Equality & Trafficking Policies (DP IB Geography)

Gender Equality in Kerala, India

• Gender inequality is common around the world and women remain under-represented and under-appreciated

• Gender parity is about acknowledging the equal contribution that women (and men) make to society

• The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 5, focuses on gender equality and sets a target of 'achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls everywhere by 2030'

• There has been some improvement in equality, namely:

  • Maternal mortality is decreasing in most places

  • Literacy rates and secondary education are increasing in many countries

  • In the workplace, many countries are making progress in equality, although it remains slow

• It is HICs where the biggest gains in equality have occurred, however, women still face rising costs and job insecurity

  • Many jobs are part-time or independent work that offer lower wages and fewer benefits

  • Housing and child-care costs have risen, offsetting the benefits of employment

  • Many companies still have a pay gap between male and female wages

  • Women still remain the primary household carers, often working long hours to manage work and home

• Women face long-established societal barriers that limit their ability to adapt to new working environments such as upskilling to work with automated systems

• Women have less access to technology and there is lower participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields than men

Gender equality in Kerala, India

• In India, gender inequality is well established through patriarchal views, gender norms, traditions and structures

• Even though, globally, girls have a higher survival rate from birth, India is the only large country where more girls die than boys and girls are more likely to drop out of school

• Indian girls are more likely to face restrictions on freedom of movement and decisions around work, marriage, friends and education

• Wife beating is considered justified if she neglects or disrespects the house, children, in-laws or husband

• Only 25% of Indian women enter the formal workplace

• Most women are employed in agriculture; only 7% work in professional, technical, or managerial occupations

• The majority of Indian women do not have money of their own to use as they wish

• Less than 1:6 women have a bank or savings account they can use

  • Kerala, Delhi, and Goa are the only states where more than 1:4 women have an account 

Map of Kerala State, India

• Kerala, situated in the south-west of India, is the most densely populated region of India

• Known as a progressive region because of its high levels of social development, despite having the lowest per capita income of India

• Thiruvananthapuram is the state's capital and largest city, with just over 1.6 million people

• Kochi city is Kerala's financial, commercial and industrial capital and has the highest GDP per capita in the state 

• The region has improved healthcare, literacy rates and lowered its birth rate

• Kerala recognises the status of women as being important to its development

  • Girls are educated to the same standard as boys

  • Open access to colleges and universities

  • Women often study medical sciences to become doctors and nurses

  • Jobs are open to men and women and female employment is not unusual

  • Women have some autonomy over their personal lives

• In the latest census, the sex ratio stood at 1084 females per 1000 males in Kerala, compared to the national average of 940 females per 1000 males

• Kerala has an infant mortality rate of 6 per 1000 live births, compared with a national rate of 26.6 deaths per 1000 live births

• The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for India in 2022 was 2.2 children per woman of childbearing age, whereas it is 1.8 in Kerala, well below the replacement level

• The National Statistical Office (NSO) of India, reported that female literacy rate stands at:

  • 70.3 % across India

  • Rajasthan has the lowest female literacy rate of 57.6%

  • Kerala has the highest at 95.2%

• The current life expectancy in India (2023) is 70.42 years, (male 68.5 years and female 70,2 years) and is a 0.33% increase from 2022

  • The life expectancy is 75.2 years in Kerala

  • 78 years for females and 72.5 yrs for males

  • This is due to:

    • A well-developed, universal access to healthcare 

    • Lower levels of poverty

• Although Kerala has a some gender parity, women are still marginalised:

  • Violence and sexual harassment towards women is common and related to male alcohol abuse

  • Women lack economic control over their own wealth

  • Although education is equal, 70% of women are unemployed as opposed to just 18% of educated men

  • They are more likely to be employed in low-wage jobs such as agriculture, domestic work and the informal sector

  • It is still the female who has the domestic responsibilities such as:

    • Child rearing

    • Care giver for elderly relatives

    • Cooking

    • Cleaning

    • Water and fuelwood collection

• There are self-help groups aimed at empowering women from poorer households and micro-financing systems to help support women back into employment

  • The Kerala Women's Commission - the commission aims to 'safeguard the rights of women and ensure their protection and equality against any form of harassment and issues faced in the family and community'

  • The commission was created to:

