Contacts: World Bank: Alejandra Viveros (202) 473-4306 Aviveros@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, September 24, 2008— Women’s health and education have improved substantially in most countries, but progress is lagging on improving their economic opportunities, and investments of some US$13 billion a year are needed to achieve the overall goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment, says a new report by the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). “Equality for Women: Where Do We Stand on Millennium Development Goal 3?” was released today during a joint seminar of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, a day ahead of the United Nations High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “Gender equality is key for poverty reduction and growth,” says Danny Leipziger, World Bank Vice President for Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM). “Progress on women’s education is essential but not enough if we don’t improve women’s access to good jobs and credit lines, to land ownership and to income-generating activities.” The report, edited by Mayra Buvinic, Andrew R. Morrison, A. Waafas Ofosu-Amaah, and Mirja Sjoblom, says that: - Out of 122 countries for which data are available, 82 achieved the official MDG3 target of gender parity in primary and secondary enrollment by 2005. However, 19 countries, 13 of which are in Sub- Saharan Africa, are seriously off track to meet this target.
- In general, progress in expanding women’s opportunities (employment and political participation) has lagged behind progress in expanding women’s capabilities (education and health).
- Gender equality requires changing underlying social norms. One particularly promising approach is to use financial incentives to change the behavior of families toward girls and women.
- Given desirable domestic commitment of resources to gender-specific improvements --such as programs to enable secondary school girl graduates to transition from school to the workplace, or mobilizing communities to ensure women’s participation in economic livelihood activities-- it is estimated that about US$13 billion per year are needed, using UN Millennium Project calculations, to achieve overall gender parity and women’s empowerment. The report says that this amount could be met if bilateral and multilateral donors, private foundations and others increased spending on MDG3.
According to the publication, several challenges remain to meet the official MDG3 target, among which to increase the education level of girls in secondary school in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the education level of girls and boys in tertiary schooling in almost all regions, and the completion rate of education for all with a focus on keeping girls in school. Since the official indicator of MDG3 to “eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and at all levels of education no later than 2015,” has been criticized as overly narrow, the report suggests the use of a “MDG3 plus” approach. The “MDG3 plus” approach provides a more thorough measure of gender equality and supplements the official target with indicators of: primary completion rates disaggregated by gender; under-five mortality rates disaggregated by gender; rate of modern contraceptive use by reproductive age women and their partners; fertility rates among 15- to 19- year old girls; labor force participation rates for 20- to 24- and 25- to 49- year olds, disaggregated by gender; and average hourly wages, also disaggregated by gender. The report notes that no country or region has achieved gender equality in all the areas covered by the MDG3 plus indicators. The health indicators single out the high mortality rates of girls under age 5 in East Asia and Pacific and South Asia, as well as the high adolescent fertility rates in 36 countries, with a majority of those countries in Sub- Saharan Africa. The comparison of school attendance with labor force participation rates also points to the need for targeted investments for adolescent girls to facilitate their transition from school to the labor market. “The message that emerges is both hopeful and sobering,” says Eckhard Deutscher, Chairperson of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee. “There has been some progress, but achieving gender equality and real opportunities for women’s economic livelihoods will require more funding, efficient policies, and strong will. Once these three elements are aligned, progress will be rapid.”
|
RSS