NICARAGUA: Gender Revolution in Schools Not Reflected at Work

By José Adán Silva
MANAGUA, Feb 3 (IPS) Karla Mendoza, a 26-year-old Nicaraguan, has worked
hard to have a professional career. But despite two technical degrees,
courses in computer science and public relations, a nearly complete
university degree, and eight years of work experience, she is not there
yet.

"It doesn't matter how much you study, if you're a
woman," Mendoza complained to IPS. "It seems like they always
give preference to men, even if the men make more mistakes and know less
than you."

Mendoza has brought a lawsuit against a private hospital in Managua for
firing her because she demanded a raise.

The young woman, who was working as a receptionist and data entry
technician in the hospital and was sacked in June along with eight other
women who were also asking for a raise, is an illustration of two
divergent realities described by studies and analyses by experts.

While there has been a revolution in access to education by girls and
women in Nicaragua, who now have more years of schooling than men,
economic and labour discrimination on gender grounds has withstood that
transformation.

A study by María Rosa Renzi, head of the economic development and
equity unit in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in
Nicaragua, shows that girls and women have greater access to education
than boys and men in this Central American country.

The report on Women, Work and Leadership, presented in late 2010, found a
growing gender imbalance in the country's classrooms as more and more
boys are dropping out of school to join the informal labour market and
help support their families.

According to the National Institute for Development Information (INIDE),
there were 238,780 children and adolescents under the age of 17 working on
the streets of Nicaragua in 2005.

Although the official statistics have not been updated, unofficial
estimates for 2010 put the number at 300,000 in this country of 5.8
million, where 2.8 million people are under 18.

Since 1997, Nicaragua has successfully promoted the incorporation of girls
and young women into the educational system, Renzi's study says.

"Female enrolment rates are higher than male enrolment rates at the
preschool, primary, secondary and university levels," Renzi told IPS.
"There has been a significant increase in enrolment at all of these
levels over the last 10 years."

Between 1997 and 2008, net coverage in secondary education rose from 29.9
percent to 48.1 percent for girls and from 24.8 to 42.9 percent for boys,
the study says.

The Nicaraguan government celebrates the achievement of gender equality in
primary education as evidence of early compliance with one aspect of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight sets of objectives that were
adopted by the international community in 2000 with the aim of curbing
poverty, disease and gender inequality and boosting development.

In a September report, the administration of left-wing President Daniel
Ortega stated that at the preschool and primary school levels, girls have
outnumbered boys in the educational system since 2009.

MDG 3 on women's empowerment includes the target of eliminating
gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005,
and at all levels no later than 2015.

The government report also notes that the gender imbalance in favour of
females is most marked at the university level, where the ratio is 129.5
women for every 100 men.

Sociologist Óscar René Vargas said that while Nicaragua is
experiencing a veritable "revolution" in terms of the proportion
of girls and women in the classrooms, the educational system continues to
reproduce gender stereotypes that perpetuate discrimination against women
and their subordination in society.

Vargas, the author of two books on the MDGs in Nicaragua and Central
America, further said that if actual attendance is taken into account, the
gender imbalance is even more marked than what the official figures
reflect. He said the real ratios are two girls to one boy at the primary
school level, three to one in secondary school, and over four to one in
the university.

"There is a heavy, irreversible imbalance, which is a positive
phenomenon with a view to the future of this country, because more women
are being educated and trained," Vargas told IPS. "But it is
also partly negative, because the lack of education of men has an impact
on the development of the family and society."

The other side of the coin, he said, is that in spite of the advances seen
in education, society does not yet fully recognise women as subjects of
economic and labour rights.

"This is seen in low wages, limited promotion opportunities and lack
of recognition of women in the labour market, and the limited role they
are given in decision-making," he said.

Vargas said women more often find work in the huge informal sector than in
the formal economy, where they would be covered by the country's
labour laws and social benefits.

In the informal market, the workforce not only tends to earn low wages but
also faces low levels of protection, he pointed out.

According to his studies, women in Nicaragua earned 76 percent of what men
with the same jobs and qualifications earned in 2009.

But while the gender wage gap is 10 percent in the formal sector, it is 30
percent in the informal market.

Moreover, women still hold only 20 percent of managerial and executive
positions, despite the advances in female education.

The phenomenon that has stood in the way of Mendoza's career
aspirations is a global one. According to Facts & Figures on Women
Worldwide, published in 2010 by the United Nations, access to education
has increased globally for girls at all levels.

"In 2008, there were 96 girls for every 100 boys in primary schools,
and 95 girls for every 100 boys in secondary schools. In 1999, the ratios
were 91 girls to 100 boys in primary education and 88 girls to 100 boys at
the secondary level," the report says.

But the wage gap is shrinking much more slowly. And according to the same
report, 65 percent of jobs held by women in developing countries in 2009
were in vulnerable employment, compared to 58 percent for men.