SESSION 3: WHY IS GENDER IMPORTANT

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KEY MESSAGES

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STATISTICS

• Women make up almost half of the world’s population (United Nations Population Division, 2013)
• 2 out of every 3 of the world’s poorest people are women, living on less than $1.25/day (Green, 2010)
• 2 out of every 3 people who cannot read and write are women (Ford, 2015).
• Less than 2 out of every 10 elected officials in the world’s national parliaments are women (UNWomen, 2012)
• Girls with disabilities experience greater exclusion and injustice as a result of their disability and gender. (Plan International, Include Us in Education, 2014)

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SOME UPDATED GLOBAL STATISTICS

• Globally, the world counts slightly more men (50.3 per cent) than women (49.7 per cent) in 2022. (United Nations Population Division, 2022).
• On an average day, women globally spend about three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 hours compared to 1.7). (UN Dept of Social and Economic Affairs, 2020)
• In 2020, only 47% of women of working age participated in the labour market, compared to 74% of men (Ibid)
• In terms of power and decision making, women held only 28% of managerial positions globally in 2019 – almost the same proportion as in 1995. (Ibid)
• Women’s representation in parliaments was still below 25% of parliamentary seats in 2020. (Ibid)
• Women continue to be underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, representing only slightly more than 35% of the world’s STEM graduates. (Ibid).
• Women are also a minority in scientific research and development, making up less than a third of the world’s researchers (Ibid).

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SUGGESTED STATISTICS FOR LAOS

• It would be useful to have some specifics from Laos – please be sure to reference the source and the date

Some examples that may be relatively easy to source may include:

• Enrolment rates – particularly at upper levels of schooling
• Enrolment in STEM subjects at TEIs
• Number of girls/boys marrying before the age of 18
• Male / female representation in Parliament
• Literacy rates

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SESSION 3, ACTIVITY 1: WHY IS GENDER IMPORTANT?

• Who has power in the home? Men or women?
• Do men or women make decisions over how money is spent?
• Do men or women make decisions about the activities of women and girls in the home and outside the home?
• Do men or women make decisions about whether children attend school?
• Who has power in your school?
• Men or women? Are they equal?
• Do women or men have more power to make decisions?
• Do they participate equally in discussions? If not, who participates more?
• Are they compensated equally for their work?
• Do these differences in power affect how parents and teachers treat boys and girls? How?
• And do differences in power affect how boys and girls behave and the kind of activities they do.

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ACTIVITY: POWER WALK, GENDER AND ACCESS TO EDUCATION

• Refer to resource 3c
• Which of the characters is it easy to understand that they may have privilege. Which ones that they may be disadvantaged? Point out that women and girls are often disadvantaged.
• Which ones need to be adapted to aid understanding when reading out the Powerwalk statements.

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