
By Alison Holder
Economic growth across the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) averaged 5.4% per year between 2008 and 2017, far eclipsing the average of less than 1% per year in the United States and Europe over the same period. Between 2016 and 2021 the BRICS nations will have accounted for about half of world growth, according to projections from the International Monetary Fund.
With recent major elections in both South Africa and India, and just last year in Brazil, will the current generation of BRICS leaders be able to sustain that record of economic growth? The answer to that question will come down to how well the proceeds of growth benefit all groups, particularly women and girls.
Evidence shows that gender equality, particularly in education and employment, contributes to economic growth. But a new measure of gender equality across 129 countries – aligned to the ambitious commitments made in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – shows the BRICs countries as a group are under-performing against the global average on gender equality. Many countries with lower levels of economic development than at least four of the five BRICS countries – including Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan – performed better when it comes to gender equality.
With just over 10 years left to reach the SDGs by 2030, and the BRICs nations needing new strategies to sustain their growth trajectories, these five economic powerhouses should heed the warning signs. While there are gender equality-related issues where the BRICS nations outperform the global average – including those related to health, poverty and clean energy – there are a number of issues on which the BRICS countries fall behind the rest of the world and even behind countries with much lower levels of economic development.
Gender equality trouble spots for the BRICS countries is particularly evident in the lack of transparency in government budgets and the gaps in gender statistics: issues that include women's safety from violence, low levels of women's political participation, weak scores on key labor rights and high levels of economic inequality between the richest and poorest in society in general. Cumulatively, these statistics show a disproportionately negative impact on women and children.
None of the BRICs countries are yet making the changes in policies, laws and budget decisions needed to ensure that women and girls benefit equally from, and have the chance to contribute to, a future of shared and sustained growth across the BRICS bloc. All of the BRICS nations could do more to convert their economic wealth into driving progress for women and girls.
Take women's political representation in senior government or ministerial positions. Leaving aside South Africa, which performs quite well on this measure, Brazil (just 4% of senior government positions are held by women), Russia (10%), China (10%), and India (19%) are in the bottom half of countries on this indicator. Women are not rising to the highest ranks of government power in four of the five BRICS countries. And yet much poorer countries like Rwanda, Nicaragua, Peru and Uganda top the world when it comes to having high proportions of women in senior government roles.
While it is clear that much more needs to be done across the BRICS on key gender equality issues, there are examples of progress that can be built upon and gains that must be guarded against rollbacks. In China, for example, the National Program for Women's Development that ran from 2001 to 2010, as well as the National Program for Women's Development currently running from 2011 to 2020, have increased access to preventive screenings, standard reproductive health-care services, and health and nutritional education.
In Brazil in 2015, under the previous government, a law was passed that criminalizes femicide(the gender-motivated killing of women); it also strengthened penalties for offenders. In Russia, entrepreneur, lawyer and rights activist Alyona Popova is preparing a draft bill to criminalize domestic violence. She is also lobbying for the introduction of the first restraining orders in Russia.
And South Africa has some of the highest rates of women represented in parliament and in senior government positions in the world.
There are signs that social norms are shifting, as well. A 2019 survey in India revealed that 75% of respondents (drawn from urban communities) supported women working outside their homes. Almost 90% agreed that Indian men and women should be paid equally for the same job.
When the BRICS leaders meet this November in Brazil for their annual summit, it is certain that champions for gender equality and equal rights for women and girls will be trying to make their voices heard. BRICS Feminist Watch and the BRICS Women Business Alliance are just two examples of groups advocating for the bloc to do more to tackle the gender inequalities pervasive across all five nations.
The question is whether BRICS leaders will heed the opportunity to better ensure that the talents and potential of half of their population are not cast aside. As they look for development strategies that will keep them at the top of the world's economic growth league table, gender equality is a strategy in which the BRICS nations are currently under-invested.
Alison Holder is director of Equal Measures 2030
US News @ World Report