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TO WA R D G E N D E R E Q UA L I T Y I N E A S T A S I A A N D T H E PAC I F I C
service delivery in general, including efforts to account for gender norms that affect service utilization and effectiveness.
Reducing gender streaming in education For many countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, addressing education quality—specifically, gender streaming in education—requires policy attention. Many aspects of gender issues regarding basic access in education and health have abated with growth and development. However, concerted efforts in education and labor market policies are needed to break the traditional patterns of females going into certain fields of study and, consequently, jobs in lowerpaying occupations and sectors. Within the education system, possible approaches in this agenda include both curriculum reforms to reduce gender stereotyping and active interventions—financial and nonfinancial incentives as well as information campaigns—to promote entrance into nontraditional fields.
Promoting balanced sex ratios at birth In the few countries with “missing girls” at birth, rooted in the prevalence of son preference, continuing efforts are needed. A promising strategy is to adopt policy approaches that aim to enhance the relative value of daughters as perceived by families. General policies to promote economic development may play a role, but Korea’s recent experience suggests that interventions to influence social norms and facilitate the spread of new values may be very important, rather than simply relying on raising female education and labor force participation. Information campaigns, financial incentives, and improved social security for the elderly are worthwhile efforts. China has been adopting many of these programs, and they can be expected to reduce the imbalance in the sex ratio at birth.
Addressing male-specific gender issues Attention to male gender issues is crucial in many country contexts since they may also
hamper growth and development. First, the initial signs of the reversed gender gap in education need to be monitored closely where applicable. Second, the excessive tobacco and alcohol consumption among males in many parts of the East Asia and Pacific region deserves policy attention because the social costs, passed on as externalities to other members of the society, are usually higher than private costs. Possible measures to tackle this challenge include providing information about the health risks of excessive tobacco and alcohol consumption, taxation, regulatory measures on advertisement, and restrictions on smoking in public sites.
Notes 1. See Malhotra, Pande, and Grown (2003) on impacts of investments in female education on gender equality. 2. See Engendering Development (World Bank 2001) and World Development Report 2012 (World Bank 2011c) for similar literature. However, few studies rigorously identify the causal effects as opposed to simple correlation. And female education or income might not always have dominant, widespread benefits over male education as commonly perceived. For example, controlling for household average education, Breierova and Duflo (2004) found no impact of female education on infant mortality in Indonesia. Edmonds (2006) found that in South Africa, pension money going to grandmothers improved children’s health while that going to grandfathers improved children’s schooling. 3. Enrollment in different types of education also shows gender differences that vary across countries in the region. Females’ completion rate in vocational training has been increasing in Thailand and Vietnam. In recent years, this rate among females is still lower than that among males in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Mongolia, even though the reverse tends to be true for completion of general secondary education. Cambodia experiences the opposite patterns, that is, women have lower general secondary completion rates but higher vocational completion rates than men (Sakellariou 2011).