UK to protect South Asian women against violence
25 November 2009

A new UK-funded programme to tackle violence against women in South Asia was launched today (25 November 2009), the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Gender discrimination through sex selection, infanticide, and a far higher mortality rate for girls than for boys has resulted in 60 million fewer women in South Asia than would be expected if there were equal numbers of men and women. Half of the 646 million women and girls in South Asia face sexual or physical violence in their home. Women in South Asia eat lower quality food than men, are much less likely to have a job and have less control over property. Entrenched attitudes and behaviours and women's unequal access to social, political or economic opportunities are similar across the whole region.

The Department for International Development (DFID) will establish a new South Asia gender equality fund which will bring together the best policy, research and evidence in South Asia to tackle the root causes of gender inequality across the region. As well as designing new projects to reduce domestic violence, it will also improve women's nutrition and access to jobs - two fundamental barriers to achieving equality. The new fund will help to deliver DFID's commitments to tackle gender based violence set out in its White Paper earlier this year.

To reflect this new strategy, DFID will provide support to 800 new para-legal committees to combat violence against women and other legal issues throughout Nepal. The £6.5 million grant to UNICEF will deliver trained legal support to women and girls who would otherwise not have access to justice. Mike Foster International Development Minister said: 'Staggering inequality and daily physical or sexual abuse damage the health, education and life chances of half of Asia's population. Unless we tackle the common root causes, we undermine all our work to combat poverty.

'We must stop this inequality now. Our new programme will bring together the best local and regional knowledge to stop violence against women once and for all. To do this we need to include men as part of the solution.'

'Funding legal teams in Nepal is one way we are bringing justice to women and girls who would otherwise suffer in silence.'

The DFID new gender fund for South Asia will:

• Work with the UN to support Partners for Prevention, a regional programme for Asia and the Pacific to design community based education programmes for boys and men to help change attitudes to domestic violence and gender inequality.
• Work with our partners and Governments to promote a change in attitudes on gender equality and violence against women.
• To set up a region-wide project to improve women's nutrition
• To enable more women to have more and better jobs across South Asia.

Statistics on gender inequality in South Asia:

Population

There are 646 million women and girls in South Asia. Yet there are 60 million fewer women in South Asia than would be expected if there were equal numbers of men and women. Why? Gender discrimination through sex selection, infanticide, and a far higher mortality rate for girls than for boys.

Nutrition

64% of children in South Asia are undernourished. Why? Gender inequality is a key driver ' under-nourished women giving birth to malnourished babies; adolescent pregnancy and multiple births at an early age; women in the household eat last, eat least, and only what's left over - the least nutritious food.

More than 80% of adolescent girls in South Asia are undernourished.

Education & Literacy

In South Asia, 52% of adult females are literate, compared with 73% for men. In Afghanistan, only 13% of women are literate.

In South Asia, for every 100 men that are economically active, there are only 40 women. Most work carried out by women and girls is unpaid, exploitative or informal, and unrecognised in national statistics.

DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. Visit www.dfid.gov.uk for further information