabiana Paes The University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW, Australia University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina Brazil’s Agency for Law Enforcement and Prosecution – Sao Paulo State (MP/ SP), Domestic Violence and Family Violence Group (GEVID), Sao Paulo, Brazil Varun Pandey Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Contributors

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Umesh Chandra Pandey Indira Gandhi National Open University, Regional Centre, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India Nina Pantelić Faculty of Business in Belgrade, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia Pranta Pratik Patnaik Department of Culture and Media Studies, Central University of Rajasthan, Kishangarh, Rajasthan, India Jennifer J. Patterson Department of Education and Community, Faculty of Education and Health, University of Greenwich, London, UK Salvin Paul Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and Management, Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim, India Shahin Payam Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany Regina Célia Soares Pereira University Fernando Pessoa (UFP), Porto, Portugal Luca Maria Pesando Department of Sociology and Centre on Population Dynamics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada Magdalena Półtorak Department of Public International and European Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland Maheema Rai Department of Peace and Conflict Studies and Management, Sikkim University, Gangtok, Sikkim, India Nasya S. Razavi City Institute, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada Luca Richardson Institute of Gender Studies, University of Chester, Chester, UK S. M. Haider Rizvi Education Expert at Ernst and Young LLP, State Vision Evaluation Team, Bhopal, India Maria Antonia Rodriguez Department of Psychology, Northcentral University, La Jolla, CA, USA School of Psychology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru, Lima, Peru Daniela Rosendo Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis, Brazil Valentina Rotondi Department of Sociology and Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Sajal Roy Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia Humanitarian and Development Studies Program, School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia Department of Gender and Development Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Bangladesh Stacia Ryder Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

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Garima Sahai Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Michael Dillon Scalia Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL, USA Laura Schifman Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA Shachi Shah School of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India Sitti Raehanah M. Shaleh Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia Shraddha N. V. Sharma Bengaluru, India Vinathe Sharma-Brymer Brisbane, QLD, Australia Liemertje Julia Sieders Rome, Italy Ningthoujam Koiremba Singh Christ University, Bangalore, India Aditi Sivakumar 25x25 She Decides, Ottawa, Canada Ana Carolina Eiras Coelho Soares History Faculty, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil Gender Studies Group, FH/UFG/CNPq, Group for Gender Studies and Research, Regional Section Goiás, National Association of History, Goiânia, Brazil Babou Sogué Economic Community of West African States, Abuja, Nigeria Shruti Sonal Christ University, Bangalore, India Jéssica Souza Mauro Center for Sustainable Development/Research Centre on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (UNISUL), Florianópolis, SC, Brazil Sheena Swemmer Centre for Applied Legal Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Aleksandra Szczerba-Zawada Faculty of Administration and National Security, The Jacob of Paradies University, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland Jacob Thomas Monash University, Commonwealth Youth Gender and Equality Network, Queen’s Young Leader (Australia), Melbourne, VIC, Australia Arpana N. Tirkey Bhopal, India Teresa Toldy Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal University Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal Ilona Topa Department of Public International and European Law, Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

Contributors

Contributors

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Bahira Sherif Trask Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA Md. Asad Ud-Daula Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Technology, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh Nasir Uddin Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh Kingsley Udie Utam Centre for Inclusion and Diversity, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK Shubhangi Vaidya Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India Susana Vélez Ochoa Gimnasio Femenino, Bogotá, Colombia V. Venkatramanan School of Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi, India Alba Jean Batista Viana Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, Brazil Nucleus of Research and Extension of UNIFACISA – University center, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil Mulugeta Yayeh Worku Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia Zernila Zaheer University of Applied Sciences (HAW), Hamburg, Germany

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poor access to education, some of which are given below:

Chhabi Kumar1 and Varun Pandey2 1 Department of Sociology and Social Work, Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

(a) Inequality in education will lead to the rise of unskilled individuals who don’t have required skills so that they can participate in the industrial activities and some high-end jobs requiring very high level of expertise. It perpetuates the poverty and inequalities particularly in developing countries as low skills base of population brings down labor force productivity, makes investment less attractive for private sector, and discourages the transfer of technology and “know-how” from highincome countries (World Bank 2017). (b) Unequal access to education can lead to inequalities in occupational choice, access to jobs, levels of pay and individuals’ ability and productivity in the job market thereby influencing levels of income inequalities (Dabla-Norris et al. 2015, p22). Moreover, it is inextricably linked to the disadvantaged situation of women in our society (UNESCO n.d.-a). (c) Inequalities in education may lead to a unstable democracy or a regime that is exclusive in its policy making approach. Empirical results have shown that education and democracy are highly correlated (Glaeser et al. 2007). (d) Several studies have highlighted a link between rising extremism and lack of educational opportunities (De Silva n.d.). If a part of population is not educated and continues to

Definition Access to education: Universal access to education refers to ability of all the people to have equal opportunities in education regardless of their caste, class, gender, ethnicity, or physical or mental disability.

Introduction Educational inequality or unequal access to education amounts to unequal distribution of opportunities to access academic resources. Denial of such opportunities seriously constrains people’s ability to achieve their potential which has widespread manifestations. There is an obvious interconnection between inequalities in educational access and its repercussions for awareness levels, intellectual growth, skill development, awareness about rights, employability, economic status, and so on. There could be several ramifications of

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Gender Equality, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95687-9

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remain deprived, it’s very easy to manipulate them and bring them to the lines of extremist ideologies. Providing equal opportunities for education is therefore a national security obligation. There is an increasing realization on this issue internationally (UNESCO n.d.-b). Access to education is one of the most important areas of concern for all national governments to focus on because only educated citizens can make a healthy and civilized society. Only if government ventures into the field of education, major problems like poverty, gender inequality, sanitation, etc. can be addressed. The underlying mechanisms have been a subject matter of intensive research especially in the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is now an emerging realization across the world that education has significant influence on the pursuits of all the other SDGs (Vladimirova and Le Blanc 2015, p8). It is central to the whole idea of sustainability. Its role as an enabler of gender equality has been well emphasized in several UN flagship reports (Vladimirova and Le Blanc 2015, p8).

Gender Inequalities and Education Gender inequalities have serious repercussions for the global economy. The higher participation of girls in schools increases a country’s GDP. It has been estimated that 10% enhancement in attendance of adolescent girls in schools will lead to increase of 3% in GDP. Similarly an extra year of secondary school for girls can increase their future earnings by 10–20%. Furthermore, educational level of mother has also been linked to child survival rates. A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past age 5 (USAID 2018, p1). However, in most of the countries across the world, we still find large gender gaps in access, learning achievement, and continuation in education mostly at the expense of girls (UNESCO n.d.-a). As per the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, more girls than boys still remain out of school – 16 million girls will never set foot in a classroom. It has also

been estimated that women account for two thirds of the 750 million adults without basic literacy skills (UNESCO n.d.-a). In several Sub-Saharan African and South Asian countries the girls have been lagging behind boys as far as their participation in education is concerned (CREATE n.d.). In most of the developing countries, women’s participation in education has been discouragingly low. It has been reported that 60% of the world’s illiterates are women, concentrated mainly in developing countries and less developed countries in the Global South (da Cal Seixas and Hoefel 2020). Moreover, in some of the developing countries girls still struggle for basic access to education and then for acceptance into the workplace (Stofan 2017). The major reasons for such a state of affairs include widespread institutional discriminations based on gender, poverty, early marriages, violence against women including sexual violence, discriminatory cultural and religious traditions, conflict, and emergency situations among others. According to unwomen.org, about two thirds of the world’s illiterate people are women. Only 39% of rural girls attend secondary school. It is estimated that only 66% of countries have reached gender parity in access to elementary education (UNESCO 2017). The Global Education Monitoring Report highlights that an additional $39 billion (€33 billion) per year would improve the quality of the world’s schools and give the world’s 2.2 billion children equal access to learning (UNESCO 2017). The disparities in access to education affect gender equality in several ways. The links as emphasized in several international publications are given below: (a) With increasing access to education, girls and young women can have enhanced opportunities to wage work which raises their aspirations to work outside the home (UNFPA 2014; World Bank 2007). As a result they tend to leave their traditional roles confined to household or agricultural production activities and enter wage work (World Bank 2007). Hence increasing access to education has a potential to involve them in a wider domain of human

Access to Education and Gender Equality

life and thus utilize their productive potential for sustainable development. (b) An enhanced access to education in society will bring about attitudinal changes favoring gender equality among both males and females. Several UN flagship reports indicate that enhanced access to education will empower women to overcome barriers which prevent them from getting a fair share of the fruits of overall progress (as cited in Vladimirova and Le Blanc 2015, p8). (c) Disparities in access to education put women into severe disadvantage as far as their access to resources and opportunities besides preventing them from adopting new technologies as readily as men do (FAO 2011). In most countries, women in rural areas who work for wages are more likely than men to hold seasonal, part-time, and low-wage jobs (FAO 2011). Women also receive lower wages for the same work. A woman who is not well educated is not well aware of the rights she holds in the workplace. Matters become worse when she shares her workplace with men as more educated and aware men can easily take away more benefits while the woman may be left underpaid. United Nations Women website also highlights that women in rural areas work for more hours than men due to additional reproductive and domestic care responsibilities. This gap in knowledge resource availability also affects women’s participation in decision-making. This might affect their rights and needs being considered in policy making, and also this might affect their rights being exercised in local level. (d) Higher educational attainments increase access to information which in turn expands women’s freedoms and builds up capacity to question, reflect, and act on their conditions (as cited in Vladimirova and Le Blanc 2015, p8). Further rights-based and gender-sensitive comprehensive sexuality education programs can enhance girls’ social status and increase their bargaining power within marriage (UNFPA 2014).

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Drivers of Inequality in Access to Education As discussed above women are on the disadvantaged side of educational resource distribution spectrum. There are a range of driving factors for this inequality which inter alia includes poverty, geographical isolation, minority status, disability, early marriage and pregnancy, genderbased violence, and traditional attitudes about the status and role of women (UNESCO n.d.-a). Some of the reasons that lead to this scenario maybe cited below. Early marriage: According to UNICEF, around 21% of women were married before the age of 18 around the world (Bajracharya et al. 2019, p11). Most of such child marriages in developing countries are forced marriages having little participation of girls in decision-making. Such marriages are mostly practiced in various cultures of South Asia, East Africa, and some countries of Eastern and Southern Africa and the Middle East. Marriages are forced on girl brides mostly through coercion ranging from outright physical violence to subtle psychological pressures seriously jeopardizing the educational pursuits of girls (Sharp 2017). Occurrence of child marriages is much more severe in the countries where the access to education is already very poor. It creates a vicious trap as the out of school girls are more vulnerable for child marriages. Educational can significantly break this vicious trap. It has been reported by UN (Women) that each additional year of postprimary education for girls has significant multiplier effects, including by improving women’s employment outcomes, decreasing the chance of early marriage, and improving their health and well-being as well as that of future generations (as cited by da Cal Seixas and Hoefel 2020). Educational empowerment of girls can significantly reduce the occurrence of child marriages (Wodon et al. 2017, p11). Literacy movement in India has led to significant spinoffs in the form of movements for women’s empowerment, movements against social evils such as child marriage, deprivation of girls and movements

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for self-help groups, economic stabilization, and good health, among others (Priyadarshini 2020, p2). Nigeria is one country that has the worst scenario with 76% of women married before the age of 18. It is an indubitable truth that being married off makes a woman bounded to their traditional, domestic, and maternal course. The prevalent cultural norms expect them to perform household and child-rearing activities once they get married and attain motherhood. Time use surveys across several countries estimate that women devote 85– 90% of the time for household food preparation, child care, and other unpaid household chores. Such time commitments of women have been reported to be much more severe in African countries (as cited in FAO 2011, p14). It leaves them with no time for their academic and all-round development. Therefore a girl who is married off before the age of 18 is less likely to remain in school. This brings an end to their career growth prospects, and their access to right knowledge is shut down. When taken together across the countries, child marriages lead to huge economic costs (Wodon et al. 2017). Early pregnancy: Young women belonging to poor households are denied education due to several socioeconomic and cultural reasons. Moreover they are more likely to undergo marriage at a very early age, bear children, and take care of child-rearing. This combination of poverty and low educational levels makes them very unfavorably placed to take care of themselves and their offsprings which further perpetuates poverty (World Bank 2007, p37). UNICEF data reveals that around 150 out of 1,000 births are to adolescent girls aged 15–18 globally. In many South Asian settings, rather than decisions about schooling, marriage, and childbearing occurring sequentially, it is more likely that these decisions are made jointly (Bajracharya et al. 2019). The early marriages leading to increased household responsibilities aggravate grim realities of women education. Safety issues: According to the UNICEF data, globally more than 8 out of 10 girls experience street harassment before they turn 17. Such incidents lead to a sense of fear and trauma among

Access to Education and Gender Equality

both the parents and their daughters. This fear and trauma makes them to get their daughters married off at a young age. This in turn makes it difficult for them to go out and face society, and obviously their schooling journey is disrupted. Moreover being married off at the young age makes it difficult for them to again climb up the ladders of academics and career growth. Around 750 million girls worldwide get married off before they turn 18 years. This is a clear reflection of how pressing the issue is. Concerns related to menstrual cycles and practical gender needs: Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is the access to adequate information, preparation, and support with which to manage menstruation in a healthy, safe, and dignified manner. It has been observed that many girls drop out of the school once they begin menstruating. UNESCO data estimates that one in ten girls in sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their menstrual cycle period. Menstrual cycle period is the time when managing hygiene is of the utmost importance for a girl. So if a school doesn’t have the necessary hygienic environment for such a condition, the girl is left with no option but to opt out of her schooling. Lack of female teachers: A female teacher will encourage other girls to enter into schooling premises. Moreover while in schools students tend to interact most with their teachers; if the percentage of share of female teachers in the total number of teachers is low, it may discourage female students to continue their education. As living in already patriarchal society, they may tend to believe that education is exclusively for men. Countries like Chad and Togo have less than 10% of female share in teachers in rural areas. This data clearly reveals the extent to which the field of teaching is dominated by men in rural areas of these countries. Increasing the number of female students in these areas might inspire female students and encourage them to come back and rise up in academic ladders. Girls living in war-torn countries: UNESCO’s EFA Global Monitoring Report reveals that about half of the 57 million children out of the school live in conflicted region. Female students are in even more disadvantaged position,

Access to Education and Gender Equality

as 90% of female students living in these areas are out of school; war and civil disturbances seem to be a big disturbance for a girl’s education. Women and girls with disability: It has been observed that children with any kind of disability face lot of discriminations in schools. Girls are faced with even greater discrimination as they are discriminated both on the grounds of their disability and on their gender. Respondents to the World Health Survey (2002–2004) indicated that 41.7% of girls with disability completed primary school compared to 52.9% for those without a disability.

Impact of Unequal Access to Education If a woman is well educated and skilled, she can easily get a job and thus can be economically independent. While restricting a girl from education might leave her without any skill and no job, this might harm her economic liberty. According to the United Nations data, labor force participation rate for women aged 25–54 years is 63% compared to 94% for men. This clearly reveals the extent to which the poor access to education has affected the employment prospects of women. Moreover, data reveals that women earn only around 77% of what men earn from the same work. Thus, poor educational access has affected the economic freedom of women. Moreover, if a woman is educated, she is well enlightened and well aware of her fundamental rights as well as those of others. According to the Global Education Monitoring report (GEM) by UNESCO, “Women in leadership positions tend to favour the equitable redistribution of resources and legislatures with a higher share of women on average tend to support health, education and social welfare spending at the expense of defence spending.” Many cultures around the world limit women’s access outside the home. Their traditional role of caregivers and domestic duties is seen to be more important than getting education. Their restricted mobility due to such cultural norms limits their access to education which perpetuates their already existing condition. However whenever they find opportunities to come out of their homes, they have to face hostile environment in public spaces

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like street harassment and violence thereby restricting their educational opportunities (Herbert et al. 2019, p8). It is evident that if this disparity continues, women might get confined to the boundaries of their homes as education is the only avenue or reason for them to move out of their homes. The differential access to knowledge repository limits the access of women to medical and scientific journals and other resources. This in turn will reduce their inputs to medical and scientific industry which can further put them in a much greater disadvantage as women have different medical issues and require different kind of care. Therefore, their limited presence and participation in the medical field will affect the overall medical treatment of women in general. Similarly differential access to education will also discourage women’s participation in the academic and research and development activities. Lack of educational opportunities will have a negative impact on the overall level of understanding and awareness among women on issues related to their health and well-being. This will result in elevated health-related issues among women. Moreover, this will further enhance their dependency on men. According to the World Health Organization data, every day around 1000 women die of the consequences of pregnancy and child birth complications. Child birth complications are a serious concern and cause of high rate of mortality in several developing countries. This issue can be handled effectively only with the effective participation of women. If a woman is not aware about her problems, she might have to go through critical conditions which can be life threatening.

Women’s Participation in DecisionMaking There are several constraints which restrict women’s participation in decision-making. Such constraints arise mostly because of cultural stereotypes and gender norms. Moreover, socioeconomic conditions of women further reinforce this problem. Women often lack the control and access to necessary economic resources. Ballington and Matland (2004) suggested that women often lack

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the financial resources needed to fully participate in leadership and decision-making. Moreover, men’s resistance and non-preparedness to share political power and decision-making processes with women is a global phenomenon (Schein 2001). Further, her involvement in household work, child-rearing, agricultural work, etc. leaves her with little time to involve in decision-making. Most of the work performed by her is not remunerative which perpetuates her poor socioeconomic conditions and keeps her out of the educational opportunities. The patriarchal mindset reinforces such conditions and ideologically subordinates her from coming out of house and claiming her rights. Education can help to take out women from this vicious trap. Strengthening women’s role in power and decision-making is one of the twelve critical areas of concerns outlined in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (UNWomen 2014). Women empowerment is all about making women realize, understand, and utilize their rights. Being part of the decision-making forum is the right of every citizen of the world. (Rosa and Miranda 2005). Women’s visibility in decision-making forums continues to be a cause for concerns in several developing countries and is as low as 5% in countries like Egypt. This clearly explains the lower status and poor plight of women in several countries. Such visibly endangered women’s participation in decision-making has become a global concern lately. Bawa and Sanyare (2013) observed a steady decline in women’s involvement in public life and politics in nations such as Ghana.

Participation of Women in Science and Technology Women have made large strides in the field of science and technology. Starting from their inputs in the pharma industry and the medical field to their inputs in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) climate change debates, women have given their part. In doing so they have given their viewpoints and their perspective of how the policy design

Access to Education and Gender Equality

should be for a healthy future. But even after having this level of progress, women are underrepresented in the field of science and technology (UNFCCC 2018; Stofan 2017). UNESCO data reveals that only 30% of researchers worldwide are women. Only around 30% of women select STEM-related fields in higher education. Data clearly indicates that women seldom give their inputs to the fields of science. However it is not an ability issue. In fact women face serious prejudices and cultural biases beacuse of their gender. It is not only a matter of unfair treatment given to them but it amounts to a serious set back for economy. Research proves that diverse teams with individuals from different genders, races, backgrounds and experience bring diverse perspectives that can lead to innovative solutions. In this context, non participation of women in science and technology is a serious economic concern also (Stofan 2017). Development in science and technology has easily been reflected in how society evolved since generations. So if women participation in science and technology is low, their inputs as well as their adoption of new technology will be low. They will not be able to match the new standards of life and thus will be dependent on their male counterparts for regular needs and survival. Low participation of women in research means that the new inventions will not take into consideration the requirements and needs of women. Their underparticipation will result in making the field of science and technology into a male-dominant field. Steps have been taken to curb this issue. UNESCO aims to contribute to improving the situation of women and reducing the gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in all countries at all levels of education and research. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) encourages more women to become meteorologists, hydrologists, climate scientists, and oceanographers and nurtures leadership talent through dedicated training workshops and conferences. This clearly reveals that bringing women up in the field of science and technology is of utmost importance in the global interest.

Access to Education and Gender Equality

Some Policy Initiatives to Enhance Access to Education There is an emerging realization across the world that democratization of education has to be a global priority. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.” Furthermore, almost all countries have signed and ratified the following Global Conventions: • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) • The UNESCO Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960) • The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) • The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) • The World Declaration on Education for All (1990) • The Millennium Development Goals (2000) With the launch of Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs), education has become a priority across the world. The concerns to enhance access to education have been figured in different ways in different countries as per their national priorities. Countries across the world have come up with several plans and programs to improve access to education among different sectors of the population and work toward reducing the discrimination especially based on gender. Some policy-level initiatives to enhance access to education in some of the most disadvantaged countries, have been described below. African Countries Toward the end of twentieth century, a realization had started growing that user fees in education were putting a negative impact on enrolment rates particularly for the poorest and most vulnerable children (Cornea et al. 1987). Therefore need was felt to eliminate user fee for primary education (World Bank 2009). The first initiative for

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Educational Fee Abolition (EFA) of primary school fees was initiated by Ghana in 1961 and Kenya and Tanzania in 1974. Though these policies of EFA significantly contributed to enhance the enrolment base of universal primary education (UPE), such policies were subsequently abandoned or reversed under pressure of economic crises. As a result of which, many of the early gains reversed. However subsequently many countries reintroduced fee abolition policies in response to renewed international effort to achieve UPE by 2015. Malawi and Uganda were the first countries to move in this direction. However, complete elimination of user fee was likely to lead to sudden rise in enrolment. Therefore, it was felt that mere elimination of fee was not sufficient to enhance access to education. The quality of delivery of education was equally important. Therefore, careful planning and implementation of Educational Fee Abolition (EFA) was necessary. The response to infrastructure and availability of teachers needs to be ensured to meet the surge in demand arising due to EFA. The lack of preparedness to meet the requirement could lead to decline in quality of education. By 2006, six countries, namely, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, had already abolished fee. Besides these, three other countries Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Haiti were planning to follow suit. School fee abolition has shown to increase enrolment and reduce gender and wealth differential in primary enrolment. However it has not resulted in increase in such indicators in completion (Langsten 2017). In addition to freeships for the primary education, different countries have been developing contextualized and participative programs to enhance access to education as per their local requirements. In several African countries, economic factors along with poor educational scenario continue to be the major driver of migration of young girls. Several policy-level changes have been brought about to decrease the percentage of primary school-age girls who are out of school as well as school dropouts. Policy and programming solutions include greater attention to educational and vocational training alternatives,

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radio-based social change communication, community conversations, school clubs, and other safe spaces for girls where they can seek advice and share their views and experiences (Overseas Development Institute 2014). Details about the policy-level interventions in different African countries are well documented (World Bank 2007). India Access to education and particularly retention of women students is a serious concern in India. The government of India has initiated several schemes primarily aimed at enhancing their retention rate in schooling, giving them opportunities for education right at their doorsteps, promoting educational resources which can help them pursue higher studies, and launching scholarship schemes among others. The government has made it a fundamental right to education under the Constitution. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a flagship program of the central government of India that aims to bring every student under the umbrella of education. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is in operation since 2000–2001 and has made significant strides to enhance access to education. In order to retain the children in schooling system, the government has initiated a “No Detention Policy” which states that: no child admitted in a school shall be held back in any class or expelled from school till the completion of elementary education. This policy will help girl students in a number of ways. If girls do not get enough grades in her previous year, she can further continue her studies and walk up the ladders of academics. The government is promoting a SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) MOOCs portal. SWAYAM is a program initiated by the Indian government to achieve three cardinal principals of education policy, namely, access, equity, and quality. The main objective is to take the best learning resources to all students. SWAYAM being an online platform can be accessed by anyone in the world who has Internet connection; therefore, it is one of the most effective programs for tackling the problem of unequal access to knowledge resources. Similarly, the National Digital Library is another initiative

Access to Education and Gender Equality

which makes available good-quality educational materials for the benefit of students. The National Digital Library (NDL) is a project under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). This is a pilot project to develop a virtual repository of learning resources with one window search system. This project aims to provide citizens with all possible academic content in one portal. This will be a major step toward equitable access of educational resources as every member of this library will be able to access the best quality content. Financing of education is also a perennial problem in India. Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) is a joint venture of MHRD and Canara Bank, India, to finance the capital assets in premier educational institutions of India. According to the Finance Ministry, HEFA will be a nonprofit organization that will leverage funds from the market and supplement them with donations and CSR funds. These funds will be used to aid the infrastructure development for the premiere institutions of the nation. This will in many ways help to curb the problem of access to education. As the infrastructure network of top educational institutions of the nation expands, possibility of every citizen to avail them will increase too. The government has also made significant financial commitments to fund the educational students National Scholarship Portal. This is a one window clearance for all possible scholarships for students and their single simplified application. Apart from this, Vidya Lakshmi is one stop destination for all possible education loans. Such schemes will benefit the users as they can aid the educational journey of any person irrespective of their economic background. These portals will ensure that every student is able to complete his or her education.

