Main Messages December 2011

1. Main Messages December 2011

2. EQUAL?

3. Equal? • …. and yet challenges remain: • 35 million girls are still out of school today • many of them in Sub-Saharan Africa or among minority populations • Large gender differences in field of study (education streaming) In the last 20 years, university enrollments for women grew 7-fold … and in 2009 women are 51% of college students…

4. Equal? • …. And yet, relative to boys and men, almost 4 million women die too early each year in the developing world compared with rich countries In low & middle income countries life expectancy among women has increased by 20 years since 1960

5. Excess female mortality in the developing world 1990 29.7% 24.7% 31.5% 15.9% 34.7% 2008 36.8% 1990: 4.082 million 2008: 3.882 million

6. Equal? In the last 30 years, 552 million joined the labor force and today, 4 out of 10 workers globally are women

7. In the last 30 years, 552 million women joined the labor force + 2% World • + 4% Sub - Saharan Africa • + 2% South Asia • + 5% Middle East & North Africa • + 16% Latin America & Caribbean • + 7% High income • - 7% Europe & Central Asia • - 3% East Asia & Pacific 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% female labor force participation rate

8. Equal? ... And yet, on average, for every dollar a man makes, a woman earns 80 cents In the last 30 years, 552 million joined the labor force and today, 4 out of 10 workers globally are women

9. For every dollar a man makes, a woman earns… Mexico 80¢ Germany 62¢ Malawi 90¢ Nigeria 60¢ Sri Lanka 50¢ Bangladesh 12¢

10. Equal? … and yet 510 million women will be abused by their partner in their lifetime All but 6 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

11. Domestic violence: percentage women abused • percentage women abused 49% Ethiopia (Butajira) 42% Bangladesh (Matlab) 27% Brazil (Sao Paulo) 13% Japan (Yokohama) 246,000 women

12. Equal? … and only 19% of parliamentarians in the world are women All but 6 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

13. What does the WDR do? • The Report asks 3 questions: • (1) Do these inequalities matter? (2) Why do they persist? • (3) What do we do to eliminate them?

14. (1) Do these inequalities matter? • Is the right thing to do… • ... is the smart thing to do

15. Inequality has a cost 2-4% 3-25% • economic costs … equalizing access to inputs such as land and fertilizers would increase agricultural output by … eliminating employment segregation would increase labor productivity by as much as

16. Inequality has a cost • shortchanges the next generation … women’s control of household earnings changes spending in favor of children … educated women invest more in children … witnesses of violence tend to become abusers

17. Inequality has a cost 8-15% • and leads to suboptimal institutions and policies … In India, women in political office increased public investments in water … In the US, voting rights from women reduced infant mortality by

18. …and the cost is growing … these problems do not go away with growth … and costs will grow bigger in a globalized world

19. (2) Why do gaps persist? Underlying causes of gender inequality policies Gender Equality INFORMALINSTITUTIONS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES HOUSEHOLDS MARKETS ENDOWMENTS AGENCY FORMAL INSTITUTIONS Growth

20. No Progress: Economic Opportunities ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS Social norms on care/market work INFORMALINSTITUTIONS MARKETS Differential access to labor/credit/land markets, and networks HOUSEHOLDS Differential allocation time/resources HOUSEHOLDS MARKETS AGENCY ENDOWMENTS FORMAL INSTITUTIONS Biased law/regulations, and limited infrastructure FORMAL INSTITUTIONS Growth Gender Equality

21. … gaps persist in the distribution of care tasks independent of market work and earning Persistent gender differences in house and care responsibilities Household maintenance Care of members of the household

22. (3) What do we do to eliminate these gaps? • Focus on gaps that: do not disappear with growth and matter most for development • Gender gaps in human endowments • Earnings and productivity gaps • Gender differences invoice and agency • The reproduction of gender inequality over time • Target determinants of gender inequality

23. Expanding access to economic opportunities (I) Alleviating time constraints requires: • Infrastructure improvements (water, electricity, transport) and new (ICT) technology • Affordable child care (subsidies, public provision, rural and informal women) • Institutional and other changes aimed at shifting norms/responsibilities around housework Increasing access to land and credit requires: • Legal reforms where women’s property rights are restricted • Expansion of access to formal credit (beyond microfinance), combined with training

24. Expanding access to economic opportunities (II) Reduce discrimination in labor markets • Increase women’s participation in male occupations/sectors • Subsidies + training • Affirmative action • Strengthenwomen’s networks • Eliminate institutional barriers • Correcting gender biases in service delivery • Reforminglabor laws that treat men/women differently

25. Expanding access to economic opportunities (III) New trends • Trade,FDIand Information and Communication Technology(ICT) • Expanded access to economic opportunities (jobs and access to markets) • Stronger incentives for gender reform • Faster shifts in gender norms Harnessing new trends requires: • Removing existing constraints (time, productive inputs, market and institutional failures) • Stronger partnerships with private sector • Access to finance and ICT • Access to international markets

26. Shrinking gender gaps in voice and agency (I) Enhancing women’s voice in fertility decisions requires: Increasing women’s decision-making power Improving provision and quality of reproductive health services Using media to increase awareness and shift norms

27. Shrinking gender gaps in voice and agency (II) Increasing social and political participation requires: • Increasing education, training and skill development • Changing beliefsabout leadership • Quotas • Role models • Strengthening social movements– and other ways of exercising (social) voice

28. Limiting the reproduction of gender inequalities across generations Building human and social capital for girls Supporting school to work transition Building aspirations and agencyfor girls and boys Preventing risky behavior

29. How to effectively enable sustainable gender reform? Fighting resistance/building momentum: • Build coalitions(women’s groups can be powerful part but also need to include men) • Leverage private sector to build the ‘business case’ for gender equality • Take advantage of “windows of opportunity” Multiple paths to reform: • Balance “incremental” and “transformative” reforms

30. Global agenda for greater gender equality Global action complementary to national action and policies • Focus on four priority areas plus one cross-cutting aspect -- supporting evidence-based public action through better data and improved knowledge Three types of activities: • Providing financial support • Clean water and sanitation, maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS treatment • Fostering innovation and learning • Providing child care, investing in rural women, leveraging technology to access markets, improving access to justice • Leveraging effective partnerships • Bilateral and multilateral donors, private sector, UN Women

31. EQUAL ! www.worldbank.org/wdr2012