WUNRN
International Roma Day - April 7
Roma Women - Exposing Inequality
February
19, 2014 - By Jaroslav Kling*
Roma
women face double discrimination, especially when it comes to education,
employment, health and housing
Since its early days, the Decade of Roma Inclusion has focused primarily on four priority areas: employment, education, health and housing.
Even though gender equality
is a cross-cutting issue, attention to this area has been significantly smaller
throughout the years.
Usually, gender equality is treated as an isolated category, rather than
a social factor that is a part of all social categories and issues.
In recent years, the interest in interaction between ethnicity and
gender has grown.
All regional surveys that UNDP conducted in
Central and
The most recent Regional Roma
Survey in 2011 (conducted by UNDP, the World Bank and the
European Commission) went even further. In addition to producing data
disaggregated by sex, the collection of data was also done in a gender
sensitive way – interviews were conducted by a pair of enumerators (male and
female) to enable better and open access to respondents.
The research paper written by Angela Kocze and Ewa Cukrowska attempts to
address the status of Roma women in various thematic fields such as education,
employment, health and housing, when compared with non-Roma women and Roma men.
The primary goal of this paper is to encourage policy makers to
recognize structural gender inequalities and their ethnic dimensions.
The paper documents inequalities faced by Roma women – as women, and as
ethnic minorities – in the areas of education, employment, health and housing.
It identifies the sources of these inequalities and reports progress in
alleviating ethnic and gender inequalities by comparing the situation in 2011
and 2004.
Roma women and
education
Compared to both non-Roma women and Roma men, when it
comes to education Roma women:
- Have a lower education level
- Spend fewer years in school
- Are more likely to drop out of school
- Are slightly less literate
The ethnic gaps (Roma – non-Roma) among women are mainly due to
the differences in the family background. The gender gaps (females –
males) among Roma are not explained by men’s and women’s
characteristics and may be caused by other factors such as: Customs and values,
perceived returns to female education or ineffective policies.
Between 2004 and 2011 some positive changes occurred:
Roma women are slightly less unlikely to obtain higher education levels and
less likely to dropout from school, but when it comes to education, gender and
ethnic gaps remain.
Roma women and
the labour market
Compared to non-Roma women and Roma men, when it comes to the labour
market Roma women:
- More frequently stay out of the labour market
(are inactive)
- More frequently work in informal employment
- Receive substantially lower payments for their
work
The ethnic gap in employment and wages among women are mainly due
to the differences in qualifications, especially in education.
The gender gap is not explained and may seem from other
unobserved patterns, such as Roma women’s multiple discrimination.
Between 2004 and 2011 Romani women became even
more disadvantaged in terms of employment possibilities.
Roma women and
health
When it comes to health Romani women do not seem to suffer from
chronic illness more frequently than non-Romani women or Romani men.
However, they are still have high risk when it comes to reproductive
health. Roma women are more likely than Roma men – but still less likely
than non-Roma individuals – to attend other medical checks such as heart
check ups, X-rays or cholesterol tests.
Roma women and
housing
A substantial number of Roma households live in substandard housing
conditions characterized by insufficient access to water, sanitation and
electricity. These have detrimental impacts on human health as well as
gender equality, as women stay at home more frequently than men.
In light of the results, there is tremendous need for gender-responsive
policies that address intersectional discrimination, such as that
experienced by Roma women, especially in the area of education and employment.
This paper is part of the Roma Inclusion Working Papers series started
in 2012.