Gender Inequality in South Asia: Tracing Impediments to SDG 5 of UN Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) of the United Nations are the blueprints for a prosperous and sustainable future for the whole world. The SDG 5, entitled, ‘to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’, is one of its important goals. In South Asia, women have always been ostracized and remained underprivileged in accessing their rights due to gender inequality. Therefore, the study traces the entrenched problems and impediments to gender equality and explores the extent, range, and accessibility of women’s rights in the South Asian region, which supports the quest for women’s gender equality in achieving the United Nations SDGs. Qualitatively, findings reveal the abysmal position of South Asian region typifying low echelons for gender equality in every sphere. Hence, it focuses on suggesting efficacious measures such as improving the social and political rights of women and their full and effective inclusion in the mainstream that can help in women’s advancement and to curb gender inequalities that give significant impetus for the sustainable development of the region.

1. Introduction

Gender inequality is an inexorable problem in many parts of the world, including South Asian region. In South Asia, gender inequality is caustically entrenched in the customs and cultures of the societies that affect all aspects of women’s lives. In many parts of the region, women are sternly subjected to discriminatory practices and norms that limit their access to social life, i.e., education, healthcare, and economic opportunities and including political participation. This has significant repercussions on women’s health, well-being, and decision-making power. According to the Global Gender Gap Index (2022), ‘South Asia ranks the lowest, with only 62.3% of the gender gap closed in 2022. This lack of progress since the last edition extends the wait to close the gender gap to 197 years, due to a broad stagnation in gender parity scores across most countries in the region’. [1]: p. 6¹ Despite the significant progress in gender perspectives through equality made in recent years over the world, women in the South Asian region still face significant challenges in accessing their rights and realizing gender equality. In this respect, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) provide a prominent framework to address this issue and promote gender equality globally. SDG 5, in particular, focuses on achieving ‘gender equality and empowering all women and girls’. However, accomplishing this goal requires a deeper understanding of the challenges and impediments women face in the region. This study is a review article based on qualitative method studies to provide an overview of gender inequality in South Asia by reviewing the current status of accessibility of women’s rights through gaging secondary data including existing empirical studies on South Asia. It also seeks to identify strategies for promoting gender equality and providing policymakers with useful information on the key legal gaps and inconsistencies that have undermined efforts to address gender inequality, particularly in light of the constitutional guarantees, for developing efficacious policy measures to reduce gender disparity in achieving SDG 5.

Since the twenty-first century, the notion of ‘gender equality’ is strongly emphasized in the area of development. The process of development of any country cannot be imagined without adopting the principle of gender equality. Ignoring about half of the population in the mainstreaming process is an injustice to them. ‘Gender Equality’ as defined by United Nations Population Fund, is ‘Equality between men and women exists when both sexes are able to share equally in the distribution of power and influence; have equal opportunities for financial independence through work or through setting up businesses; enjoy equal access to education and the opportunity to develop personal ambitions, interests and talents; share responsibility for the home and children and are completely free from coercion, intimidation and gender-based violence both at work and at home’ [2].

Several retrospective studies [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10] proved gender equality is a key to development. Gender equality and development have a symbiotic bond. If a country improves its gender equality indicator, it progresses in every development sphere. Therefore, it is evident that a constructive relationship between development and gender equality, e.g., reducing poverty, improving access to good health, decision-making, and education, creates enormous opportunities for women. Gender inequality has been regarded as one of the leading barriers to the sustainable development of a society, country, or region at large. Discrimination based on gender can have a negative influence on the health, education, social, and economic prospects of the next generation. When gender norms are first internalized during childhood and adolescence, gender disparity first manifests.

2. Gender inequality in South Asia: problems and impediments

South Asia is strategically a significant geographic unit and sub-region in the Asian continent, covering a land area of about 5.13 million km² [11]. It is a region of diverse people, cultures, traditions, beliefs, and religions that results in a complex social structure which further plays a major role in defining women’s roles. It consists of eight countries viz.: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. The total population of South Asia is 1.94 billion, with women constituting about 48.8% and males constituting 51% approximately [11]. The Global Gender Gap Index (2022) placed Bangladesh at 71st rank out of 153 countries with an overall score of 0.714 and 1st in the South Asian region, followed by Nepal, which stands at 96th rank with a 0.692 score, Sri Lanka stands at 110th rank with a 0.0670 score, Maldives stands at 117th rank with a 0.648 score, Bhutan stands at 126th with a 0.637 score, India stands at 135th rank with a 0.629, Pakistan stands at 145th rank with a 0.564 score, and Afghanistan stands with 146th rank with 0.435 [1]. The status of women in this region is extremely subordinated to men. Gender inequality remains pervasive in South Asia, with women facing discrimination and exclusion from economic, social, and political opportunities. The root causes of gender inequality impeding equality in the region are complex and multifaceted, including cultural norms, patriarchal attitudes, and social and economic structures that perpetuate gender-based discrimination and exclusion. Patriarchal social standards make it harder for women, especially adolescent girls, to participate in family and community decision-making. The cultural and social norms often limit women’s mobility and autonomy and restrict their access to decision-making and leadership roles. Their capacity to seek the realization of their rights to health, education, and public and economic participation is diminished as a result. They are extremely dependent on men in all spheres, whether socio-economic or political.

