What influences women’s participation in water governance? Learning from polder zones of Bangladesh

Background Malaria remains a significant public health issue in Ethiopia, particularly for vulnerable populations like women and children. Gender-based inequalities in malaria knowledge, attitudes, and access to information persist, intersected by socio-economic and cultural factors. This study explores these intersectional gender inequalities in malaria information access and attitudes toward preventive services in the Jimma Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Methods A mixed-methods study was conducted from August 28 to September 9, 2023, in malaria-endemic districts of Jimma Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Qualitative data included 12 focus group discussions (FGDs), 2 in-depth interviews (IDIs), and 11 key informant interviews (KIIs) to explore gender inequalities. Quantitative data comprised a community-based cross-sectional survey of 2,201 respondents (1,086 females and 1,112 males) to assess sex disparities. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis (ATLAS.ti), while quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS. Comprehensive malaria knowledge was scored based on responses to 17 items, and attitudes towards services were evaluated from 31 items across five constructs. Statistical significance was determined via ANOVA and Chi-square tests. Results Findings revealed comparable overall exposure to malaria messages for both sexes, with 51.7% of females and 52.2% of males reporting exposure to malaria information within the last 12 months. However, significant differences were observed in the sources of malaria information between the sexes. Males reported greater exposure to messages on insecticide-treated nets (54.0% vs. 47.1%) and sanitation (46.7% vs. 40.6%). Qualitative findings highlighted societal expectations that often confine females to domestic roles, limiting their access to malaria information. Males exhibited slightly higher comprehensive malaria knowledge, with a mean score of 10.89 compared to 10.31 for females. While attitudes towards malaria services were generally positive across both sexes, males demonstrated greater confidence in accessing preventive care (mean = 7.15 vs. 6.61, p = 0.000).Intersectional factors such as age, education, residence, and weal were found to significantly influence malaria knowledge and attitudes. Conclusion This study revealed the impact of gender intersecting with other factors on malaria information access, knowledge, and attitudes toward malaria prevention services, emphasizing the need for gender-sensitive interventions to empower women and girls in malaria prevention and control.

The rhetoric of community participation in urban South African water governance

The presence of a teacher in the classroom is central to the provision of schooling, with accumulating evidence showing that teacher absence compromises student learning (e.g., Duflo and Hanna 2005; Das et al. 2006; Das et al. 2007). Teacher absence is common in schools in low‐ and middle‐income countries. In six low‐ and middle‐income countries, 11–27 percent of primary school teachers were absent on the day of the school visit (Chaudhury et al. 2006). Only 3 percent of teachers were absent due to “sanctioned” causes such as illness or participation in election or public health campaigns. In four states in India, one‐third of head teachers were absent at the time of the primary school visit, and teaching‐related activity (supervising written work, writing on the blackboard, teaching by rote, or teaching via any other method) was found in only about one‐half of schools (PROBE Team 1999). Teachers were instead found to be minding the class, outside the classroom, talking to their peers, or engaged in other nonteaching activities. With much of the developing world making rapid progress in achieving universal primary school enrollment and gender equality in enrollment, Pakistan lags substantially behind other nations at its income level on both measures (Easterly 2003). This is due to a large extent to the exclusion of girls from education, particularly in rural areas. In Pakistan, government schools for boys and girls are separate; in addition, only women are employed as teachers in government girls’ schools and only men teach in government boys’ schools. The lack of a nearby government school for girls in rural communities is a significant barrier to girls’ access to schooling, with a third of rural communities lacking a government girls’ primary school (Lloyd et al. 2005; World Bank 2005). “Access” to schooling depends not only on the physical availability of schools by type (i.e., government girls’, government boys’, or private schools) but also on other supply‐side barriers to use, such as the presence of the teacher and whether or not the teacher is actually teaching. As we confirm in our study, teacher absence is high in government schools and particularly among women who teach in girls’ schools. Little empirical attention has been paid to the factors correlated with teacher absence among female compared to male teachers in government schools or how the higher absence rate among female teachers differentially affects opportunities to learn among girls as compared to boys attending public primary schools. Specifically, in a government school system where schools for boys and girls are separate and where only women teach girls and men teach boys, the higher absence rate among female teachers may limit access to schooling for girls more so than for boys, further exacerbating existing gender inequalities in primary school access. In this article we focus on teacher absence among female teachers in government girls’ schools, male teachers in government boys’ schools, and, by way of comparison, among teachers in private coeducational schools in rural Pakistan. First, we analyze the school and teacher‐level characteristics that are correlated with absence in teachers in each of these three types of schools. Second, we examine how teacher absence differentially affects access to schooling among girls enrolled in government girls’ schools as compared to pupils enrolled in boys’ school or in coeducational private schools. We conducted our analysis using data collected on teachers and pupils in 1997 and 2004 from primary schools serving 12 villages in rural Punjab and Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).