Conclusion It is now well realized that access to education is the key for the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals. Enhancing the access to education will have significant positive impact on the

Access to Education and Gender Equality

status of women (Wodon et al. 2017). Access of education for women is a must in making them aware of their rights. The write-up clearly reflects the ailing scenario of women education in several developing countries worldwide. What is more concerning is the effect of increasing inequality in availability of knowledge resources. As discussed above the biggest effect of inequality in access to educational resources is awareness of individual rights, participation in decision-making, and access to decent work. Educating them will help in growth of science and technology in a totally new dimension as their perspectives and needs are to an extent different from men’s. Their participation in academics will in turn encourage the entry of girls and other women in higher education. A realization has therefore begun that portrayals of women scientists and engineers in the media will significantly help to motivate upcomming generation to participate more in STEM (Stofan 2017). Hence policies to ensure enhanced access to education will significantly advance women’s standard of living. Links between access to education and gender equality are well realized and understood in various reports. Some reports claim that education helps the girls and young women to move out of their home to work (Kiester 2019). As women gain more education, they move out of the traditional practices and societal hierarchies to get into the modern work culture. Education can empower women to overcome discrimination and claim their rights and overcome barriers that prevent them from getting a fair share of the fruits of overall progress. Education is critical for women to be able to claim their rights and participate in decision-making process and be a part of the sustainable development agenda (da Cal Seixas and Hoefel 2020). Women comprise almost half of the global population; it is imperative that they should be included in the workforce effectively. If this part of the population is not contributing to the world economically, the economic growth of the world will not be possible (Klasen and Lamanna 2008; da Cal Seixas and Hoefel 2020).

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Cross-References ▶ Child, Early, and Forced Marriage ▶ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ▶ Domestic Violence Against Women: Relevance, Reflections, and Public Policies ▶ Mobile Technology and Gender Equality ▶ Violence Against Women

References Bajracharya A, Psaki SR, Sadiq M (2019) Child marriage, adolescent pregnancy and school dropout in South Asia, report by the Population Council for the United Nations Children’s Fund Regional Office for South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2019. https://www.unicef.org/rosa/ media/3096/file/UNICEF_ROSA_Child_marriage_ado lescent_pregnancy_3May2019.pdf. Accessed on 29th Jan 2020 Ballington J, Matland RE (2004) Political Parties and Special Measures: Enhancing Women’s Participation in Electoral Processes. Paper presented at the documento preparado para. United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), Expert Group Meeting on “Enhancing Women’s Participation in Electoral Processes in Post-Conflict Countries Bawa S, Sanyare F (2013) Women’s participation and representation in politics: perspectives from Ghana. Int. J. Public Administr. 36, 282–291. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01900692.2012.757620 Cornea GA, Jolly R, Stewart F (1987) Adjustment with a human face: protecting the vulnerable and promoting growth. Oxford University Press, New York CREATE (n.d.) Why access to education is important. http://www.create-rpc.org/about/why/. Accessed on 30th June 2020 Dabla-Norris E, Kalpana K, Frantisek R, Nujin S, Evridiki T (2015) Strategy, policy, and review department causes and consequences of income inequality: a global perspective. https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/ 2015/sdn1513.pdf. Accessed on 9th Mar 2020 da Cal Seixas SR, de Moraes Hoefel JL (2020) Human Rights and Gender Equity: Building Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho W., Azul A., Brandli L., Özuyar P., Wall T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_60-1 (accessed on 18th August 2020) De Silva S (n.d.) Role of education in the prevention of violent extremism. http://documents.worldbank.org/cu rated/en/448221510079762554/120997-WP-revisedPUBLIC-Role-of-Education-in-Prevention-of-ViolenceExtremism-Final.pdf. Accessed on 9th Mar 2020

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10 FAO (2011) The state of food and agriculture, women in agriculture, closing the gender gap for development. http://www.fao.org/3/i2050e/i2050e.pdf. Accessed on 29th Jan 2020 Glaeser EL, Giacomo A, Ponzetto M, Shleifer A (2007) Why does democracy need education? J Econ Growth 12:77–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-007-9015-1, https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/glaeser/files/democracy_ final_jeg_1.pdf. Accessed on 9th Mar 2020 Hebert LE, Bansal S, Lee SY, Yan S, Akinola M, Rhyne M, Menendez A, Gilliam M (2019) Understanding young women’s experiences of gender inequality in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh through story circles. International journal of adolescence and youth, 25(1), 1– 11. https://doi.org/10.1080/02 673843.2019 . 1568888 Kiester E (2019) Female Migration and the Global Economy. In: Leal Filho W., Azul A., Brandli L., Özuyar P., Wall T. (eds) Gender Equality. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70060-1_5-1 (accessed on 18th August 2020) Klasen S, Lamanna F (2008) ‘The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth in Developing Countries: Updates and Extensions’, EUDN Working Paper 2008–10 (Namur, Belgium: European Development Research Network) http://chicagopolicyreview.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2014/09/Gender-and-Economic-Growth.pdf (accessed on 18 August 2020) Langsten R (2017) School fee abolition and changes in education indicators. International Journal of Educational Development, 53, 163–175. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.ijedudev.2016.12.004 (accessed on 18th August 2020) Overseas Development Institute (2014) Early marriage and education: The complex role of social norms in shaping Ethiopian adolescent girls lives. https://www.odi.org/ sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinionfiles/9183.pdf. Accessed on 11th Feb 2020 Priyadarshini A (2020) Evolving literacy perspectives: towards lifelong learning and sustainable development. In: Leal Filho W, Azul A, Brandli L, Özuyar P, Wall T (eds) Quality education. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer. Accessed on 30th Jan 2020 Rosa L, Miranda T, UN 2005., https://www.un.org/ womenwatch/daw/egm/eql-men/docs/EP.7_rev.pdf Schein VE (2001) A global look at psychological barriers to women’s progress in management. J. Soc. Issues 57, 675–688. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537. 00235 Stofan E (2017) “Why we need more women in tech by 2030 - and how to do it”, World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/11/ women-in-tech-engineering-ellen-stofan/ (accessed on 18 August 2020) Taneja A (2018) No Detention Under the RTE Act: The Policy Options. Education Policy Brief, CARE India, New Delhi, https://www.careindia.org/wp-content/

Access to Education and Gender Equality uploads/2018/07/NDP-final.pdf (accessed on 18th August 2020) UNESCO (2017) Global education monitoring report, accountability in education, meeting our commitments. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000259338. Accessed on 30th Jan 2020 UNESCO (n.d.-a) Education and gender equality. https:// en.unesco.org/themes/education-and-gender-equality. Accessed on 11th Feb 2020 UNESCO (n.d.-b) Preventing violent extremism through education. https://en.unesco.org/preventingviolentext remismthrougheducation. Accessed on 9th Mar 2020 UNFCCC (2018) Promoting Participation of Women and Girls in Science, https://unfccc.int/news/promotingparticipation-of-women-and-girls-in-science (accessed on 18th August 2020) UNFPA (2014) State of world population: adolescents, youth and the transformation of the future. https:// www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/EN-SWOP 14-Report_FINAL-web.pdf. Accessed on 10th Feb 2020 Unwomen (2014) Women in power and decision-making: strengthening voices for democracy. https://www.unwo men.org/en/news/stories/2014/6/women-in-power-anddecision-making USAID (2018,p 2) Girls’ equality and education. https:// www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1865/USA ID_Girls_Education-Fact-Sheet_11118.pdf. Accessed on 10th Feb 2020 Vladimirova K, Le Blanc D (2015) How well are the links between education and other sustainable development goals covered in UN Flagship Reports? A contribution to the study of science policy interface on education in UN System, DESA Working Paper No. 146 ST/ESA/ 2015/DWP/146. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/ content/documents/2111education%20and%20sdgs.pdf. Accessed on 4th Feb 2020 Wodon Q, Male C, Nayihouba A, Onagoruwa A, Savadogo A, Yedan A, Edmeades J, Kes A, John N, Murithi L, Steinhaus M, Petroni S (2017) Economic impacts of child marriage: global synthesis report. The World Bank and International Center for Research on Women, Washington, DC. https://www.icrw.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/06/EICM-Global-Conference-Ed ition-June-27-FINAL.pdf. Accessed on 30th Jan 2020 World Bank (2007) World development report: development and the next generation. Word Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/ handle/10986/5989/WDR%202007%20-%20English. pdf?sequence¼4&isAllowed¼y. Accessed on 10th Feb 2020 World Bank (2009) Abolishing school fees in Africa, Lessons from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/ Aboloshing_School_Fees_in_Africa.pdf. Accessed on 11th Feb 2020 World Bank (2017) Skill development. https://www. worldbank.org/en/topic/skillsdevelopment. Accessed on 9th Mar 2020

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment

Accessibility/Availability of Nutritious Food ▶ Gender and Poverty: Its Influence on Household Food Security in Africa

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment Fiona Dias Department of Political Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India

Definition Women’s economic empowerment refers to women’s equal participation in markets and access to basic productive resources, wages, and opportunities of economic development. Women should have ownership and control over these resources along with more representation and agency in decision-making process. They should also have control over their time, bodies, and lives without being subordinated within any oppressive structures. This empowerment should be sustainable in all sphere of women’s lives, may it be household or international organizations.

Understanding Women’s Economic Empowerment The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have identified women’s empowerment as one of its key issues. Goal number 5 of the sustainable development goals is a commitment made to remove gender-based discrimination. Women’s empowerment is an important part of this goal, especially economic empowerment. Economic empowerment of women acts as an important tool for women to challenge the various

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levels of discrimination which they face in their everyday life. Economic empowerment is assumed to be the distribution of resources in a fair and equal manner by including women within the sphere of economic activity. Women are one of the most disadvantaged and oppressed groups who face inequality and subordinated in the political, social, and economic spheres of life. According to a report by the World Bank (2019), an average economy gives women only threefourth of the legal rights which it grants to men. Ownership of property and business, paid work in organized sector, paid work in unorganized sector are all spaces where male-dominant experiences are privileged. This privilege is in terms of accessibility to work and fair wages, safety, security, and dignity. Women lack this kind of accessibility in ownership or in paid work. Work done by women in households is completely ignored and unpaid. The rigid public–private divide that separates men and women in the political space also extends itself to the economic sphere creating rigid distinction between work which is recognized and unrecognized. Empowerment of women, especially economic empowerment, is an area where commitments are made by international organizations and governments but with little effect on the social, political, and economic sphere. While there is an international commitment to remove these discriminations and distribute resources and opportunity equally, it has been difficult to apply these commitments. The Report of the UN Secretary-General High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (2016) identifies adverse social norms, legal restriction on women, discriminatory laws on men and women, failure to redistribute women’s unpaid work, and lack of women ship of property as the main barriers to achieving women’s economic empowerment. This report also identifies that the varied nature of these barriers is a major challenge in achieving these goals as there is no universal strategy to overcome these discriminatory practices. This combined with the fact that a huge population if women are working in the informal sector makes it extremely difficult for gender equality to be a reality. This has led to a global demand for gender equality and empowerment

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which has been resonated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as goal number 5 which identifies the issues which women face globally and seeks to correct them through international and transnational organizations.

Conceptualizing Empowerment and Disempowerment The term “empowerment” indicates change and development for the better. It is a symbol of positive change in the lives of those who have historically been denied a life of dignity. The term “empowerment” is the process which grants people the opportunity to abandon discriminatory positions and exploitative structures which deny them their right to achieve their full potential. Even though empowerment is a popularly used term today in political, economic, and social arenas, there is little clarity regarding the term itself. Empowerment may refer to the means which make a person self-dependent by giving access to freedom and opportunity which were denied in the past. Empowerment may also refer to the means through which people are allowed the oppurtunities to enhance their position within the various power structures which exist in the society by fighting against all kinds of discrimination whether cultural, social, political, economic, religious, gender based or based pn physical capability among others. Empowerment appears to be a term which can be used in a variety of ways. Narrowly, it calculates the development of people using fixed set of parameters. The levels of education, employment, health, access to hygiene facilities and in general better quality of life can be regarded as some of these variables. Broadly, it attempts to measure change in the entire social, political, and economic system using socio-legal transformation as a tool. Mohanty (1995) refers to empowerment as a process which depends on political legal structures rather than social traditional systems. It is a conscious process of altering an exploitative of discriminatory practice. Mohanty would emphasize that empowerment is a commitment made to recognize the oppressive structures and replace them

with equal systems. Empowerment is not just a concept, but a commitment made to remove oppressive hierarchies and replace them with a dignified and fulfilling life. Hence to empower, it is essential to recognize the oppressive structures in place. The notion of women’s empowerment comes rather recently in the discourse on empowerment with the Beijing Platform of Action (1995) when a global commitment to the eradication of women's inequality was unanimously declared by 189 countries. The Beijing Platform of Action is an agenda for women’s empowerment and highlights that women’s empowerment is “removing all the obstacles to women’s active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural and political decision-making.” Historically, women have been denied decision-making positions in political, social, and economic spheres due to which the inclusion of women’s experience has been extremely limited. Even laws and policies designed for bringing equality are only able to bring cosmetic change. It is not just experience which is androcentric but also the distribution of resources. Women empowerment at a superficial level is about redistribution of income but at a deeper level, women’s economic empowerment is a stand against the traditional economic structure which is heavily influenced by patriarchy among other forms of discrimination. For equality, distributive mechanisms must be modified or changed completely so that women have the opportunity to access resource for their development, something which has been denied to women. Patriarchy is a traditional hierarchy where power is distributed on the basis of sex and age (MacKinnon 1987; Pateman 1988; Bhasin 1993). Patriarchy is a universal system which subordinates women to men till the extent that women’s needs, aspirations, and potentials are ignored or completely devalued. It should be noted that patriarchy does not perform in the same way all across the world. There are certain norms and traditions which are same while others change drastically. What is similar is that patriarchy can be seen actively functioning in certain areas which

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment

function in the political, social, economic, and cultural spheres. The Beijing Platform of Action (1995) highlights certain critical areas where patriarchal values dominate the understanding distribution of resources and have led to the denial of women’s empowerment. The areas in which women must be included are education, health, economic opportunity, political power and decision-making, state and domestic violence, human rights, and eradication of poverty. Women’s empowerment is closely related to the breaking down of patriarchal hierarchy in all spheres of women’s life. In order to challenge these long-standing traditional structures, international organization, government institutions, and nongovernment organizations have to work together tirelessly to identify the levels of disempowerment which women face and bring an end to them. Disempowerment is a multidimensional phenomenon where inequality is experienced due to many reasons, gender being only one of them. Women across the world experience gender-based discrimination but women all across the world may not face the same kind of discrimination. Race, class, tribe, ethnicity, religion, disability, and even age play an important role on the incessant disempowerment which women face. When the Women’s Reservation Bill which guaranteed 33% women’s reservation was produced in the Indian Parliament in 1998, many prominent political leaders and activities criticized it for being an upper class and upper caste arrangement which reserved decision-making positions for women who are privileged or face lesser discriminations (Menon 2004). Here, it becomes essential for different forms of inequality to be identified and eradicated using adequate methods, rather than just applying one single strategy which may prove ineffective in the long run. Since empowerment is restricted by this matrix of inequalities, it becomes imperative to identify the location of disempowerment.

Locating Disempowerment It is often assumed that economic empowerment is giving women the basic economic opportunities

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like equal job opportunities and equal wages. While equality of opportunity and wages are an important tool to measure women’s empowerment, economic empowerment of women will mainly concern itself with identifying the structures which oppress women in the economic sphere and subverting them through institutional mechanisms. The important question to ask here is how to identify the areas of which help women to be empowered economically. The Beijing Declaration would highlight that economic empowerment means the promotion of women’s economic independence by providing adequate employment opportunities with fair wages. The eradication of structures which leads to the discrimination of women in the economic sphere is also a goal of economic empowerment of women. Economic empowerment of women is globally recognized as a pledge to ensure that women have equal access in economic structures to opportunities and benefits which have been denied to them historically. Development and welfare policies must be gender inclusive. While there is a commitment to remove gender-based discrimination which women face in the economic sphere, there is a more important need to understand the structures in which women’s disempowerment is promoted. Pateman (1988) states that the patriarchy is a system of government in which men rule due to their positions as the head of households. So, the position one holds in the household based on age and sex automatically becomes the position one has in the political and economic sphere. Patriarchy comes from the word “patriarch,” which is used to describe a large household which comprises of men, women, children, servants, and slaves all of whom were subordinated to a dominant male (Bhasin 1993). Patriarchy emerges in the family, where gendered relations and sex roles are clearly divided and go relatively unchallenged. Walby (1989) will define patriarchy “. . .as a system of social structures, and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women.” She highlights that there are six basic substructures of patriarchy which combine to form an entire system of patriarchy. According to her, the main substructures are the structure in

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which women’s work is appropriated by the husbands, waged labor privilege men, patriarchal state relations, male violence, sexuality defined by patriarchal norms, and patriarchal culture. These perspectives highlight that the mode and methods discrimination which is a result of patriarchal hierarchy are spread across different spheres of life. This also illustrates that the process of economic disempowerment starts from family and the household where women’s labor is unrecognized, then it extends itself to the public where discrimination in distributing jobs and granting wages. Understanding the locations of these forms of disempowerment is imperative if the governments and institutions are committed to apply methods for effectively bringing in economic empowerment of women. This chapter would bring forward three major locations of disempowerment where discrimination of women in the economic sphere is not just justified but also normalized. The first location of disempowerment is private sphere where the home/household and community are located. In 2019, 7.5% of the total global income was lost due to the influence of social and community-based discriminations. Gender-based discriminations by social institutions also reduce the women’s labor force participation by 12% and human development by 16% (SIGI 2019). Undoubtedly, household and community have emerged as a major contributor to the disempowerment which women face. Many theorists would insist that patriarchy not only emerges but also sustains itself within the household (Okin 1979; Elshtan 1981; Pateman 1988; Walby 1989; Bhasin 1993). This means that household is the space where women experience the initial forms of discrimination which is then carried forward to other spheres. The domination of men over property and decision-making in the household reduces the chances for women to have access to resources for the development. This discrimination is mainly economic in nature because there is a denial to recognize the work which is done within the home should be rewarded in the same manner as work which is done at a workplace. There is very little challenge to the assumption that women are naturally fit for domestic work and

so they should not be rewarded. Mainstream feminism also limits itself to only bringing equality within the public sphere. As a result, most women work tirelessly to run the household without any expectation of reward or compensation. According to a report presented during the Sixtyfirst session of Economic And Social Council (2017), women’s unpaid work can contribute anywhere between 10% and 39% in the total GDP of a country surpassing the contribution on manufacturing industry at times. The distribution of income is glaringly disproportionate. The governments and institutions working toward women’s empowerment rarely recognize this discrimination, and when they do, very little is done to change this. While equality for men and women is recognized in the public sphere, the discrimination of the private continues to go unchecked. When women do become a part of the recognized workforce and have a chance to access wages and salaries, the work that they get are mainly part time or lower income work. This continues the economic dependency even when women work outside the household. They are dependent on the male members of their households for the fulfillment of basic needs. This makes women extremely vulnerable to various forms of discrimination and violence which are result of patriarchal hierarchy (Pilcher and Whelehan 2017). Economic dependency in the private space leads to continuous inequality. Hence, the household is the first location of economic disempowerment and perhaps the most difficult to address. Despite many attempts to recognize women’s work within the household, no government has been successful to effectively remove economic dependency of women. Women’s disempowerment within the private sphere is very complicated as it is the most routine form of disempowerment which is legitimized as natural by political, economic, and social institutions. The second location of power is the workplace within the public sphere. Here, the work is recognized as an economic activity and is given a reward in terms of salary or wages. Women constitute approximately half of the world’s population and hence, half of the world labor force. Women’s economic empowerment is immediately

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment

associated with the inclusion of more women with the workforce as it is assumed that including women in the workforce will end inequality. While encouraging more participation of women in the work force will result in reducing the economic dependency to some extent, it is still a long way away from empowerment. The workplace is a location of disempowerment as it creates a situation of persistent inequality between men and women (Tinker 1990). While the skewed ratio of men and women employed in the workforce is an obvious problem, there are other kinds of discriminations which also exist. The work which women have access to, the conditions and the opportunities for better positions are very different from that of men. The patriarchal hierarchy combined with other forms of discriminations may begin in the private but slowly spills over to the workplace too making women of the most disadvantaged groups in the economy. While even men do not have to access to fair wages and are prone to experience exploitation, women experience exploitation in a more extreme manner simply because they are not men. Women face three visible kinds of discriminations in the labor market. First, women are underpaid and overworked in comparison to men. Second, women work only in the stereotyped occupations which recognized as feminine or women’s work, which is also known as pink-collared work. Thirdly, women face the consequences of extreme gender pay gap, which is the unequal distribution of income based on gender for the equal amount of work. The United Nations Report on The Worlds Women 2015 (2015) throws light to this discrimination effectively by stating: Their (women) work is concentrated in sectors and occupations that tend to have low pay, is subject to long hours and carries no social protections. Women are less likely to hold managerial positions and earn less than men everywhere.

