Gender Equality in the Maldives: Bridging Legal Provisions, Lived Realities and International Standards

Abstract

Gender equality remains a significant human rights and development challenge in the Maldives, notwithstanding constitutional guarantees, legislative measures and international commitments. The paper examines the gap between formal legal equality and the lived realities of Maldivian women. It argues that equal legal status does not automatically ensure substantive equality, because women continue to face disadvantages arising from patriarchal social norms, institutional practices, gender-based violence, unequal economic opportunity, limited political representation and restricted access to decision-making spaces. Seemingly gender-neutral laws and policies may also produce unequal outcomes, because public institutions and social structures have historically been shaped around male experience and male patterns of participation. The study sets the constitutional and statutory framework governing gender equality in the Maldives against relevant international standards, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the broader United Nations human rights framework and Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda. It further explores how cultural expectation, religious interpretation, geographical dispersion and institutional limitation affect women's ability to exercise legally recognised rights in practice. The paper adopts a doctrinal and socio-legal approach, drawing on legal provisions, policy documents, international instruments and available evidence concerning women's social, political and economic participation. Its empirical element rests on three questionnaires administered to working, educated officers of the Maldives (36 male respondents, 63 female respondents and 13 respondents who did not disclose their gender identity), in which participants assigned a range of social and occupational roles to a gender category. The paper concludes that bridging the divide between law and reality requires more than legislative recognition. Effective enforcement mechanisms, gender-responsive institutions, improved access to justice, public awareness, reliable gender-disaggregated data and the meaningful participation of women in governance are essential. Harmonising domestic practice with international standards can enable the Maldives to move from formal equality towards genuine, inclusive and substantive gender justice.