    • Ensure the protection and welfare of women

    • Handle gender-based issues 

    • Make recommendations to the state government on women-based issues

    • Raise public awareness on female-based legislation in the state

  • The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation Ltd - aims to expand economic and social opportunities for women through:

    • Job oriented training and development programs

    • Loan programmes for female entrepreneurs

    • Finishing School to provide young girls with corporate working skills

    • Gender Awareness Programmes

  • Kerala State Social Welfare Board - aims to raise awareness regarding the legal and human rights of females and to provide care, protection and rehabilitation of children, the disabled, and the elderly

• Even with numerous achievements and improvements in Kerala, there are still issues surrounding gender parity and it is important for Kerala and India to improve:

  • Skill-building for future employment trends (digital and technology)

  • Job opportunities in key sectors

  • Corporate policies to promote diversity

  • Programs that address deep-rooted societal norms regarding the role of women in work and at home

Trafficking & Anti-trafficking Policies

• Human trafficking remains a serious global issue

• The USA's Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) defines severe forms of trafficking in persons as:

  • Sex trafficking - where commercial sexual acts are introduced by 'force, fraud, or coercion' 

  • Modern slavery - the recruitment, keeping, transporting or obtaining of a person for labour or services through force, fraud, or manipulation for the purpose of controlling a person 

Patterns of trafficking

• The UN notes that:

• Past trafficking would have been between two nations, whereas now, it is more likely to be across multiple borders 

• Domestic servitude is on the increase, where victims are tricked into handing over their identification papers and travel documents to restrict their freedom

  • These victims are usually hidden in plain sight and forced to work in homes as nannies, maids or domestic help

• The UN included anti-trafficking measures in three of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015

• Both the US and the UN produce annual reports on global trafficking and encourage governments to 'join the fight' through: 

  • Increasing protection of all victims of trafficking

  • Prosecution of traffickers

  •  Help other governments prevent trafficking populations at risk 

Risk

• Certain populations are at more risk than others and these include:

  • Religious minorities

  • People with disabilities 

  • LGBTIQA+ people

  • Refugees

  • Migrants

  • Homeless

Costs

• It is difficult to evaluate the full scope and scale of trafficking, given its hidden nature

• However, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that 49.6 million people are trapped in modern slavery and is worth $150 billion a year

• Of these:

  • 27.6 million are in forced labour

  • 22 million in forced marriage

  • 3.3 million are children in forced labour

• Of the 27.6 million people in forced labour:

  • 6.3 million are in forced commercial sexual exploitation 

  • 17.3 million are in private homes

  • 3.9 million in forced labour imposed by governments

• Women and girls account for:

  • 4.9 million in commercial sexual exploitation

  • 6 million in forced labour

• 12% of all those in forced labour are children, with more than half in commercial sexual exploitation

• Asia and the Pacific region have the highest number of people in forced labour (15.1 million)

• The U.S. Department of Labour has identified 159 goods from 78 countries made by forced and child labour 

• The most common goods are:

  • Cotton

  • Coffee

  • Rice

  • Clothing, footwear and textiles (carpets)

  • Gold, coal and diamonds

Policies

• It is unlikely that any single country or policy will end human trafficking

• However, governments have attempted to reduce trafficking through:

  • Raising public awareness

  • Designing policies to prevent trafficking

• This can be achieved by governments having:

  • Up-to-date registration of all births

  • Registration of migration into an area

• Roughly, 90% of countries have agreed the UN 2003 Protocol to Prevent Support and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children

• This protocol has helped to increase criminalisation of trafficking in countries that previously had no specific laws against it

• There are still some 2 billion people who live in areas where trafficking is not criminalised

  • Eight countries in Africa and the Middle East, lack anti trafficking legislation

  • Leaving a number of people unprotected and at risk

Convictions

• In 2022, a total of 5,600 human traffickers were convicted worldwide, which is low

• Although it is only an increase of around 300 convictions from the year before and 30% lower than pre-Covid-19 which stood at 9548 convictions

• Governments and NGOs believe that confiscating proceeds from crime is an effective punishment because it:

  • Deters and disrupts criminal activity

  • Cuts off funding

  • Creates the image that 'crime doesn't pay'

  • Wins public support

• To date there is little support for the victims of trafficking and modern-day slavery