Education is a fulcrum for achieving progress in all aspects of human life. This is in consonance with the 1998 World Conference on Education Commitment that higher education should be geared towards development and progress. Therefore, it is expected that higher education is equally accessible to all, all persons seeking higher education have optimal range of choice and participation of women in higher education should be emphasized. This paper, therefore, examine the meaning of gender inequality, access and equity, as well as the rationale to ensure gender equitable access in university education in Nigeria. Also, the paper highlights the trends in male and female enrolment in university education and the factors that give rise to gender inequality in equitable access to university education in Nigeria. Finally, the paper examines measures to enhance gender equitable access to university education in Nigeria. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n7p129

Broad public participation in water resources management is necessitated by strong public good qualities. Nevertheless, it is only a relatively recent phenomenon in Australia. Government and commercial/industrial hegemony over water resources is predominant. The procedural vehicles for public participation in Australian water governance have been consultation and litigation. Both exhibit limitations. Consultation represents an administrative and discretionary approach to involvement; flexible, widely used, but lacking in policy direction and sophistication. This chapter discusses consultation as a method of participation generally as well as in the specific circumstances of Aboriginal engagement. Adjudicative approaches benefit from an established model of judicial practice, including reasoned outcomes and methods of inquiry, but are infrequently used in Australia, whether in civil litigation or in administrative decision-making. Each procedural framework presents possible pathways to widen community engagement in management of water as a crucial public resource. Lessons from the Australia experience of public participation in water governance are identified across both consultative and adjudicative modes.

BackgroundIn health crisis, inequalities in access to and use of health care services become more evident. The objective of this study is to analyse the existence and evolution of gender inequalities in access to and use of healthcare services in the context of the COVID-19 health crisis.MethodsRetrospective cohort study using data from all individuals with a confirmed COVID-19 infection from March 2020 to March 2022 in Aragón (Spain) (390,099 cases). Health care access and use was analysed by gender for the different pandemic waves. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the effect of sex in health care. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition methods were performed to explain gender gaps observed.ResultsThe health care received throughout the COVID-19 pandemic differed between men and women. Women were admitted to hospital and intensive care units less frequently than men and their stays were shorter. Differences observed between men and women narrowed throughout the pandemic, but persisted even after adjusting for age, socioeconomic status, morbidity burden or the patient's place of residence. Differences in sociodemographic characteristics and morbidity burden could explain partially the gender inequalities found, mainly in the later phases of the pandemic, but not in the earlier waves.ConclusionsThere were gender inequalities in access to and use of health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequalities were greater in the first waves of the pandemic, but did not disappear. Analysis of health crises must take into account an intersectional gender perspective to ensure equitable health care.

The Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing during September 4-15, 1995, was a major success. The platform for action adopted by consensus at the conference is comprised of the mission statement, a global framework, critical areas of concern, strategic objectives and actions, and institutional and financial arrangements. The conference was an extension of other large international conferences organized under UN initiative over the past 15 years. The Beijing platform of action aims to remove all obstacles to women's active participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share in economic, social, cultural, and political decision-making. The following concerns were defined by the conference: eradicating poverty, increasing school enrollment and eliminating gender inequalities in access to education, improving access to health care and eliminating gender inequalities in access to services, eliminating violence against women, mitigating the consequences of armed conflicts against women, securing equal access of men and women to economic resources and employment, providing equal participation of men and women in power structures and decision making, enhancing national mechanisms to promote the advancement of women, protecting the rights of girls and women, eradicating stereotypes about women, participating in the management of natural resources and environmental protection, and improving the status of girls.

