Policy Dialogues on Inequality: gender
The UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo organised a policy dialogue on inequality in honour of Frances Stewart. Frances Stewart's guru status has been achieved through the elaboration of the concept of " horizontal inequalities ". Prashan Thalayasingam, colleague at CEPA made an excellent presentation on the inequality and conflict panel at the dialogue, and I agreed, somewhat rashly to serve on the panel about gender and inequality. In my discussion on the gender and inequality panel, I tried first to look at gender inequality in the same framework as horizontal inequalities. Using some of the concepts of the horizontal inequality discourse I made the following observations. Gender differences are socially significant. They have meaning for women and for men i.e. for the members of the two gender groups. The inequality influences behaviours and wellbeing in a significant way. The inequality is particularly marked in the differential access to resources. Women typically h...