Women in the South Asian region are severely underrepresented in political and public life. As depicted in Table 1, only Nepal provides a significant share of women in political participation, whilst India, Maldives, and Sri Lanka show lower participation of women in political sphere. During the previous government in Afghanistan, women’s participation was relatively better, whilst it has now restricted women’s participation in public life. Further, the report ‘Women in Politics: 2023’ [12] explicates dismal political representation, with women holding only 19% of parliamentary seats in South Asia. Only Maldives stands out in the top fifty positions, which ranked 42nd with 33.3% women having cabinet seats with significant participation of women, followed by Nepal at 120th with 15.8% women, Bhutan at 156th with 10% women, Bangladesh at 158th with 10% women, Pakistan at 161st with 9.4% women, India at 171st with 6.7% women, and Sri Lanka at 182nd with 0% women cabinet. The nations are positioned on low ranks, which is a matter of great international concern and can be attributed to gender disparity, due to which women face major challenges and lower levels of political participation. It also reveals no country can be credited for having Women Speaker in Parliament, and only India and Nepal have women as heads of the state in the whole region.

South Asian Country	Women in National Parliament (2022)	Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births) (2020)	Literacy Rate for Female (age 15 and above) **	Labour Force Participation Rate for women (2022)
Afghanistan	27*	620	17%	19.8%*
Bangladesh	21%	123	72%	32.7%
Bhutan	17%	60	57%	40.6%
India	15%	103	66%	23.5%
Maldives	5%	57	98%	27.4%
Nepal	33%	174	60%	38.1%
Pakistan	20%	154	46%	23.3%
Sri Lanka	5%	29	92%	34.2%

Table 1.

Significant indicators to measure gender inequality in South Asia.

*

As of year 2021.

**

Information is for different years as available on World Bank Data.

Source: The World Bank, See: https://www.worldbank.org/en/home.

Moreover, women in South Asia face a range of barriers to their rights and high rates of gender-based violence and discrimination in social life. Across South Asia, more than 37% of women have experienced intimate relationship violence during the recent worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, there are claims of an increase in sexual harassment and assault against women, both online and offline, as well as an increase in girl-child marriage in some cases [13]. In Sri Lanka, where women experience sexual harassment in busses and trains is reportedly 90% [14]. In South Asia, there is massive gender inequality in the home, institutions, and society that affects young girls and women. Unlike Bhutan and Nepal, most nations do not have laws against marital rape.

Further, high adolescent pregnancy rates and poor reproductive health for girls continue to be significant problems in this region, especially in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, where the need for contraception is frequently unfulfilled. In Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan (Table 1), maternal mortality is exceptionally high. Teenage girls are more prone to high maternal mortality in the region. By virtue of having the largest government health spending in the region, Maldives, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka have the good financial protection indicators. In Bhutan and Maldives, government is responsible for providing over 70% and 43% in Sri Lanka of the funding for health care whilst other parts of the region are still burdened with health care spending out-of-pocket or directly paid by households. Afghanistan and Bangladesh have notably high out-of-pocket spending percentages at 77% and 72%, respectively. This demonstrates how expensive health care is for households in these parts due to the inadequate government provision of healthcare services [15]. Evidence suggests that poverty, illiteracy, and social inequity support high rates of poor maternal and child health as vital factors in South Asia [16]. This elucidates the grave condition of maternal and child care in the region, which needs extra attention usually.