Statistically speaking, the gender pay gap is at percent which means that woman earn only 77 cents for every dollar that men earn on a global average. While the gender pay gap has reduced considerably, there is still a stark difference between what men and women earn. There is also no reasonable explanation for this gender

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pay gap which is considered as normal in most countries. Added to this is also the concept of motherhood pay gap (Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work 2017) where women who have dependent children far less than women who do not have dependent children. Such discrimination emerges from the stereotype that women are primarily responsible as a care giver within the household. This adversely affects the opportunities women have within the workplace in terms of recruitment, remuneration, and promotion. While these are the visible kinds of discrimination that women across the globe face, there are other more subtle kinds of inequalities which women experience as a part of the workforce. Most women work in the informal sector due to which they can mainly access low paying and temporary jobs. So, while they contribute to the economy and are considered as employed, they are still economically vulnerable. The Indian Government has applied the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme” which grants minimum of 100-day employment to people from rural households with minimum wage. According to Economic Survey 2017–2018 (2018), 54% of women have taken benefit of this scheme in the rural areas. While having access to paid labor, this job is less paid and temporary in nature making women the most economic vulnerable group in the unorganized rural economy in India. Since women are mostly localized within the informal sector, the government policies which attempt to bring in equality are accessible. India became one of the first countries in the world to grant a comprehensive law to protect women work and promotion by launching the Maternity benefit Act, 1961, which was amended in 2017. Despite an inclusive law, women working in the informal sector have no access to its benefits and continue to be the victims of gendered division of labor. The most persistent type of discrimination is the expectation that women will work in the public sphere and then carry out her domestic work in the household which has no pay. This kind of work is called as “double day duty” (Kymlicka 1990), which means that women bear twice the burden of work both at the workplace

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and their respective households. This is also matched with the problem that women often have to choose between their work and their households and are more prone to leaving jobs after marriage and/or childbirth in comparison to men (Okin 1979; Kymlicka 1990). Women face many challenges in the workplace which go unnoticed by law and policy makers. While this blindness may not be purposeful, it has grave consequences on a women’s economic empowerment. From devaluation of work and home to inequality at workplace, women are discriminated, discouraged, and disadvantaged at all levels of economic activity. This makes it absolutely necessary for global frameworks, international organizations, governments, and nongovernmental organizations to have a more inclusive approach to achieving women’s economic empowerment. The third location of disempowerment links both the public and the private sphere is perhaps the most pervasive form of disempowerment and discrimination. This is the location of violence, especially physical, emotional, and sexual violence which women face in their day-to-day life. Violence is a tool of patriarchal domination as it asserts the superiority of men over women. Eve teasing, molestation, rape, marital rape, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment are some forms of sexual violence which women face globally. There is no country in the world which can claim it is free from all kinds of sexual violence. The act of sexual violence creates distrust and fear which discourage women from pursuing work or claiming economic independence. While most reports and strategies for women’s empowerment especially economic empowerment do not explicitly state that the threat or experience of sexual violence as a discriminating factor, the Beijing Platform of Action (1995) calls out governments, employers, unions, and nongovernment organizations to make laws to protect women at workplace and take steps to prohibit all forms of sexual harassment. Sexual harassment at workplace is the common problem faced by women in both formal and informal employment. While at work women have to face verbal, mental, emotional,

and physical forms of sexual violence. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 in India highlights that sexual harassment at workplace includes “physical contact or advances demand for sexual favors, sexually colored remarks, showing pornography, or unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.” These laws recognize the covert and overt forms of violence which women experience in the workplace and attempt to solve them. These various forms of sexual harassment are used to discourage or demotivate women within the workplace. In many cases, they are also used to sexually exploit women for basic wages and promotions. Giving women access to jobs, resources, and opportunities at the workplace can do very little for their empowerment if they work under the threat of violence. Violence faced at home can also be a major deterrent to women’s economic empowerment. Emotional abuse and domestic violence are the most common form of violence which women face within the households. This violent form of assertion of dominance has an adverse effect on women’s will to work and demand economic independence. It acts as a major deterrent for policies for empowerment to be enacted effectively. Results from the Worlds Women Report (2015) state that women who face physical or emotional violence at home are more likely to have husbands who take away their wages, savings, or do not give them any money at all. Violence acts as an important factor which continues women’s economic vulnerability. Women are trapped in this constant cycle of dependence and economic violence. These three locations of disempowerment have the same source which is patriarchal arrangement of social, economic, and political life. Disempowerment is neither located solely with economic sphere nor is it located only with in the formal organized workforce. To assume that economic empowerment is just access to employment opportunities and basic pay is to narrow down the women’s potential and needs to the minimum possible level. There is an immediate need to identify these locations of disempowerment and create laws and

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment

policies which challenge the structures and norms which perpetuate the inequality which women experience. Specific strategies should be made which target the modes of inequalities at the very place they emerge from. This will help in sustaining economic empowerment of women rather than just making minor changes.

Strategies of Economic Empowerment There is an urgent need to rethink the strategies of economic empowerment of women at the global sphere. Economic empowerment is difficult to achieve without including women in decisionmaking and authoritative positions within political institutions. This will play an important role in including women’s demands in policymaking. Access to education should now extend to more than just primary or basic education. Mostly women’s education is limited to learning skills which can be used in the household too. While this is useful for women to earn basic living, it does very little to challenge the structures which perpetuate discrimination. Women need to be encouraged to enter fields which will grant them opportunity to access high-paying jobs. Entrepreneurship skills need to be encouraged by granting loans and funds for small-scale industries which are run by women. All of these are basic agendas which were identified nearly 25 years back by the Beijing Platform of Action. While these agendas are still very important, international organizations and governments need to rethink their strategies to bring in women’s empowerment. There are a few strategies which can be practiced redefining women’s empowerment in a much better manner. This is the first strategy in the replacement of the androcentrism (Gillman 1911; Pilcher and Whelehan 2017) view of empowerment with a more gender-sensitive view. This is the most difficult task because androcentrism view of empowerment is done unconsciously. Androcentrism is when men experiences are assumed to be the objective criteria based on which women’s needs and experiences are evaluated. Most strategies of empowerment assume that including women in

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men’s jobs, giving equal pay, and access to resources will automatically empower women. As seen above, women face a very different and specific kind of discrimination in comparison to men and this need to be addressed accordingly. The emphasis on having day-care facilities within the workplace where children can be kept while women work is an approach which gives women an opportunity to balance their household and workplace responsibility. This also reduces the number of women leaving work or promotions to take care of the family or dependent children. Such strategies can only be applied when we recognize women’s experience as different from men. The second strategy is to stop assuming that women are a fixed category with fixed experience and rigidly defined needs. Women are not a fixed category and to assume the same method and policies can be used to empower women globally is a half-hearted approach to address the issue (Rajan 2003). Structures of domination like patriarchy are entrenched within cultural norms. Most of the discrimination and inequality which women face both in the public and private space comes from this cultural devaluation (Kymlicka 1990). In order to address women’s economic empowerment, institutions must relook at women and their conditions at the grass-root levels. The discriminations which women face are different due to which the strategies of empowerment will also have to change. The third stratergy is to give recognition and remuniration for work done at home. Unrecognized unpaid labor done by women is the most pervasive form of oppression which women face. This devaluates women’s work and assumes that the work done at home is a duty which women have perform due to their subordinated status within the patriarchal structure. As long as work done at home continues to be unpaid, the devaluation of women’s experience will also continue. There is a need to develop strategies which challenge this gendered division of labor within the private. According to a report by the International Labour Organization (2018), women conduct 76.2% of the total hours of unpaid work in comparison to men. This number highlights the immediate need to eliminate the idea

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of unpaid work and replace it with a system which provides adequate pay for the work done in the domestic sense. Sustainable goal number 5.4 also recognizes this problem and highlights the need to have nationally recognized policies to end unpaid work and distribute resources equally. The fourth strategy is to remove the trickledown approach to empowerment. Since women experience discrimination differently, a universal policy cannot be devised to fix this problem. While funding and strategies can be created at a global or national level, methods to utilize them should be left at grass-root levels. There is a need to encourage grass-root level strategies to eradicate economic inequalities. In India, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is an organization which helps women gain economic independence at a local level. It attempts to provide women with opportunities of full employment which creates conditions of job security, income security, and food security. The SEWA is both a cooperative agency and a labor movement aimed specially to change the economic condition of women. The SEWA can be used as an example of how local organizations can address women’s demand much better than any other institutions. One of the areas which women face the most discrimination is the ownership of property and business. The Beijing Platform of Action (1995) clearly states that women should have access to buying and inhering property, business, and economic resources. Since 1995, many countries have brought in legal frameworks which remove discriminatory laws and norms which deny women right to ownership. Sustainable Development Goal Target 5.a emphasizes women's need to own and inherit property. Yet, it is estimated that only 20% of women own property in the agriculture sector. The disparity changes from region to region, making ownership a very difficult form of discrimination to address. Lack of ownership of resources or even opportunity to own resources sustains women economic vulnerability making them susceptible to inequality and disempowerment. The next strategy is to include capabilities as the central theme of economy empowerment.

There is a need to broaden the understanding of economic empowerment by focusing more of usage of resources for best possible development rather than just mere distribution of resources (Nussbaum 2008). Efficient utilization of resources is only possible when women have opportunities to use their capacities to develop themselves, rather than being told to conform to a universal model of development. These capacities are not only universal in nature but also reflect women’s emotional, psychological, and physical capacity. One of the biggest challenges to empowerment, especially womens economic empowerment is identifying it with the sphere of the public and the private. While achieving empowerment in public domain is relatively possible, it is done on the assumption that inequalities and discriminations of the private space do not spill over to the public. When governments do consider the effect of the private space, the discrimination becomes more complex. The private especially the family is central to women’s devaluation and dependence due to the subordinated role which they perform there (Pateman 1988; Kymlicka 1990). To bring in changes in the public but to maintain the traditional modes of gender discrimination in the private sphere is to commit to a superficial form of empowerment. More and more governments are passing legislation to remove discrimination in the private sphere. The violence which women face at workplace, communities, and homes acts as an agent of disempowerment and becomes an important theme in ensuring women’s empowerment. Goal number 5.1 highlights the need to end all forms of violence against women in public and private including trafficking. The violence is perpetuated to subordinate women, and no amount of policies and redistribution of work will be helpful if women are exposed to fear and threat on a day-to-day basis. Empowerment means free access to opportunities of development and dignity. Without eliminating violence against women within the public and private spaces, we are doing a grave disservice to the goal of empowerment.

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment

Conclusion Women across the world have suffered from social, economic, and political forms of discrimination. While these discriminations are persistent and deeply rooted in various institutions, attempts have been made to review the position of women. Sustainable Development Goal No. 5 acts as a guideline to identify the forms of discrimination which women face and provide a remedy for it. Economic empowerment has been one of the main areas of concern as there are many challenges to it. Economically, women have faced the greatest disadvantage due to the domestic division of labor and the lack of opportunities in the formal workplace. While there are many polices and strategies to eliminate discrimination against women, most of these approaches have only brought about a superficial change. Policies changes like gender budgeting has to be a part of national policy making. Education and advocacy for equality and elimination of violence and discrimination should be encouraged within the civil society. Many countries have become sensitized toward gender equality and hence more committed to achieving it which has led to promising improvements statistically. This improvement is positive on a yearly basis, but it is limited to certain regions and communities only rather than be distributed across the world. The myopic vision which ails the institutions granting opportunities of empowerment needs to be cured and better more effective strategies have to be discovered and applied. The very foundations of the structure which lead to gender discrimination, which is based on patriarchy, public–private dichotomy, gender stereotypes, violence, and other forms of discriminations, must be eradicated for women to enjoy economic empowerment in the truest possible sense.

Cross-References ▶ Domestic Violence Against Women: Relevance, Reflections, and Public Policies ▶ Gender Discrimination in the Labor Market ▶ Gender Stereotypes

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▶ Gender Wage Gap: Causes, Impacts, and Ways to Close the Gap ▶ Gender, Sexuality, and Caste-Based Occupations: A Case Study of the Bedia Community of North India ▶ Women’s Access to Decent Work ▶ Women’s Participation in the Labor Market

References Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (1995) Fourth world conference on women, United Nations, Beijing Bhasin K (1993) What is patriarchy? Kali for Women, New Delhi Economic and Social Council (2017) Commission on the status of women: Report on the sixty first session. United Nations. New York Economic Survey 2017–18 (2018) Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Available via http://mofapp.nic. in:8080/economicsurvey/. Accessed 15 Sept 2019 Elshtain JB (1981) Public man, private women: women in social and political thought. Princeton University Press, Princeton Gillman CP (1911) Our androcentric culture. Charlton, New York International Labour Organization (2018) Care work and care jobs for the future of decent work. International Labour Office, Geneva Kymlicka W (1990) Contemporary political philosophy: an introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford Leave No One Behind: A call of action for gender equality and women’ s economic empowerment (2016). Report by the UN Secretary-Generals High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment Mackinnon C (1987) Feminism unmodified: discourses on life and law. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA Menon N (2004) Recovering subversion: feminist politics beyond the law. Permanent Black, Raniketh Mohanty M (1995) The concept of empowerment. Econ Polit Wkly 30(24):1434–1436 Nussbaum M (2008) Women and human development: the capabilities approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA OECD (2019) SIGI 2019 global report: transforming challenges into opportunities, social institutions and gender index. OECD Publications, Paris Okin SM (1979) Women in western political though. Princeton University Press, Princeton Pateman C (1988) The sexual contract. Polity Press, Cambridge, MA Pilcher J, Whelehan I (2017) Key concepts in gender studies. Sage, London Rajan RS (2003) The scandal of the state: women, law and citizenship in postcolonial India. Duke University Press, Durham/London

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20 The World Bank (2019) Women, business and law. The International Bank of Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, Washington, DC The Worlds Women 2015: Trends and Statistics (2015) Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations, New York. Available via https:// unstats.un.org. Accessed 11 Sept 2019 Tinker I (ed) (1990) Persistent inequality: women and world development. Oxford University Press, Oxford Walby S (1989) Theorizing patriarchy. Sociology 23(2):213–234 Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work (2017) Report of the Secretary General, Economic and Social Council. United Nation, New York. Available via https://www.un.org/press/en/highlights/ CSW61. Accessed 11 Sept 2019

Action ▶ Gender Power Relations in the Medical Profession

Adolescence Empowerment, Sustainability, and Gender Equality Mohammed Asaduzzaman1 and Md. Asad Ud-Daula2 1 Department of Public Administration, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh 2 Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Technology, Islamic University, Kushtia, Bangladesh

Synonyms Gender development; Sustainable development; Youth development; Youth empowerment; Youth participation

Definition Adolescence (to grow into adulthood “between ages 10–19 years”) is the most important periods

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of human life. It is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood. Adolescence is a time of moving from the immaturity of childhood into the maturity of adulthood as composed of a set of transitions such as biological, cognitive, social, and emotional that reveal gradually and that touch upon many aspects of the individual’s behavior, development, and relationships. Empowerment is the expansion of freedom of choice and action. It means increasing one’s authority and control over the resources and decisions that affect one’s life. Social inclusion, autonomy, visibility, mobility, agency, and self-efficacy are the vital concepts associated with the concept of empowerment. In adolescence perspective, empowerment is defined as the personal, social, and political process that generates and strengthens the capacities of adolescence to fully exercise their rights with a sense of co-responsibility. Such empowerment is uttered through the ability, authority, and agency to make informed decisions and implement changes that affect in their lives and the lives of other young people, and adults.

Introduction Adolescents are a great human asset, future world leaders, and hope for the advancement of the global social, political, and economic development (Landry et al. 2020; Ogamba 2018). The number of young people is increasing rapidly. With 1.2 billion adolescents aged 10–19 years, the largest adolescent population in human history, representing more than 16% of the world’s population, investments in adolescent well-being will yield benefits not only for adolescents now but also for their adult lives and future generations (Ian et al. 2019, Guthold et al. 2019, United Nations 2017, Scales et al. 2018, Viner et al. 2015). Adolescence, known as the second decade of life, is the most crucial and critical period in a person’s life, when relationships are formed, rules and cultural norms are tested, means for financial support are found, and risk behaviors are

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experimented with (Ruland 2005). During this decade, not only do physical and psychological changes occur, but the behavior and social perceptions of adolescents also develop, which have significant impact on their adult lives (WHO 2014). Adolescence is a time of great change and challenge and is a very vital period that will determine how a person will view and interact with the world as an adult. Important issues of life such as general wellness, social wellness, and sexual wellness, all are closely linked in this period of life (Rayn 2017). As a result, the issue of adolescent’s empowerment has got immense prevalence in the front-burner of global development discourse, with various initiatives and programs by the multilateral agencies, the private sector, and the voluntary sector to promote the wellbeing and development of adolescence (Ogamba 2018). The post-2015 development agenda process saw numerous engagements and consultations to mainstream and priorities the adolescent (Ibid). The UNDP (2014) emphasizes its Youth Strategy 2014–2017 with the theme of “Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future.” UNDP further highlights that the involvement of young men and women in participatory decision-making and development processes as vital to achieving gender equity and sustainable human development (ibid.). Although adolescents are able to negotiate the biological, cognitive, emotional, and social transitions of adolescence effectively, a huge number of adolescents are in high risks across the globe. The very most common problems among adolescents relate to growth and development, school, childhood illnesses that continue into adolescence, mental health disorders, and the consequences of risky or illegal behaviors, including injury, legal consequences, pregnancy, infectious diseases, and substance use disorders. Unintentional injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes and injuries resulting from interpersonal violence are leading causes of death and disability among adolescents. Psychosocial adjustment is a hallmark of this phase of development because even normal individuals struggle with issues of identity, autonomy,

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sexuality, and relationships. “Who am I, where am I going, and how do I relate to all of these people in my life?” are frequent preoccupations for most adolescents. Psychosocial disorders are more common during adolescence than during childhood, and many unhealthy behaviors begin during adolescence. Having an eating disorder, poor diet, obesity, smoking, using drugs, and violent behavior can lead to acute health problems, chronic disorders, or morbidity later in life. It is believed that the majority of premature deaths in adult years are due to behaviors that are learned in adolescence: such as substance abuse, smoking, violence, and unsafe sexual behavior (Zwicker and Ringheim 2004). Keeping the above dilemma in mind, this entry intends to analyze the importance of adolescent’s empowerment for sustainable development. The entry is directly connected with the SDG-5, gender equality. Sustainable development either in developed or developing nations cannot be attained without reducing the gap of gender inequality. Gender inequality prevents a reduction of child mortality, fertility, and an expansion of education of the next generation (Klasen 2002). Gender inequality also reduces economic growth. It has been tested by the economists that income inequality slows economic growth (Seguino 2000). Gender inequality intersects with economic deprivation to produce more intensified forms of poverty for women than men. Therefore, adolescent’s empowerment is an essential to ensure gender equality and thus sustainable development. According to WHO (2006) if adolescents are well nourished, they can make optimal use of their skills, talents, and energies today, and be healthy and responsible citizens and parents of healthy babies tomorrow. The entry is presented into four sections. The following and the second section presents theoretical notes of key concepts, for example, adolescence and empowerment of adolescence. The third section discusses the significance of adolescent’s empowerment, gender inequality, and sustainable development. The conclusions and policy recommendations present in the fourth and final section.

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Theoretical Notes: Adolescence and Empowerment Concept of Adolescence Defining adolescence is not an easy task. Although universally all societies recognize that there is a difference between being a child and becoming an adult, its definition differs between cultures, societies, and over time. Simply, adolescence (to grow into adulthood) is a period of life with specific health and developmental needs and rights. WHO (2006) defines adolescence as the segment of life between the ages of 10–19 years. It is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority). Adolescence is a sociobiological window of opportunity, with a second spurt of physical and brain development alongside a major transition to adult life trajectories (Cluver et al. 2019; Sherr 2018). The period of adolescence is most closely associated with the teenage years though its physical, psychological, and cultural expressions may begin earlier and end later (Moghaddam et al. 2016, p. 1424). The Encyclopedia of Children’s Health has given a comprehensive definition of adolescence. Our stand about its theoretical framework is based on this definition. According to it, adolescence is a time of moving from the immaturity of childhood into the maturity of adulthood as composed of a set of transitions that unfold gradually and that touch upon many aspects of the individual’s behavior, development, and relationships. These transitions are biological, cognitive, social, and emotional. They are discussed below (cf. from the encyclopedia of children’s health): • Biological transition The biological transition of adolescence, or puberty, is perhaps the most observable sign that adolescence has begun. Officially, puberty refers to the period during which an individual becomes capable of sexual reproduction. But broadly puberty is used as a collective term to refer to all the physical changes that occur in the growing girl or boy as the individual passes from childhood into adulthood.

• Cognitive transition Cognitive transition is a second element of the passage through adolescence. At this stage, adolescents think in ways that are more advanced, more efficient, and generally more complex. Cognitive transition has five distinct areas. For example, First, individuals become more able than children to think about what is possible, instead limiting their thought to what is real; Second, individuals become more able to think about abstract ideas; Third, individuals begin thinking more often about the process of thinking itself, or meta-cognition; A fourth change in cognition is that thinking tends to become multidimensional, rather than limited to a single issue; and finally, adolescents are more likely than children to see things as relative, rather than absolute. • Emotional transition Adolescence is also a period of emotional transition, marked by changes in the way individuals view themselves and in their capacity to function independently. As adolescents mature intellectually and undergo cognitive changes, they come to perceive themselves in more sophisticated and differentiated ways. Compared with children, who tend to describe themselves in relatively simple, concrete terms, adolescents are more likely to employ complex, abstract, and psychological selfcharacterizations. • Social transition Accompanying the biological, cognitive, and emotional transitions of adolescence are important changes in the adolescent’s social relationships. Developmentalists have spent considerable time charting the changes that take place with friends and with family members as the individual moves through the adolescent years. One of the most noteworthy aspects of the social transition into adolescence is the increase in the amount of time individuals spend with their peers. The above interpretations lead us to understand that the theoretical context of adolescence is not based on a single factor such as age. Rather it is consisted of various factors which differ from

Adolescence Empowerment, Sustainability, and Gender Equality

culture to culture, society to society and nation to nation. These factors are always are guided by the social, cultural, economic, political, and religious factors of the nations. Therefore, it is hard to present a straightforward definition of adolescence. However, based on the above comprehensive definition given by the encyclopedia of children’s health, we can define adolescence as the transition period between childhood or immaturity and legal adulthood, and has different age ranges according to cultural, social, and legal norms in each country, along with different sets of transitions and cultural and social challenges (Mohajer and Earnest 2009). Here, it is very important to make clear that we consider the notion “adolescence” from a broader perspective, that is, both boys and girls. Because we assume that the world will never achieve gender equality and sustainable development only by focusing girl’s adolescent empowerment and excluding boys adolescent.

Empowerment and Adolescence Empowerment: Theoretical Review Empowerment Although empowerment is a much discussed concept, there is an ongoing debate about its theory and practice in the literature on sociology, social work, anthropology, development, education, human rights, philosophy, economics, and international development. This term is used in different ways by researchers from different perspectives. These uses cover the rehabilitation of convicts, mystical personal experiences, cutting-edge business practices, and academic research. Therefore, the theoretical explanation of empowerment is very much contextual and varies from country to country, society to society, region to region, and person to person (Zimmerman 2000). Simply, empowerment is a social action process that can occur at various levels for example individual, family, organization, and community. Development practitioners, theorists, and policy makers around the various disciplines have studied and examined the concept of “empowerment”

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in a very comprehensive and scientific manner and linked it to individual and collective health, well-being, and environments (Jennings et al. 2006, p. 33). Zimmerman (2000) highlights empowerment from two different perspectives, that is, (1) empowerment as a value orientation and (2) empowerment as theory. Empowerment as a value orientation suggests goals, aims, and strategies for implementing change while empowerment theory provides principles and a framework for organizing our knowledge. Theory of empowerment includes both the processes and outcomes and suggests ways to measure the construct in different contexts, to study empowering processes, and to distinguish empowerment from other construct, such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, or locus of control. Empowerment is also seen as a strategy through which people gain control over their lives through active participation, with an emphasis on strengths instead of weaknesses, an acknowledgment of cultural diversity, and the use of language that reflects the empowerment ideals (Rappaport 1987). Rocha (1997) defines empowerment as a continuum or ladder. Individual empowerment and political empowerment are considered as the two endpoints of the ladder. Such a continuum focuses on only one dimension of empowerment – the level or subject (individual vs. collective). At the individual level, psychological empowerment focuses on individual-level capacity building, integrating perceptions of personal control, a proactive approach to life, and a critical understanding of the socio-political environment (Zimmerman 1995; Zimmerman 2000). Collective empowerment occurs within families, organizations, and communities, involving processes and structures that enhance members’ skills, provide them with mutual support necessary to effect change, improve their collective well-being, and strengthen intra- and inter-organizational networks and linkages to improve or maintain the quality of community life (Jennings et al. 2006, pp. 33–34). Within the mainstream of the national development literature, the development practitioners and policy makers highlight that adolescent must be empowered and integrated into society.

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According to Bennett (2002), empowerment is the development of resources and abilities that will ensure that of various individuals and groups can participate in organizations, influence them, and hold them responsible. Empowerment is also defined as a process aimed at changing the nature and direction of systematic forces (Batliwala 1993). Thus, it represents equal access to entitlements by sharing control of them; it is the ability to participate and influence decisions about the allocation of resources (Holcombe 1995). Kabeer (1995) precisely explains empowerment by reference to its root-word, “power.” According to Kabeer (1999, p. 2), empowerment occurs at a number of different levels to cover a range of different dimensions and it materializes through a variety of different processes. Kabeer also emphasizes empowerment as a process of internal changes (ibid.). The term is also defined in a manner that intends to change the nature of the systematic forces of vulnerable groups (Batliwala 1993). Thus, empowerment has to do with sharing control, with entitlements, with the ability to participate, and with the ability to influence decisions about the allocation of resources (Holcombe 1995). International aid agencies often use the term “empowerment” to refer to range of activities, many of which have little to do with addressing the power relations among the various actors or groups in society. In fact, the term is often used to Screen off power relations from the public discourse and obscure hegemonic relations . . . this conception of power as postmodern warm fuzzy expansible, not only conceals its hard edges; this cloak of opacity also discourages nasty questions of who benefits and how, and runs the danger of collapsing objectives, processes and outcomes alike into undifferentiated rhetorical empowerment (Cheater 1999, as cited in Kilby 2011, p. 32).

The World Bank (2005) has given a broad definition of empowerment. According to the World Bank, empowerment is the process of increasing capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes to build individual and collective assets, and to improve the efficiency and fairness

of the organizational and institutional context which govern the use of these assets and the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control, and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives (Wallerstein 2006, p. 17). Kieffer (1984) highlights the developmental nature of the empowerment process. According to him empowerment as a dynamic process of developing insights and abilities best characterized as “participatory competence.” He recommended two fundamental themes in the process of empowerment development such as (1) conflict should be present to provide an issue for action, and there should be supportive and creative channels in where to focus this conflict; (2) he identifies the reflection and action cycle. Here, participation in a new activity will eventually lead to a greater understanding of more effective methods in order to affect change. In turn, this greater understanding will lead to an individual’s continued participation (ibid.). The aforesaid analysis confirms that the theoretical perspective of empowerment is still growing and it is context and population specific and it takes on different forms for different individuals in different contexts. Empowerment is an action oriented and culture, society, and population specific concept. Thus, a universal meaning of empowerment may not be possible (Zimmerman 2000). In the perspective of adolescence, empowerment is defined as the personal, social, and political process that generates and strengthens the capacities of adolescence and their organizations to fully exercise their rights with a sense of co-responsibility. This empowerment is expressed through the ability, authority, and agency to make informed decisions and implement changes that affect their lives and the lives of other young people, and adults (WHO 2000). The following part discusses about the theoretical analysis of adolescence empowerment. Empowerment of Adolescence Although the concept of adolescence empowerment is a widely viewed one, broadly it comprises developing the capacity of youth to take control of their development through ensuring an enabling

Adolescence Empowerment, Sustainability, and Gender Equality

environment for individual and collective youth inclusion and active participation in civil, political, economic, social, and cultural aspects of society. From this perspective, adolescence empowerment will support youth in improving their wellbeing, as well as making valuable contributions to development in their communities which finally contribute to the process of gender equality and thus sustainable development (Ogamba 2018, p. 271). The conceptual framework of adolescence empowerment can be examined from four different models such as (1) adolescence empowerment cycle; (2) youth development and empowerment program model; (3) transactional partnering model; and (4) the empowerment education model (Jennings et al. 2006, pp. 34–39). Adolescence Empowerment Cycle (AEC) This model is developed by Chinman and Linney in 1998, which is based on psychological theories of adolescent development and describes processes aimed at preventing a sense of rolelessness and enhance self-esteem. They linked AEC to the developmental process of social bonding, leading youth to the bond to positive institutions through action, skill development, and reinforcement. It is believed that positive social bonding can prevent youth engagement in negative social activities. According to Ross and Mirowsky (1987), involvement in criminal and prohibited activity results from normlessness and powerlessness and occurs when individuals fail to abide by the socially acceptable norms that govern individual behavior. Social development theory insights that bonding development cannot occur sufficiently without creating scope and opportunities for adolescence to make active, significant, and positive contributions to a group have the skills to carry out their responsibilities, and experience recognition for their efforts (Chinman and Linney 1998, p. 398). This model highlights three dimensions: (i) adolescent participation in meaningful activities, such as community service, that provide opportunities for skill development, (ii) positive reinforcement, and (iii) recognition from adults throughout the process.

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Youth Development and Empowerment (YD&E) Program Model This model believes that youth are assets and resources that should be called upon to participate in community and social activities. The model is based on social control theory, social learning theory, and expectations-states theory. Enhancement of positive social bonding and preparation for participation and involvement in the socioeconomic and public affairs of the community is vital for adolescence empowerment (Kim et al. 1998). Thus, YD&E model emphasizes that community engagement or community partnership is key to individual empowerment. It has been found that adolescent learned valuable skills, gained trust and confidence, and felt good about themselves as a result of their experiences (Hamilton and Fenzel 1988; Beck et al. 1991; Whiting and Whiting’s 1975). The active participation of adolescent leads to their life satisfaction, enhance sense of control, reduce alienation, and shape self-efficacy and finally all these contribute to adolescent empowerment (Maton 1990; Wandersman 1979; Schunk 1991). In addition, an active engagement leads to responsibility and helps prepare adolescents for adulthood and this, in turn, creates additional opportunities to participate in positive activities (Harter 1983; Inhelder and Piaget 1958). Transactional Partnering Model According to this model, adolescence empowerment is a mutual process of transactional partnering between adults and youth (Cargo et al. 2003). According to this model, adults should take the lead and responsibility in creating friendly and healthy environment of adolescence empowerment. The inter-relatedness of individual and community-level empowerment outcomes is the vital assumption of this model. Adolescents are expected to experience individual outcomes gradually through participation and success in community change efforts. These outcomes contain increased self- and community-esteem, confidence, and competencies such as voicing one’s opinion and leadership. Participants also achieve community-level empowerment and develop participatory competence, or the ability to work successfully with others through cooperation,

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compromise, and appreciation. According to this model, exposing youth to opportunities and challenges within a friendly and supportive environment, and the resulting engagement and reflection, can result in learning and empowerment (Jennings et al. 2006). Empowerment Education (EE) Model The advocate of this model is the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire (1970). He developed a framework for empowerment education that involves people in efforts to identify their own issues, to critically assess the social and historical roots of these issues, to envision individual health and a healthier society, and to develop social action strategies for overcoming challenges and barriers achieving their goals (Bergsma 2004, p. 154). According to him, empowerment education involves much more than simply improving selfesteem or self-efficacy or other behaviors that are independent of social change. He highlights that liberating and empowering education is a process that involves listening, dialogue, critical reflection, and reflective action. This model highlights the development of skills and knowledge that support youth efforts toward social action and change and links individual empowerment to community organizing. The advocates of EE model emphasize that EE can bridge individual behavior change and group efforts for social change through promoting the development of empathy and active participation in critical analysis of societal forces within a safe group context (Jennings et al. 2006). Critical Theory of Adolescent Empowerment Based on the above four models, Jennings et al. (2006, pp. 40–43) develop a theory of adolescent empowerment called “critical theory of adolescent empowerment.” They have identified six important dimensions of adolescent empowerment. They are: (i) a welcoming and safe environment; (ii) meaningful participation and engagement; (iii) equitable power-sharing between youth and adults; (iv) engagement in critical reflection on interpersonal and sociopolitical processes; (v) participation in sociopolitical processes to effect change; and (vi)

integrated individual- and community-level empowerment. • A welcoming and safe environment is a social space in where young people have freedom to be themselves, express their own creativity, voice their opinions in decision-making processes, try out new skills and roles, rise to challenges, and have fun in the process. A welcoming safe environment is one in where youth have the opportunity to experience both success and failure. A supportive environment also includes promoting the positive potential and actual achievements of youth within the community (Kim et al. 1998; Cargo 2003). • The active and meaningful participation in the community activities provides opportunities for youth to learn and practice important leadership and participatory skills and try on different roles and responsibilities. The adult needs to engage in activities relevant to their own lives, ones that excite and challenge them and count as real. The meaningful participation can contribute to more sustained and prolonged engagement, necessary for skill development and mastery and positive youth identity development (Cargo 2003). • Although power sharing is a challenging issue, it enhances leadership quality of individuals which is directly linked to their development and empowerment. The power sharing also creates sense of ownership among the adolescence which makes them responsible future leader and citizen. • According to Jennings et al. (ibid.), the inclusion of critical reflection in a youth empowerment effort is imperative. Critical reflection is vital to help an adolescent come to see and understand the very structures, processes, social values, and practices that they seek to alter. Freire (1970) claimed that empowerment of adolescence will not take place if people are not critically aware of the complex bureaucratic structures and processes that make up social institutions and practices. It is very known that capacity building results from an ongoing and repetitive process of analysis, action, and reflection (Purdey et al. 1994). In

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addition, critical reflection is also essential for developing social responsibility (Wallerstein et al. 2005). Though critical reflection is a very complex process, it needs time, space, and commitment. • Adolescence participation in the community includes an engagement in socio-political processes and social change. Adolescence will not be truly empowered if they do not have the capacity to address the structures, processes, social values, and practices of the issues at hand (Jennings et al. 2006). Because empowerment is about gaining mastery within a given social environment and such mastery entails understanding the underlying processes and practices of that environment and how to best influence them (Zimmerman 1995). • Individual and community empowerment is intertwined. Empowerment is not one-way process. Empowerment of individual and community should go simultaneously. A developed community is the prerequisite for individual empowerment and on the other hand individual empowerment is also vital for a developed community. Adolescence may experience opportunities from various sectors of the community. For example, Zimmerman (2000) insights that empowering processes at the community level include access to resources, tolerance to diversity, and open governance structures. Therefore, individual and community integration is needed to empower adolescence. Adolescence engagement in community produces consequential effects throughout the community (Jennings et al. 2006). Cargo et al. (2003) described that social integration strengthen social bonding. Summing up the above five models, we can say that there is no real agreement on a meaning of empowerment of adolescents, nor is there agreement about the best ways to measure this process. In fact, empowerment of adolescence depends on various factors which are not universal but context based and interrelated. The fundamental factors are: (i) active and incremental participation in meaningful activities; (ii) positive reinforcement; (iii) recognition from adults throughout the

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empowerment process; (iv) critical reflection and reflexive action; (v) training and education; (vi) friendly and healthy environment; (vii) equitable power-sharing between youth and adults; (viii) individual-community engagement; (ix) partnership; and (x) commitment and clear vision. WHO (2010, pp. 25–28) prescribed some elements of adolescence empowerment with especial reference to girls adolescent. They are for example: • Empowerment means the capacity to make one’s voice heard, to participate, and to make choices: Empowerment provides girls with the tools and capacity to identify options and act on these options, to confront the difficulties of daily life with courage and decisiveness, and to persist in the search for constructive solutions. • Empowerment is multidimensional: Adolescent’s perceptions of empowerment may vary from context to context. An adolescent girl may feel empowered with her close friends or with her father or mother, yet at the same time feel disempowered in the school or community, where she lacks support networks. • Empowerment is a process: It follows a sequence that goes from recognition of a disadvantage toward removal of that disadvantage, passing through phases of reflection and then recognition – or development – of the ability to influence one’s life and environment. • Empowerment is contextual: Empowerment is related to the role of each adolescent girl within a particular context. It is the process through which girls gain awareness of themselves and what is happening in their environment, acquire skills and capacities, and solve problems by using or generating resources for themselves and their communities. • Empowerment is multifactorial: It encompasses the areas of interpersonal relations and institutional and cultural transformation, and it implies changes in individual and/or collective consciousness. • Empowerment is a way to improve sexual and reproductive health: Empowerment of adolescent girls promotes attitudes of independence, responsibility, and risk avoidance, which in

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turn encourages them to care for their own health, sexuality, and reproductive lives. • Empowerment is a basic element of human development: throughout the course of adolescence, empowerment gains importance as it becomes an essential strategy for creating and consolidating the processes of independence, development, and personal and collective growth. Amartya Sen’s (1999) capabilities approach to development provides a holistic way to comprehend the goal of adolescent’s empowerment which has been emerged out of his theory of “development as freedom.” Capabilities approach highlights development as a process of expanding “freedoms” or “capabilities” that improve human lives by expanding the range of things a person can effectively be and do such as to be healthy and well nourished, to be knowledgeable and to participate in community life (Harper and Marcus 2018). Empowerment from this perspective is about facilitating the acquisition and use of such capabilities as well as removing obstacles to what a person can do in life obstacles such as illiteracy, ill health, lack of access to resources, or lack of civil and political freedoms (ibid). Furthermore, this approach underpins a reframing of the goals of gender equality and empowerment towards the promotion of “gender justice” for disempowered groups. It thus keeps the broader goal of transformation of unjust social arrangements, as well as personal empowerment, firmly in sight (Harper and Marcus 2018, p. 24).

Adolescence Empowerment, Sustainable Development, and Gender Equity Adolescence is the most vital period of human life (Jones et al. 2018). Adolescence both boys and girls are critical advocates and agents of social change, a better world, and sustainable development (Ian et al. 2019). It is a period when ideas about equality can become ingrained. The Youth

Strategy 2014–2017 of UNDP (2014) highlighted that empowered youth is the prerequisite for a sustainable future. The agenda 2030 has given huge importance about the adolescence development and their active engagement to achieving sustainable development. Adolescents need to thrive, empowered with sufficient resilience to withstand looming global challenges such as climate change, armed conflict, forced migration, and an evolving burden of noncommunicable disease. Moreover, the health and wellbeing of children and adolescents forms the core of what will become society’s future human capital, a resource to create tomorrow’s affluence (Canavan and Fawazi 2019; Alfvén et al. 2019). Adolescence empowerment much more than simply improves self-esteem or self-efficacy or other behaviors that are independent of social change. The purposes of adolescence empowerment are individual, group and systematic change (Freire 1970). The world will never achieve gender equality without empowering adolescence. Similarly, the dream of a sustainable future will never come true without empowered adolescence, because todays adolescence or youth will rule tomorrow. Therefore, a well-trained, skilled, competent, and committed adolescence is indispensable for a better functioning society. There are plenty of arguments about the adolescence empowerment. For example, WHO (2010) suggested following seven strategic arguments for adolescence empowerment which are very important. • Empowerment of adolescence is a matter of social justice and recognition of their rights. • Empowerment of adolescence is the entry point for promoting civic participation. • Empowerment makes it possible for adolescent girls to take control over their own lives. • Adolescence is an ideal phase of life for reshaping gender roles and restoring a sense. • Empowerment of adolescent can contribute to reducing high rates of fertility and of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/ AIDS.

Adolescence Empowerment, Sustainability, and Gender Equality

• Empowerment of adolescent is indispensable for achievement sustainable development. • Empowerment of adolescence helps break the cycle of poverty. Empowerment of adolescence is central to achieving sustainable, inclusive, and stable better functioning society and to averting the worst threats and challenges to sustainable development, including the impacts of climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict, and migration. So, the empowerment of adolescence has great consequential impacts on community. It is not only about individual empowerment or development. Its impacts touch and influence every sectors of the society ranging from local to global and economic, political, social, environmental, and cultural. The process of gender inequality deeply rooted at the very childhood level and gets to deteriorate during the adolescence period especially in the developing countries. Therefore, if adolescence is not nurtured properly, the dream of gender equity will never take place at any place of the world. Thus, the notion of sustainable development will remain elusive.

Conclusions, Policy Recommendations, and Future Research Agenda Albeit adolescent’s empowerment is one of the prime conditions for ensuring gender equality and achieving sustainable development, empowerment is a very complex process and not an easy task. Theoretically, empowerment is an ambiguous concept. It varies from context to context. Social, political, economic, cultural, and religion factors are also important in analyzing and explaining empowerment. In addition, an empowering process is a series of experiences where youth, adults, organizations, and communities engage in collective action for social change (Jennings et al. 2006). Empowerment occurs at different levels such as individual, family, social and community, organizations,

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political, and legal (Jennings et al. 2006; UN 2010, p. 28). • Individual level: an empowered adolescent has developed positive self-image. • Interpersonal and family level: an empowered adolescent develops his or her social skills, first through interaction with her family members and subsequently in the wider environment of the school and the community. • Social and community level: empowered adolescent seeks to participate in and become productive members of their communities. They need income and educational and work opportunities that help them develop a sense of responsibility. • Political level: empowered adolescent gradually gains the capacity to participate in decision making regarding health, community life, and development in general. • Legal level: empowered adolescent knows and defends their rights and struggles for better and wider economic, educational, and health opportunities. In the conclusion, we would like to say that in spite of theoretical ambiguity and challenges, empowerment has colossal positive impacts on adolescents in particular and community in general. As an agent of social change, empowered adolescents are vital to achieve gender equality, sustainable development, and a better future world. Empowering adolescent is not an easy task. It needs a holistic approach to promote the process of adolescent’s empowerment. But the above discussed theories and various perceptions of adolescent’s empowerment have not been quite successful to provide a holistic approach, though Sen’s (1999) capabilities approach to development provides a holistic way to comprehend the goal of adolescents empowerment. Therefore, how to create a holistic approach of adolescent’s empowerment might be the future research agenda of policy makers, development practitioners, and international development institutions.

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Cross-References ▶ Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through Women’s Economic Empowerment ▶ Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges ▶ Child Care Services: Possible Solutions to Improve Outcomes ▶ Child, Early, and Forced Marriage ▶ Early and Child Marriage in India: A Framework to Achieve SDGs ▶ Participation in Sustainable Development Decision-Making: The Gender Perspective ▶ Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)

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Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges Urmi Nanda Biswas The M. S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India

Definition Reproductive health is a state of complete wellbeing in terms of physical, psychological, and social wellbeing. Reproductive health constitutes the entire process of having a satisfying sex life, autonomy in decisions related to one’s own reproductive rights. The rights include having access to complete information related to safe, affordable, and effective methods to plan one’s family size, the spacing of children, regulation of fertility, access to health care services, and effective communication for safe motherhood that enhances the possibility to have healthy children and healthy mothers. Reproductive health involves three elements: quality of health services, informed free consent, and respecting confidentiality (Mago et al. 2005). At the basic level, sexual health involves the freedom of experiencing safe sex that is pleasurable without being troubled by real or potential discrimination or violence that leads to a state of physical, psychological, and social wellbeing (WHO n.d.).

Introduction Adolescence is recognized as a critical time of life. Because, at this stage, adolescence becomes independent, develops new relationships, learns new social skills and behaviors to become competent in their adult life. Sexuality and reproductive health are considered taboo and are not open for discussion in most of South Asia. Despite a significant proportion of young people being sexually active irrespective of their marital status, data on adolescent reproductive and sexual health

in South Asia is limited (UNFPA 2015), for developing planned and targeted intervention programs for adolescents. Increasing access to social media, urbanization, globalization, migration, changing social structure and values are affecting the sexual norms and behaviors of adolescents. Access to information from diverse sources comes in conflict with the traditional conservative socio-cultural attitudes towards sexual behavior and gender norms. Yet, most adolescents are ill-prepared for their transition into adulthood. They often lack adequate knowledge and life skills to negotiate safe and consensual relationships and access reproductive health services and commodities needed to avoid unsafe sex and its consequences. A large proportion of adolescent girls also report coerced sex and sexual violence (UNFPA 2015).

Adolescent Pregnancy Adolescent pregnancy is a significant risk for the reproductive health of adolescent girls. It is a considerable contributor to pregnancy and childbirth-related health complications, which is a leading cause of death among adolescent girls worldwide and more so in South Asian Countries. Survey results suggest that in the developing regions around the world, approximately 16 million women aged between 15 and 19 years become mothers. The causes range from forced early marriage at the age of puberty, lack of education, poverty, and social pressure to become a mother. Research suggests that adolescent motherhood may lead to gynecological and other complications at a later stage. Adolescent mothers are more likely to die during childbirth than nonadolescent mothers (Stover et al. 2016). Within South Asia, there is some divergence in teenage pregnancy data. Afghanistan recorded 87 adolescent births (per 1000 women aged 15–19 years), and Sri Lanka recorded the lowest in the region at 20.3 births per 1000 women (WHO 2018). Studies on adolescent pregnancy from countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka are very limited and there is almost total absence of any studies from Pakistan, the Maldives, or

Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

Bhutan. Thus, it reduces the degree of generalization of the findings to the whole of South Asia. One may speculate that reasons for a lack of such studies to the same socio-cultural factors which do not consider adolescent pregnancy as a public health issue. Secondly, the parameters adopted in different studies on adolescent pregnancy are so diverse that it becomes almost impossible to draw some definitive conclusions from these studies. To reduce adolescent pregnancy, the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011 had come up with specific guidelines and suggested minimum age of marriage to be limited to18 years, promoting the idea of women becoming mothers after attaining 20 years of age, increasing contraceptive use, reducing unsafe abortion, and increased institutional delivery, and both antenatal and postnatal care (Darroch et al. 2016a; Raj and Boehmer 2013). These steps might reduce 2.1 million unplanned births, 3.2 million abortions, and 5600 maternal deaths annually. In most South Asian countries, the legal age for marriage is 18 years. Yet, in certain communities, this law is often violated due to socio-cultural factors like the family structure, gender-bias, taboos around discussion on sex and sexuality. These violations have a significant impact on adolescent pregnancy. In parts of South Asia, family often means members of the extended family living together under one roof. The elderly male members or the head of the family have tremendous power over others, particularly over the female members in the family. The custom of child marriage allows them to continue with the subjugation of women. Secondly, being a taboo topic, sex, and sexual activity is rarely discussed with parents and elders. School education does not permit discussions on sexual health leaving the female adolescents either in complete darkness or exposed to misleading information about sex and sexual health. The trauma of adolescent pregnancy can get exacerbated with the attendant issue of single motherhood. The single mother is often deprived of financial and emotional support because of ostracization by her family and the community. Teenage pregnancy may lead to several medical complications like anemia, hypertension, genital tract infection, to mention a few. The

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babies born to teenage mothers are likely to suffer from low birth weight, accidental trauma and poisoning, minor acute infections, lack of immunization or vaccinations, and developmental delays (Johnson 2011). Thus, female adolescents are the most vulnerable and at the receiving end of the ill effects of early marriage and consequent pregnancy (Agampodi et al. 2008).

Awareness About Reproductive Health Adolescent girls experience menstruation with their physical growth leading to anxiety and keenness to gain knowledge about these changes (Jabeen and Sarmad 2018). However, lack of adequate education, guidance, and services dampens their enthusiasm to learn. Due to the lack of health discussions about sexual health within families, adolescent girls often seek health advice from quacks and unqualified people which aggravates the consequences of ignorance (Singh et al. 1999). Research on female adolescents’ awareness about menstrual hygiene, pregnancy, antenatal care, and contraception suggests that intervention programs for creating awareness have been very effective in fostering knowledge and shaping attitudes among adolescent girls. There is a significant association between menstrual hygiene and perceived reproductive morbidity (Rao et al. 2008; Mathiyalagen et al. 2017). A systematic review of the literature suggested that adolescents have special sexual and reproductive health needs irrespective of their being sexually active or married. The analysis suggests that sexual and reproductive health education along with counseling and contraceptive provision is effective in improving sexual knowledge, contraceptive use, and reducing adolescent pregnancy (Salam et al. 2016). The prevalence of reproductive health morbidities among both married and unmarried girls, particularly in rural areas, is quite high. Age, media exposure, and economic status emerged as significant correlates of treatment-seeking practices among both married and unmarried women (Mishra and Mukhopadhyay 2012). Reproductive ill-health among adolescents in India is a result of a lack of knowledge of

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Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

contraceptives, faulty sex education, exposure to pornography, other ill-informed media, and unsafe sex practices. The stigma around menstruation and sex and limited access to nutrition result in a wide prevalence of anemia (60% of women between the age group of 15–19), which is an indicator of age-specific mortality amongst adolescents (Gupta and Dhariwal 2019). Research among female adolescents reports that there is a severe lack of awareness about secondary sexual characteristics and contraceptives, whereas most are aware of reproductive tract infections. Almost two-thirds of adolescent girls are comfortable discussing their reproductive health issues with friends rather than parents, teachers, or medical professionals (Shankar et al. 2017). The stigma, traditional beliefs, and practices of menstruation constitute a significant cause of ill reproductive health in most rural pockets of South Asian countries. Well-planned and custom-designed interventions on reproductive hygiene and health for adolescent girls and boys in school could lead to healthy sexuality, better marital preparedness, and reproductive health of adolescent girls.

