A Framework for Mainstreaming Gender in Policies and Actions

1
A Framework for Mainstreaming Gender in Policies
and Actions

• Isabelle Bleas
• World Bank Institute
• ibleas_at_worldbank.org
• Moscow
• November 29-30, 2005

2
Does equity and gender equality matter for
development ?
3
Engendering Development through Gender Equality
in Rights, Resources and Voice

• WB Policy Research Report, E.U. gender equality
  is explicitly recognized as essential to
  achieving poverty reduction. Strong correlation
  btw. Income low(er) G inequality
• Cross-country and country-specific evidence G
  inequality hinders economic growth and has a
  heavy cost on families and nations.
• Cost on peoples lives and decrease of well being
• Cost on productivity, efficiency and economic
  progress
• Weaker governance

4
Gender discrimination explains inequality

• Brazil G discrimination explains 5 of
  inequality
• Tunisia F-headed households are less poor than
  M-headed households. Due to deliberate policy of
  empowering women and making school compulsory for
  boys and girls so same opportunities

5
Gender equality increases education, health, and
thus productivity of the next generation

• In India, children of literate mothers spend two
  more hours/day studying than children of
  illiterate mothers (Behrman et al., 1999).
• In Guatemala and Nigeria, educated mothers are
  more likely to adopt health-seeking behaviors,
  such as immunization (Pebley, et al. 1996 Gage,
  et al, 1997)
• In Brazil, income in the hands of mothers has
  four times the impact on childrens
  height-for-age as income in the hands of fathers
  (Thomas, 1990)

6
If women and men had more equal schooling,
incomes would have grown faster
4
3
Average annual growth in per capita GNP,
1960-1992
(percent)
2
Predicted
1
Actual
0
Sub-Saharan Africa
South Asia
Middle East/ North Africa
Klasen, 2002
7
Where women and men have more equal rights,
governments are less corrupt
10
9
8
7
6
Index of corruption
5
4
3
2
1
0
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
Women's economic and social rights
8
Equity is vital to achieve economic growth

• Pro-Poor Growth Evidence that growth and
  equality are effective in reducing poverty
• Studies highlighting several broad policy options
  to help poor households take advantage of
  nonagricultural and urban employment
  opportunities. They include improving the
  investment climate expanding access to secondary
  education enhancing access of girls to all
  levels of education designing labor market
  regulations to create more formal employment for
  poor workers strengthening property rights to
  improve land access and improving access to
  infrastructure.

9
WDR 2006 Equity and Development

• When a large share of the population is excluded
  from the main opportunities in development
  (education, investment, property rights they
  dont even have the same political influence and
  the ability to influence their governments), then
  A lot of human productive potential of society
  goes to waste

10
WDR 2006 main messages

• High levels of economic and political inequality
  lead to economic institutions and social systems
  that systematically favor the elite those with
  more influence.
• It undermines a countrys potential for growth
  and its ability to reduce poverty.
• Inequitable institutions impose economic costs
• Equity is a fundamental part of the package
  needed to achieve empowerment and a better
  investment climate. It is also essential to
  achieving the Millennium Development Goals

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Is there Gender Equality ?
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Gender equality has tended to increase over time,
except in political participation
Middle Income Countries
High Income Countries
Low Income Countries
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
Female/male ratio
0.4
0.2
0.0
1970
1980
1990
1995
1970
1980
1990
1995
1970
1980
1990
1995
Life expectancy
Primary enrollment
Secondary enrollment
Parliamentary representation
13
Women are vastly underrepresented in parliaments
25
20
15
Women's share of parliamentary seats, 1995
(percent)
10
5
0
East Asia/
Europe/
Latin
Middle East/
Sub-Saharan
OECD
South
Pacific
Central Asia
America/
North Africa
Africa
Asia
Caribbean
14
CGA Russian Federation

• Country Gender Assessment (2004-2005) shows
  differential access to economic and productive
  resources, and to political participation.
• Declining ratio of women business administrators
  of professional advancement
• Increasing stress on both M and F, and violence

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Gender issues in the Region 1.

• While world-wide women have suffered from gender
  inequality, in the ECA region both men and women
  have paid a price
• Some measure of equality in schools, but
  significant barriers in economic opportunities,
  political participation, access to, and control
  over resources
• 1985 25 women in Parliament
• 1990 dropped to 7
• 1990-2004 seats declined from 36 to 5 Armenia,
  29 to 6 Albania

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Gender issues in the Region 2.

• Gender gap in employment opportunities
• With the privatization of state owned industries,
  women are finding it harder to find formal
  employment.
• Barriers in access to land and credit In some
  countries, women have benefited from micro-credit
  programs (Tajikistan National Social Investment
  Fund)
• The privatization of state-owned land has placed
  most property in the hands of men.
• The gender gap is particularly evident in the
  rural areas.

