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A Detailed Look: South Asia
South Asia is the third lowest ranking region in the SIGI 2012, performing better than Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. Nepal is the highest-ranking country (at 36 out of 86) and Afghanistan is the lowest-ranking country (at 69 out of 86). South Asia is the region with the poorest performance in the Son Bias sub-index. The region also performs poorly in the Discriminatory Family Code sub-index.
Early marriage is prevalent in the region, with 48% of 15-19 year old girls in Bangladesh and 32% of 15-19 year old girls Nepal being married. Only Bhutan and Nepal have an equal minimum age of marriage for women and men, only Nepal, India and Bhutan grant women and men equal parental authority and only Nepal has no legal discrimination against women with respect to inheritance. Dual legal systems or religious legal systems often limit women’s status, particularly in the sphere of the family and inheritance rights. Land rights and access to productive resources is a significant problem, despite some countries having laws providing equal rights to women. However, this is not the case across the board. In Bhutan, 60% of rural women hold land registration titles. Discrimination in property rights is also linked to HIV. On the death of the husband the woman is often blamed and, in the worst instances, deprived of rights to land and housing.
There has been significant progress with countries introducing laws to address violence against women, however enforcement and implementation remains a problem. In Afghanistan, for example, it is reported that women are often victimised and even criminalised for making a report of domestic violence or rape to authorities. Some specific forms of gender-based violence are prevalent in the region such as acid attacks, dowry related violence and honour killings. Attitudes that normalise violence against women are widespread, providing an indication of strong social norms: on average, 45% of women in the region agree that domestic violence is acceptable under certain circumstances. Reproductive autonomy is limited for women in some countries – over one in five women in Afghanistan, Nepal and Pakistan reports an unmet need for family planning.
The problem of son bias is particularly serious and widespread in South Asia. Based on an analysis of sex-ratio data, missing women appears to be a problem in every country in the region except for Sri Lanka. The 2011 census for India found a worrying trend in child sex-ratios with only 914 females for 1,000 males, a drop from 927 in 2001. After adjusting for excess mortality rates in girls, it is estimated the number of selective abortions of girls rose from 0—2.0 million in the 1980s, to 1.2—4.1 million in the 1990s and to 3.1—6.0 million in the 2000s. Examining the share of males as the last children born as an indicator of fertility preferences also shows significant evidence of Son Bias in the region. The region has however made impressive progress in the introduction of political quotas: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan have introduced quotas at both national and sub-national levels.
