March 7, 2008 -- A year ago, the World Bank Group launched a new Gender Action Plan to help unleash economic potential of women in developing countries.
The plan, "Gender Equality as Smart Economics," focuses on both making markets work for women and empowering women to compete in markets. Giving women better access to land, labor, agriculture and financial markets will help raise their productivity and incomes, which will benefit their families and the economy as a whole.
Since its inception, the plan has allocated US$14.9 million, roughly a third of its funds, to support gender-related activities in 71 Bank projects. Here’s a sample of the undertaken activities:
Afghanistan: Gender components are being mainstreamed into rural and agricultural projects.
Honduras: The Land Administration Project is developing a tool that facilitates and promotes joint land titling to improve women’s access to land. Capacity building for women’s organizations and NGOs will increase awareness of women’s property rights as well as the legal frameworks that are in place to exercise and protect these rights.
Egypt, Liberia, Lao PDR, Kenya, Peru and Vietnam: Projects are underway to increase women’s economic opportunity in the short term. These projects are implemented through a grant to the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM).
Egypt: A project is promoting gender equity in private firms through voluntary training and certification. Firms that choose to participate in the program will set gender equity policies in staff recruitment, training, career development and sexual harassment prevention. The project is modeled after a successful Bank project in Mexico.
Ethiopia: A Gender Action Plan-funded study influenced Bank lending in rural land titling programs and empowered women. The study found that when space was provided to include both spouses’ pictures on the certificate, land certificates were issued jointly to husband and wife more often. In cases where pictures were not required, fewer land certificates were issued to both spouses. More than 80 percent of respondents indicated that certification reduced conflicts, encouraged them to plant trees and rent out land, and improved their perceived possibility of getting compensation in case of land conversion. Women respondents with joint certificates almost universally reported having improved their economic and social status. These results influenced the Bank’s decision to support a US$30 million nation-wide program that scaled up land registration and certification.
Increasing Opportunities for Women Makes Economic Sense
Social indicators for women and girls, such as healthcare and education, have significantly improved in developing countries over the last decade.
This progress, however, has not been matched by increasing opportunities for women to work and participate in society.
"Girls’ enrollment at all levels of schooling rose significantly in the last decade, but the gender gap in the labor force remains," says Mayra Buvinic, World Bank Director for Gender.
Restricting economic opportunity for women translates into bad economics.
"Increasing women’s health and education as well as boosting their participation in the labor force, productivity and earnings reduces poverty and promotes growth," says Buvinic.
More needs to be done to expand economic opportunities for adolescent girls so they are not left behind when transitioning from school into the labor market.
Such policies are especially relevant for the many countries in Latin America and Middle East and North Africa that have seen significant progress in girls' school enrollment and completion without corresponding progress in labor force participation, access to credit and entrepreneurship rates.
"This is problematic because it is unfair: life's chances should not be pre-ordained at birth. But it is also bad economics: under-investing in women limits productivity and savings and, thus, poverty reduction and economic growth," says Buvinic.
This is among the findings of the forthcoming report "Equality for Women, Where Do We Stand." The report, written in conjunction with the OECD, is set to be released in April and will look at progress countries have made in promoting gender equality and empowering women, the third of the Millennium Development Goals.
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