In the domain of education, access is frequently hampered by the interaction of gender and class for girls and women. Women and girls frequently experience the negative effects of inequality more acutely than do men and boys. Undeniably, due to lower-income countries, South Asian nations provide less governmental funding for education except for Bhutan, Nepal, and Maldives. According to a report, 3.37% of GDP is typically allocated to education in South Asian nations, the lowest proportion of any region and yet less than the global average of 4.8% [15]. This makes it more difficult for families and students to afford their education. As the facts reveal, females’ education is sometimes viewed as a less valuable investment than that of males. The family would lose out financially if girls continued their studies in addition to having to pay school fees and other expenses. This gender disparity is probably caused by significant divergent gender roles that assign men and women to paid and unpaid domestic and care duties, respectively. Women have a greater burden of household chores in the whole region [17]. Some families see girls’ education, especially education beyond high school, as a sunk expense because many girls are expected to marry and prioritize raising children rather than entering the workforce. However, in some nations, e.g., Sri Lanka and Maldives, the gender gap in familial investment is significantly less pronounced. Maldives has some of the best outcomes in the region, with a nearly 100% literacy rate and primary school enrolment. The literacy rate of the South Asian region is 65% for females (age 15 and above) in which Afghanistan is the lowest, standing at 17%, followed by Pakistan with 46%, Bhutan with 57%, Nepal with 60%, India with 66%, Bangladesh with 72%, Sri Lanka with 92%, and Maldives with 98% [18].

Notwithstanding, girls are less likely to get secondary and higher education in the whole region, whilst Afghanistan does not allow girls to get an education after primary level since 2021 under Taliban rule. Hitherto, from 2001 to 2018, girls’ enrolment at the primary level improved from zero to four out of ten students, reminiscently, the female literacy rate also increased from 17 to 30% in Afghanistan [19]. This is highly an abysmal situation for women in Afghanistan, where they are banned from getting their basic fundamental right to education.

In the economic sphere, women’s labour force participation rates (LFPR) fell from 35 to 30% between 1990 and 2013, creating a gender participation gap in the workforce of 50%. As shown in Table 1, Afghanistan, India, Maldives, and Pakistan have lower echelons for LFPR according to recent statistics. South Asia’s declining LFPR for women is primarily attributable to decreased participation rates in India as a result of younger women continuing their education and a general lack of employment prospects for women. Further, there is a 33% gender wage discrepancy (compared to a global 24% imbalance). The wage discrepancies between men and women are more extensive in urban than rural areas: urban women made 42% less than men, compared to 28% less in rural areas. Rural areas have lower-than-average incomes for both men and women, and rural women are at the bottom of the earnings scale in absolute terms. In South Asia, agriculture continues to be the primary industry for employment, with 71% of women and 47% of men employed in it. Almost all employment in the agriculture sector is informal. In the whole region, female health and care workers are frequently paid less than the minimum wage or are even hired on a voluntary basis, as is the case with Anganwadi childcare workers in India. Analytically, women in South Asia report doing unpaid care and household work at rates ten times greater than those of men in Pakistan, close to seven times greater in India, and close to three times greater in Bangladesh [20]. In Bhutan, overall unemployment has significantly decreased by 0.2%, whilst women’s unemployment has increased by 0.1% during 2021 [21]. Hence, women in South Asia are less likely than men to take part in the labour force, and when they do, they are often relegated to low-paying and insecure jobs.

3. Legal rights of women in South Asia

Constitutionally, South Asian nations follow the principle of equality and non-discrimination². Women are comprehensively provided with several rights to access all spheres of life without being discriminated. The Constitutions of South Asian States explicitly guarantee women’s rights as a fundamental right, and reaffirm the education, health, employment, equal pay for equal work, right to safe motherhood and reproductive rights, social security and property rights, and the inclusive sharing of women in all walks of life. Unambiguously guaranteeing women equal rights, the Constitutions also give the state the authority to enact effective policies that optimistically empower women in the socio-economic and public spheres³.

Undeniably, women are given the right to vote and contest elections at local and national levels to ensure political participation. Bangladesh guarantees 14% of parliamentary seats for women [22, 23]. Pakistan is also one of those nations that have benefitted women by giving certain electoral reservations to women at both local and national parliamentary levels [24, 25]. It provides 17% and 15% of seats to the lower house and Senate to be reserved for women, respectively [23, 25]. The new Constitution of Nepal guarantees imperatively 33% of seats for women at the national and state levels and about 40% at local government, strengthening the reliability of women’s political life at all levels of the three-tier government system under Article 176 (9), 215 (4), and 216 (4) of the Constitution of Nepal] [23, 26, 27]. Since India has only guaranteed 33% reservation for women at the local level, i.e., Panchayat Raj Institutions through the 73rd and 74th Amendment Act 1993 and also, some Indian states empower women with 50% reservation at the local panchayat level. Lately, on September 29, 2023, the Indian government also assented to the Women Reservation Bill that was pending before the parliament for a prolonged period, which may now grab 33% of reservations for women in parliamentary seats in upcoming elections.

