世界银行-性别差异和贫困：多哥2022年贫困和性别评估的背景文件（英）-2023-72页_3mb

Gender Disparities in Endowments and Poverty in Togo

• Gender inequality begins in childhood, with girls disadvantaged in education due to social norms. Girls are less likely to complete secondary school, especially in rural areas, due to factors like child marriage, early pregnancy, and limited access to resources. Key gaps include disparities in educational attainment by wealth, region, and age group, with rural and poorer women having lower enrollment and completion rates.

• Health outcomes for women are poor, with high maternal mortality (396 deaths per 1,000 live births) and low access to maternal healthcare. Contraceptive use is low, and high adolescent fertility (88.3 per 1,000 women) is linked to poverty, social norms, and lack of sexual/reproductive health education.

Constraints on Agency and Decision-Making

• Women spend significantly more time on unpaid domestic work (5.3 hours daily on average) than men, limiting their labor force participation and economic opportunities. Gender-based violence (GBV) is prevalent, affecting over a third of women, with high acceptance rates in some regions.

• Decision-making power is limited, with only 30% of women in Togo making decisions on sexual/reproductive health unilaterally. This is tied to economic dependence and restrictive social norms, particularly in rural areas.

Gender Gaps in Economic Opportunities

• Labor force participation is lower for women (43.0%) than men (70.8%), with women often in informal, low-quality jobs. Most women work in agriculture or commerce, but face limited access to credit, assets, and finance. Land ownership is severely underrepresented, with only 9.2% of rural women owning land, hindering their economic resilience.

Policy Recommendations

• Prioritize adolescent girls and rural women through interventions like improving school retention, enhancing reproductive health access, reducing child marriage, preventing GBV, supporting female farmers, and promoting women's land rights and economic empowerment.
• Strengthen legal reforms for better enforcement of gender equality laws, improve access to justice, and promote community-based social norm changes to foster sustainable gender equity.