Lesotho’s Performance in the Global Gender Gap Index 2010 : Conflicts over Resources and Roles of the Female Breadwinner

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Kroeker, Lena:
Lesotho’s Performance in the Global Gender Gap Index 2010 : Conflicts over Resources and Roles of the Female Breadwinner.
In: Daniel, Antje ; Fink, Katharina ; Kroeker, Lena ; Schütze, Jaana (ed.): Women's Life Worlds "In-Between". - Bayreuth , 2011 . - pp. 80-100 . - (Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers ; 7 ) (BIGSASworks ; 1/2011)

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Abstract in another language

Annually, the World Economic Forum publishes the Global Gender Gap Index which ranks 134 countries in terms of gender disparity. Criteria for measuring this gender-based gap include economic participation, political empowerment, educational attainment as well as health and survival. Surprisingly, the 2010 index
found a consistent increase in women's general participation in the above in Lesotho which now ranks 8th, and has thereby positioned itself ahead of most Western
countries.
De jure, Basotho-women have managed households in the absence of men since the late 19th century due to male labor migration. Recent shifts in the labor market since the 1980s have caused women to also join in labor migration, and in doing so, like the index attests, female family breadwinners have now gained ground in their educational attainment, access to healthcare, and economic participation and are now de facto
heading household units. However the new labor market can only be said to have brought about a separation of households and not an actual shift in gender and generational interaction.