Notwithstanding, Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka behold no quota system for women’s political representation at any level [23]. Further, in Afghanistan, women had equal rights to men under the Constitution of 2004. Even there was a significant reservation for women in national political representation under Article 84 that ensured reservation of 27% of seats in the Lower House and 50% of seats in the House of Elders for women [23, 28]. However, since August 2021, after seizing power again, the Taliban rule has utterly constricted women from enjoying public life [29].

In addition, several laws, development strategies, plans, and programmes have also been implemented to promote women empowerment and protect women from various kinds of gender-based violence against women in various spheres within the adequate framework of a democratic polity, e.g., National Gender Equality Policy (NGEP) 2020 in Bhutan [21], Joyeeta Onneshone Bangladesh in Bangladesh [30], Beti Bachao Beti Padhao in India [31], 2063 Amendment of Muluki Ain in Nepal (Marital rape law) [32], Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Bill in Pakistan [25], National Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2023) in Sri Lanka [33], etc. Formally, legislative provisions and policies by abolishing inequalities, prohibiting gender discrimination, and introducing system of reservations for women to some extent, small but gains have been grasped; a slight percentage of women have been benefited from educational opportunities, become wealthier, and risen to high government positions. However, these legal initiatives are not well enough to change society based on a patriarchal structure. Indeed, gender inequality remains a significant challenge in South Asia, and efforts to address this problem require an all-encompassing strategy that considers the intricate social, economic, and cultural factors perpetuating gender-based discrimination and exclusion.

4. SDG 5 of the united nations sustainable development goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. It is a crucial step en route for gender equality as the successor of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The UN General Assembly approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on September 25, 2015, as a further 15 years extension of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000 and came into force on January 1, 2016. The SDGs have 17 goals and 169 targets, with a plan to achieve its aims by 2030. South Asia is a committed member of this comprehensive plan and very firm in accomplishing the objectives mentioned in the 2030 Plan for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals assimilate ‘gender equality and women empowerment’ as one of their significant seventeen goals under SDG 5. It is an instrumental goal rather than an intrinsic, peremptorily, without achieving SDG 5 other goals will not be accomplished [31].

Furthermore, SDG 5 aims to realize and ensure the end of ‘discrimination’ against women and girls universally. Making an end to all forms of discrimination against women and girls is not just a rudimentary step to human rights, instead, it is optimistically necessary for the virtuous future of societies and humanity. Communities in the world will benefit as a whole if half of the humans get access to education, reasonable health care, and active inclusion in the social, economic, and political spheres. Gender equality is ubiquitously important to achieving the Agenda (2030) for Sustainable Development. Therefore, SDG 5 aims to ensure women’s inclusion in the mainstream and end all forms of discrimination against women everywhere. It envisions the creation of a world where every single woman and girl could be able to access full enjoyment of their socio-economic and political empowerment and the equality of sex and where the universal respect of human dignity and human rights could be realized, is a great step for the betterment of women development.

Following are the targets implicated under Goal 5:

• Target 1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere;

• Target 2: Eradicate all forms of violence against women and girls in all contexts, both public and private;

• Target 3: Eliminate all harmful practices against females;

• Target 4: Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work;

• Target 5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation in political, economic, and public life;

• Target 6: Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights;

• Target A: Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources;

• Target B: Improve ICT (information and communications technology) and other enabling technologies to support women’s empowerment.

• Target C: Adopt and reinforce sensible laws and policies to promote gender parity and women’s and girls’ empowerment at all levels [34].

With these nine targets, South Asia has also identified vital implied indicators to monitor progress in achieving this goal.

The Sustainable Development Report 2022 [35], which provides countries with progress information towards accomplishing the Agenda 2030 and embosses the conspicuous spheres that need significant attention, has revealed the despondent condition of South Asia concerning SDG 5. Most countries have been stagnant towards Goal 5 of the Sustainable Development Goals (2030), which shows their inefficaciousness in making ‘gender equality’ an uppermost priority of the nation’s development. By contrast, Bhutan and Nepal, where the status is improving comparatively to other nations of South Asia, however, have also been facing challenges like women poverty, abuse, violence, trafficking, maternal health, sanitation, and hygiene, women and girls in vulnerable situations, etc., to accomplish the SDGs’ Goal 5. Countries like Maldives and Sri Lanka, as demonstrated in Table 2, are far better than others in gaining upper ranks for overall Sustainable Development Goals, notwithstanding lackadaisical in mitigating gender inequality and endeavoring to make women equal and empowered people as guaranteed by the law. Hence, South Asia is still tackling to transpire itself towards gender equality and eradicate the evil social practice of gender inequality entrenched in the roots of South Asian society that has affected all spheres of life of girls and women.

