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Women still get a raw deal in many parts of the globe. But a World Bank report suggests they have rapidly been gaining ground — to the point where men may be feeling their assumed roles are seriously threatened.

But many countries still have a long way to go before equality by measures such as income, inheritance rights and educational opportunities is even close.

A high proportion of the laggards relative to their income levels are Muslim. For instance, Pakistan and Egypt stand out for their abysmal failings in women’s education and the whole Middle East and North Africa region exhibits a high degree on inequality in inheritance rights, an often-forgotten key element in women’s ability to exercise power equal to their numbers.

However, there are standouts such as Bangladesh, where female school attendance rates are almost twice the level of its former, richer master, Pakistan. More than that, Bangladeshi girls stay in school longer than boys.

Taking the world as a whole, life expectancy among women has risen more sharply than among men. Progress can be seen in low-income countries, where women not only outlive men but live 20 years longer than they did in 1960. A key reason has been the decline in maternal mortality almost everywhere. But it remains appallingly high, not just in sub-Saharan Africa but also in India.

China stands out in employment for women — as does Cambodia — and in most countries women’s employment has advanced even if much of it is irregular self-employment. Contributing factors include globalization, which has brought women-intensive industries to low-income countries, and most recently the impact of mobile phones. In many developing countries cellphone usage is almost as high among women as men and has created new earning opportunities.

China may be on top in many things but it is near bottom of the world league in terms of gender imbalance at birth. In 2008 China was short almost 1.1 million female births, two-thirds of the global total. India was a mere 257,000 short — though still comparing very unfavorably with its South Asian neighbors.

India also showed an extraordinarily high rate of relative mortality of girls under 5, a nasty characteristic not found in China or elsewhere in East Asia. The implication is that while abortion of female fetuses is the main problem in China, neglect of young females is a major one in India.

The report also comes up with some data that may seem surprising. Almost everywhere those who do not use contraception ascribe the fact not to religion or their spouses’ demands but to inconvenience — presumably a reference to condoms and other mechanical means — or health concerns — presumably a reference to the possible health effects of contraceptive pills. The “inconvenience” rate is highest in Cambodia but also in the Philippines, where the religious factor is not minor.

Of course, the answers may be inexact. They may hide religious or spousal pressures or the cost factor anywhere where condoms are not cheaply available.

Lack of knowledge of contraceptive methods is a problem in many African countries but barely exists in Southeast Asia and is not a major problem in South Asia — with Bangladesh being more knowledgeable than India.

Many will regard the advancement of gender equality as an example of current western values being taken as a model for the world. The report even acknowledges that there are instances where male productivity is much higher than women in similar jobs, and that women still mostly look on men as more powerful.

However, it may be difficult to combat the rise in women’s status and shift from child-bearing and home management to employment as well as motherhood.

Almost everywhere brain is replacing brawn as the way to economic advance and hence women can show their equal status. But more than that, girls are now outshining boys at key ages in school and hence becoming a majority of university students in some countries.

This raises the issue, already a concern in some western countries, of whether school systems that treat boys and girls as equals may be favoring the earlier-developing girls.

The World Bank report itself even acknowledges the difficulty of male adjustment to changes in their relative economic importance, with a chapter titled “The Decline of the Breadwinner: Men in the 21st Century.”

Radical change has caught men by surprise. In the long run it may be futile, but it does explain why men in some countries resist — occasionally violently — to their loss of power and prestige.

 Asia Sentinel