Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development

Within the past decade the Maldives moved from poverty to middle-income status, introduced democracy, and was hailed as a Millennium Development Goal Plus country. Women face little discrimination in basic aspects of life such as primary education, health and survival – unlike in much of South Asia....

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Main Authors:	El-Horr, Jana, Pande, Rohini Prabha
Format:	Book
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2016
Subjects:	GENDER MALDIVES YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PRIVATE SPHERE PUBLIC SPHERE INEQUALITY MASCULINITY WOMEN UNEMPLOYMENT FAMILY INCLUSION
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24118

id	okr-10986-24118
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-241182021-04-23T14:04:19Z Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development El-Horr, Jana Pande, Rohini Prabha GENDER MALDIVES YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PRIVATE SPHERE PUBLIC SPHERE INEQUALITY MASCULINITY WOMEN UNEMPLOYMENT FAMILY INCLUSION Within the past decade the Maldives moved from poverty to middle-income status, introduced democracy, and was hailed as a Millennium Development Goal Plus country. Women face little discrimination in basic aspects of life such as primary education, health and survival – unlike in much of South Asia. This economic and social progress has yet to be fully inclusive, however, and gender inequality endures, despite constitutional guarantees to the contrary. This is at least partly due to a shift in the nature of Islamic practice in the Maldives towards more rigidly patriarchal interpretations. Women’s labor force participation is high, but limited to lower echelons of the economy. Women are slightly more likely than men to be unemployed. Despite gender-equal primary schooling, girls’ access to tertiary and professional education is hampered by beliefs about girls’ and women’s mobility, and primacy of household roles over others. Within the home, women face challenges that men do not, such as high risks of domestic violence and little control over household assets. Finally, women have limited presence in politics and governance. Men struggle with different gendered situations. Unemployment is high among young men, who also increasingly are alienated from society and family. This alienation, combined with a lack of strong alternative social structures to replace the breakdown of traditional family structures that has accompanied Maldives’ development trajectory, appear to be propelling young men towards greater social conservatism, participation in gangs, drug use and violence. Nonetheless, women are more disadvantaged in more realms of life than are men. Moreover, public support for gender equality and women’s rights appears to be declining. These developments are worrying for the future of gender equality in the Maldives, as well as for a more inclusive development model that would offer opportunities to both men and women. 2016-04-25T15:56:28Z 2016-04-25T15:56:28Z 2016-05-08 Book 978-1-4648-0868-5 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24118 English en_US Directions in Development--Countries and Regions; CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Publication South Asia Maldives
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English en_US
topic	GENDER MALDIVES YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PRIVATE SPHERE PUBLIC SPHERE INEQUALITY MASCULINITY WOMEN UNEMPLOYMENT FAMILY INCLUSION
spellingShingle	GENDER MALDIVES YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PRIVATE SPHERE PUBLIC SPHERE INEQUALITY MASCULINITY WOMEN UNEMPLOYMENT FAMILY INCLUSION El-Horr, Jana Pande, Rohini Prabha Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development
geographic_facet	South Asia Maldives
relation	Directions in Development--Countries and Regions;
description	Within the past decade the Maldives moved from poverty to middle-income status, introduced democracy, and was hailed as a Millennium Development Goal Plus country. Women face little discrimination in basic aspects of life such as primary education, health and survival – unlike in much of South Asia. This economic and social progress has yet to be fully inclusive, however, and gender inequality endures, despite constitutional guarantees to the contrary. This is at least partly due to a shift in the nature of Islamic practice in the Maldives towards more rigidly patriarchal interpretations. Women’s labor force participation is high, but limited to lower echelons of the economy. Women are slightly more likely than men to be unemployed. Despite gender-equal primary schooling, girls’ access to tertiary and professional education is hampered by beliefs about girls’ and women’s mobility, and primacy of household roles over others. Within the home, women face challenges that men do not, such as high risks of domestic violence and little control over household assets. Finally, women have limited presence in politics and governance. Men struggle with different gendered situations. Unemployment is high among young men, who also increasingly are alienated from society and family. This alienation, combined with a lack of strong alternative social structures to replace the breakdown of traditional family structures that has accompanied Maldives’ development trajectory, appear to be propelling young men towards greater social conservatism, participation in gangs, drug use and violence. Nonetheless, women are more disadvantaged in more realms of life than are men. Moreover, public support for gender equality and women’s rights appears to be declining. These developments are worrying for the future of gender equality in the Maldives, as well as for a more inclusive development model that would offer opportunities to both men and women.
format	Book
author	El-Horr, Jana Pande, Rohini Prabha
author_facet	El-Horr, Jana Pande, Rohini Prabha
author_sort	El-Horr, Jana
title	Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development
title_short	Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development
title_full	Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development
title_fullStr	Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development
title_full_unstemmed	Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development
title_sort	understanding gender in maldives : toward inclusive development
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2016
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24118
_version_	1764455702572564480

Understanding Gender in Maldives : Toward Inclusive Development

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