Menstrual Hygiene and Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) In most countries, in South Asia, menstruation is equated with impurity. During the period of menstruation, women are debarred from participating in ordinary activities of day-to-day life based on age-old myths created around menstruation. The deep-seated beliefs often force young adolescents to sleep and eat in isolation and to bear the physical pain and the psychological trauma of being ostracized. Scientific knowledge about menstruation is deficient even among educated people. Research reports that one in three girls did not have any knowledge of menstruation till their first period. Menstruation usually has its attendant issues; for adolescent girls, for example, dysmenorrhea becomes the primary issue. The girls, because they are not in a position to discuss menstrual problems, are not able to get any help to alleviate the condition (Rao et al. 2008; Mathiyalagen et al. 2017; Day 2018). Because of

the ill-informed views in society, lack of knowledge, the unavailability of sanitary napkins in rural areas, and poverty; many women suffer from Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI), which is a real and serious health risk for adolescent women in South Asia. It is a well-established fact that female adolescents who are well informed about menstrual hygiene have the autonomy to manage their pain experience well. In India, most teenage girls in rural areas who belong to low-income families use old discarded torn clothes for protection. The particular piece of fabric is often reused; many use ashes, old newspapers, leaves of trees, husk, and sand for absorption of menstrual blood. Secondly, at times; because of lack of water facilities, they may not be able to have a proper wash, which not only increases the susceptibility to infection but also gets stigmatized due to the odor of unwashed menstrual blood (Day 2018). Reproductive Tract Infection (RTI) is caused both by a lack of menstrual hygiene and sexually transmitted diseases. Because of the social stigma attached to menstrual hygiene and sexual health, adolescent women do not attempt to seek answers to their problems. The silence is reinforced by the acts of political parties and respective governments, which have banned sex education at the school level. At least there are six states in India where sexual health education is forbidden based on the argument that sex education will contaminate the traditional culture and corrupt the youth (Ismail et al. 2015). Even where it is allowed, neither the teachers nor the students feel free to discuss it openly for fear of social retaliation. Incidentally, the incidence of RTI and STI is the highest in the 15–24 age group and shows a decline for older age groups (Ravi and Kulasekaran 2013). The adolescent women bear the brunt of the negligence of sexual health by society as few of these infections are asymptomatic and may remain unnoticed for a long time. Perception and attitude towards menstruation of adolescent women reveal several doubts regarding menstrual hygiene and RTI. Because of the lack of access to scientific evidence-based information, society relies more on social myths related to RTI and STI, passed on to them from

Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

peers and elders from the community. Status of menstrual hygiene among female adolescents reveals that there is an extensive list of myths, misconceptions, misperceptions, and practices associated with menstruation, particularly in rural areas. These perceptions and practices are indicative of bad reproductive health and hygiene (van Eijk et al. 2016). There is no doubt that menstrual education and creating facilitative conditions like providing sanitary napkins will help to mitigate the situation of adolescent women. However, the removal of political and social barriers is an essential condition for adopting safe menstrual hygiene and RTI practices.

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Overall, in South Asian countries, adolescent pregnancies are common and a substantial unmet need for contraception continues. Additionally, access to safe abortion is inadequate. The imbalance in gender relations often acts as a barrier for adolescent women to have knowledge and access to modern contraceptive methods. Because of the strong subjugation of women by men, particularly in the case of adolescent brides, the communication between the couples is not open and free. This has led to the use of different contraceptive methods leading to unwanted childbirth (Arousell and Carlbom 2016).

Migration and Reproductive Health Contraceptive Use Among Female Adolescents The stigmatization of sex has led to clamping down of all aspects of sexual health-related communication, which has barred adolescents from having access to scientific and correct information. Consequently, information is sought from peers or from untrustworthy sources, which are based on unverified methods and myths. Some studies suggest that adolescents know about condoms but often fail to give reasons for noncompliance (Jejeebhoy and Sathar 2001). For a healthy and fulfilling life, adolescent women need a shame-free and guilt-free mental state for which they need a supportive climate. They should have autonomy backed by information and knowledge. Contraceptive use is very limited in South Asian Countries. Studies report that teenage girls have knowledge about family planning and are more aware of condoms as compared to contraceptive pills. They had very little knowledge about permanent methods and Intrauterine Contraceptive Device with Copper-T (Renjhen et al. 2010). Urban girls are better off in terms of their awareness as compared to the girls in the rural areas. Adolescents’ negative beliefs and attitudes towards and low use of contraceptive practices might be a result of misconceptions and myths associated with the consequences of contraceptives (Shah et al. 2011.

Migration from one country to another (external migration) and migration within the country (internal migration) is a reality in South Asia. Recent migrations within the region of South Asia are either for political turmoil in one country, religious prosecution, or for economic reasons. Internal migration is largely due to economic or job-related reasons. Incidentally, most migrants are at a low level of socio-economic status, which essentially translates to low power and limited access to public benefits; this is often coupled with differences in social and cultural norms. For example, in the study of religious beliefs, concerning reproductive health suggests that the successful sexual and reproductive health of migrant Muslim women requires the practitioner to understand the diversity in beliefs, values and factors that contribute to the individuals’ ability to negotiate the religious diktats or laws (Arousell and Carlbom 2016). Without this sensitivity, it may lead to inadequate healthcare provision and ineffective encounters between adolescent Muslim immigrants and health care providers. In traditional societies, because of the cultural factors, teenage women exercise the least control over their affairs. This disadvantage becomes amplified when they are part of a migrant group with no socio-cultural understanding. Thus, for adolescent female immigrants, the access to reproductive health services is significantly limited because of loss of their existing social

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Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

networks, impacts of the transitional processes, socio-cultural transition from rural to urban, from traditional to industrial societies, and the culturally rooted perceptions of femininity, the fear of losing face, belief in fate and karma. The migrant population suffers from the disadvantages of language, religious, or caste specific discrimination and marginalization in the host country or region, which results in reduced confidence in negotiating the labyrinth of the health care services.

Unsafe Abortion Among Adolescent Girls Unsafe abortion is a procedure for termination of pregnancy done by an untrained individual under conditions that do not conform to minimum standards of hygiene recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). With the advancement in medical science, abortion has now become safer. However, women have limited access to affordable and good quality abortion care within the communities where they live and work, which often leads them to have unsafe abortions or carry on with the unintended pregnancy. Unsafe abortions not only lead to maternal mortality and lasting health problems but also result in making them vulnerable with more physiological, psychological, and social needs than mothers in older age groups (Darroch et al. 2016b). Unsafe abortion among female adolescents carries higher risks of eclampsia, puerperal endometritis, and systemic infections than older females (20–24 years). Adolescent girls are twice as likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth as compared to the older group (20–24 years). Unsafe abortion is the third largest cause of maternal mortality (Ganatra and Hirve 2002). Most abortions in rural areas are still conducted illegally by untrained personnel, under unhygienic and hazardous conditions, which leads to high maternal morbidity and mortality, while contributing to about 9–12% of maternal deaths. Due to the lack of knowledge about the legality and the

availability of abortion services amongst the community members, the currently available services are not utilized fully (Ganatra and Hirve 2002). Data on the prevalence of unsafe abortions in South Asian countries is very negligible. Most research on unsafe abortion comes from India. In a qualitative study of slum-dwelling adolescent girls, it was reported that although the majority seek help from government hospitals, selfinduced abortion is still practiced. The research reports are indicative of lack of awareness regarding complications of abortion, stigma towards abortion, poor contraceptive knowledge, and the lack of women empowerment in the community to reach a health facility for an abortion (Sharanya 2014). Reports suggest that about 6000 odd cases of abortions in government hospitals in the 15–19 age group maximum are from low-income families. Comparatively, literate women (educated till 6 to 10 standard) had higher abortions compared to illiterate women (Biswas et al. 2016). Induced abortion was common among higher income and higher educated population. Another study that looked at cases of induced abortions across 139 villages in three districts in Western Maharashtra, India, using group discussions and key informant interviews reports that adolescents constituted 13.1% of the total population who had an induced abortion, as a measure of birth control. Adolescents play a marginal role in the decisionmaking related to abortion, as compared to older women (Gantara, and Hirve 2002). Despite abortion services being liberalized in India over the last five decades, a vast majority of teenagers continue to seek and receive abortion services from unqualified and untrained persons or resort to induced abortions which in turn results in severe reproductive health problems.

Intimate Partner Violence Faced by Adolescent Girls Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is the behavior of one partner that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to the other partner. The violent act

Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

can result in physical damage, mental harm, or may involve both. The physical violence may include slapping, hitting, kicking, and beating. Emotional or psychological abuse may involve verbal insults, belittling, intimidation (e.g., destroying things), and threats to cause physical harm. The mental harm may include isolating the partner from children or moving the children away from the mother and controlling all behavior including free movements within the community, restrictive access to financial and other resources, employment, education, or medical care. Forced sexual intercourse or abuse is a frequently resorted form of intimate partner violence, which includes both psychological and physical harm. One must understand physical violence also includes an element of mental trauma. A 30-nation study reported that in India, female adolescents are disproportionately affected by IPV (Peterman et al. 2015). To reduce the incidence of intimate partner violence, preventive steps and survivor support programs need to be initiated for female adolescents. The study also reported that women married as minors experienced a higher degree of violence than those who had got married as adults. Findings report that adult women are more likely to report abuse in an intimate partner relationship than adolescents. Thus, gender-based violence is pervasive among low- and middle-income countries, and the target is female adolescents (Peterman et al. 2015). In a study involving adolescent males, it was found that 51% of male adolescents in India, 42% in Bangladesh, and 28% of the respondents from Nepal justified wife-beating (Dalal et al. 2012). A study from Pakistan suggested that women who were married as minors and live in slums report the prevalence of IPV in forms of verbal and physical abuse and unwanted sexual encounters. Most women attributed the cause of intimate partner violence to child care, inability to meet dowry demands of the inlaws, and inability to give birth to a male child (Nasrullah et al. 2015). The alarming rate of IPV among adolescents in South Asian countries calls for actions and policies to protect adolescents from such abusive

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relationships and promote health and wellbeing. Ironically, very few adolescents confide in their parents about such issues, and parents lack an understanding of their children’s plight. In South Asia, dating or mixing of adolescents of both genders is a taboo. Both the male and female adolescents do not have enough space to understand each other and the dynamics involved in such relationships; thus, they rarely get to know the proper boundaries of a healthy relationship. Adolescent girls who are not married confront two conflicting demands. On the one hand, parents put severe restrictions on their having any contact with the opposite sex; on the other hand, they experience peer pressure to go on a date. Irrespective of their level of education and locality of residence, the unmarried adolescent women suffer volatile relationships and accept abuse as a consequence.

Nutrition and Reproductive Health Nutrition is an essential determinant of the reproductive health status of women. Children born to malnourished mothers face an increased risk of dangers of deficient cognitive abilities, stunted growth, lower level of immunity from common ailments, and a higher risk of disease and death throughout their lives. Investments in adolescent women who are future mothers are an investment in the future growth of society. Physically and emotionally disadvantaged mothers give rise to a weak nation. Improved nutrition of mothers has a positive impact on the birth weight of the children (Hambidge and Krebs 2018). Adolescent females’ nutrition need is largely ignored in the South Asian regions. In rural India, parents invest more in male children than on female children because the perceived expected return on investments in boys is higher than girls (Barcellos et al. 2014). A study from rural Bangladesh suggests the widespread prevalence of stunting and thinness among adolescent girls. The prevalence of thinness and stunting increases with age and coexists with self-reported general

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morbidity and reproductive tract infection (Alam et al. 2010). Poor reproductive health of women increases the economic burden on the household for preventive (food and nutrition) and curative care (for illness control). Particularly in India, vitamin B12 deficiency is common because of the widespread prevalence of a vegetarian diet in some parts of the country (Singla et al. 2019). For women who are vitamin and nutrient deficient, improving micronutrient intake (iron, vitamin A, zinc, calcium, magnesium, and iodine) can be an essential means to decreasing maternal morbidity and mortality (Akhtar et al. 2013). Improving the status of iron in anemic pregnant women can reduce the risk of mortality and morbidity from hemorrhage, sepsis, and prolonged labor. Intervention research suggests that planned teaching programs (PTPs) in schools for adolescent girls can be successful in significantly increasing their knowledge about nutrition, anatomy, and physiology of reproduction, reproductive health, and hygiene (Padhy et al. 2013). Despite criticisms, governmental initiatives to spread awareness about reproductive health, nutrition, and related issues have made significant changes.

Female Genital Mutilation Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a cruel, unscientific practice violating basic tenets of human rights, which involves the removal of external genitalia with immediate risks of infection and hemorrhage even leading to death. The long term effects are menstrual problems, infertility, constant trauma, etc. (Bewley et al. 2010). There is very little evidence of FGM in South Asia except for a very small population of Muslims known as Dawoodi Bohra Muslims, a group of Shiite Muslims who trace their origins to Egypt and Iran, residing in India and Pakistan. FGM is a direct manifestation of gender inequity. The underlying assumption of FGM is that women should not enjoy sex and have an orgasm. Depriving women from the process of enjoying sex is a clear case of the human rights of women and subordination of their wellbeing (Syyed 2019).

The Road Ahead A review of recent work suggests that the root cause of the problems related to adolescent female reproductive health is the culturally embedded gender-based inequity that is prevalent in most parts of South Asia. Removal of gender inequality will require changing the deep-seated beliefs, prejudices, and instilling a scientific approach towards health and more specifically, reproductive health. Widespread sexual health education for adolescents is urgently needed in South Asian countries. The children, at the prepuberty stage, should be gradually introduced to sexual health education and later on the basic knowledge for developing healthy sexuality. The concept of healthy sexuality involves three fundamental principles; autonomy, competence, and relationships. • In the context of adolescent reproductive health, it is the autonomy to make decisions related to one’s body and sexuality. It involves the right to refuse sex and also the right to develop intimate relationships. • Secondly, it consists in developing competence to understand and seek health-related information and access to health-related services. This aspect involves education of the female adolescents and the free flow of communication on sex and reproductive health which is instrumental in developing competency required for exerting autonomy. Women need to become self-efficacious, which can be achieved through life-skill training and interventions. Those who are in the formal educational setting can receive such training in the school context. Those who are outside the formal educational system may receive such training through nongovernment organizations (NGOs) engaged in developing a gender equity society. • Thirdly, healthy sexuality is based on the mature and respectful relationship between the intimate partners. Healthy sexuality will promote planned pregnancies and help in reducing the probability of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Moreover, it will vest adolescents with enough power to avoid forced

Adolescent Reproductive Health in South Asia: Issues and Challenges

sex and sexual abuse and develop resilience in adolescents for psychological wellbeing (Tsui, Wasserheit, and Haaga 1997). Autonomy in deciding on one’s own body for female adolescents is one of the most challenging aspects. Adolescents need legal protection in terms of minimum age for marriage with stringent conditions for its violations. In addition, they need special legal protection if any action by the family members or other members in the society violates the principles of fundamental human rights. The female adolescents should live in a fear-free environment and not under constant fear of being prosecuted for violating gender iniquitous social norms. Secondly, changing social norms is an integral part of actions taken to provide autonomy to female adolescents. Changing social norms requires systematic and protracted interventions using a behavior change communication approach. Shaming and naming violators will help in reducing the incidence of gender-related abuse of female adolescents. A healthy relationship is the cornerstone of an egalitarian society. In order to develop a positive attitude towards relationships, both sexes should be encouraged to understand each other. When young people of both sexes grow up together in a safe environment, it promotes mutual understanding and respect for each other. It means imparting training to parents, adolescents, and teachers to help adolescents treat themselves as well as others with dignity and respect. The teacher-parent meetings can be an excellent forum to introduce this. Similarly, adolescents and parents can be trained in positive forms of behavior for developing healthy relationships. There are very few programs in South Asian countries, directly targeting female adolescents. However, to meet the SDG goals, most governments in South Asia have to put on an accelerated effort to improve key health indicators for women, children, and adolescents. Significant improvements are observed in the case of maternal mortality and infant mortality in all countries. However, the major success stories come from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

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A certain level of active efforts and dedicated schemes by governments in South Asian countries for enhancing nutritional requirements for the healthy reproductive health of adolescent girls are needed. It is important to note that reproductive health and nutrition are affected by socioeconomic status, age of marriage, and education of the girls; these schemes often do not reach where they are needed the most. Often, families hesitate in accessing the available services because of the shame surrounding the topics of sex and reproduction; most schemes are focused on rural areas, and there is a lack of focused efforts for urban areas. In rural areas, people often consult traditional healing practitioners and methods. In contrast, in urban areas, people prefer private institutions due to the belief that private institutions have higher qualified personnel. Thus; collaborating with these health providers, where the adolescent girls and their parents go sekng health services, will strengthen the effective outreach of healthcare facilities for adolescent reproductive health.

Cross-References ▶ Child, Early, and Forced Marriage ▶ Gender Equality in Women’s Health and Reproduction ▶ Human Rights Accountability for Advancement of Gender Equality and Reproductive Justice in the Sustainable Development Agenda ▶ Reproductive Rights, UN Sustainable Development Goals and International Human Rights Law

References Agampodi SB, Agampodi TC, Piyaseeli UKD (2008) Adolescents’ perception of reproductive health care services in Sri Lanka. BMC Health Serv Res 8(1):98. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-8-98 Akhtar S, Ismail T, Atukorala S, Arlappa N (2013) Micronutrient deficiencies in South Asia–Current status and strategies. Trends Food Sci Technol 31(1):55–62 Alam N, Roy SK, Ahmed T, Ahmed AS (2010) Nutritional status, dietary intake, and relevant knowledge of

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adolescent girls in rural Bangladesh. J Health Popul Nutr 28(1):86–94 Arousell J, Carlbom A (2016) Culture and religious beliefs in relation to reproductive health. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 32:77–87 Barcellos SH, Carvalho LS, Lleras-Muney A (2014) Child gender and parental investments in India: are boys and girls treated differently? Am Econ J Appl Econ 6 (1):157–189 Bewley S, Creighton S, Momoh C (2010) Female genital mutilation. BMJ 2010:340. https://doi.org/10.1136/ bmj.c2728. (Published 02 June 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c2728 Biswas DK, Bhunia R, Mukherjee A (2016) High prevalence of abortion among primigravida and teen aged girls in the district of Purba Medinipur, West Bengal; India. Indian J Public Health Res Dev 7(1):74–79 Dalal K, Lee MS, Gifford M (2012) Male adolescents’ attitudes toward wife beating: a multi-country study in South Asia. J Adolesc Health 50(5):437–442 Darroch J, Woog V, Bankole A, Ashford LS (2016a) Adding it up: costs and benefits of meeting the contraceptive needs of adolescents. Guttmacher Institute, New York Darroch JE, Woog V, Bankole A, Ashford LS, Points K (2016b) Costs and benefits of meeting the contraceptive needs of adolescents. Guttmacher İnstitute, New York Day H (2018) Normalising menstruation, empowering girls. Lancet Child Adolesc Health 2(6):379. 10.1016/ S2352-4642(18)30143-3 10.4103/0019-5545.171843 Ganatra B, Hirve S (2002) Induced abortions among adolescent women in rural Maharashtra, India. Reprod Health Matters 10(19):76–85 Gupta G, Dhariwal P (2019) Study the factors influencing anemia among adolescent girls. Int J Med Biomed Stud 3(2):50–53. https://doi.org/10.32553/ijmbs.v3i2.94 Hambidge KM, Krebs NF (2018) Strategies for optimizing maternal nutrition to promote infant development. Reprod Health 15(1):87. https://doi.org/10.1186/ s12978-018-0534-3. Retrieved from https://link. springer.com/article/10.1186/s12978-018-0534-3 Ismail S, Shajahan A, Rao TS, Wylie K (2015) Adolescent sex education in India: current perspectives. Indian J Psychiatry 57(4):333–337 Jabeen F, Sarmad R (2018) Awareness about reproductive health among adolescent girls in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Pak J Health Sci 2(1):16–23 Jejeebhoy SJ, Sathar ZA (2001) Women’s autonomy in India and Pakistan: the influence of religion and region. Popul Dev Rev 27(4):687–712 Johnson E (2011) Adolescent pregnancy in India: an issue of life and death. J School Soc Work VIII:28–32 Mago A, Ganesh M, Mukhopadhyay S (2005) Adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights In India. CREA, New Delhi Mathiyalagen P, Peramasamy B, Vasudevan K, Basu M, Cherian J, Sundar B (2017) A descriptive cross-sectional study on menstrual hygiene and perceived reproductive morbidity among adolescent girls in a union territory, India. J Fam Med Prim Care 6:360–365

Mishra SK, Mukhopadhyay S (2012) Socioeconomic correlates of reproductive morbidity among adolescent girls in Sikkim, India. Asia Pac J Public Health 24 (1):136–150 Nasrullah M, Zakar R, Zakar MZ, Abbas S, Safdar R (2015) Circumstances leading to intimate partner violence against women married as children: a qualitative study in Urban Slums of Lahore, Pakistan. BMC Int Health Hum Rights 15(1):23. https://doi.org/10.1186/ s12914-015-0060-0 Padhy GK, Pattanayak A, Jena D (2013) Effectiveness of planned teaching programme on reproductive health among adolescent girls. Indian Med Gazette CXLVII (8):287–291 Peterman A, Bleck J, Palermo T (2015) Age and intimate partner violence: an analysis of global trends among women experiencing victimization in 30 developing countries. J Adolesc Health 57(6):624–630 Raj A, Boehmer U (2013) Girl child marriage and its association with national rates of HIV, maternal health, and infant mortality across 97 countries. Violence Against Women 19(4):536–551 Rao RSP, Leena A, Nair NS, Kamath V, Kamath A (2008) Effectiveness of reproductive health education among rural adolescent girls: A school based intervention study in Udupi taluk, Karnataka. Indian J Med Sci 62 (11):439–443 Ravi RP, Kulasekaran RA (2013) Trends in reproductive tract infections and barriers to seeking treatment among young women: a community based cross sectional study in South India. Am J Epidemiol Infect Dis 1:53–58 Renjhen P, Kumar A, Pattanshetty S, Sagir A, Samarasinghe CM (2010) A study on knowledge, attitude and practice of contraception among college students in Sikkim, India. J Turk German Gynecol Assoc 11(2):78–81. https://doi.org/10.5152/jtgga.2010.03. Published online 2010 June 1 Salam RA, Faqqah A, Sajjad N, Lassi ZS, Das JK, Kaufman M, Bhutta ZA (2016) Improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health: a systematic review of potential interventions. J Adolesc Health 59(4): S11–S28 Shah C, Solanki V, Mehta HB (2011) Attitudes of adolescent girls towards contraceptive methods. Australas Med J 4(1):43–48. https://doi.org/10.4066/AMJ.2011. 499. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC3448128/ Shankar P, Dudeja P, Gadekar T, Mukherji S (2017) Reproductive health awareness among adolescent girls of a government school in an urban slum of Pune City. Med J Dr DY Patil University 10(2):133–137 Sharanya T (2014) Reproductive health status and life skills of adolescent girls dwelling in slums in Chennai. Natl Med J India 27(6):305–310. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26133325 Singh MM, Devi R, Gupta SS (1999) Awareness and health seeking behaviour of rural adolescent school girls on menstrual and reproductive health problems. Indian J Med Sci 53:439–443

Affirmative Action Measures and Gender Equality Singla R, Garg A, Surana V, Aggarwal S, Gupta G, Singla S (2019) Vitamin B12 deficiency is endemic in Indian population: a perspective from North India. Ind J Endocrinol Metabol 23(2):211–214 Stover J, Hardee K, Ganatra B, Moreno C, Horton S (2016) Interventions to improve reproductive health. In: Reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health: disease control priorities, volume 2 (third edition). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ NBK361913/ Syyed H (2019) An understanding of FGM (Female genital mutilation): women of the Bohra Community who are circumcised and its socio-sexual effects. PEOPLE Int J Soc Sci 5(2):630–642 Tsui AO, Wasserheit JN, Haaga JG, National Research Council (1997) Reproductive health in developing countries: expanding dimensions, building solutions. National Academies Press (US). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25121311 United Nations Population Fund (2015) Sexual and reproductive health of young people in Asia and the Pacific: a review of issues, policies and programmes. Document code:TH/DOC/HP2/15/07. Retrieved from https:// unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000243566 van Eijk AM, Sivakami M, Thakkar MB, Bauman A, Laserson KF, Coates S, Phillips-Howard PA (2016) Menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls in India: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open 6(3):e010290. Retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010290 World Health Organization (2018) Global Health Observatory data repository. Retrieved from http://apps.who. int/gho/data/view.main.1630AG?lang¼en World Health Organization (n.d.) Sexual health. Downloaded from https://www.who.int/topics/sexual_ health/en/ on 24 December, 2019

Affirmative Action Measures and Gender Equality: Review of Evidence, Policies, and Practices Uduak Archibong and Kingsley Udie Utam Centre for Inclusion and Diversity, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK

Definition Affirmative action: Affirmative action covers programmes, initiatives, measures, policies, strategies, or interventions aimed at correcting or addressing inequality and discrimination against

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people with protected characteristics in employment and access to services, all measures which seek by means of positive steps to alter existing social practices to eliminate patterns of group exclusion and disadvantage (Bell et al. 1996; Black and Garner 1999). Gender equality: Gender equality is a concept that bestows on people of all genders to have equal access, privileges, and responsibilities (European Institute for Gender Equality 2020). It respects the different desires and behaviors of both women and men and gives all human beings the freedom to develop to their full potentials without the restrictions imposed by gender roles (European Commission 1998) and does not mean that women and men will become the same (European Institute for Gender Equality 2020).