Introduction: Gender inequality in access to dialysis facility and renal transplantation is extensively reviewed amongst adult patients. However, less is known about extent of gender inequality among pediatric CKD population. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective data analysis of pediatric kidney transplants performed at single center from Gujarat from 2005 to 2019. Data was analyzed to look for gender inequality among donors and recipients. Further, children with ESRD on dialysis at center were observed for gender differences. We also reviewed gender difference among these ESRD patients for their process of transplantation. Results: During 2005 to 2019, 412 pediatric transplants were performed. Out of these, 329 (79.85%) were live renal transplants and 83 (20.14%) were deceased donor organ transplants. Remarkable gender difference was seen with boys (323, 78.4%) being majority of recipients versus girls (89, 21.6%). Also, among live donors, females have been major donors (237, 72%). However, among 83 cadaver donors, 53 (63.8%) were male. Currently, total 326 patients are on dialysis. Out of 326 ESRD patients on dialysis,207 (63%) are boys as compared to 119(37%) girls. Among these 326 patients 10 are under live related transplant work up (7 male, 3 female). Out of 326 patients, 34 are registered under state cadaver organ donor program, amongst them 22 (64%) are boys. Conclusion: Gender inequality in access to renal replacement therapy does exist. Girls have lower chances of receiving dialysis and transplantation than boys, but female constitute majority of living kidney donors. However, reasons for this gender difference for treatment choices is not very well studied, but sociocultural influences and socioeconomic factors are possible causes. Greater attention is necessary to improve the outcome of pediatric female patients with ESRD.

Access to the social security schemes by the public is important in ensuring the social welfare of individuals both in the formal and the informal sector, thus the motivation to carry out a study on the challenges facing access to the schemes by the members of the informal sector. This is a sociological study on gender inequality in the access to formal security schemes among members of the informal sector in Laikipia East District. This study was motivated by the desire to document the possible challenges faced by members in this sector in accessing formal social security schemes while taking into consideration the gender differences. Social development theory was used to explain the relationship between the variables of the study. Literature review showed that despite the presence of various legislative provisions on social security in Kenya, the level of access to social security among members in the informal sector had not been widely documented. The study adopted a descriptive statistics research design. The unit of analysis were members of the informal sector. Stratified sampling technique was used to sample 200 respondents for the study while purposive sampling technique was used to sample the key respondents. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as instruments for data collection. Cross-tabulation was done to show the relationship between different variable investigated. This study found that there was low access to social security schemes among the members of the informal sector where female members were found to have less access to the schemes (5.5%) compared to their male counterparts (7.5%). Awareness was found to be a major hindrance to the access to social security schemes where female members of the informal sector were found to be less aware of the available schemes (71%) compared to the male (61%). Economic factors were also found to hinder access to the schemes and again female members in the informal sector were the hardest hit with 78% indicating that they were not able to remit the monthly contribution compared to 46% male who could not remit the contributions. Finally, government policy on the minimum contribution to the schemes was found to affect access to the schemes where most affected population in the informal sector were female (87%) compared to the male (83%).

Sixty years of policymaking in the arena of elementary educational reforms in India and global focus through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have seen progress along with persisting inequality in access to education especially for socioeconomic and marginalized sections across the regions. This article focuses on analysis of two goals of MDGs which is related to universalization of education and reducing gender inequality in access to elementary education after introduction of policy interventions such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Right to Education (RTE) Act in India through Gender Equity Index (GEI) and Disparity Index (DI) in Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER). Results are still consistent with the fact that even after incentives such as SSA and RTE, the scenario of elementary education has not changed much for the deprived sections, even it has shown a declining trend after 2009 for Scheduled Tribes (ST) children. The social reproduction of inequality is being manifested now in the quality of elementary education in India.

