Closing the Global Gender Gap: A Preliminary Assessment of our Policy Toolbox

1. Closing the Global Gender Gap: A Preliminary Assessment of our Policy Toolbox Fiona Greig, PhD Women and Public Policy Program Fellow Harvard University July, 2007

2. Outline • The Global Gender Gap • Why we should close the global gender gap • Measuring the Global Gender Gap • General results • The Policy Toolbox • A framework for diagnosis and intervention • The state of our knowledge • Policy tools Appendix: References

3. Why should we care about closing the global gender gap? • The role women play in development • Achieving gender equality is central to attaining the other 7 Millennium Development Goals (e.g., Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger) • Increasing women’s economic participation fosters economic growth (e.g., Esteve-Volart 2005) • Increasing women’s incomes improves child nutrition and health (e.g., Duflo 2003) • Increasing women’s political participation improves the quality of government (e.g., Duflo 2004) • Moral concerns for equity • Millennium Development Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women by 2015 • Human rights and capabilities perspective (e.g., Sen 1999) • Redistributive effects of closing the gender gap (e.g., Duflo 2004 for evidence on political representation)

4. The Global Gender Gap Index(Greig, Hausmann, Tyson, and Zahidi 2006) An index between 0 and 1 that measures the level of equality between women and men • 0=perfect inequality; 1=perfect equality • Sweden with a score of 0.81 has closed 81% of the gender gap. Captures four components • Economic participation and opportunity • Educational attainment • Health and well-being • Political empowerment Data from international organizations and the World Economic Forum’s Executive Opinion Survey Covers over 115 countries and over 90% of the world’s population. • 20 EU; 18 Eastern Europe; 22 Americas; 23 Sub-Saharan Africa; 21 Asia & Oceania; 11 Middle East

5. Existing Gender Indices • Gender-related development index (GDI) • Focus on capabilities (Sen 1999) • Same measures as HDI - life expectancy, knowledge, income • Sensitive to both gender gap and levels • Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) • Focus on opportunities • Political participation, economic participation, income • Sensitive to both gender gap and levels • Social Institutions Index (OECD) • Focus on institutions • Family code, women’s physical integrity, women’s civil liberties, women’s ownership rights • Sensitive to gender discrimination (0-1 score)

6. Global Gender Gap Index – What for? • More comprehensive assessment • Economic participation and opportunity • Political empowerment • Educational attainment • Health and well-being • Comparative advantage of WEF • Executive Opinion Survey

7. Principles of the Index • Measures the gapsrather than levels • Measures outcomesrather than policies • Measures the gender equality rather than women’s empowerment • Quantifies performance relative to absolute standards, while communicating country comparisons

8. Variables Contained in the Index

9. Scale and combination method • Scale each variable: • Convert to ratio of females/males. • Truncate value by equality benchmark (usually 1.00). • Calculate Score base on the following formula: • Calculate the score for each component as the weighted average of component specific variables (weights = inverse of standard deviation). • Calculate the Index as the simple average of the component scores.

10. Results: Where we are today No country has completely closed its gender gap.

11. Results by region and income

12. A snapshot of the Arab World The Arab World and the UAE are behind the rest of the world particularly in terms of economicand political participation. The Arab World could also improve in education, though UAE is doing reasonably well in this regard.

13. How do we close these gap? 7 Strategic Priorities to Promote Gender Equality The Millennium Development Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality identified 7 strategic priorities necessary to meet Goal 3 by 2015.

14. Outline • The Global Gender Gap • Why we should close the global gender gap • Measuring the Global Gender Gap • General results • The Policy Toolbox • A framework for diagnosis and intervention • The state of our knowledge • Policy tools Appendix: References

15. A Framework for Diagnosis and Policy Intervention 1. What are the gender gaps in this country? 2. What are the causes of those gender gaps? • Economic Participation and Opportunity • Educational Attainment • Health and well-being • Political empowerment • Proximate Causes • Tertiary enrollment • Root Causes • Prejudice • Preferences • Constraints 3. What policy change can close the gender gaps? • Policy Levers • University scholarships for women • Capabilities necessary for policy change • Education budget

16. Step 1: Characterize the Gender Gap Two Examples: Angola and China Angola China Key Gaps: • Economic Participation and Opportunity • Political Empowerment • Education Attainment Key Gaps: • Health and Survival • Political Empowerment Additional Gaps: • Education Attainment • Economic Participation and Opportunity

17. Step 2: Diagnose the Causes 2a. Assess proximate causes (e.g., using country profiles) 2b. Assess root causes for each proximate cause Root Causes Prejudice – Cultural norms and discrimination may constrain women’s choices Preferences – Women may have different preferences (e.g., for work) than men Constraints – Women may face greater barriers than men to achieving their goals (e.g., lack of skills and training) Proximate Causes • Gender wage gap • Representation of women in legislatures, senior officials and managers Proximate Causes • Sex ratio at birth

