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SECTION 1 2 3
WHAT CAN BE DONE
gap between women and men. Again, women are the main beneficiaries of
these, as they are the ones most likely to work in insecure or low-paid jobs.
Progressive taxation also benefits women more, as it means the burden of
tax falls on rich men, while the public services it pays for more often benefit
poorer women.
Understanding the differential impact of public policies and public spending
decisions on women and men is essential to maximizing the positive impact of
policies on reducing gender inequality, as well as tackling economic inequality.
Governments need to undertake gender impact analyses based on sexdisaggregated
data. South Africa did so and then introduced a child-support
grant for the primary caregivers of young children from poor households. The
grants reach poor, black and rural women better than previous measures. 484
In India, the Ministry of Agriculture introduced a gender-budgeting programme
for rural women, who are the major producers of food, with significant
participation by those women. As a result, in 2000 the National Agriculture
Policy encouraged state governments to direct at least 30 percent of their farm
budget allocations to women farmers, and set minimum standards for their
access to irrigation subsidies, training, credit and farming-related governance
structures. Strengthening women’s role in farm programmes and communities
has enhanced the food and economic security of their families. 485
South Korea has introduced a number of measures for women workers,
including lengthening pre- and post-natal maternity leave and paternity
leave, becoming the first country in East Asia to do so. Return to Work Centres
provide women with employment information, vocational training and childcare
services, and generous subsidies encourage employers to hire and retain
female workers before, during and after pregnancy. 486 Nevertheless, the gap
in wages between women and men remains very high and progress in narrowing
it over the last 40 years has been slower than expected, showing that far more
needs to be done. 487
South Korea’s rapid economic growth since the 1960s has been fuelled
by labour-intensive exports that have employed mainly women. In theory,
sustained high demand for female labour, coupled with narrowing gender
educational gaps, should lead to much more progress towards achieving wage
parity than has been observed over the last 40 years. Progress, however, has
been very slow in South Korea (as it has been in other East Asian economies,
including Japan, Hong Kong, China and Singapore).
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