Gender equality

Gender equality

The world is unequal and it is most unequal for women and girls. Most of the poorest people in the world are women and part of what makes them poor is the discrimination they face purely because of their gender.

These are the girls whose brothers go off to school in the morning while they stay at home to fetch water or work around the house.

They are the women who do the same jobs as men but get paid less, or whose wages go direct to a husband or a father. Or the women who are not allowed to get a job at all.

They are the women who are beaten, raped and infected with HIV and AIDS, the mothers who die in childbirth, the girls who are trafficked to be sold as a sexual commodity.

And they are also the activists who long to change the laws and traditions that deny them their rights, but are forbidden from taking part in any decision-making.

There is no doubt that when women gain equal rights with men, development is transformed. For example, educated girls have better opportunities to earn higher wages and to participate in community life and in decision-making. They are better informed about health risks such as HIV and AIDS. They tend to marry later, have fewer, healthier and better-nourished children and are more likely to send those children to school.

What DFID is doing

DFID is making progress in making gender equality a priority across its work. From girls’ education to microfinance, from HIV and AIDS to conflict resolution, and from maternal health to boosting the political participation of women, equality for women is at the heart of our work.

There have already been some real successes and millions of women and children have transformed their own lives, and those of their families and communities. From simple things like putting toilets in schools so that girls are able to get an education, to supporting projects that get more women into positions of political power so that they can be part of making the decisions that affect them.

But we need to do more and we need to do it now. We will build on these successes to make sure that women and girls are at the heart of all of our development work – where they should be.

Links

• Gender equality - at the heart of development (1470kb)
• Gender equality action plan (275kb)
• DFID Gender Equality Research from IDS Knowledge Services
• A Briefing on Gender and Indicators from IDS Knowledge Services
• Pathways of Empowerment South Asia - Youtube channel on DFID womens empowerment work
• A female mayor in Somaliland?