For the next few Fridays I am going to try and review a book that discusses feminism or discuss some of the issues facing women.
Recently
I heard a segment on the radio about a World Bank report called ‘Voice
and Agency: Empowering Women for Shared Prosperity’ and as I listening I
was reminded of how important it was for women to have an equal voice and
valued place in society as well as control over their bodies, income and
lifestyle.
This
report looks into how important it is that women and girls are able to have
control over their body, livelihood and lifestyle choices without fear of
retribution, fear or violence. It focuses on four aspects: freedom from
violence; control over sexual and reproductive health; control over land and
housing and; women’s voices or role in the political sphere.
Voice and Agency argues that
gender equality is not a zero sum game; increasing the agency of women and
girls does not decrease the ability of men to control over their lives. The
authors state that men and boys also benefit from the social and economic
empowerment of women and they provide many examples and interviews that back
this up.
It also looks at how cultural norms can impact on increasing the
voice and agency of women.
The
influence of cultural norms
Technically, women have always had
the same ability as men to do great things. However, cultural norms have often limited
their scope to pursue the same opportunities as men.
Authors
of Voice and Agency acknowledge the
improvement in gender equality over the past few decades but argue that ‘yet
even where gender gaps are narrowed, systematic differences often persist,
including widespread gender-based violence and lack of voice’ (page 2). But
these are an important start but true change will not happen unless there is
cultural change.
This argument is echoed elsewhere.
Anne Summer author of ‘The Misogyny
Factor’ argued that while there has great improvements with sex
discrimination legislation, Affirmative Action and women getting the vote but
is the wider culture that prevents women from getting truly respected and
included.
While cultural norms are often the
cause of female disempowerment, this report shows how these norms can change to
improve both the lives of women but also the wider community.
Why
is having Voice and Agency so important?
This report is based on the World Development Report 2012 that showed gender equality and
economic development are linked but can’t happen independently of each other.
Human
life is complicated and every decision that humans make have consequences. So
when people make decisions, for example about family planning, who to send to
school (or not) and divisions of labour, it affects not only that family but also
the wider community.
Voice and
Agency
not only shows the negative monetary cost of violence but the positive impact
that better educated women have on the wider society. It also shows how women
who have a strong voice develop policies that are more family focused. Property
ownership is also a big issue in this report as it enhances women’s standing in
the community which intensifies their voice and bargaining power.
The damaging
influence of violence
This
report argues that violence is worse in poorer and disempowered communities all
around the world. Violence against women is a breach of Human Rights and
diminishes their agency as individuals.
There
are many types of violence but sort of violence that is looked at in Voice and Agency is gender-based
violence (GBV) which is scarily common, according to a 2013 WHO which states
that over 35% of women world-wide have experienced physical or sexual violence.
Authors
of Voice and Agency indentify the
economic effects as being time off work, lower productivity and earnings. They
also cite studies that have found that violence against women impact children.
The flow on effects for these children are lower academic achievement and job
performance (which translates into lower job stability and life time earning)
but also they are more likely to grow up
to either be the perpetuators of violence or the victims of it. They also cite
other studies that link GBV with lower infant mortality, infant birth weight
and limited access to vaccinations.
According
to the Voice and Agency report, the economy
wide affects of GBV include service provision to support the victims, a
decrease in earnings and productivity and a ‘negative effect on human capital
formation’ (2014).
Reproductive
rights
As
a right, it seems so basic. To be able to enter into a marriage at an age that
you are physically, emotionally and mentally ready seems such common sense. But
the ability to choose whom to marry, start a family and decide on the number of
children you want to have should be human right but for so many, this right has
been denied.
This
report states that getting married later is associated with greater educational
achievements and lower fertility, and which in turn is linked to better
maternal and child health.
It
also cites research that highlights the dangers of pregnancy among those who
are under 18. This reports states that ‘each year, almost one in five women in
the developing world get pregnant before the age of18 and 7.3 million girls
under the age of 18 (2 million are under 15) give birth’ (page 106). The
dangers of being pregnant at such young age often results in obstetric fistula
and incontinence, which leads to social exclusion.
This
issue is complex and difficult to address. Voice
and Agency argue that marriage choices and having family should be based on
educated decisions and the life goals of women and girls should be fully
supported.
Also,
it motherhood and marriage shouldn’t be
seen as the only path for social mobility and societal recognition.
A room of
one’s own
Even
at the turn of last century, it was known the importance of women having an independent
income and a room of their own. While Virginia Wolf wrote her seminal feminist
text was a long time ago and maybe shouldn’t be taken literally, but the idea
is important.
The Voice and Agency argues that money
equals power and the more money women can call their own the more power they
have and control where they live, thus reaping the benefits of land and home
ownership. Owning land increases self-esteem, economic opportunities, mobility
outside the home and decision making power (2014).
It
also acts as insurance policy if women find themselves widowed or without a
male provider. With better land ownership provisions, they are able to have
access housing for themselves and their children.
The Voice and Agency report highlight many
challenges to women accessing home and land ownership. They are as follows;
- Social norms, customary practices, inaccessible and weak institutions as well as poor understanding among women of their rights are the barriers to land ownership;
- Family law, inheritance law, and land law all affect a women’s ability to buy land, including poor gender sensitive administration of these laws.
Strong
women, loud voices
To
fully participate in society, the voices of women and their views must be fully
respected. As the Voice and Agency
report points out ‘to have voice means having the capacity to speak up and be
heard and being present to shape and share in discussions, discourse and
decisions…participation in decision making enables women to voice their needs
and challenge gender norms in their community – individually and collectively’
(page 175).
It
makes sense that if women make up 50% of the population that they should have
more say about the things that influence themselves and their families.
Developing the voice of women also increases the accountability of decision
makers.
Women
who actively participate in society have greater respect than their male
counterparts as well as are good role models for many women and girls in their
community.
Why read
this book?
This
report how important it is for women to be educated and live lives free from violence
as doing so benefits the wider community. It is an interesting report with a
lot of great examples of positive change.
List
of references
Klugman,
Jeni., Hanmer, Lucia., Twigg, Sarah., Hasan, Tazeen., McCleary – Slls and
Santamaria, Judith. Voice and Agency:
Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity (World Bank, Washington:
2014)
Summers,
Anne. The Misogyny Factor (New South
Publishing, Sydney: 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment