Mongolia in Perspective

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Another religious minority in Mongolia is the growing Christian population, now
estimated at more than 4% of the nation’s population. Most Mongolian Christians are
Protestant; about 9% are followers of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
(Mormons).^282

Gender Issues

Women have traditionally held a relatively higher
social position within Mongolia compared to most
other Central and East Asian societies. This is
because Mongolia’s herding economy required
women to take an important role in sustaining the
family, which included tending sheep, the most
valuable resource for most families. During
Mongolia’s communist era, women increasingly
worked outside the home, particularly in teaching
and medicine.^283

Today, the family and economic rights of women are legally guaranteed in Mongolia.

(^284)
In fact, more Mongolian women are educated than men, have more economic
opportunities and better health than men, and participate more in politics than men.^285
Indeed, Mongolia in 2009 ranked better than any other country in the world in the Global
Gender Gap Index’s comparisons of women’s economic participation and opportunity.^286
Only in measurements of participation rates at the highest levels of national government
do males outnumber females in Mongolia.^287
(^282) Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, “Mongolia,” in
International Religious Freedom Report 2010, 17 November 2010,
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148885.htm
(^283) Donald R. DeGlopper, “Chapter 2: The Society and Its Environment: Society: Position of Women,” in
Mongolia: A Country Study (Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1991), 94–
95.
(^284) International Fund for Agricultural Development, “Mongolia: Project for Market and Pasture
Management Development (PMPMD): Design Completion Report, June 2010, 11,
http://www.ifad.org/operations/projects/design/102/mongolia.pdf
(^285) Richard Hausmann, Laura D. Tyson, and Saadia Zahidi, “Table 3a: The Global Gender Gap Index 2009
Rankings :Comparisons With 2008, 2007 and 2006,” in The Global Gender Gap Report 2009, 8,
https://members.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf
(^286) Richard Hausmann, Laura D. Tyson, and Saadia Zahidi, “Table 3b: Detailed Ranking s 2009,” in The
Global Gender Gap Report 2009, 8, https://members.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf
(^287) Richard Hausmann, Laura D. Tyson, and Saadia Zahidi, “Table 3b: Detailed Ranking s 2009,” in The
Global Gender Gap Report 2009, 8, https://members.weforum.org/pdf/gendergap/report2009.pdf