Country	Rank	SDG index score	SDG 5 status
Afghanistan	147	52.49	Stagnating
Bangladesh	104	64.22	Stagnating
Bhutan	70	70.49	Moderately improving
India	121	60.32	Stagnating
Maldives	67	71.03	Stagnating
Nepal	98	66.18	Moderately improving
Pakistan	125	59.34	Stagnating
Sri Lanka	76	70.03	Stagnating

Table 2.

Status of South Asia for SDG 5.

Source: Sustainable Development Report 2022. https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/.

5. Conclusion

The Constitutions of South Asian nations outline their aspiration to establish an inclusive and equitable society constructed on the principles of equality and non-discrimination with the exception of the current Afghanistan rule. Recognizing the status and role of women in nation building, South Asian nations have taken several legal and policy measures for gender equality as the underlying cause of women’s rights. South Asia is also a signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 1979, whose sole purpose of coming into existence is to ‘end discrimination’ against women globally. Unequivocally, their commitment to women’s rights is enshrined in the laws of the land. The general principles regarding protecting women from all forms of discrimination and promoting their equal participation are notably appraisable in the region. Over the years, there has been a conspicuous development in legal frameworks for women’s equal participation in all spheres and their empowerment due to the consistent improvement in pertinent legal and policy backing along with political commitments in the region, however, in actual ground implementation, is inconsequential to accomplish the goal of SDG 5 at global echelons. Hence, gender perspective must be included in every aspect of South Asia’s development to advance women’s value and empowerment.

Despite making significant contributions to global economies through various activities, women in South Asia remain amongst the world’s most economically disadvantaged groups. They are often disproportionately discriminated against in the labour market, contending with low-skilled and informal jobs. They remained outside the ambit of financial inclusion, ensuing in poor access to formal banking systems and credit. Predominantly, women in India and Pakistan who are abridged by social and cultural barriers that force them to bear the brunt of unpaid work, preventing them from investing in their own well-being, and inhibiting their pursuit of economic opportunities, must be given prime importance at ground level. Further, governments must strongly emphasize the topographies of gender equality to escalate pro-poor growth strategies regarding women, as poverty delineates an obstruction to women coming into the mainstream. Women’s participation in economic activity should be advanced that generally depends on maintaining education, training, health, and enabling socio-economic environment. South Asia has observed significant but not sufficient changes, such as in Nepal, Maldives, over the years in relation to socio-economic condition of women. Efficacious strategies and efforts are still needed to improve women economic participation in India and Pakistan. Government must include a more effective and inclusive approach whilst adopting economic policies to increase gender parity in economic sphere. Giving women equal rights on land and property, access to technology and internet is also vital to their inclusive development.

Explicitly, women health also needs significant acceleration in efforts to cope with gender inequality in the South Asian region. Moreover, the region is severely prone to women insecurity and gender-based violence that also intersect to other spheres of advancement. Hence women’s protection from all kind of insecurity, crimes against women, socially evil practices should be addressed adequately and effectively. To address the discriminatory behavior towards women, accountability in current laws is required for the protection of women’s rights. Awareness and encouragement must be given at family level so that they support their girl and women to participate in economic sphere in the whole South Asian region.

India took a long way to guarantee the reservation of one-third of seats for females in legislative assemblies and Lok Sabha due to the apathetic attitude of the major parties represented in the parliament. However, it still failed to provide quota to the women of all marginalised sections in the newly enacted Women Reservation Act 2023, i.e., OBCs and minority women, which has left women of these sections effectively unrepresented in the national politics. In Bhutan and Sri Lanka, there is necessity to minimize the experience of gender inequality that is significantly affecting women’s political sharing. Conspicuously, Afghanistan is positioned to the region’s and even world’s lowest echelon of gender parity, hence, it should scrap discriminatory provisions against women and adopt women-inclusive legal measures and policies to enhance their participation in the country’s development. In addition, civil society organizations in the region must also be given strong support from the governments that can play a critical role in advocating for women’s rights and promoting gender equality. South Asia must embrace affirmative and optimistic elements for the mainstreaming of women in all domains, making it more advanced and progressive to fully realize SDG 5.