Introduction The central aim of this chapter is to describe the policy and practice of affirmative action measures. It synthesizes findings from published studies and highlights the rationale, drivers, benefits, beneficiaries, effectiveness, and impacts of affirmative action policies and practices in different countries. The chapter will discuss the possible lessons from these studies and highlight the link between affirmative action policies and practices and contributions to achieving target 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

Conceptual Clarification The term affirmative action appears to be used interchangeably with terminologies such as positive action, corrective action, and positive discrimination (Adam 1997; Archibong and Sharps 2013). The phrase positive action is used more in Europe, while the use of the term affirmative action is more prevalent in the United States of America (USA) (Davies and Robison 2016). Other phrases have been adopted in other countries such as reservations (India), employment equity (Canada), and special measures (international law) (Dietrich 2013).

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In a study for the European Commission, Bell et al. (2010) define positive action as consisting of proportionate measures undertaken with the purpose of achieving full and effective equality in practice for members of groups that are socially or economically disadvantaged or otherwise face the consequences of past or present discrimination or disadvantage. In order to achieve this, the authors emphasize that positive action measures are designed to achieve one or more of the following goals: • Preventing or compensating for disadvantages and discrimination, whether these arose in the past or are still ongoing. • Promoting substantive equality by taking into account the specific situation of members of disadvantaged groups and breaking the cycle of disadvantage associated with membership of a particular group. • Redressing underrepresentation and promoting diversity in the participation of all groups in social, economic, cultural, and political life. • Positive action measures achieve these goals by influencing the way in which social goods, such as employment, education, housing, or healthcare, are allocated. Affirmative/positive action policies are important tools for creating equality. McCrudden (1986) has proposed five basic categories of positive action – eradicating prohibited discrimination, purposefully inclusive policies, outreach, preferences, and redefining merit. There is a fundamental difference between the USA-style affirmative action and the United Kingdom (UK)-style positive action. The American affirmative action tends to do little to help the disadvantaged group to meet up with the original selection; instead, they modify the selection criteria to accommodate the underprivileged groups. On the other hand, the British positive action measures tend theoretically to provide training opportunities for disadvantaged groups within education and the work organization to help them overcome their disadvantages while sticking to the original selection criteria and meritocracy (Teles 2001).

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Davies (2019) identified the two forms of positive action measures – the general positive action and the tie-break provision. The general positive action could include reserving places for underprivileged groups in training programmes and mentorship schemes for underrepresented groups to improve their inclusion at senior levels of employment. The other form of positive action measure – the tie-break provision – is used to resolve ties during recruitment and promotion exercise by taking people with protected characteristics into consideration. Dhami et al. (2006) suggested that what is regarded as positive action or positive discrimination in the UK falls within the realm of practices that are understood as affirmative action and employment equity in the USA and Canada, respectively. The implementation of positive action in the UK has however been slow partly due to a lack of a legal framework to compel organizations and employers to apply positive action measures (Teles 2001). This is because the enactment of UK positive action mandates is not done through legislation despite public authorities being under obligation to promote equality (Archibong and Sharps 2013). While legislations do not establish positive action policies in the UK, the rationale for taking positive action measures to correct past discrimination falls within the purview of sections 158 and 159 of the Equality Act (2010). The fact that the Equality Act (2010) has not explicitly prescribed exact measures for promoting equality of opportunity has made its implementation contentious due to the likelihood of perceived reverse discrimination which may lead to litigations (Davies and Robison 2016). However, these legislative provisions are not mandatory; they are only permissive. Hence, legislation has mostly been ignored by employers in the UK as they are not under legal obligation to comply (Davies and Robison 2016). Noon (2010) argues a case for rethinking positive discrimination as a feasible and relevant policy intervention to accelerate the progression to equality. Although positive discrimination has been widely criticized, Noon provides counterarguments to the key objections to positive discrimination including the failure to select the “best”

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candidate, the undermining of meritocracy, the negative impact on the beneficiaries, and the injustice of reverse discrimination. Noon (2010) shares the opinion that positive discrimination provides the necessary structural conditions for the radical transformative change that is aimed at achieving equality. Archibong et al. (2006a) study reported a widespread underutilization of positive action due to a significant level of misunderstanding and confusion about the concept. The study also found conflicting interpretations of positive action by the participating organizations and uncertainties between positive action measures and the generic equal opportunity practices. The authors identified three considerable conceptual dimensions for considering positive action: legislative, practical, and political dimensions. They further suggest that the responsibility of interpreting the legislative concept falls on the statutory equality body, while the responsibility of developing and applying the concept within an organization rests on the managers. While acknowledging the role of the media in influencing the perception of positive action, the authors suggest that the understanding of the concept can also be contextual and could be shaped by the prevailing political agenda. While affirmative action measures emanate from the desire to ensure equal opportunity for all, this does not imply that affirmative action is the same as equal opportunity. Crosby et al. (2006) suggested that although they both have the same goal, affirmative action is more proactive in the sense that it also seeks to ensure that cases of discrimination are prevented from happening (Crosby et al. 2006). Dhami et al. (2006) concluded that a wide variety of strategies including positive action, equal opportunity, diversity management, positive discrimination, and mainstreaming policies may now be adopted in both the public and private sectors to achieve employment equity. Affirmative action policies gained prominence in Brazil in 1988, with the enactment of a constitution, which provided for the protection of the labor market for women and the quota of jobs for people with disabilities in the private and public sectors. The Brazilian legal system and the constitution, in particular, include opportunities for

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actions to correct situations of exclusion. However, it was not until the beginning of the twentyfirst century that significant affirmative action measures started to feature in the higher education sector. Silva and Skovsmose (2019) interpreted affirmative actions with reference to structural violence in Brazilian society as being accompanied by legitimizing discourses that tend to make discrimination appear natural and unquestionable. In terms of access to higher education, the authors condemn the discourse of groups of students as having special needs but rather see such groups as suffering structural violence and being groups with special rights. The authors suggest an exploration of affirmative action through the notion of special rights with a view in establishing terminology that can support broader discourse in higher education and a more specific conceptual framework to support interpretations of social justice. In addition to bringing an educational specificity to the discussion, the authors see affirmative action as being both a general sociopolitical and specific educational challenge.

Need for Affirmative Action Despite the existence of equal opportunity policies and legislations over the years, minority groups continue to face discrimination in employment and access to services (Archibong and Sharps 2013). For instance, Archibong and Darr (2010) found that Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff involved in the National Health Service (NHS) disciplinary procedures is more than twice as likely to be disciplined compared to their white counterparts. A report on progress in SDG 5 (SDG Knowledge Platform 2019) shows insufficient progress on structural issues at the root of gender inequality, such as legal discrimination, unfair social norms and attitudes, decisionmaking on sexual and reproductive issues, and low levels of political participation, all undermining the ability to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5. While women represented 39% of world employment, it is reported on the SDG Knowledge Platform (2019) that only 27%

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of managerial positions in the world was occupied by women in 2018, up only marginally from 26% in 2015, and that the proportion of women in management has increased since 2000 in all regions except in the least developed countries. The need for or justification for affirmative action varies depending on the sector in which it is to be applied. Crosby et al. (2006) suggest that the need for affirmative action arises from the desire to enhance diversity among student bodies and workforces and the need for fairness in selection procedures and employment decisions. In education, affirmative action aims to enhance access to education for disadvantaged groups (Garrison-Wade and Lewis 2004). Moses (2010) provides four justifications for affirmative action in higher education as compensation for past discrimination and remediation purposes; arguments of social justice; emphasis on the importance of diversity; and contribution to the economic efficiency of a country. Affirmative action is essential in the educational sector as it serves as a balancing measure to bring individuals of minority backgrounds up to a level of fair competition with their majority counterparts. A lack of education would ultimately mean that individuals from minorities would not have the skills and knowledge required to compete favorably with others. Because minorities have historically faced exclusion from education and consequently lack the skills needed by employers, it becomes essential to take action to ensure that they acquire the knowledge they may need to access the labor market. Affirmative action plays a crucial part in ensuring that women and girls can access services including health and education (UNFPA 2014). This has contributed to significant advances in women’s standard of living (UN Women 2011/ 12). Vladimirovaa and Le Blanc (2015) report links between gender and education, describing how education affects gender equality and women empowerment. Education expands opportunities for girls and young women and raises their aspirations for work outside the home (UNFPA 2014; World Bank 2007). Greater educational attainment shapes attitudes of both girls and boys to

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gender equality, with greater education leading to more positive attitudes towards gender equality among both males and females (UNFPA 2014; UNESCO 2013/14). In health, the need for affirmative action arises from the desire to improve the health status of individuals and communities. In a study to explore the connections between affirmative action efforts and health status of individuals and communities, Dower et al. (1999) reported a correlation between resultant educational and employment opportunities with benefits to the individual and the community. To the individual, there are higher levels of educational attainment, higher rates of employment, better income, and increased rates of healthcare insurance coverage, all of which in turn have positive effects on personal health status. Benefits to the community include higher levels of diversity among healthcare practitioners, which in turn are linked to better access to healthcare for minority patients and increased civic participation and economic development.

Affirmative Action Policies and Legal Framework Many national parliaments have passed laws requiring the use of affirmative/positive action. Country legislations permit the use of special measures to combat the disadvantages faced by members of underrepresented groups. International human rights law permits and may even require the use of positive action in certain circumstances. Therefore, the legitimacy of using positive action is now widely established. Archibong and Ashraf (2010) note that these policies are usually embedded in the equality frameworks that are targeted at specific groups within identified policy areas. Disadvantages and the need for redressing past oppressive practices are not limited to education, health, and employment. Historical oppression permeates different sectors of society, including sports. Gardiner and Riches (2016) explored discriminatory practices in English professional football with regard to race and sexual orientation and

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positive action provisions. They noted that despite the recent progress that has witnessed an increase in the number of professional football players of BME backgrounds, there is still persistence of discrimination against this group of players both by the supporters/spectators, the employers, and fellow players. The authors acknowledged that two fundamental approaches had been deployed to address occurrences of ethnic discrimination embedded in English football. These are the antidiscrimination legislation and some provisions of the criminal law (the Football Offences Act 1991) which deals with racism by the spectators and many policies aimed at education and awareness campaigns among football followers such as the “Kick it Out” initiative. The USA’s Rooney Rule which applies in the National Football League in the USA requires that every interview for the position of a football coach should include at least one applicant of BME background. Gardiner and Riches (2016) argue that the adoption of the Rooney Rule with the quota for BME applicants in the UK would go against the provision of the Equality Act (2010), which does not allow reverse discrimination (Gardiner and Riches 2016). They note that the presence of masculine dominance in football had contributed to discourage lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) male footballers from openly disclosing their sexual preference (Gardiner and Riches 2016). Besides, the right to privacy of LGBT individuals will limit the likelihood of success if similar legislation to the Rooney Rule was introduced. This is because, unlike race/ethnicity, sexual orientation is an invisible characteristic, and individuals who do not wish to declare their sexual preference will be forced to do so to conform to the quota system of the rule (Gardiner and Riches 2016). The authors conclude that the current provisions of the Equality Act (2010) are limited in its ability to address inequality in the English football despite its business case rationale and political support. The Rooney Rule may be deemed as resulting in reverse discrimination since it adopts the quota system by specifying the ratio of BME individuals to be at every recruitment exercise. Affirmative/

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positive action measures which result in positive/ reverse discrimination exist in various forms across different countries of the world. Although profoundly challenged, reverse discrimination has existed in the USA since the Executive Order 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, after the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland and post-apartheid regime in South Africa (Rasnic 2017). In the case of Northern Ireland, the conflict between the Unionists and the Nationalists culminated in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 which led to a truce between those identifying with the Protestants (the Unionists) and those identifying with the Catholic population (the Nationalists) (Rasnic 2017). The affirmative action measure specified that equal percentages of both Protestants and Catholics be employed into the police force (which was dominated by the Protestants).

Drivers and Critical Success Factors for Affirmative Action The need for affirmative action policies arises from the desire to correct the underrepresentation of disadvantaged groups identified through detailed qualitative and quantitative evidence. Several factors are responsible for the ability of positive action to bring about sustainable organizational change. These factors include clarity in communicating the aims and mode of operations of positive action measures, implanting positive action in organizational philosophy, and genuine commitment and willingness by the leadership and entire workforce to change the organizational culture to embrace positive action. Other drivers for affirmative action measures include legislation, altruism, moral/ethical considerations, business reasons, demographic changes, corporate social responsibility, organizational policy, and grassroots efforts. However, negative factors have also been identified to drive positive action implementation in some instances where organizations set up programmes for political and financial gains with little genuine interest in the essence of positive action (Archibong and Adejumo 2013).

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Dhami et al. (2006) suggest that the introduction of affirmative action policies can be effective and have desired impact on employment equity if it is backed up by a strong political will to drive a sweeping social change. Next, instead of basing the argument on group privilege, the authors suggest that the adoption of broad liberal democratic ideals and respect for diversity should be considered as the rationale for affirmative action policies to help win the support of all stakeholders. Similarly, the rationale for policies should be connected to the business imperative to encourage employers to embrace diversity not for meeting legal requirement but because diversity is a strategic business approach that contributes to the achievement of organizational goals in terms of productivity and profitability. Also, there is a need to communicate and promote the necessity of policies to all stakeholders and involve them in all the stages of programme planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Dhami et al. (2006) also suggest that for affirmative action policies to be successful, there is a need for an enforcement mechanism to compel compliance by employers. The enforcement mechanism should be supported by a framework that includes goal setting and stringent enforcement with sanction for defaulters. Another crucial mechanism that could enhance the implementation of affirmative action policies is the reduction of excessive red tape to encourage employers to embrace the policies. It is also essential to regularly review affirmative action measures to ensure that they remain valid, can improve business outputs, and remain fair to all stakeholders. It is also important to address the supply side of employment to enhance the education, skills, and qualification of targeted groups to avoid the backlash of employing less qualified individuals. Baxter et al. (2008) investigated the critical success factors essential for a successful implementation of positive action within the UK National Health Service. The authors found a considerable level of agreement among participants that some critical factors need to be in place to enhance the success of any affirmative action programme. These factors include a strong

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leadership passion and commitment; the adoption of a strategic management approach for the implementation of positive action measures; and effective communication targeted at the right people, in the right way, and at the right time. Other key factors include a supportive organizational culture which manifests in the way organizations do things in terms of ability to think outside the box; flexibility and adaptability; and resource availability which can be maximized through sharing good practices, targeting and evaluation, and planning and proper management of projects. The role of targeted groups is also thought to play an important role in terms of the success of affirmative action initiatives. Self-advocacy and visibility by members within targeted groups are deemed advantageous in furthering the aim of affirmative action programmes.

Benefits of Affirmative/Positive Action Measures Substantial research has been carried out on the benefits of positive action measures across different countries. Archibong et al. (2006b) reported some advantages of affirmative action as reported by the study participants to include the promotion of diversity within the workforce, helping to improve the representation of disadvantaged groups and the provision of various forms of assistance to minority groups. The authors reported a general agreement on the benefits and legitimacy of positive action in altering organizational practices to redress past unfair practices experienced by historically marginalized and oppressed minority groups. Notwithstanding, the study found considerable variations in the understanding of positive action among the professionals across sectors. Public sector organizations were found to adopt the legal rationale for embracing positive action practices. Many of the participating organizations in Archibong et al. (2009) study agreed that they have derived some benefits from the implementation of positive action policies and affirmed its potential to create representative diversity within the workforce. However, due to a lack of clarity of

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expectation, organizations were not comfortable discussing the impact of their programmes as they had no structures in place to assess the effectiveness of positive action initiatives in meeting set aims and objectives. In their study to explore corrective action to redress the ethnic imbalance in senior management, Archibong and Ashraf (2010) reported that despite several corrective measures taken by the NHS in the past, there still exists gross underrepresentation of BME staff at senior and middle management levels. This could be due to the level of discrimination inherent in the employment process within NHS organizations. Nevertheless, key findings from the study indicated positive perceptions and experiences among study participants. Some of the experiences manifested in personal development, career progression, and ability to handle higher and diverse responsibilities in the workplace. Some of the participants described their participation in the initiatives as “life-changing experiences” which have contributed in changing their general perceptions of the world of work and enhanced their skills and their ability to be dynamic and handle a variety of work-related challenges. They also revealed that initiatives have added to their qualifications, offering them the opportunity to compete for higher-level positions. Some of the programmes were designed to help participants learn new skills such as communication, presentation, negotiation, and confidence-building among the participants. The participants disclosed that the positive action initiatives were impactful as they had led to the promotion of some of the beneficiaries into senior management positions, pay rises, and helped some to apply for higher positions in other organizations as well. Another critical finding involved the support for corrective action initiatives by top-ranking NHS executives and directors who accepted to take part in the mentorship programme and made a significant impact on the professional development of the employees (Ashraf and Archibong 2009). Since the promotion of affirmative action in the Brazilian higher education context, Silva (2019) reports that many authors are significantly

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engaging with issues related to justice, fairness, and validity of affirmative action policies in the university context, comparisons between the performance of affirmative action students and other students, students’ academic and social experiences, and questions related to stereotyping, social representation, coexistence, and perspectives of society regarding the use of affirmative action.

Effectiveness of Affirmative Action Policies A review of the literature revealed affirmative/positive action policies on procurement and contract compliance to be the most effective across three case countries – the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada (Dhami et al. 2006). The authors suggest that other countries could learn from the experiences of the USA and Canada where evidence suggest that contract compliance is one of the most effective affirmative action measures among large corporations as it can lead to an improvement in their employment equality practices with little resistance and stress to them. Another initiative that was found to be effective in the Netherlands involves covenants – nonbinding agreements by employers to facilitate the employment of minorities through coordinated efforts in collaboration with labor exchanges. In the USA and Canada, the establishment of an institution with the responsibility to oversee contract compliance policies and initiatives with enough resources to support meaningful delivery has been deemed to make for effective affirmation action policies. Another mechanism of affirmative action that has proven effective in the USA is the availability index. This involves creating an information pool of the targeted groups who are also qualified, willing, and potentially available for work. Evidence suggests that some industries in the UK are already implementing the most effective affirmative action measure identified by Dhami et al. (2006). For instance, a similar positive action policy to the contract compliance initiative is extensively practiced by High Speed 2 (HS2) in the UK. This HS2 supplier diversity initiative

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requires all firms bidding for contracts from HS2 to meet a particular diversity criterion (Churchill 2018). In addition to winning supply contracts with HS2, companies have used the evidence of EDI gathered for HS2 to secure other lucrative contracts. This evidence attests to the business rationale for diversity and also enhances access to business opportunities for companies that embrace it. In terms of increasing the representation of disadvantaged groups in employment, Davies (2019) suggests that apprenticeships are a viable route into employment as it offers candidates the benefit of on-the-job training, some form of paid work and qualification. However, there is limited use of affirmative action initiatives for balancing underrepresentation of protected groups into apprenticeships. Notwithstanding, it is used to increase the representation of women apprentices in specific industries and less focused on the increase of ethnic minority, disabled people, and other minorities. Despite its success, affirmative action remains controversial. The majority of diversity initiatives fail, even the most popular and those adjudged to only make a moderate impact in redressing exclusion (Oppenheimer (2016). Critics oppose affirmative action as being anti-meritocratic, discriminatory against members of the majority population, and paying inadequate attention to the economic as well as social disparity between different groups (Niederle et al. 2013).

Barriers to Affirmative/Positive Action A number of barriers have been identified as inhibiting the impact of positive action, some of which are common to several countries, while others are more specific to a particular situation. These barriers include limited funds, the reluctance of target groups to participate, lack of buy-in from senior management and leaders, lack of support from line managers, and substantial resistance or cynicism from employees. Other factors include reluctance to disclose relevant sensitive information, negative attitudes held by mainstream society, as well as

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stereotypes and prejudices perpetuated by the media. These stereotypes by the media problematize positive action and render any positive action outcomes as tokenistic. A lack of clarity and ambiguity in legislation can also undermine the success of affirmative action programmes. The exploitation of the benefits and rationale of affirmative action for political gains are seen as serious challenges for affirmative action programmes and in some cases resulting in unnecessary litigation. Archibong et al. (2009) reported that organizations merely embraced positive action policies and practices to conform with legal provisions and not with the motive of providing opportunities for underrepresented groups. Hence there were perceptions of exclusion among the targeted beneficiaries of the initiatives as they reported being left out of the decision-making process and feelings of discomfort and repudiation when participating in positive action activities. The authors reported that lack of support from colleagues, or opposition from the management who regarded their equality obligations as mere formalities, presented significant barriers to engagement in affirmative action measures. Barriers were also identified that related more closely to behaviors of the target group rather than those involved with targeting. The authors reported barriers associated with a perception of “hierarchy” of the provision of affirmative action, a misunderstanding of the benefits, and a lack of awareness of the proposed action. In addition, participants in the Archibong et al. (2009) study felt that adverts addressing preferential treatment were not effective, as people did not want to be defined as “quota people” or the “affirmative action candidate.” The spontaneous and short-term nature of affirmative action projects has done little to promote the progress of initiatives and advance the position of affirmative action in some countries. For example, Silva (2019) summarizes reports calling for the permanence of the affirmative action for students as a priority for Brazilian universities. Economic costs have been seen as a major obstacle to the actual implementation of affirmative action policies.

