How Southeast Asia pioneered female leadership, and lessons for development cooperation
Source: Devpolicy
Today, I’d like to reflect on why Southeast Asia stands out in the global history of gender, for pioneering female political and spiritual leadership; how job-creating economic growth, urbanisation and universities are the major contemporary drivers of gender equality; and how development cooperation can promote gender equality.
If you were to invent a time machine, where would you go to avoid gender discrimination? Pre-Christian Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Central Asia and East Asia were all patrilineal and patrilocal. Survival and solidarity were rooted in clans, which were governed by men. Sons were celebrated as scions of the family line; heralded as providers and protectors. Daughters were merely temporary: they married out and moved away.
Since patrilineal societies trace descent down the male line, they usually care about paternal certainty and legitimate biological heirs. Virginity, chastity and cloistering were all idealised. In Ancient Greece, women were seen as inferior and ideally secluded. In public discourse, women’s names were not uttered. Men gained honour by providing for their families and keeping their wives at home.
Click here to read the full article published by Devpolicy on 8 December 2023.
Today, I’d like to reflect on why Southeast Asia stands out in the global history of gender, for pioneering female political and spiritual leadership; how job-creating economic growth, urbanisation and universities are the major contemporary drivers of gender equality; and how development cooperation can promote gender equality.
If you were to invent a time machine, where would you go to avoid gender discrimination? Pre-Christian Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, Central Asia and East Asia were all patrilineal and patrilocal. Survival and solidarity were rooted in clans, which were governed by men. Sons were celebrated as scions of the family line; heralded as providers and protectors. Daughters were merely temporary: they married out and moved away.
Since patrilineal societies trace descent down the male line, they usually care about paternal certainty and legitimate biological heirs. Virginity, chastity and cloistering were all idealised. In Ancient Greece, women were seen as inferior and ideally secluded. In public discourse, women’s names were not uttered. Men gained honour by providing for their families and keeping their wives at home.
Click here to read the full article published by Devpolicy on 8 December 2023.