From economic growth to gender equality and back

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From economic growth to gender equality and
back 10. June 2008 Jens Kovsted Centre for
Economic and Business Research
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Economic growth and gender equality

• Gender equality is defined as equal opportunities
  and equal access to the constituents of
  development (health, education, earning
  opportunities, political representation,
  individual autonomy, etc.)
• Economic growth is defined as growth in the per
  capita net production value
• There is a reciprocal and intimate relationship
  between economic growth and gender equality
• Both can moreover be perceived as means and ends
• Historically and politically, focus was first on
  the effects economic growth can have on gender
  equality
• The opposite causal relationship from gender
  equality to economic growth has grown in
  prominence over recent decades.

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From economic growth to gender equality?
By implication If gender based differential
treatment/discrimination is worse under extreme
circumstances then lifting the income of poor
households will disproportionally benefit women
and girls
Deaton (1997) find no evidence that households
reduce consumption of adult goods less for a
newborn girl than for a newborn boy when the
household is not in a state of crisis
Food shortage Miguel (2004) find that the murder
of witches are twice as likely to occur in
drought years in rural Tanzania
Household income and consumption
Minimum consumption requirement
Illness Khanna et al. (2003) find that girls in
poor neighbourhoods of New Delhi are twice as
likely to die from diarrhoea.
Time
Reducing poverty, it seems, even without
targeting women, will benefit women more than
men. The observed effects of supply side
increase in education and credit opportunities
lend some support to this notion.
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From economic growth to gender equality?

• Economic growth will also expand womens
  opportunities
• In the labour market
• and inside the household
• RHJ point about export oriented economies
• Long term improvement
• Duflo?
• What about policy?

Resources controlled by the Woman
Resources controlled by the man
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From economic growth to gender equality?

• Economic growth will also expand womens
  opportunities
• In the labour market
• and inside the household
• RHJ point about export oriented economies
• Long term improvement
• Duflo?
• What about policy?

Now suppose womens opportunities expand in the
labour market due to economic growth the
outside option of women improve
Resources controlled by the Woman
Resources controlled by the man
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From economic growth to gender equality?

• Economic growth will also expand womens
  opportunities
• In the labour market
• Outside the household and inside the household
• By implication, gender blind, growth oriented
  policies that improve the welfare of households
  can improve gender equality
• But will economic development be enough?
• In addition, Baliamoune-Lutz (2006) find that
  trade induced economic growth in some cases will
  be to the detriment of low-skilled individuals
  (typically women) who become trapped in low-wage
  employment.

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From gender equality to economic growth?

• Gender differences and gender based
  discrimination are, unfortunately, persistent.
• Growth alone will probably not be enough to bring
  about equality between men and women in the
  foreseeable future.
• MDG rationale
• Gender equality is, according to the UN (Annan,
  2005), a prerequisite to achieving the other MDGs
• How?

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From gender equality to economic growth?



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From gender equality to economic growth?

• Please note, that this is
• Not saying that the effect of educating or
  raising the income of women is missing. There is
  an effect.
• Not saying that womens preferences and choices
  are the same as men they are not.
• It is, however
• Saying that we are observing a correlation
• Saying that unobserved heterogeneity can imply
  that the relationship might not hold for all
  women. Or putting it differently that the effect
  may be less strong than commonly believed.

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From gender equality to economic growth?

• Women as (better?) decision makers
• Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) study a unique
  Indian experiment of affirmative action
• Prior to gaining influence women more often
  complained about water and roads in rural
  Rajasthan
• After gaining local leadership village level
  investments changed towards water and roads
• Women did not (as expected by some) vote as their
  husbands
• Their decisions instead better represented the
  needs of women
• Did total welfare increase?
• Less was invested in schools (the fixed budget
  constraints)
• Cattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) conclude that the
  net effect on community welfare is uncertain.

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Concluding remarks

• Economic growth will not do the trick alone
• It is necessary and often beneficial to gender
  equality
• But it is unlikely to produce significant short-
  to medium term improvements
• Thus corrective policies are needed
• But be careful not to make gender equality into a
  magic bullet it will involve reallocations and
  tradeoffs
• The size of gender equality effects are subject
  to discussion and uncertainty due to uncontrolled
  heterogeneity and selection effects.
• The collateral effect benefits from
  redistribution might not be sufficient to
  compensate for the cost of the distortion.
• Equality is, however, also a goal in its own
  right. Hence, the emphasis on gender equality as
  smart economics should complement not
  substitute the rights-based argument.

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Gender Responsive Budgeting

• Objective
• How can the public sector most effectively ensure
  the economic empowerment and labour market access
  of women?
• What role could Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB)
  play in this context?
• Background
• Ongoing study of GRB practices, challenges and
  opportunities financed by Danida
• The changing aid modalities has heightened the
  interest in GRB as a potentially useful tool.

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GRB Definition and prerequisites

• Definition of GRB
• Introduction and incorporation of a gender
  perspective at all levels of the budgetary
  process and restructuring revenues and
  expenditures to promote gender equality.
• It does not mean separate budgets for women.
• It is not a recent invention and has been tested
  in more than 60 countries - many of these
  projects, however, started and ended as workshops
  or pilots.
• Prerequisites
• Strong political will to actively address gender
  inequality need access to government budgets
  and must work with the central government
• Gender- disaggregated data both outcome and
  administrative data
• Establishment of a proper monitoring and
  evaluation set-up more information and
  knowledge about what works and why is needed.

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GRB potentials - 1

• 1. Prevent gender from falling off the table
• GRB can facilitate genders entry into
  high-level, top-down discussions and forums
  gender mainstreaming.
• However,
• Gender NGOs must learn to speak the language of
  the Ministry of Finance (MoF)
• The MoF must accept and see the value of
  addressing gender
• 2. Contribute with novel perspectives and
  analyses
• GRB can address gender in a systematic and
  comprehensive manner
• However,
• Gender-disaggregated data and the capacity to
  analyse it must be available
• GRB must include a more growth-oriented
  perspective instead of only focusing on static
  re-allocation of existing resources.

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GRB potentials - 2

• 3. Enhance gender awareness and allocations
• This could include allocations for womens
  education and health as well as improving their
  access to production factors such as credit and
  land
• This could assist and augment womens access to
  labour markets
• However,
• Very few GRB projects have actually reached this
  stage.
• Key barriers include lack of political will, lack
  of data and failure to communicate and reach and
  understanding between key partners (gender NGOs,
  MoF and other government institutions)
• Better monitoring and evaluation is needed to
  follow and assist the GRB processes.

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GRB Conclusion

• Significant potential and significant barriers
• GRB initiatives can, however, lead to results
  without results
• Increased openness and interest in government
  budgets and budgetary processes
• Gender advocates can develop a more systematic
  and high-level voice
• Better and more widespread knowledge about why
  gender inequality is bad economic policy
• GRB is obviously not a panacea but it has the
  potential to become a systematic and
  comprehensive tool for gender mainstreaming.
• The necessary (but necessarily sufficient)
  prerequisites include political will, gender
  disaggregated data, and a long-term commitment.

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Back-up slides
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