Introduction
Mongolia has a population of 2.4 million people and in the early 1990s, Mongolia undertook the process of democratisation of the political system and the transition to a market economy. This process was legally guaranteed by the new Constitution of Mongolia adopted at the beginning of 1992.
The democratisation process brought about a more transformation in all spheres of Mongolian life. A number of structural reforms and measures aimed at economic stabilisation included privatisation, decentralisation, liberalisation of prices, flexible credit and deposit interests, new tax laws and the floating currency exchange rate. Mongolia's new political, social and economic environment has created both new opportunities and challenges for women. There are more opportunities for women to participate in the democratic process, to exercise freedom of choice and to own property. In recent years, several women's NGOs and new community groups have emerged. There are also severe negative effects of poverty and unemployment on the advancement of women in Mongolia.
The National Programme for the Advancement of Women and Priority Issues
Recognising the active integration of women into national economic and social development, the Government of Mongolia has given importance to gender-sensitivity of policy and implementation of the Platform for Action. In March 1996, the National Forum on "Women in Development" held in Ulaabaatar, discussed the draft of "The National Programme for the Advancement of Women". Policy-makers from different ministries and representatives from non-governmental organisations, private enterprises and researchers were actively involved in the development of the National Programme. The National Programme was adopted by the Mongolian government through Resolution No. 145 of 1996.
The following critical areas of concern for the advancement of Mongolian women have been identified in the National Programme:
- Women in economic development
- Women and poverty
- The advancement of rural women
- Women and education
- Women and health
- Women and family
- Women in power and decision-making
- Violence against women
- National machinery for the advancement of women
- Women and mass media
Strategic objectives and actions for the period 1996-2000 are provided for each of the critical areas of concern mentioned above.
The following basic objectives by the year 2000 have been set up in the National Programme is:
- Promote employment creation schemes for women and reduce unemployment to 5.8% of economically active women;
- Reduce the rate of poverty among women to 50% of the 1994 level, or 10% of female population and eliminate extreme poverty;
- Reduce school drop-out rates, and to achieve enrolment rates of school-going age girls and boys of 95% in primary school and 90% in secondary school;
- Improve access to vocational training and tertiary education;
- Develop a system of lifelong non-formal education for women;
- Reduce the maternal mortality rate to 50% of the 1992 level and decrease infant mortality by 33% through the improvement of access and quality of health services;
- Promote the equal sharing of home responsibilities including child care between men and women;
- Increase at least 20% in the representation of women in Central and Local state and government top decision-making levels;
- Develop services to prevent violence against women and to protect women subjected to violence;
- Improve and strengthen the institutional capacity of national and local machinery for the advancement of women;
- Develop the national capacity to undertake gender analysis;
- Promote the community participation and involvement of NGOs in implementing strategies of action plans.
The implementation strategies of the national programme have focused on the following principles:
- Integration into development plans: the objectives and actions of the programme have to be integrated into long-and short-term national and local development plans.
- Decentralisation: local governments have the primary responsibility and authority for the implementation of the actions in the framework of the principle of decentralisation.
- Mobilisation of resources: the financial resources required for implementation of the programme have to be mobilised through annual allocations from the central and local budgets and contributions are encouraged from private and non-governmental and international organisations.
- Community participation: government to pay particular attention to ensuring the active participation of the community and NGOs in the implementation strategies.
National Machinery for the Advancement of Women in Mongolia
Prior to 1990, the Mongolian Women's Federation was executing both a government and non-governmental function in its capacity as the national machinery for women's concerns. The current national machinery for the advancement of women in Mongolia is located in the Population and Social Protection Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. It was established in 1992 and has direct responsibility for the coordination, and monitoring of women's affairs and serves as the secretariat of the National Council for Women. The Cabinet Member in charge of Health and Social Welfare is responsible for overseeing the national machinery's programmes. In addition, a "Youth, Family and Women's agency" which is an implementing organisation has been established under the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
By a government resolution in 1996, "The National Council for Women" chaired by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare was established. The National Council for Women is responsible for coordination of intersectoral policy development and implementation of the National Programme of Action. The Council consists of 39 members such as Members of Parliament, Department Directors of Ministries, representatives of academic institutions, NGOs and community organisations.
In the State Great Khural, the areas of women's concerns come under the jurisdiction of the Standing Committee for Social Policy. The chairperson of the Standing Committee is focusing specific attention on women's issues and has organised a review group. In addition, women Members of the Parliament have also established a Parliament Group. At the local administrative levels, the areas of concern are a direct responsibility of the Social Policy Department of the aimag and the city Governor's Office and its staff in charge of population related issues.
Non-governmental organisations play an important role in the advancement of women. Under the current process of democratisation, many new organisations have come into existence and there are now more than 20 women's NGOs.
The gender information network is being coordinated through the central and local statistical offices. Nearly 40 statistical indicators are collected and analysed on the basis of gender and a special booklet on gender-disaggregated information has been produced. In addition, the "Women's Information and Research Centre", an NGO, plays an important role in the development of gender analysis.