17
Gender issues in the Region 3.

• Loss of special benefits for women, increasing
  their risk of poverty
• Violence human trafficking 25 worldwide
  (175,000 persons).
• Lax law enforcement and corruption have
  contributed to the growth of trafficking

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Policy approaches to promoting gender equality
and development
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A framework to promote G equality

• A three-part strategy
• Reform Institutions (legal, economic) to provide
  equal rights and opportunities
• Foster economic development to strengthen
  incentives for more equal resources
• Take measures to redress inequalities in command
  over resources and political participation

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A framework to promote G equality

• A three-part strategy
• Reform Institutions (legal, economic) to provide
  equal rights and opportunities
• Foster economic development to strengthen
  incentives for more equal resources
• Take measures to redress inequalities in command
  over resources and political participation

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Reforming Institutions

• Institutions consist of formal and informal rules
  which influence the level of transaction costs,
  which in turn highly influence the rate of
  growth. Effective institutions reduce
  transaction costs and encourage socially
  productive activities and vice versa.
• We can ask of these institutions Are they
  gendered? If they are not, then transactions
  costs will be institutionally different for men
  and women
• And there will be inefficiency

22
Establishing Equal Rights and Protection under
the Law

• But reform is not enough capacity and commitment
  to implement legal reforms
• Law part of broader institutional environment
• And further problem in many countries,
  responsibility for gender policy usually rests
  with marginalized cabinet positions

• Family Law
• Protection against
• violence
• Land Rights (property, ownership)
• Labor Law
• Political rights

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A framework to promote G equality

• A three-part strategy
• Reform Institutions (legal, economic) to provide
  equal rights and opportunities
• Foster economic development to strengthen
  incentives for more equal resources
• Take measures to redress inequalities in command
  over resources and political participation

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Fostering Economic Development

• Increase in productivity
• Creation of new work opportunities
• Reduction of gender disparities
• Incomes raise
• Poverty decreases

25
Ability to respond to incentives

• Control of land land and other ownership rights
• Control of capital do men and women have equal
  control of household and other assets?
• Control of labor do women (and especially young
  women) fully control their labor?

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A framework to promote G equality

• A three-part strategy
• Reform Institutions (legal, economic) to provide
  equal rights and opportunities
• Foster economic development to strengthen
  incentives for more equal resources
• Take measures to redress inequalities in command
  over resources and political participation

27
Conditions necessary for competitive markets

• To have sufficient, equal access to information
  in order to operate effectively in the public
  sphere of markets
• To have sufficient, equal freedom to act on this
  information
• This includes equal control of resources, and
  access to resources

28
There is a critical role for active measures that

• Increase access to resources and services
• Reduce the costs to women of their household
  roles
• Establish gender-appropriate social protection
• Strengthen political voice and participation

29
Participating in the Labor Force

• Availability of low-cost, out-of-home child care
  facilitates/increases participation in labor
  force and raises household income
• A recent study in Russian Federation (Lokshin
  2000) finds that subsidizing out-of-home care can
  be more effective than other approaches (wage
  subsidies) in attracting mothers in labor market

30
Investments in water and fuel infrastructure
significantly reduce time on collection
activities
Potential Average Annual Time Savings
600
400
Annual time savings (hours per household)
200
0
Lusaka Rural
Kaya
Mbale
Kasama
Dedougou
(Zambia)
(Burkina Faso)
(Uganda)
(Zambia)
(Burkina Faso)
Note Kasama and Dedougou are already within
the 400m target.
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Providing Gender-appropriate Social Protection

• Means attention to both Men and Women
• In most of the world, women more vulnerable
• Emerging trend arguing for more attention to
  male-specific issues
• But still need for women-specific pension
  schemes. Look at Chile next slide-

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Design matters for gender equality in pension
benefits
Pension income for average workers with
incomplete primary education
(female/male ratio in parenthesis)

(0.89)
(0.60)
Female pension benefits as a proportion of male
benefits
(0.43)
(0.35)
(0.29)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Pesos (thousands)
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Overall Implications

• Gender is an important analytical category at
  both the micro and macro levels
• Implications
• Gender needs to be systematically integrated into
  the analysis of economic problems
• Gender must be integrated into the policy process
• At the planning level
• At the budgetary decision level
• At the implementation level
• At the evaluation level

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Taking gender considerations into account in
policy and program design can promote gender
equality and enhance policy effectiveness.
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Can we help?

• Russia TA pilot on mainstreaming Gender in the
  delivery of social services

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