Hera Diani, Jakarta – Sex discrimination in the home is dangerous to the health and prosperity of the family, according to a new report.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) finds in its 2007 Report on the State of the World's Children that gender equity and the well-being of children are inextricably linked.
"When women are empowered to lead full and productive lives, children and families prosper," said UNICEF executive director Ann M. Veneman in a press statement.
"If we care about the health and well-being of children today and into the future, we must work now to ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities to be educated, to participate in government, to achieve economic self-sufficiency and to be protected from violence and discrimination," she said.
The report shows that in only 10 out of the 30 developing countries surveyed do 50 percent or more of women participate in all household decisions, including daily household spending, major purchases, their own health care and their visits with friends or relatives outside the home.
The consequences of excluding women from household decisions, the report said, can be as dire for children as they are for women.
For instance, women who have greater influence in household decisions can significantly improve their children's nutritional status. They are able to promote better health-care practices for the family and to encourage children to attend schools.
A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute suggests that if men and women had equal influence in decision-making, the incidence of underweight children below age three in South Asia would fall by as much as 13 percentage points, resulting in 13.4 million fewer undernourished children in the region. In sub-Saharan Africa, meanwhile, an additional 1.7 million children would be adequately nourished.
Women's increased involvement in political systems can also have a positive impact on the well-being of children.
The UNICEF report also noted that despite progress in women's status in recent decades, discrimination, disempowerment and poverty still loom over the lives of millions of girls.
Girls and women are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. When women work outside the household, their nominal wages are significantly lower than men's. Women make about 30 percent of men's salaries in the Middle East and North Africa, around 40 percent in Latin America and South Asia, 50 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and around 60 percent in East Asia and industrialized countries.
Millions of women are subject to physical and sexual violence, with little recourse to justice. Girls are less likely to attend school as the result of discrimination, with nearly one out of every five girls enrolling in primary schools in developing countries failing to finish primary education.
Education levels among women, according to the report, correlate with improved outcomes for child survival and development.
UNICEF proposes seven key focus areas to enhance gender equality: Education; funding; legislation ensuring a level playing field for women alongside measures to prevent and respond to domestic violence and gender-based violence in conflict; legislative quotas; women empowering women; engaging men and boys; and improved research and data.