people and planet

3
FIGURE 3.1:
There has been progress in improving basic education and
health outcomes and providing essential basic services,
but major challenges remain
Access to basic services, and health and education outcome
improvements, 2000 and latest year
Gross intake
ratio to the
last grade
of primary
school (%)
Under-5
mortality rate
(per 1,000)
Population
with access
to non-solid
fuel (%)
Population
with access
to electricity
(%)
Population
with access
to improved
water source
(%)
Population
with access
to improved
sanitation
facilities (%)
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
Low income
Lower middle income
Upper middle income
High income
0
2000
latest year
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Notes: The ‘latest year’ is 2012 for access to non-solid fuels and access
to electricity, 2014 for gross intake ratio to the last grade of primary
education, and 2015 for under-5 mortality rate and access to water and
sanitation facilities.
Sources: UIS database and World Bank (2016).
relationships of well-being they value, without
penalties associated with their gender (Robeyns,
2007; Sen, 1999, 2011).
While the concept of equality between women and
men was set out in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights in 1948, SDG 5 still aims to ‘Achieve gender
equality and empower all women and girls’ by 2030.
Clearly, gender inequality has persisted in all countries,
in a variety of forms, despite the long-standing
recognition that resolving gender inequality is important
for all other human and social development indicators
(Aguirre et al., 2012; Amin et al., 2015; Klasen and
Lamanna, 2009).
There has been progress. In the past 70 years, myriad
efforts have focused on improving women’s access
to social and legal institutions and services through
international agreements, such as the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) in 1979, and national reforms, such
as the 2016 ruling in India by the High Court of Delhi
that the eldest woman in a Hindu family can be the
head of the family (Garg, 2016). With more women
in the workforce, an increasing number of countries
have introduced laws and policies to equalize women’s
status at work and provide maternity leave and child
care services (UN Women, 2015). National and global
commitment and advocacy have led to improvement in
girls’ access to education and in reduced gender gaps
(UNESCO, 2015).
secondary education, which is part of just
one of the seven targets under SDG 4 on education
(Chapter 10). Similarly, while health outcomes have
improved, most of the world’s people lack access to
universal health coverage and to sexual and reproductive
health services, which are some of the targets under
SDG 3 on health (WHO, 2016). Nor is the availability
of services the only issue; access to them and
who benefits from them are equally important, and
affected by diverse factors.
SUBSTANTIVE GENDER EQUALITY
REMAINS ELUSIVE
Inclusive social development means access not only to
services, but also to participation in processes, along
with freedom from discrimination. 1 For gender equality,
individuals and groups should have equal opportunity
to choose and realize the actions, attributes and
Nevertheless, participation in key economic, political
and social activities remains highly gendered. Men and
women work in different sectors, with unequal pay and
work conditions. Significant pay gaps exist between
men and women doing the same job in virtually all
occupations (UN Women, 2015). Within institutions,
women face difficulty in moving to more senior positions
(the ‘glass ceiling’) and are over-represented in low paid,
insecure and low status positions (ILO, 2012). Women in
many countries do at least twice as much unpaid work
as men, and work longer hours than men if paid and
unpaid work is combined (UN Women, 2015). Women
disproportionately work in the informal economy in
countries with high informality, and in the agricultural
workforce without land and asset ownership (UN
Women, 2015) (Figure 3.2).
Analysis of occupation and education trends shows
that men and women continue to be concentrated in
2016 • GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT 69