18. Step 3: Identify the right policy levers Gap Economic Participation and Opportunity Proximate Causes Gender Wage Gap, Advancement Root Causes Prejudice, Lack of training and experience Policy Levers Equal treatment laws Maternity leave policies Executive education for women Requirements Legislative reform Tax benefits for employers Train executive education professors 3a. Identify the right Policy Levers for change 3b. Assess Institutional and Capability Requirements • Based on… • Demonstrated success through research • Cost effectiveness • Implementation time • Cultural and social context • Based on… • Input from policy makers • Budget limitations • Existing infrastructure • Capacity for public service provision

19. The State of Our Knowledge • Economic participation and opportunity: FAIR • Various good studies attributing international trends in gender employment and wage gaps to legal, economic, and productivity-related variables • No randomized controlled policy experiments • Educational attainment: VERY GOOD • Various high quality studies based on randomized controlled policy experiments in a number of countries (e.g., school construction, buying textbooks, conditional scholarships). • Limited regional coverage – most of studies are from India, Africa • Health and well-being:GOOD • Randomized controlled studies and cost-effectiveness analyses are routine for medical practices • Limited knowledge of how to combat social forces (e.g., gender bias, gender-based violence) contributing to gender inequities in health • Political empowerment: FAIR • Young literature: national case studies available but little synthesis of international patterns • One natural experiment (India) illuminating impacts of gender quotas

20. The State of Our Knowledge in the Arab World Not very good. • None of the studies cited in this Powerpoint are based on samples in the Arab World. • Knowledge gaps may be due to differences in language, disciplines, or sources. • World Bank and UN documents (e.g., AHDR) appear to be more descriptive than prescriptive. • No policy experiments have been run to date in the Arab World.

21. Disclaimers for the Policy Toolbox Lack of Regional Specificity • The success of some of the interventions has been demonstrated in certain countries. • They may not address proximate or root causes for the gaps in other settings. • Interventions would require tailoring to other contexts with the input of local expertise. Remaining Gaps in the Research • Some of the interventions suggested are based on trend analysis (correlational or causal relationship between two variables) rather than policy experiments

22. Policy tools to increase women’s economic participation: Employment and Advancement Demand Side Interventions Supply Side Interventions • Establish public employment guarantee schemes* • Establish maternity leave mandates (e.g., Ruhm 1998) • Increase availability and affordability of child care (Chevalier 2002; Jaumotte 2003) • Reduce tax penalties for second earners (Jaumotte 2003) • Increase access to financial services (e.g., credit, savings) to foster women’s enterprises* • Decrease girls’ and women’s time burdens (e.g., improve water and transportation infrastructure)* • Increase women’s education especially in technical fields (UN Millenium Project 2005) • Change cultural attitudes towards women working (e.g., Fernandez 2007) • Increase women’s negotiating skills (Greig 2007) Note: * Indicates this intervention has been evaluated by Grown (2006) as successful in multiple contexts, capable of having an impact within 3 years, and likely to be financially sustainable.

23. Policy tools to increase women’s economic opportunities: Equal Pay Demand Side Interventions Supply Side Interventions • Foster service based industries requiring “people” skills and analytical tasks (Black & Spitz-Oener 2007) • Raise minimum wages and strengthen collective bargaining institutions (e.g. unions) (Blau & Kahn 2003) • Foster economic competition (Weichselbaumer & Winter-Ebmer 2007) • Strengthen equal treatment laws (Weichselbaumer & Winter-Ebmer 2007) • Increase women’s marketable skills – education and work experience (O’Neill & Polacheck 1993) • Increase women’s negotiating skills (Babcock & Laschever 2003) Note: * Indicates this intervention has been evaluated by Grown (2006) as successful in multiple contexts, capable of having an impact within 3 years, and likely to be financially sustainable.

24. Policy tools to promote girls’ Education Attainment • Make schools more affordable • Eliminate school user fees* (Glewwe & Kremer 2005) • Create scholarships or conditional cash grants for girls* (Kremer 2007; Schultz 2004) • Make schools girl-friendly • Improve their safety* (e.g., school escorts) • Provide separate latrines for girls* • Permit married or pregnant adolescents to attend* • Allow flexible school schedules to accommodate work responsibilities* • Hire more female teachers (Banerjee et al 2002) Note: * Indicates this intervention has been evaluated by Grown (2006) as successful in multiple contexts, capable of having an impact within 3 years, and likely to be financially sustainable.