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Beneficiaries of Affirmative Action Sabbagh (2011) noted that there is a substantial variation in affirmative action policies across different countries in terms of the target beneficiaries, the nature of initiatives (quota/nonquota), the kind of backing or support for the programme (legal, legislative, or administrative), and the implementation domain. The beneficiaries of affirmative action programmes cut across different dimensions including ethnic/racial groups, socially and economically disadvantaged groups, women, aboriginal groups, people living with disabilities, and, in some cases, war veterans. Affirmative action areas are generic, as different countries have been found to apply affirmative action policies in different areas to suit their unique circumstance. For instance, the focus of affirmative action in the USA is mostly on ethnic/ racial groups and gender, while in India, the gender issue is at its nascent stage (Dhami et al. 2006). However, there are extensive positive action systems in place which are intended to assist members of lower castes and severely disadvantaged social groups in India. Special measures are in place in South Africa to help members of African and Asian ethnic groups to overcome the obstacles that they may face in accessing employment, social services, and the political process (Dietrich 2013). Also, positive action measures in the UK aim to address more of gender and ethnic minority inclusion, and in Northern Ireland, the main focus is on religious inclusion by encouraging the representation of the Catholic minority (Sabbagh 2011). Many countries have positive action measures in place for disabled persons, including special employment arrangements. Sabbagh (2011) suggests that affirmative action policies cover a broader perspective and sectors including admission into universities or professional schools, job employment, promotions, public contracts, business loans rights to buy or sell, or use of land. The goal of affirmative action is to enhance the percentage of individuals from groups that have suffered from past state oppression or present societal discrimination, resulting in their exclusion from the labor force, student population, or entrepreneurial class. He

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suggests that the disadvantages may arise from the unlawful use of morally useless characteristics; thus, affirmative action measures help in remedying past disadvantages through the allocation of scarce resources hitherto neglected areas (Sabbagh 2011). Before the abolition of apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, indigenous (Black) and migrants South Africans had suffered segregation from the white elite South Africans. This ushered in the era of equality with the enactment of the Employment Equality Act of 1998 which required all companies employing more than 50 workers to ensure the equal representation of blacks, women, and disabled people (Archibong and Adejumo 2013). Another legislation which specified quotas for Black South Africans was the Black Economic Empowerment Act which was introduced in 2003. It covered black participation in the business sector and executed periodic monitoring by the government to ascertain the level of compliance in terms of employment, training, and ownership of businesses by Black people (Rasnic 2017). In Canada, affirmative action policies are aimed at addressing the imbalance between men and women in employment. This was solidified in the case of Canadian National Railway Co. v. Canada (Human Rights Committee and Action travail des femmes) where the Federal Railway was temporarily ordered by the tribunal to include one woman in every four workers hired in unskilled jobs with low representation of women until the ratio of women rises to 13% in the specific sector (Rasnic 2017). Similar to Canada, affirmative action in some EU countries focus on gender equality. Following the principle of the tie-break provision in the UK, if there is a gender tie in promotion in Germany, the affirmative action policy favors the selection of the female candidate over the male if females are underrepresented in the unit. Female underrepresentation in Germany is defined by female holding less than half of the job positions in a particular sector (Rasnic 2017). Affirmative action measures in Austria also favor the females over males with a major focus on the higher education sector. The initiative also requires that

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when male and female candidates are equally qualified, the preference must be given to the female (Rasnic 2017). The capacity of affirmative action measures to correct historical systemic disadvantages has been widely acknowledged as effective (Shah 2019). The United Nation’s Committee of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommends the use of special measure and affirmation action to address systemic discrimination and disruption of the relationship between poverty and racism. Such measures could be in the form of executive, administrative, budgetary, and regulatory instruments as well as plans, policies, programmes, and preferential regimes in favor of disadvantaged groups (CERD 2017).

Affirmative Action and Sustainable Development Goals In 2015 the United Nations adopted a resolution which laid down 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for “transforming our world” by 2030. The fifth goal was to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls (Goal 5). Although the SDGs have been criticized as being too ambiguous, it is believed that it can normatively be used as a tactical guide for enhancing gender equality and women’s rights (Koehler 2016). Further, the SDGs have broadened the understanding of development to include not only economic process but also the political and social elements as well as the sustainability of the ecosystem, biodiversity, sustainable production and consumption, and the pursuit of a healthy environment (Koehler 2016). Despite progress being made in the area of girl child education, the involvement of women in paid employment, and the inclusion of women in politics, the United Nations (2015) observed that there are still significant levels of disadvantages in terms of gender stereotyping, gender income, pay imbalance, and lack of access to economic means. A recent report by the United Nations (SDG 2019) also indicates that although there has been an improvement in the fight against female genital

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mutilation (FGM) and early marriage of the girl child, cases of gender inequality are still considerably high. The report suggests that the fundamental reasons for the difficulty in attaining SDG 5 include the lack of progress on issues including legal discrimination, unfair social norms and attitudes, decision-making on sexual and reproductive issues, and low levels of political participation. One of the most direct legislative or policy interventions that can be made by the States to achieve Goal 5 of SDG is affirmative action. Consequently, UNFPA recommends the use of affirmative action policies in increasing the number of school attendance by girls (Vladimirovaa and Le Blanc 2015). There is an argument that countries with affirmative action policies are still contending with deeply entrenched inequalities, leading some to question the overall value of affirmative action. However, having suffered many criticisms and judicial interpretations and modifications over the years, it appears that the limited success of affirmative action policies to redress gender inequalities in line with the aspirations of SDG 5 is not solely due to its inherent deficiencies but the fears of the dominant group that such measures may result in reverse discrimination. Recent reports from the United Nation’s SDG (2019) suggest that while substantial progress has been made in areas such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage, the overall progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal is slow, and a lot needs to be done in other areas. For instance, 18% of women and girls between the ages of 15 and 46 to have been in different forms of partnerships have experienced physical or sexual violence in the previous 12 months, with the highest occurrence (24%) in the least developed countries. The report also found that gender-based socioeconomic disadvantages are more prevalent as women have limited time to devote to paid employment, education, and leisure because they spend an average of a third of their time to unpaid work (domestic and care) than men. Women earn only 77% of men’s earnings for doing the same job; as of January 2019, women representation in national

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parliament was only 24.2%, up from 12.9% in 1995. This represents a 12.7% rise in 23 years and approximately 0.5% yearly increase. Similarly, the percentage of women in managerial positions is still low (27%) even though women representation in world employment stands at 39% in 2018. The report also reveals that gender representation in politics at both national and state levels leaves much to be desired. The data reveals varying levels of gender balance in parliament. Female representation in national parliament varies between 0% and 61.3%, averaging 24.2% and recording and improvement of 19% in 2010 (SDG 2019). However, when gender quotas were adopted in countries with deficient gender representation, the situation improved substantially at both the national and local levels. Beyond the numerical progress highlighted above, Gysman (2018) noted that a more critical analysis of the level of inclusion of women in political positions reveals that they are still underrepresented in key policy decision-making positions. These include budget allocation functions and roles where critical decisions affecting women are made. Hence, there is a tendency for the decision-making committees to approve gender-blind decisions and neglect the genderspecific needs of women in parliament resulting in structural inequalities. The target of SDG 5.5 is to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.” Deere (2018) however critiqued this target as laying too much emphasis on the participation of women in decision-making in the public arena, resulting in the mere representation of women in national and local parliaments and decision-making positions to the detriment of the role of women in household decision-making. The role of women in household decisions could be a precondition for altering the tradition of unpaid domestic and care work. Thus, it is suggested that the specific targets of the SDGs be made to capture the overlooked and culturally imposed responsibilities of women, particularly in underdeveloped societies, as these may have ramifications for the ability of women to be involved in

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key positions of responsibilities in employment and participation in education and leisure (SDG 2019).

Conclusion The conceptualization of affirmative action varies widely across countries. In non-EU countries, the terminology affirmative action is widely used; while in Europe, the concept of positive action is more commonly employed. Affirmative action constitutes a set of actions or specific measures designed to eliminate existing and continuing discrimination, to remedy lingering effects of past discrimination and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination experienced by particular groups within society. There are differences in the application of affirmative action measures and the legislative and policy basis for these measures across countries. Overall, there is a strong association between the uses of quotas with preferential treatment which attracts a negative response. The key drivers for positive action include legislation backed up by enforcement mechanisms and less bureaucracy to ensure that organizations fully engage with it. Strong individual commitment and senior management support are identified as the most important factors which may facilitate the successful implementation of positive action. A number of barriers relating to human and financial resources may militate against the successful implementation of positive action. As the use of voluntary affirmative action programmes reduces and diversity management is gaining more popularity, minority groups continue to be disadvantaged in a variety of ways including income level, quality of schooling, and access to healthcare and treatment within the criminal justice system. The dwindling fortune still experienced by people with minority status is particularly palpable in terms of efforts towards achieving SDG 5 (gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls). For instance, Goal 5.5 of the SDG aims to achieve equal opportunity and full and active participation of women in

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leadership at all levels of decision-making in the political, economic, and public life. However, recent figures from the United Nations still paint a gloomy picture as regards the progress made towards ending discrimination against women and girls. Despite the observation of a rise in female participation in politics, it is essential to note that the rise is marginal and could take a significantly long time to achieve the goals set by the SDGs. At the current rate, it may be challenging to realize SDG 5 within the targeted time scale. Therefore, there is a need to take more concrete steps towards redefining the strategic approach aimed at reversing gender exclusion. A more practical measure could involve the adoption of affirmative/positive action initiatives embedded within the legal frameworks of different countries and backed up by firm governmental commitments. The use of affirmative action to enhance the employment of minorities and gender equality is constitutionally and statutorily practicable. Thus affirmative action remains a viable instrument for combating discrimination and reducing inequalities. As mentioned above, the use of quotas by some countries led to a significant increase in the level of gender representation. Even though the use of quota is controversial, similar strong measures introduced within the confines of affirmative action regulation could prove effective in public and private sector organization. Although there are best practices in place for implementing affirmative action measures which have resulted in behavioral changes at both individual and organizational levels, the changing of attitudes, the embracing of tolerance, and respect for differences are other aspects that are harder to change but do need to be addressed. Focus on the benefit, the business case for supporting, acceptance and respect for all, and the ethical/moral aspects are most likely the next important steps of affirmative action measures and are the aspects that are least likely to be addressed successfully by policy. The focus on best practices that have an impact on practice in a context that fully embraces affirmative action is the next critical step.

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References Adam K (1997) The politics of redress: South African style affirmative action. J Mod Afr Stud 35(2):231–249 Archibong U, Adejumo O (2013) Affirmative action in South Africa are we creating new casualties? J Psychol Issues Organ Cult 3(1):14–27 Archibong U, Ashraf F (2010) Positive Action in the UK. In: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (ed) Dossier Positive Maßnahmen Von Antidiskriminierung zu Diversity. Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berlin Germany, pp 44–60 Archibong U, Darr A (2010) The involvement of BME staff in NHS disciplinary proceedings. University of Bradford, Bradford Archibong U, Sharps PW (2013) A comparative analysis of affirmative action in the United Kingdom and United States. J Psychol Issues Organ Cult 3(S1):28–49 Archibong U, Bucktrout AL, Giga SI, Ashraf F, Baxter C, Johnson MR (2006a) A concept analysis of positive action in health and education. Divers Health Soc Care 3:233–243 Archibong U, Giga S, Ashraf F, Bucktrout A, Jackson H, Johnson M, Baxter C (2006b) Positive action research in education and health. University of Bradford, Bradford Archibong U, Eferakorho J, Darr A, Bell M, Waddington L, Scally A, Wladasch K, Bedard T, Peric T, Russinova S (2009) International perspectives on positive action measures: A comparative analysis in the European Union, Canada, the United States and South Africa. European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. Luxemburg Ashraf A, Archibong U (2009) Journeying towards leadership: personal accounts of experiences of corrective action by managers in NHS organisations. Int J Divers Organ Commun Nations 9(3):171–180 Baxter C, Archibong U, Giga S, Kular R (2008) Critical success factors in the implementation of positive action in the NHS UK. Int J Divers Organ Commun Nations 8(2):18–30 Bell C, Hegarty A, Livingstone S (1996) The enduring controversy: developments in affirmative action law in North America. Int J Discrim Law 1 (3):233–260 Bell M, Waddington L, Archibong U (2010) Exploring positive action from a legal perspective in EU and non EU countries. Int J Divers Organ Commun Nations 9(6):43–56 Black HC, Garner BA (1999) Black’s law dictionary, 7th edn. West Publishing Company, Eagan Churchill F (2018) Supplier diversity ‘fundamental’ to HS2 success. @supplymgmt. https://www.cips.org/supplymanagement/news/2018/september/supplier-diversityfundamental-to-hs2-success/. Accessed 18 Oct 2019 Committee of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2017) Special measure and affirmation action to address systemic discrimination and disruption of the relationship between poverty and racism. https://sustainablede velopment.un.org/content/documents/14579OHCHR_

Affirmative Action Measures and Gender Equality Comm_on_the_Elimination_of_Racial_Discrimination. pdf. Accessed 19 Oct 2019 Crosby FJ, Iyer A, Sincharoen S (2006) Understanding affirmative action. Annu Rev Psychol 57:585–611 Davies C (2019) Exploring positive action as a tool to address under-representation in apprenticeships. Research report 123. Equality and Human Rights Commission, Manchester, UK Davies C, Robison M (2016) Bridging the gap: an exploration of the use and impact of positive action in the United Kingdom. Int J Discrim Law 16(2–3):83–101 Deere CD (2018) Sustainable development goals, gender equality and the distribution of land in Latin America. cadernos pagu 2019 (52). https://www.scielo.br/pdf/ cpa/n52/en_1809-4449-cpa-18094449201800520006. pdf Dhami RS, Squires J, Modood T (2006) Developing positive action policies: learning from the experiences of Europe and North America. vol Research Report 406. Department for Work and Pensions, Leeds, UK Dietrich JW (2013) The international spread of affirmative action policies: what is true equality? ISA Annual Convention, San Francisco Dower C, Berkowitz G, Grumbach K, Wong C (1999) From Affirmative Action to health: a critical appraisal of the literature regarding the impact of affirmative action. UCSF Center for the Health Professions and UCSF Institute for Health Policy Studies, San Francisco Equality Act (2010) Retrieved from http://www.legisla tion.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/content. Accessed 19 Oct 2019 European Commission (1998) Earning differentials between men and women. Study based on the structure of earnings survey (SES). European Commission, Brussels European Institute for Gender Equality (2020) Gender mainstreaming: concepts and definitions. https://eige. europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/concepts-and-defini tions. Accessed 14 Apr 2020 Gardiner S, Riches L (2016) Racism and homophobia in English football: the equality act, positive action and the limits of law. Int J Discrim Law 16(2-3):102–121 Garrison-Wade DF, Lewis CW (2004) Affirmative action: history and analysis. J Coll Admiss 184:23–26 Gysman N (2018) Beyond the numbers: does a high number of women in political corridors translate into delivery of Sustainable Development Goals 5 on gender equality and 16 on peace and security in the SADC region? Agenda 32(1):46–59 Koehler G (2016) Tapping the Sustainable Development Goals for progressive gender equity and equality policy? Gend Dev 24(1):53–68 McCrudden C (1986) Rethinking positive action. Ind Law J 15:219–243 Moses MS (2010) Moral and instrumental rationales for affirmative action in five national contexts. Educ Res 39(3):211–228 Niederle M, Segal C, Vesterlund L (2013) How costly is diversity? Affirmative action in light of gender differences in competitiveness. Manag Sci 59(1):1–16

53 Noon M (2010) The shackled runner: time to rethink positive discrimination? Work Employ Soc 24(4):728–739 Oppenheimer DB (2016) The disappearance of voluntary affirmative action from the US workplace. J Poverty Soc Just 24(1):37–50 Rasnic DC (2017) Is affirmative action fair or inherently unfair? a look at the American version and some comparisons with other countries. Hungarian Labour Law E-Journal 2:48–60 Sabbagh D (2011) Elements toward a comparative analysis of affirmative action policies. Available at SSRN 1908653 SDG Knowledge Platform (2019) Sustainable Development Goal 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. https://sustainabledevelopment. un.org/sdg5 Accessed 19 Oct 2019 Shah HB (2019) Radical reconstruction: (Re) Embracing affirmative action in private employment. U Balt L Rev 48 (2):203–269 Silva GHG (2019) An overview of affirmative action policies in public federal universities in Southeast Brazil. Cad Pesqui 49(173):184–206 Silva GHG, Skovsmose O (2019) Affirmative actions in terms of special rights: confronting structural violence in Brazilian higher education. Power Educ Lond 11(2):204–220 Teles SM (2001) Positive action or affirmative action? The persistence of Britain’s antidiscrimination regime. In: Skrentny JD (ed) Color lines: affirmative action, immigration, and civil rights options for America. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 241–269 UN Women 2011/12 Progress of the world’s women: in pursuit of justice. https://www.unwomen.org/en/ digital-library/publications/2011/7/progress-of-theworld-s-women-in-pursuit-of-justice. Accessed 19 Oct 2019 UNESCO (2013/14) Education for all global monitoring report: teaching and learning: achieving quality for all. UNESCO Publishing, Paris UNFPA (2014) State of world population: adolescents, youth and the transformation of the future. Uited Nations Populations Fund. https://eeca.unfpa.org/en/publica tions/state-world-population-2014-report. Accessed Oct 2019 United Nations (2015) The millennium development goals report 2015. United Nations. https://www.un.org/ millenniumgoals/2015_MDG_Report/pdf/MDG%2020 15%20rev%20(July%201).pdf. Accessed Oct 2019 Vladimirovaa K, Le Blanc D (2015) How well are the links between education and other sustainable development goals covered in UN flagship reports? A contribution to the study of the science-policy interface on education in the UN system. DESA Working Paper No. 146. United Nations. Department of Economic & Social Affairs, New York World Bank (2007) World development report: development and the next generation. World Bank, Washington, DC

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Artificial Intelligence, Gender, and Oppression Alison Duncan Kerr St Andrews Institute for Gender Studies, Arché Philosophical Research Centre, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK

Definition Artificial intelligence is the project of creating an artificial agent that has the same kind of intelligence as humans. It is found in many different aspects of our daily lives, e.g., virtual assistants, search engines, games, and health care. Oppression is a particular type of harm – it is group-based and systemic. People face oppressive harms as members of an oppressed social group (e.g., gender, race, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, or (dis)ability). Through technologies such as virtual assistants, search engines, robots, and algorithms, artificial intelligence is contributing to gender-based oppression.

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a huge impact on societies throughout the globe in just a few short years since going mainstream. The technology has given us new powers and abilities to understand our world, and it is being heralded by some as ushering in a better future (for discussion see Russell and Norvig 2019; Kaku 2018). Nevertheless, artificial intelligence has many dark sides; reports from both academia and the press show that the design of AI technologies can embed societal biases concerning race, ethnicity, disability, and religion that contribute to different types of oppression (for discussion see Gürdeniz and St-Onge 2019). And, Safiya Umoja Noble claims that artificial intelligence will become a major human rights issue in the twenty-first century (Noble 2018: 25). This entry will focus on one particular type of injustice that AI

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technologies and applications can cause: gendered oppression. First, what is AI? In Artificial Knowing, Alison Adams (1998: 1) explains that artificial intelligence: refers to a class of computer system designed to model some aspect of human intelligence, whether it be learning (machine learning), moving around and interacting in the world (robotics and vision), reasoning towards a solution to a problem (search strategies), using natural language, modelling intelligence according to neural models (neural networks or connectionism) or having expert knowledge of some subject (expert of knowledgebased systems).

Artificial intelligence is involved in many different elements of our daily lives: virtual assistants (e.g., Alexa, Cortana, and Siri), search engines (e.g., Baidu, DuckDuckGo, Gigablast, Google), games (e.g., Go, Chess), autonomous vehicles (e. g., self-driving cars and drones), military (e.g., autonomous weapon, drones, and threat identification), mass surveillance (e.g., facial recognition), robots (factories, sex robots, pet robots), and health care (e.g., diagnosis, identifying treatments, surgery, and dosages). This entry will focus on only a few different forms of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence continues to influence every aspect of people’s lives, developing quickly and constantly. Yet many in and out of the AI sector have begun to voice concerns about a gender imbalance, as a much larger percentage of men than women design these technologies. Computer scientist, Joy Buolamwini, worries that this inequity will “quietly undo decades of advances in gender equality” (Buolamwini 2019). In what follows, after a brief explanation of oppression, we consider how artificial intelligence may contribute to gender oppression through technologies such as virtual assistants, robots, and algorithms.

Gender and Oppression Oppression is a harm that results from a systemic network of social institutions. It is fundamentally a group-based harm – people face oppressive

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harms as members of an oppressed social group (e.g., gender, race, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, or (dis)ability), not merely as an individual (see Frye 1983). Oppression is also a physical or psychological harm that occurs to people who belong to a group that can be identified for their oppressed status (Cudd 1994). There is often an opposing group that benefits from this oppression. Frye (1983: 8) explains, “If an individual is oppressed, it is in virtue of being a member of a group or category of people that is systematically reduced, molded, immobilized. Thus, to recognize a person as oppressed, one has to see that individual as belonging to a group of a certain sort.” This is not to say that other non-oppressive harms cannot be great – some nonoppressive harms can be wretched. Nonetheless, oppression is merely a particular type of harm, one that is morally problematic and unjust. Ann Cudd (1994) writes, “Oppression is prima facie injustice, and to oppress someone is morally wrong.” While it is morally wrong to oppress someone, oppressors are not always fully aware of their own role within the system. Marilyn Frye (1983: 4–5) famously explains oppression through an analogy with a birdcage: If you look very closely at just one wire in the cage, you cannot see the other wires. If your conception of what is before you is determined by this myopic focus, you could look at that one wire, up and down the length of it, and be unable to see why a bird would not just fly around the wire any time it wanted to go somewhere. Furthermore, even if, one day at a time, you myopically inspected each wire, you still could not see why a bird would gave trouble going past the wires to get anywhere. There is no physical property of any one wire, nothing that the closest scrutiny could discover, that will reveal how a bird could be inhibited or harmed by it except in the most accidental way. It is only when you step back, stop looking at the wires one by one, microscopically, and take a macroscopic view of the whole cage, that you can see why the bird does not go anywhere; and then you will see it in a moment.

The idea of oppression, then, is that an oppressed person is surrounded by many restrictive barriers that work together. Any single barrier, when viewed independently, might not appear particularly problematic. The barriers often function as a

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double bind, in that taking either direction can be problematic (e.g., a woman is viewed as either frigid or a trollop). It often appears that the oppressed individual could seemingly overcome (or go around) that single barrier; this is one reason oppression can be difficult to recognize – viewed microscopically, an oppressive barrier often does not appear particularly harmful. It is only when one views the entire structure (the entire birdcage) that one can properly understand the oppression.

Virtual Assistants With each day people rely more and more on virtual assistants. Most people have a phone with a virtual assistant, and many people have a virtual assistant in their home. Vox reports that in 2019, “More than 90 million US smartphone owners use voice assistants at least once a month. Plus, 24 percent of households own a smart speaker, and 52 percent of all smart speaker owners say they use their device daily” (Samuel 2019). Globally, virtual assistants are installed in over two billion Internet-connected devices (West et al. 2019; Kinsella 2019). Smartphone assistants, such as the Apple IPhones’ Siri, introduced by Apple in 2011, process language and commands, figure out how to follow commands, and initiate actions. When sitting in a car, a person can speak to their phone and say, “Hey Siri, I’m getting pulled over,” and the virtual assistant will start a series of actions: the phone will dim, the music will pause, a video will start recording from the front-facing camera, and an emergency contact will receive your current location and a copy of the video (Vincent 2020). A virtual home assistant (e.g., smart home devices, smart speakers) helps with all sorts of actions around the house: turn on music, change the volume of music, make phone calls and send messages, change the temperature inside the room, lock the doors, etc. Amazon introduced the speaker Echo in 2015, and it came with an early version of the Alexa assistant. Amazon advertises Alexa as “always getting smarter and adding new features and skills.”

