Gender Country Profile Maldives By Erin MacDonald and Rosanne Wong Edited by Dania Sheldon Contents General... 1 Health... 2 Education... 2 Economic Activity... 3 Decision-Making... 3 Human Rights... 3 Gender Gaps... 3 Health... 3 Education... 4 Economic... 4 Decision-Making... 4 Human Rights... 4 References... 5
General Total male population under 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 42,154 Total female population under 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 40,490 Total male population over 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 179,219 Total female population over 15 (2014) (CIA, 2015): 131,732 Health Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births (2010) (CIA, 2015): 60 Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births (2014) (CIA, 2015): 24.59 Under-five mortality rate for males per 1,000 live births (2012) (United Nations Gender Statistics, 2015): 11.5 Under-five mortality rate for females per 1,000 live births (2012) (United Nations Gender Statistics, 2015): 9.3 Births attended by a skilled health professional (2011) (WHO, 2014b): 98.8% Prevalence of HIV among males aged 15 49 (World Economic Forum, 2013): 0.1% Prevalence of HIV among females aged 15 49 (World Economic Forum, 2013): 0.1% Life expectancy for men (2012) (WHO, 2014a): 76 Life expectancy for women (2012) (WHO, 2014a): 78 Education Male youth literacy rate, ages 15 24 (2006) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 99.24% Female youth literacy rate, ages 15 24 (2006) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 99.36% Male adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (2006) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 98.37% Female adult literacy rate, ages 15+ (2006) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 98.43% Male adjusted net enrolment rate in primary education (2009) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 95.40% Female adjusted net enrolment rate in primary education (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 95.14% Male gross enrolment ratio in secondary education (2004) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 68.06% Female gross enrolment ratio in secondary education (2004) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 76.73% April 2015 Page 2 of 6
Male gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education (2008) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 12.41% Female gross enrolment ratio in tertiary education (2008) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 13.97% Graduates from tertiary education who are female: NA Students in engineering, construction and manufacturing tertiary education programs who are female: NA Teachers in primary education who are female (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 72.5% Teachers in secondary education who are female (2012) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 39.4% Teachers in tertiary education who are female (2003) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015): 66.7% Economic Activity Males over 15 who are active in the labour force (World Economic Forum, 2013): 64% Females over 15 who are active in the labour force (World Economic Forum, 2013): 58% Men who have an account in a formal financial institution: NA Women who have an account in a formal financial institution: NA Decision-Making Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament (World Bank, 2014): 7% Human Rights Girls married before 15: NA Females married between 15 and 19: NA Women subjected to physical/sexual violence by an intimate partner during their lifetime (UN Women, 2012): 19.5% Women subjected to physical/sexual violence by an intimate partner or a non-partner during their lifetime (UN Women, 2012): 28.4% * * * Gender Gaps Health Abortion is illegal in Maldives unless medically recommended or to save the girl s/woman s life. April 2015 Page 3 of 6
The Maldives government reported in 2010 that [o]nly 34.7 percent of married women were using contraceptives in 2009, a significant drop from 42 percent in 1999 (Department of National Planning, 2010, p. 11). To date there have been no quantitative studies of unsafe abortions in Maldives. However, in an extensive 2011 report, the United Nations Population Fund in Maldives reviewed the available qualitative evidence and concluded: The occurrence and prevalence of unsafe abortion due to pregnancy outside marriage among young women in the Maldives is... indisputable (p. 17). Education The male-to-female ratio of persons with degree-level qualifications dropped from 4.2 in 1990 to 1.7 in 2006 (the most recent available data) (Department of National Planning, 2010, p. 39). The Maldives Ministry of Education reported in 2011 that female enrolment rates were declining due to a rise in religious conservatism (Lubna, 2012). Economic According the Government of Maldives in its 2010 progress report on the Millennium Development Goals, the female unemployment rate continues to be almost three times higher than that for males (Department of National Planning, 2010, p. 9). The same report indicates that women s participation [in the labour force] is heavily concentrated in education (72 percent of employment), health (68 percent), manufacturing (65 percent) and agriculture (64 percent), so that women are still seen in stereotype roles (p. 46). Decision-Making Women s participation in local councils is only 5.3%, according to the United Nations Development Programme Maldives (2015). Maldives appointed its first two female judges in 2007, one to the family court and one to the civil court. In 2008, 52% of civil service employees were female employees but notably in positions of diminished responsibilities (Department of National Planning, 2010, p. 48). Human Rights Violence against women is a significant problem. The 2007 Maldives Study on Women s Health and Life Experiences established that one in three women aged 15 to 49 report experiencing at least one form of physical and/or sexual violence; 39% reported moderate violence, while 61% reported severe forms such as being hit, kicked, and choked or having a weapon used against them. More than one-third of these women reported having been injured at least once, often seriously, and a significant proportion reported being injured many times (Department of National Planning, 2010, p. 47). The same report indicates that 12% of women revealed they had been sexually abused before age 15. * * * April 2015 Page 4 of 6
References CIA. (2015). The world factbook: Country profiles. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html Department of National Planning, Ministry of Finance and Treasury [Maldives]. (2010). Millennium Development Goals: Maldives country report 2010. Retrieved from http://www.mv.undp.org/content/dam/maldives/docs/publicationsgeneral/mdg%20mv%202010. pdf Lubna, H. (2013, October 27). Maldives failing to close gender gaps, finds World Economic Forum. Minivan News. Retrieved from Lubna, H. (2012, May 26). Maldives has solid framework for women s rights, but numbers still disturbing. Minivan News. Retrieved from http://minivannews.com/politics/maldives-has-solidframework-for-womens-rights-but-numbers-still-disturbing-37958 http://minivannews.com/politics/maldives-failing-to-close-gender-gaps-finds-world-economic-forum- 69884 Stop FGM Middle East. (2014). Maldives: Cleric calls for FGM on Islamic grounds. Retrieved from http://www.stopfgmmideast.org/maldives-cleric-calls-for-fgm-on-islamic-grounds/ UN Women. (2012). Violence against women prevalence data: Surveys by country. Retrieved from http://www.endvawnow.org/uploads/browser/files/vawprevalence_matrix_june2013.pdf UN Women. (2014). UN Women in Maldives. Retrieved from http://www.unwomensouthasia.org/unwomen-in-south-asia-2/un-women-in-maldives/ UNESCO Institute of Statistics. (2015). Education. Retrieved from http://data.uis.unesco.org UNFPA-ICOMP Regional Consultation. (2010). The status of family planning and reproductive health in the Republic of Maldives. Retrieved from http://www.icomp.org.my/new/uploads/fpconsultation/maldives.pdf UNGEI. (2003). Maldives: Background. Retrieved from http://www.ungei.org/infobycountry/maldives_1484.html United Nations Development Group (UNDG). (2009). Joint UN programme on strengthening response to prevention and elimination of gender-based violence against women and children in the Maldives. Retrieved from http://www.undg.org/docs/rcar/2010/mdv/jp-on-gbv.pdf United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (2012). Women as leaders. Retrieved from http://www.mv.undp.org/content/maldives/en/home/ourwork/democraticgovernance/successstorie s/women-as-leaders/ April 2015 Page 5 of 6
United Nations Development Programme, Maldives. (2015). MDG stories. Retrieved from http://www.mv.undp.org/content/dam/maldives/docs/publicationsgeneral/mdg%20stories%20fr om%20undp%20maldives%20-%20goal%203.pdf United Nations Gender Statistics. (2015). Countries A Z. Retrieved from http://genderstats.org/browseby-countries United Nations Population Fund in Maldives. (2011). Reproductive health knowledge and behaviour of young unmarried women in Maldives. Retrieved from http://countryoffice.unfpa.org/maldives/drive/unfparhreport_reduced.pdf United Nations Statistical Commission. (2010). Labor force participation, unemployment and economic sector of employment. Retrieved from http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/worldswomen/annex%20tables%20by%20chap ter%20-%20pdf/table4ato4d.pdf World Bank. (2014). Proportion of women holding seats in national parliament. Retrieved from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/sg.gen.parl.zs World Economic Forum. (2013). The global gender gap report 2013. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/wef_gendergap_report_2013.pdf World Health Organization. (2014a). Life expectancy: Data by country. Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.3?lang=en World Health Organization. (2014b). Women: Data by country. Retrieved from http://apps.who.int/gho/data/view.main.1630 April 2015 Page 6 of 6