The national machinery for the advancement of women is under-staffed and under-equipped and its international cooperation is limited. Due to inadequate resources governmental and non-governmental women's organisations are unable to carry out sufficient activities among women particularly vulnerable groups. Priorities to further develop the national machinery for the advancement of women include:
- Strengthening the intersectoral approach through strengthening the National Council of Women and its secretariat;
- Developing the programme management and monitoring mechanisms for the implementation of the National Programme for the Advancement of Women;
- Increasing the resource mobilisation for national and community based programmes and projects;
- Improving international cooperation in areas of women's concerns at the subregional and regional levels;
- Strengthening the capacity of the Women's Information and Research Center for the developmetn of gender-analysis.
Priority Issues for the Implementation of the National Programme on Women and Poverty Alleviation
The increasing trend of women's poverty has become the most acute problem in Mongolia. The causes of the emergence of poverty during the period of transition are the decline of economic growth, unemployment, inflation, rapid increase in prices and the drop in income and access to social services. Women, particularly those who head households with many children, have been affected more seriously by poverty. A study of poor households reveals that 24.8% are female-headed families, 23% are families where none of the family members is employed in any economic unit or entity. Poverty is reflected not only in income, but also in the decline in human capital through deteriorating health and education. One third of the total school drop-outs in 1996 were from poor families, and the majority of them were from single parent families. The emergence of many, so called, "street" children is also an indication of escalating poverty. One of the critical areas of concern therefore is the feminisation of poverty.
The government has been implementing the national programme on poverty alleviation since 1995. Special attention is given to the alleviation of women's poverty. The poverty alleviation proramme integrates such issues as the creation of a separate microcredit scheme to promote employment opportunities and income generation for women and training them for obtaining skills in business. A Women's Development Fund has been established for this purpose. The fund also has a special window for the promotion of women's NGOs. It is felt that such measures are important for women's contributions to the eradication of poverty. The inclusion of local authorities and promotion of NGO participation have been strategies followed in the implementation of the programme. The priority issues under focus now are:
- The mobilisation of financial resources, including domestic and international resources;
- Increasing the access of poor people to the programme, particularly to the microcredit schemes;
- Capacity building in the development of community participation and in the involvement of the NGO sector;
- Strengthening of programme management and monitoring, especially at the local level.
Women in Decision-making
Since the early 1990s, the political and administrative system of the country has been restructured as whole, creating a new democratic system according to the new Constitution of Mongolia. Currently, women consist of 11.8% of Parliament Members. Compared with the proportion of women elected to the highest state power under the previous system, there is a fall from 24.9% to 11.8%, i.e., more than half. The Government of Mongolia consists of 9 ministers, but there is no female representative in the Cabinet. Women constitute about 40% of the total employees in Ministries. Compared with 1992, there is an increase in the proportion of female Parliamentarians, directors of government departments and central agencies and some Governors elected or appointed in 1996. Under the current situation there is an inadequate proportion of female representatives at the highest level of political and economic powers. The priority issues to be addressed therefore are:
- Development of public awareness and political commitment to increase women's representation in leadership and decision-making;
- Strengthening women's sustainable career development through management training and promotion;
- Providing appropriate information and mounting advocacy campaigns.
Women's Health
The national health policy of Mongolia reflects the goals of the global strategy o health for al by the year 2000 and is based on the PHC (public health centre) as the cornerstone of future health policy. The new Constitution of Mongolia which was adopted in 1992 sets down the basic rights and freedom of citizens, including the right to live in a healthy and safe environment, to have social benefits during pregnancy, child care, old age, loss of working ability and to have access to and protection from medical care and other health services according to legal regulations. All pre- and post-natal care are provided free of charge. The revised health law in 1989 removed the ban on abortion. In 1991, the health law introduced the possibility of having privately funded health services. Other laws/regulations on health which were introduced in 1993 include the health insurance law, the law on AIDS and the regulation on alcohol and tobacco. In 1995, the government introduced the social insurance law directed to maintain and improve the existing coverage and accessibility of the entire population to health services regardless of their income and other position.
The Government has been implementing a number of national programmes in collaboration with international organisations for improving women's health, particularly reproductive health. Other aspects of the health programme are the expanded programme on immunisation, the adolescent health programme and the nutrition programme which includes the promotion of breastfeeding. Although Mongolia has made some advances in building the medical infrastructure, the rural sector continues to provide challenges because of its scattered population. The government is undertaking special services for pregnant women and since 1960, has established Maternity Rest Homes in rural areas.
The previous coverage of immunising more than 90% of the population from infectious diseases has decreased. Although there has been an improvement in life expectancy, and in the infant and under five mortality rate, the maternal mortality rate continues to remain high. While there have been improvements in Mongolian women's health status and in coverage by and access to health services, not all women have benefited equally. In addition, other factors to be considered in the formulation of health policy and programmes include:
- Life style factors such, as alcohol abuse, poor diet and lack of exercise which contribute towards increasing morbidity and mortality rate - for non communicable diseases.
- Significant effects of unsafe water and inadequate sanitation which have an impact on health status of women and children. Inadequate nutrition, especially of pregnant women, remains a major problem.
- High rates of maternal mortality and abortion and the lack of knowledge on reproductive health are also priority issues.
- The high rate of STD prevalence and the increasing phenomenon of prostitution are becoming critical areas of women's health. HIV/AIDS is, as yet, not a major problem.