25. Combat preference for sons • Increase exposure to modern gender roles, e.g., cable TV (Jensen & Oster 2007) • Increase women’s education (e.g., Clark 2000) • Eliminate dowry requirements • Vaccinate, improve nutrition, and treat infections and diarrhea among girls (Oster 2006) • Increase women’s employment opportunities and income (Agnihotri 2002, Qian 2006, Rosenzweig & Schultz 1982) • Increase women’s education (Murthi et al 1989) Reduce Girl Child Mortality • Increase availability of skilled health personnel and emergency obstetric care • Teach traditional health providers and women the signs of high-risk pregnancy and difficult labor • Eliminate health user fees Reduce maternal mortality • Strengthen health system capacity for detection and treatment of gender violence (e.g., increase confidentiality, referral services, STI prophylaxis)* • Establish female police stations* • Launch community based awareness and training programs* Eliminate gender based violence Policy tools to increase Health and Survival Note: * Indicates this intervention has been evaluated by Grown (2006) as successful in multiple contexts, capable of having an impact within 3 years, and likely to be financially sustainable.

26. Policy tools to increase Political Empowerment Affirmative Action: 97 countries, 19% women in parliament • Legal Quotas: Constitutional or electoral law reform that requires parties to field a designated % of female candidates or reserves certain positions for women. • Party Quotas: Voluntary party reform to field a designated % of female candidates. No Affirmative Action: Approx. 11% women in parliament • Grassroots Campaigns: Training programs and fundraising mechanisms to fill the political pipeline with female candidates.

27. Require parties to place female candidates in electable positions on party lists and the ballot • Establish sanctions for non-compliance • Specify details of implementation (e.g., whether quotas apply to regular or alternate candidates or both) Legal Candidate Quotas Party Quotas • Increase parties’ strategic motivation to enact quotas: Increase voter turnout among women • Encourage one party major party to establish voluntary quotas and the other parties will follow. • Strengthen women’s political movement (e.g., fundraising mechanisms to support female candidates) • Strengthen welfare services enabling women to participate in politics (e.g., childcare) • Increase women’s education Grassroots Campaigns Policy tools to increase Political Empowerment Note: * Indicates this intervention has been evaluated by Grown (2006) as successful in multiple contexts, capable of having an impact within 3 years, and likely to be financial sustainability.

28. Policy tools to change cultural attitudes towards gender Girls’ education: The more educated tend to have more egalitarian gender attitudes (Mason et al 1976; Shu 2004). Exposure to modern values: Introduction of cable TV decreases the reported acceptability of wife beating, increases female autonomy and female school enrollment, decreases son preference and fertility (Jensen & Oster 2007). Intergenerational transmission: Working mothers are more likely to have daughters who work and sons who marry working women (Fernandez et al. 2004; van Putten et al. 2006). Role models: Having a female elected local official increases parents’ ideal marriage age for daughters (Pande 2007).

29. Conclusions: General Patterns • When gender gaps exist, capital outlays have a greater marginal benefit for women than men • Decreasing school and health fees and increasing wage floors has greater impact on women than men • Modernizing the economy can be good for women • Greater competition puts discriminatory firms at a disadvantage, thus reducing the gender employment and wage gaps • Service-oriented and knowledge-based industries tend to employ more women than blue-collar, manual work. • Affirmative action necessary for closing gender gaps in political participation • Enormous synergies between education, economic, health and political empowerment of women.

30. Next Steps The Policy Agenda • Diagnose the proximate and root causes of the gender gap in each country. • Identify more refined strategies for each country. • Engage with policy makers to implement these strategies to close the gender gap. The Research Agenda • Develop a more complete theory of change • Regional nuances • Gaps in our understanding increasing women’s economic and political participation • Move from trend analysis to randomized controlled policy experiments.

31. Outline • The Global Gender Gap • Why we should close the global gender gap • Measuring the Global Gender Gap • General results • The Policy Toolbox • A framework for diagnosis and intervention • The state of our knowledge • Policy tools Appendix: References

32. References (1): General Guidelines Grown, Caren (2006). Quick Impact Initiatives for Gender Equality: A Menu of Options. Levy Economics Institute Working Paper No. 462. UN Millenium Project (2005). Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women. Report prepared by the Taskforce on Education and Gender Equality, UNDP, Earthscan: London and Virginia.

