This is slightly late but I hope it didn't escape your notice that Monday March 8 was International Women's Day. In India where I was, it was impossible to not know what day it was not only because I was there for the launch of the Asia Pacific Human Development Report by UNDP which focuses on gender this year but also because the Indian Parliament's Upper House, the Rajya Sabha, was trying to pass a bill that would ensure that 33% of all places in the Parliament and in state legislatures are reserved for women.

As it happened, the Bill was not passed on March 8 because pandemonium broke out in the Rajya Sabha. Some MPs tried to disrupt the passing of the Bill by attacking the chair of the House, even tearing up the Bill to shreds. As a result, the Government had to hastily call an emergency meeting to find a way of ensuring that it passed.

On Tuesday March 9, the bill was passed, 186 votes for and only 1 against. The seven MPs who had disrupted the session the previous day was suspended by the Chairman of the house. Now it has to go to the Lower House, the Lok Sabha to be passed and no doubt it will be just as controversial there, as it has been since it was first mooted some 14 years ago.


For me it was interesting to note that all the political parties wanted to be seen to be supportive of the Bill and of women. Even those who were opposed to it were not opposed to women per se but wanted there to be reservations within the reservations for lower caste and minority (eg Muslim) women. I'm not sure why this was not acceded to but it has to be noted that at the village level committees, the Panchayats, there are already reserved places for women and this has resulted in many many women getting elected to office, becoming empowered and doing much good for society as a whole.

Norti Bai speaking at the HDR launch, New Delhi, March 8 2010

One such woman was Norti Bai. An illiterate Dalit (lower caste) woman from a village in Rajasthan, Norti Bai spoke at the launch of the HDR of how she had gone to court to fight for minimum wages for both men and women and won. Since that boost to her confidence, she stood for elections in her village and won and has been fighting for women's rights ever since. It was quite impressive how she stood up and spoke in front of an audience of VIPs, academics, social activists and foreign guests with absolute confidence and passion. This is why not only a reservations or quotas for women important but also local elections because they provide the training ground for ordinary people before they go on to the national stage.

Kasturba Ghandi

Recognition of women of achievement in India was everywhere. The Economic Times featured 33 prominent Indian women ranging from Kasturba Ghandi (Ghandi's wife), the sportswoman PT Usha, the writer Arundhati Roy, the director Mira Nair and my fellow panellist, Vinita Bali, CEO of Brittania Industries. At the India International Centre, there was a photo exhibition of prominent Indian women. Most interesting of all, Air India decided to mark the day by having all-women flight crews fly some of their routes. (Our own national airline, by the way, still will not employ any women pilots and believes that female flight attendants are incapable of having children and working.)

Coming back to the HDR report, the theme this year was Power, Voice and Rights:A turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific. Asia and the Pacific still lags behind other parts of the world when it comes to gender equality in many areas. Here are just some of the main facts about the gender gap in Asia:

* In the Asia Pacific region. South Asia's rankings for many gender gap indicators are often close to or even lower than those in sub-Saharan Africa. (South Asia comprises India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan).

* Female life expectancy at birth was 74 years in East Asia and the Pacific in 2007, compared to 66 years in South Asia. (East Asia includes ASEAN and China, Japan, North and South Korea and Mongolia) (Male life expectancy was 70 and 63 years respectively.)

* In South Asia, the gap between female-male enrolment grows sharply as girls and boys move upwards through the education system, from 94% female to male enrolment in primary schools, to 84% in secondary schools to 71% in tertiary education. The primary and secondary gaps in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are the largest in the world.

*The gap between political participation between men and women is large worldwide. The Asia-Pacific region contains the second-lowest percentages of women parliamentarians in the world -the Arab region has the lowest.

* More boys than girls are born in Asia as a whole than any other region in the world. And the divide is increasing over time. East Asia has the highest male-to-female sex ratio at birth - 119 boys for every 100 girls.

* In 2007, the number of women and girls who were 'missing' - who died because of discriminatory treatment in acces to health and nutrition or who were eliminated before they were born - was close to 100 million in seven Asian countries. (Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, North Korea, Nepal and Pakistan. Together China and India account for an estimated 85 million of those 'missing' girls.)


*More than 65% of female employment in South Asia and more than 40% in East Asia is in agriculture - yet women in the Asia pacific region head only 7% of farms, compared with 20% in most other regions of the world.

* In countries such as India, Indonesia and Malaysia, conservative estimates show that GDP would increase by up to 2-4% annually if women's employment rates were raised to 70%, closer to the rate of many developed countries. (Take that, Mr CUEPACS!)

* Women earn less than men in Asia-Pacific countries - women earn 54-90% of what men earn.

* Only one-third of Asian-Pacific countries have a gender quota in place for Parliament. However some Asia-Pacific countries emerging from conflict have used the opportunity to significantly enlarge women's political representation, for example 39% in Nepal and 29% in Timor-Leste. (Only 15% of Malaysia's parliamentarians are women).

*Most Asia Pacific countries discriminate against women in inheritance laws. More than half of South Asian, one third of East Asian and two-thirds of Pacific countries have customary and formal laws on asset inheritance that discriminate against women.

* More than one-tenth of women in Asia and the Pacific report assaults by their male partners, yet nearly half of South Asian and more than 60% of Pacific countries have no domestic violence laws.

* In Asia and the Pacific, women's representation in justice systems remains low. Women police officers, for example, range between 2-19% of police forces in parts of Asia-Pacific where data is available. ( In Malaysia, it's 15%.)

* Discrimination in economic and social rights against women edged upward in developing countries across Asia Pacific between 2004 and 2007. In East Asia and the Pacific, the percentage of countries with high economic discrimination icreased from zero in 2004 to over 7% in 2007. In South Asia it went from an already high 33% to 44% in the same period.

That's just some of the facts in the report. There are lots more detail which make fascinating reading and really proves that when women say we are being discriminated against, we are not making it up.

So how did Malaysia celebrate International Women's Day? By saying nothing about the 30% places for women in decisionmaking positions (including Parliament) which we have committed to in CEDAW but which we are dragging our feet on? By still only talking about a Sexual Harassment Law and not at all moving on it. (Pakistan (Pakistan!!) by the way passed one such Act today.) By only wanting to investigate how come we still, in 2010, have child brides instead of denouncing it as an archaic practice that should be eliminated? By complaining about there being too many women in the civil service? By not lifting reservations on the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) citing religious objections? By caning women?

Are we really in the 21st century??