An important hypothesis implicit in the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is tested in this study. The hypothesis is that women empowerment can facilitate attainment of other development goals. Africa is the empirical referent and people’s access to land constitutes the substantive focus. A multiple regression model having as its dependent variable, gender-based inequality in access to land (GENDINEQ) is employed. Indicators of women empowerment—women’s literacy, proportion of women with a secondary education, proportion of women with formal employment, and women in government—as stipulated in Goal #3 of the MDGs constitute the predictor variables. All but one variable, women’s literacy, are negatively associated with GENDINEQ. This affirms the hypothesized inverse relationship between women’s empowerment and gender inequality in access to land. The exception is not statistically significant and might have occurred by chance. Thus, authorities in Africa would do well to pursue gender empowerment policies as a means of increasing women’s access to land and other valuable resources.

Inequalities in access to education pose a significant barrier to development. It has been argued that this reflects, in part, borrowing constraints that inhibit private investment in human capital by the poor. One promise of the recent proposals to open international labor markets to allow for the temporary economic migration of low-skilled workers from developing to industrial countries is its potential impact on human capital accumulation by the poor. The large remittance flows from migrants to their communities of origin underscores this aspect of migration. However, migration can also transform expectations of future employment and induce changes in household structure that can exert an independent effect on the private returns to investment in human capital. The author explores the relationship between temporary economic migration and investment in child schooling. A key challenge is to deal appropriately with selection into migration. She finds that the potential positive effects of temporary economic migration on human capital accumulation are large. Moreover, the gains are much greater for girls, yielding a very substantial reduction in gender inequalities in access to education. Significantly, though, the gains appear to arise almost entirely from the greater resource flows to migrant households. The author cannot detect any effect of future migration prospects on schooling decisions. More significantly, she does not find any protective effect of migration-induced female headship on schooling outcomes for girls. Rather, female headship appears to protect boys at the cost of girls.

ABSTRACTThis paper descriptively analyzes longitudinal microfinance outreach numbers and interview data from 140 practitioners and borrowers in Pakistan to examine whether the claim that microfinance enhances gender equity in access to finance can be substantiated. This assertion has recently replaced the more ambitious contention that microfinance has an empowering impact on women. The paper argues that this shift has occurred because of increased commercialization at the global level and authoritative assessments against the empowerment claim. The study further considers whether the frame of competing logics from institutional theory can explain the case of the Pakistani microfinance sector, in which, as shown here, commercialized microfinance has actually led to a rise in gender inequalities in access to finance. The paper attributes this rise to the inability of the Pakistani microfinance sector to reconcile the competing logics of development and banking.

This research note analyzes the effect of a candidate gender quota in Open-List Proportional Systems and its interaction with electoral spending. Focusing on the Chilean parliamentary elections of 2017, our evidence shows, first, that the quota law was effective in promoting the representation of women, but, second, the differences in the electoral performance between men and women grew considerably nevertheless. We argue that this result was due mainly to gender inequality in access to resources to finance electoral campaigns. Third, we found that this inequality exists only for candidates who are challenging incumbents, but not for the incumbents themselves: incumbent women are as competitive as men.

Citizen participation in water governance can improve the relevance, implementation, and effectiveness of public policies. However, participation can be expressed in a great diversity of forms, on a gradient ranging from mere public consultation to shared governance of natural resources. Positive outcomes ultimately depend on the conditions under which participation takes place, with key factors such as leadership, the degree of trust among stakeholders, and the interaction of public authorities with citizens. Social network analysis has been used to operationalize participatory processes, contributing to the identification of leaders, intersectoral integration, strategic planning, and conflict resolution. In this commentary, we analyze the potential and limitations of participation in water governance and illustrate it with the case of the Campina de Faro aquifer in southern Portugal. We propose that stakeholder network analysis is particularly useful for promoting decentralized decision-making and consensual water resources management. The delegation of power to different interest groups is a key process in the effectiveness of governance, which can be operationalized with network analysis techniques.