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When these virtual assistants on phones and in-home devices were first created, they nearly all had female personas, in that they had female names and could not be changed to a male voice. UNESCO reports, “Today and with rare exception, most leading voice assistants are exclusively female or female by default, both in name and in sound of voice” (West et al. 2019: 94), “. . .the female gendering of AI technologies is a global phenomenon” (West et al. 2019: 95), and, additionally, “. . .nearly all of these assistants have been feminized – in name, voice, in patterns of speech and in personality” (West et al. 2019: 99). Nearly all virtual assistants have a female voice by default, and many continue to offer the female voice exclusively (i.e., a change to a male voice is not an option). Beyond the mere sound of the voice, though, all the virtual assistants are designed to display a gendered female personality (Bogost 2018; Fessler 2018; West et al. 2019). There are plenty of other problems that one might have with devices like this (e.g., privacy concerns related to the fact that they are “a data-collection device for a highly profitable, data-driven corporation,” Romano 2018), but their gendered personas are deeply problematic. Beyond their names and the mere sound of the voice, technology firms have each designed the virtual assistants to display a gendered female personality, to be gentle and sympathetic, to identify other’s emotions and respond accordingly, and to be tolerant. When Siri was first out, she would respond to an accusation of being a slut with “I would blush if I could,” but in response to outcry now says things like “I’m not going to respond to that” or “I don’t know how to respond to that” (West et al. 2019: 106–108). Virtual assistants are deferential – e.g., quick to apologize (West et al. 2019: 106–108). When you tell a virtual assistant that they are pretty, they respond with something like “That’s really nice, thanks” (West et al. 2019: 106–108). Overall, these virtual assistants are designed to display gentleness, empathy, caring, sensitivity, compassion, tolerance, deference, and subservience. Indeed, Jonathan Foster (2018), who led Microsoft’s team in the development of Cortana, writes:

Artificial Intelligence, Gender, and Oppression . . .we continue to endow [Cortana] with makebelieve feelings, opinions, challenges, likes and dislikes, even sensitivities and hopes. . .Cortana’s personality started from a creative concept of who she would be, and how we hoped to experience her.

If our perspectives on the world are always shaped by our experiences, as feminists have argued, then how might our experiences be shaped by the perpetuation of female virtual assistants? These technologies characterize the female as obedient and eager to serve. Gender roles continue by way of reinforcement. Every time owners of these devices command them to do certain things, they hear a single female voice cheerfully agreeing to their orders. The stereotypes about gendered characteristics, and especially those pertaining to women, are deeply enforced through the use of virtual assistants. Based on these considerations, it seems that virtual assistants perpetuate the oppression of women. One might object: this point about virtual assistants, even if it is accurate, is so minor as to be without any significant effects. There are a few responses one might have to a claim like this one. First, Marilyn Frye made clear with her birdcage analogy that oppression results from many minor aspects of a society interacting together to cumulatively affect women’s lives. Virtual assistants perpetuate these gendered traits. Even further, the Internet is developing at rapid speeds, and people are relying on it to help at every step of the way. It is already commonplace to speak of an “Internet of things” through which all our electronic devices will be communicating with one another seamlessly as they interact with us. If each of these devices is programmed to behave in stereotypically female ways, then the cage of oppression is that much stronger and fine-grained. Why have virtual assistants designed to be like women? Research suggests that people prefer to hear a woman’s voice from their virtual assistant – the female voice promotes further sales and more engagement with the devices (see Mitchell et al. 2011; Hempel 2015; Samuel 2019, and West et al. 2019). Nonetheless, while tech companies might be financially motivated to exploit these gender stereotypes, it is important

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to understand that the choices are perpetuating the gender stereotypes as well. Gürdeniz and St-Onge (2019) write: Gender bias in AI not only reflects the gender stereotypes and biases that exist in society (and in all humans) — it also reinforces them through design and marketing decisions. Today, almost all of the AI-powered virtual assistants in our lives — Alexa, Siri, Cortana — have female-sounding voices. A whole generation of children is growing up shouting commands at women in digital boxes. AI-based meeting assistants that take care of tasks, such as meeting notes, also generally have female names. For example, Sonia is an “AI-based assistant that joins meetings to help take notes, summarize, and handle follow-ups.” On the other hand, one of the most publicly visible supercomputers is male — Watson — and it “helps you unlock the value of your data in entirely new, profound ways.” This stark contrast is a representation of the gender bias that has been present in the corporate workplace for many decades.

Children are being indoctrinated through experience with virtual assistance in a manner which perpetuates gendered oppression (West et al. 2019; Noble 2018). One might also wonder: why can we not just fix virtual assistants? Of course, tech companies could choose to do this. However, the point is that there is always going to be a temptation by those designing ever-more sophisticated technology to give it stereotypical feminine features so as to emphasize human dominance over that technology. Virtual assistants are merely the tip of the iceberg. This tendency to equate submissive technology with femininity could easily get worse as our own human authority erodes in the face of rapidly expanding technological advances. This tendency only reinforces the oppressive identification of woman and subordination. A renewed effort to fight for non-oppressive technology in our world is needed instead. Samuel (2019) writes that a: UNESCO study recommends making technology teams more gender-equal. It also recommends ending the practice of making digital assistants female by default (it’s not that hard to offer a male voice option or a genderless voice), and programming the assistants to discourage gender-based insults or innuendo with a flat rejection like “That’s not appropriate.”

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And there ought to be motivation for making these kinds of changes. Studies suggest that we can reduce oppression and implicit prejudice by exposing people to associations that challenge the standard racial and gender stereotypes (Lai et al. 2013). The more we continue to embed gendered stereotypes into our virtual assistants, the more we embed gendered stereotypes into our society. Virtual assistants have already profoundly infiltrated our daily lives. Virtual assistants could be designed as super-competent, genius helpers that do not emphasize stereotypical female characteristics such as deference and tolerance. Instead these devices could be confident and dynamic. Renewed efforts to ensure that these technologies are not perpetuating the oppression of any group of people is vital.

Algorithms An algorithm is a finite step-by-step procedure that can be followed mechanically without any ingenuity (see Dean 2016). Algorithms are used in all processing by computers, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Noble (2018) argues that the way in which search algorithms are developed and designed promotes oppression, a concern for all marginalized groups: . . .there is a missing social and human context in some types of algorithmically driven decision making, and this matters for everyone engaging with these types of technologies for everyday life. It is of particular concern for marginalized groups, those who are problematically represented in erroneous, stereotypical, or even pornographic ways in search engines and who have also struggled for nonstereotypical or nonracist and non-sexist depictions in the media and in libraries. (Noble 2018: 44)

Because algorithms are so far reaching, their biases can have far reaching consequences. Time Magazine quotes Buolamwini, who researches bias in facial recognition: Machines can discriminate in harmful ways. . . We often assume machines are neutral, but they aren’t. My research uncovered large gender and racial bias in AI systems sold by tech giants like IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon. Given the task of guessing the gender of a face, all companies

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Artificial Intelligence, Gender, and Oppression performed substantially better on male faces than female faces. (Buolamwini 2019)

bias in the systems used to surveil communities and identify people for prosecution. (Hill 2020)

When algorithms are created with bias, they can be discriminatory. Biased algorithms are employed in our everyday technologies. Not only do facial recognition systems deeply struggle to identify females (as compared to males), but they also have difficulties identifying the face of a black person. Susan Leavy (2018) writes:

Buolamwini’s research, along with studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, demonstrates that facial recognition algorithms are most accurate when identifying white males, while they perform worst when identifying black females. These results occur partially because the images used to develop the underlying databases are not diverse enough (see also Valentino-DeVries 2020; Singer and Metz 2019). Algorithms need to be informed by a wide range of perspectives and understandings; they need to be created by designers who take into account a wide range of different types of people. If not, algorithms will continue to be deeply and harmfully limited. On this Leavy writes:

There is a growing awareness of the effects of bias in machine learning. For instance, in a system used by judges to set parole, the evaluation of the likelihood of offending was found to be biased against black defendants. Facial recognition software embedded in most smart phones also works best for those who are white and male. (also see Ali et al. 2010, Buolamwini and Gebru 2018, Buolamwini 2019)

The consequences of these biases can be severe, and people are starting to call for those who are designing algorithms to be aware of and correct these biases. On this, Buolamwini (2019) writes: Given what we know now, as well as the history of racist police brutality, there needs to be a moratorium on using such technology in law enforcement—including in equipping drones or police body cameras with facial analysis or recognition software for lethal operations.

Because of the significance of law enforcement and the justice system for people’s everyday lives, there are grave consequences to these biases. Indeed, a police department in the United States recently used a facial recognition program to arrest a man for a crime he did not commit. When the arresting officers showed the victim the photograph in question, the man responded, “You think all Black men look alike?” (see Hill 2020). On this case, New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill (2020) writes: [The victim] knew that he had not committed the crime in question. What he could not have known, as he sat in the interrogation room, is that his case may be the first known account of an American being wrongfully arrested based on a flawed match from a facial recognition algorithm, according to experts on technology and the law. A nationwide debate is raging about racism in law enforcement. Across the country, millions are protesting not just the actions of individual officers, but

However, machine intelligence learns primarily from observing data that it is presented with. While a machine’s ability to process large volumes of data may address this in part, if that data is laden with stereotypical concepts of gender, the resulting application of the technology will perpetuate this bias. While some recent studies sought to remove bias from learned algorithms they largely ignore decades of research on how gender ideology is embedded in language. (Leavy 2018)

The development of algorithms needs to change to prevent the continued perpetuation of oppression – “Gender balance in machine learning is therefore crucial to prevent algorithms from perpetuating gender ideologies that disadvantage women” (Leavy 2018).

Emotions and AI Agents Despite its being controversial whether it is possible to design artificial intelligence with the ability to interact with human emotions, there is nonetheless a burgeoning research program attempting to do just that – create AI agents that can identify, express, and experience emotions (see Chakriswaran et al. 2019, Sánchez-Escribano 2018, and Bosse et al. 2014 for overview). While most humans have close emotional connections with other humans, are emotional and physical

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connections actually possible between humans and robots? Some are not convinced it is possible: The fact that emotion is so intimately bound up with conscious feeling is considered by some to be a block on the possibility that robots could ever be considered properly emotional. This concern rests on a more general scepticism about the idea that consciousness could emerge from ‘mere’ information processing, the stock in trade of artificial intelligence. Of course, humans and other animals are complex entities that, amongst other things, process information. From the workings of the visual system, to belief formation, to the execution of fine motor actions, we find highly sophisticated systems processing large quantities of information. But that, many argue, will never amount to conscious feeling. No amount of ‘mere’ information can account for the experiences of seeing a charging bull, of consciously judging it to be a danger or, most pertinently, of being afraid of it. So, if these considerations are along the right lines, robots need emotions yet could never have them. (Smith and Farina 2018)

While some might hold that artificial intelligence agents cannot ever experience emotions in the manner in which humans experience emotions, perhaps artificial intelligence agents could still identify emotions in humans or express emotions to humans. It is clearly incredibly challenging to design artificial intelligence agents with these sorts of emotional intelligence features. Scientists are developing algorithms to determine the emotional states of humans and how to use this information to predict what humans will do so that the algorithm can plan the appropriate response. This area of exploration, with researchers from a wide range of fields like computer science, mathematics, neuroscience, kinematics, and cognitive science, is still in its early stages; but scientists are starting to appreciate that artificial intelligence agents need to be able to identify human emotions, display emotions, and understand the various implications of emotions (see Thilmany 2007 for discussion). In one of the most advanced accounts of the computational requirements for artificial intelligence agents to be able to model emotions, Eva Hudlicka (2014) offers a summary that relies on a large amount of technical research in artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, control theory, cognitive science of emotion, and

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neuroscience of emotion. Hudlicka’s computational framework acknowledges a fundamental distinction between experiencing emotions and cognitive processes involving emotions by explaining the distinction between the cause of emotions (emotion generation) and what emotions cause (emotion effects). On Hudlicka’s model (2014: 16), emotion generation involves the following distinct computational tasks: (i) Define and implement the {emotion elicitor (s)}-to-{emotion(s)} mapping. . . . (ii) Calculate the intensity of the resulting emotion(s). (iii) Calculate the decay of these emotions over time. (iv) Integrate multiple emotions, if multiple emotions were generated. (v) Integrate the newly generated emotion(s) with existing emotion(s) or moods. The model aims to accounts for a series of occurrences along these lines: (i) something elicits or causes an emotion (e.g., seeing a poisonous snake) and then the emotion occurs (e.g., fear), (ii) each emotion has a particular strength (e.g., extreme fear felt upon seeing a poisonous snake as it slithers over one’s foot while on a hike versus a minor bout of fear upon seeing a poisonous snake safe in its exhibit at a zoo), (iii) each emotion dissipates over time (e.g., as the snake slithers away and out of sight, one’s fear tends to similarly wane), and (iv) oftentimes we feel combinations of various emotions and moods in complex ways. Hudlicka provides an extensive account of the conditions under which artificial intelligence agents can display emotions, identify human emotions, and navigate the emotional interactions with humans. The applications for artificial intelligence agents with emotional abilities are still being explored. Some wonder if perhaps, “Some computers could one day read people’s faces for cues about their emotional state; for example, an autistic person could wear a specialized emotion-sensing device to decipher friends’ and co-workers’ non-verbal messages” (Thilmany 2007). If this

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were the case, then artificial intelligence agents with emotional abilities could help humans who are lacking in emotional abilities. There is also a venture to have emotionally intelligent robots compassionately assist humans. For example, ElliQ is a new social robot designed, by Intuition Robotics, to help combat loneliness in the elderly by assisting with reading and sending emails and texts and with making and receiving video calls from family and friends: “[T]he empathy layer is really the most fascinating, far-off bit of what ElliQ is attempting that most AI does not. Talking to ElliQ isn’t intended to simply be an easy way to call family without hitting tiny buttons on a table or finding the right app; it’s intended to be a friend who can appreciate and experience these life events with you.” (Wilson 2017)

ElliQ is designed to be a companion or friend of an elderly person – one that is caring for, encouraging of, and helpful to the elderly person. On the Intuition Robotics blog, they write: “Research indicates that people certainly can — and do — express feelings of empathy towards machines. The theory of mind demonstrates that we humans are capable of attributing mental states (emotions, knowledge, etc.) to ourselves and others, which is a key component of successful humanhuman interaction. And by equipping AI agents with this same ability — to analyze and understand their human users’ desires and intentions — we can generate successful, effective human-agent interactions. . . . Obviously an agent can’t truly feel or process emotions, and thus can’t empathize with us in the way that humans can.” (Hoke 2020)

It is interesting to note that while Intuition Robotics have designed their robot, ElliQ, to be helping an elderly person feel fewer bouts of loneliness, they do not believe that an artificial intelligence agent cannot experience emotions. Because emotions and being emotional are typically associated with women (see Kerr 2020), there is a particular concern about the way in which emotional intelligence is being designed for artificial intelligence agents. If the execution of emotion expression and emotion identification in artificial intelligence agents involves a skewed gender bias, it will continue to engrain gender stereotypes concerning

emotions. In the Harvard Business Review, Feast (2019) writes: Few studies have assessed the effects of gender bias in speech with respect to emotion — and emotion AI is starting to play a more prominent role in the future of work, marketing, and almost every industry you can think of. In humans, bias occurs when a person misinterprets the emotions of one demographic category more often than another — for instance, mistakenly thinking that one gender category is angry more often than another. This same bias is now being observed in machines and how they misclassify information related to emotions.

The majority of people throughout the artificial intelligence industry are men, and this is having a significant impact on the designing of AI. The mistaken conception that women are more emotional and men are more rational is now being perpetuated in the artificial intelligence industry.

Robots Designers are programming gender bias that is present in society into the artificial intelligence that we use in our daily lives, and it is further reinforcing many different oppressive stereotypes (Ahn and Costigan 2019; Guynn 2019; Simonite 2018). The problem with a double bind in oppression is illustrated in robotics as well. Ahn and Costigan (2019) write: A study on human-robot interactions found that AI reinforced the double bind dilemma. Participants rated robots that were assigned an explicit gender—either stereotypically male personality traits (confident and assertive) or stereotypically female personality traits (agreeable and warm). Participants rated the male-identified robot as more trustworthy, reliable, and competent than the female robot; the female robot was rated as more likeable.

People tend to choose male robots (i.e., robots that display male-gendered stereotypes, have a masculine-sounding voice, and have a man’s name) for security, defense, and tasks requiring superior intelligence (e.g., Watson, AlphaGo, Fritz, DaVinci, Mr. Psycho, and Sir Killalot) (see Mitchell et al. 2011; West et al. 2019). In contrast, robots that are gendered female (i.e., robots that display female-gendered

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stereotypes, have a feminine-sounding voice, and have a woman’s name) assist with more menial daily tasks like scheduling and service (e.g., Alexa, Cortana, Siri, Roomba, Effie, and Elli-Q) (see Mitchell et al. 2011; West et al. 2019). A more recent trend are robots that have been developed to have sex with humans: Unlike sex toys and dolls, which are typically sold in off-the-radar shops and hidden in closets, sexbots may become mainstream. A 2017 survey suggested almost half Americans think that having sex with robots will become a common practice within 50 years. (Shen 2019; see also Bame 2017)

Sex robots, sexbots, or sex dolls came onto the market around 2010. They can be personalized in all sorts of ways – “Those available now have skin that is claimed to feel lifelike, heated orifices, and the ability to groan on touch. They may have customisable eye colour, skin tone, hair styles, orifices and accents” (Andreallo 2019). There seem to be potential personal and societal benefits to sex robots as well: Proponents of sexbots have argued that sexbots will help reduce loneliness, improve health and marriages by enhancing sex lives, allow people to work through sexual and emotional challenges, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted infections (although you may have to worry about different kinds of viruses), and prevent sexual crimes by providing a “safer” alternative. (Yee 2018)

The technology available in the sex robots is such that the robots appear very lifelike; they are extremely customizable in terms of physical, emotional, and personality attributes. Given the important role that emotions play in sexual activity, it is natural to design sex robots to interact with humans in emotional ways, which requires artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, there are several open ethical questions concerning artificial intelligence systems in sex robots. First, ought we expect the same sort of moral agency from AI robots as we do from people (see Bryson 2008)? Second, ought we extend moral or legal norms to AI robots as we do people (see Frank and Nyholm 2017)? Third, what sorts of legal constraints must be put in place in response to the reality of AI robots (e.g., related to consent, abuse, pornography, prostitution, pedophilia, and

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personhood)? These questions apply beyond artificial intelligence in sex robots to other domains, such as autonomous mobile weapons, autonomous vehicles, or evening gaming systems (e.g., Go) – however, they are not all being addressed – “They say the technology is escaping oversight because agencies are too embarrassed to investigate it” (Ghosh 2020). Because artificial intelligence in sex robots is already a reality, there is an urgency for discussions in response to these sorts of questions even if they are uncomfortable to be had. Given the massive difference in sexual activities among men and women, and the role of artificial intelligence in these new products, it should be obvious that sex robots will be an active research area for those interested in gender and artificial intelligence.

Conclusion In nearly all facets of artificial intelligence, the continued promotion of oppression is a concern. Where do we go from here? It seems that the promotion of oppression is pervasive throughout all forms of artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, artificial intelligence is here to stay. Awareness, vigilance, and resistance are necessary to combat the promotion of oppression (for discussion see Hay 2013). Awareness and a clear understanding of the various ways in which artificial intelligence contributes to the oppression of women (and other vulnerable people) are necessary steps. Some groups are shining a light on this issue, such the United Nations’ 2013 campaign that raised awareness around “genuine Google searches” that too often entail discriminatory and sexist representations of women, denying them their human rights. Christopher Hunt, art director of the campaign, said, “When we came across these searches, we were shocked by how negative they were and decided we had to do something with them.” Kareem Shuhaibar, a copy-writer for the campaign, described on the United Nations website what the campaign was determined to

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show: “The ads are shocking because they show just how far we still have to go to achieve gender equality. They are a wake up call, and we hope that the message will travel far” (Noble 2018: 53–54, see also UN Women 2013). While necessary, this sort of understanding is only a first step. As Noble writes, “We are only beginning to understand the long-term consequences of these decision-making tools in both masking and deepening social inequality” (Noble 2018: 25). One promising means to combat these worries for artificial intelligence is the development of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) (for an introduction to XAI, see Molnar 2019, Arrieta et al. 2019, and Doshi-Velez and Kim 2017). XAI develops new methods for explaining behaviors of AI systems. It assists in showing how algorithms are making judgments, and it can be used to identify sources of bias and to correct them. Perhaps as explainable artificial intelligence grows and develops, it will contribute to identifying and eliminating oppressive biases in artificial intelligence. However, we also need non-technical means of governing our AI systems, such as greater diversity in the sector, along with regulations that allow public oversight of both their development and deployment.

Cross-References ▶ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ▶ Emotions, Rationality, and Gender ▶ Gender Identity ▶ Gender Stereotypes ▶ Gendered Representations in Media ▶ Mobile Technology and Gender Equality

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Bias

Birth Spacing: Achieving Gender Equality Under ▶ Gender Power Relations in the Medical Sustainable Development Profession Goals

Bioethical Principles ▶ Gender Equality Indicators in Higher Education: The SDG 5 Perspective and Bioethical Approach

Bioethics ▶ Gender Equality Indicators in Higher Education: The SDG 5 Perspective and Bioethical Approach

S. M. Haider Rizvi1 and Arpana N. Tirkey2 1 Education Expert at Ernst and Young LLP, State Vision Evaluation Team, Bhopal, India 2 Bhopal, India

On a global perspective, approximately 225 million women in the world have no access to family planning and therefore little control over whether and when they become pregnant. Providing women across the world with the choice to use effective contraception and to space their babies by 24 months or more, would prevent 54 million unintended pregnancies, 79,000 maternal deaths and 1.1 million infant deaths. The findings of these results stress the importance of birth spacing plans for optimal child health. Family planning is a key international priority that should not only be regarded as an intervention for improving health, but also as a human right. - Professor Lesley Regan, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Definition

Birth Control ▶ Gender and Family Planning in Nigeria

Birth spacing: It is commonly understood as the practice of waiting between pregnancies and practiced when the couples want to reduce the

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Gender Equality, Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95687-9

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Birth Spacing: Achieving Gender Equality Under Sustainable Development Goals

frequency of childbirth and go for not having many children. Birth spacing becomes must when either the wife or husband is not in the childbearing age or beyond the age. In both cases conceiving and giving birth to a child might be dangerous. It is widely agreed that if a woman is under 18 years of age or has crossed the age of 35 should not have a pregnancy. The adequate spacing between births reduces the child and the mother mortalities and also physical and mental health consequences. The criteria for determining birth spacing, the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are keeping objectives of reducing infant, child, and maternal mortalities and recommend waiting of at least 2– 3 years between pregnancies. Sustainable development goals (SDGs): Which are historic decision and resolve by the members of United Nations with 17 goals and 169 targets are efforts to balance the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Sustainable development goals focus on entire human development issues and seek to realize the human rights of all. The SDGs 3 and 5 and their indicators and targets are dedicated to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls (United Nations - SDGs Knowledge Platform).

Introduction The birth spacing is one of the important components of women empowerment and family planning programs and among the important priorities in gender equality and health space interventions. It has been made part of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and has been prominently spelled in “Goal 5: Gender equality envisages to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls with focus on the socio-psychological, economic, health, and legal factors”. It is emphasizing on universal access to sexual and reproductive health rights, informed decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use, access to sexual and reproductive health care, information and education are related to

birth spacing as well. It is supplemented by “Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages.” These targets in Goal 5 and 3 and their indicators are addressing the issues directly related to birth spacing. It states that “by 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births and end preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live births.” The countries in the world have full-fledged interventions for ensuring better health to their people. They have created infrastructure and services at various levels both with the curative and preventive approaches. Birth-spacing is commonly understood as the time interval between two births which is different for different countries and regions. The spacing between the births has been categorized differently and one of the standard criteria for the categorization is spacing between the births as