33. References (2) 1. General: Gender and Economic Development Duflo, E. (2003). Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Old-Age Pensions and Intrahousehold Allocation in South Africa. The World Bank Economic Review, 17(1): 1-25. Duflo, E. (2005). Gender Equality in Development: BREAD Policy Paper No. 001. Esteve-Volart, B. (2005). Gender Discrimination and Growth: Theory and Evidence from India: Working Paper, York University. Forsythe, N., Korzeniewicz, R. P., & Durrant, V. (2000). Gender Inequalities and Economic Growth: A Longitudinal Evaluation. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 48(3): 573-617. Jensen, R. and E. Oster (2007). The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women’s Status in India, Mimeo, University of Chicago. Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as Freedom, Oxford University Press. 2. Economic Participation and Opportunity Babcock, L. & Laschever, S. (2003). Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the gender divide. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Baker, M. & Milligan, K. (2005). How Does Job-Protected Maternity Leave Affect Mothers' Employment and Infant Health? National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, MA. Black, S. & Spitz-Oener, A. (2007). Explaining Women's Success: Technological Change and the Skill Content of Women's Work: National Bureau of Economic Research Cambridge, MA. Blau, F. D. & Kahn, L. M. (2003). Understanding International Differences in the Gender Pay Gap. Journal of Labor Economics, 21(1): 106-144. Chevalier, A. (2002). The causality between female labour force participation and the availability of childcare. Applied Economics Letters 9(14): 915-918. Fernández, R. (2007). Women, Work and Culture. Journal of the European Economic Association 5(2-3): 305-332. Fernandez, R., A. Fogli and C. Olivetti (2004). Mothers and Sons: Preference Formation and Female Labor Force Dynamics. Quarterly Journal of Economics 119(4): 1249-1299. Jaumotte, F. (2003). Labour Force Participation of Women: Empirical Evidence on the Role of Policy and Other Determinants in OECD Countries. OECD Economic Studies 37: 51-108. O'Neill, J. & Polachek, S. (1993). Why the Gender Gap in Wages Narrowed in the 1980s. Journal of Labor Economics, 11(1): 205-228. Ruhm, C. J. (1998). The Economic Consequences of Parental Leave Mandates: Lessons from Europe. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 113(1): 285-317 Weichselbaumer, D. and R. Winter-Ebmer (2007). The effects of competition and equal treatment laws on gender wage differentials. Economic Policy (50): 235-287.

34. References (3) 3. Education Banerjee, A., Kremer, M., Lanjouw, J., & Lanjouw, P. (2002). Teacher-Student Ratios and School Performance in Udaipur, India: A Prospective Evaluation. Mimeo, Harvard University. Glewwe, P. & Kremer, M. (forthcoming). Schools, Teachers, and Education Outcomes in Developing Countries, Handbook on the Economics of Education. Mason, K. O., J. L. Czajka and S. Arber (1976). Change in US Women's Sex-Role Attitudes, 1964-1974. American Sociological Review 41(4): 573-596. Schultz, P. T. (2004). School Subsidies for the Poor: Evaluating the Mexican PROGRESA Poverty Program. Journal of Development Economics, 74(1): 199-250. Shu, X. L. (2004). Education and gender egalitarianism: The case of China. Sociology of Education 77(4): 311-336. 4. Health and Survival Agnihotri, S., R. Palmer-Jones and A. Parikh (2002). Missing Women in Indian Districts: A Quantitative Approach. Structural Change and Economic Dynamics 13(3): 285-314. Clark, S. (2000). Son Preference and Sex Composition of Children: Evidence from India. Demography 37(1): 95-108. Fuse, K. and E. M. Crenshaw (2006). Gender imbalance in infant mortality: A cross-national study of social structure and female infanticide. Social Science & Medicine 62(2): 360-374. Murthi, M., A. C. Guio and J. Dreze (1995). Mortality, fertility, and gender bias in India: A district-level analysis. Population And Development Review 21(4): 745-782. Oster, E. (2006). Proximate Causes of Population Gender Imbalance in India, Working Paper, University of Chicago. Qian, N. (2005). Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China: The Effect of Relative Female Income on Sex Imbalance. Mimeo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rosenzweig, M. R. and T. P. Schultz (1982). Market Opportunities, Genetic Endowments, And Intra-Family Resource Distribution - Child Survival In Rural India. American Economic Review 72(4): 803-815. 5. Political Participation Duflo, E. & Chattopadhyay, R. (2004). Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India. Econometrica, 72(5): 1409-1443. Duflo, E. & Topalova, P. (2004). Unappreciated Service: Performance, Perceptions, and Women Leaders in India: Working Paper, MIT. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) & Stockholm University (2007. Global Database of Quotas for Women. Available: www.quotaproject.org. Krook, M. L. (2007). Candidate gender quotas: A framework for analysis. European Journal Of Political Research 46(3): 367-394. Paxton, P., M. M. Hughes and J. L. Green (2006). The international women's movement and women's political representation, 1893-2003. American Sociological Review 71(6): 898-920.