IHP Stakeholders’ Orientation Strengthens GBV Referrals in Ebonyi State
By: Emilia Okon, IHP Ebonyi Gender, Social Inclusion, and Community Engagement Advisor In April 2020, the USAID Integrated Health Program (IHP), USAID/Nigeria’s flagship service delivery project, started its work in Ebonyi, a state in southeastern Nigeria, to contribute to the reduction of morbidity and mortality of women and children. A few months later, IHP brought together key government and nongovernment stakeholders to discuss issues around gender, social inclusion, and gender-based violence (GBV) in the state. IHP Ebonyi aimed to use this session as a first opportunity to engage and build partnerships with these key stakeholders as we begin our work toward improving maternal and child health outcomes in Ebonyi. Nearly 30 participants came together for a day of presentations and discussion to gain new information and identify opportunities for future collaboration between IHP, the Ebonyi State Government, and nongovernmental actors to address gender, social inclusion, and GBV. These participants represented important decision-makers and actors, including the Ebonyi State Ministry of Health (ESMOH), Child Protection Network (CPN), Ebonyi State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ESPHCDA), Catholic Diocese of Abakaliki Succour and Development Services Initiative (SUCCDEV), Family Succour & Upliftment, Alpha Health Alert & Woman Development (AHADO), Civil Resource Development and Documentation Center Nigeria (CIRDDOC), Ebonyi State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (ESMOWA-SD), Ebonyi State Health Insurance Agency (EBSHIA), The National Obstetric Fistula Centre Abakaliki (NOFIC), and Ebonyi Women Initiative for Acceleration (EBOWOIFA). […]
My Experience with Gender and Youth Desk Officers Training in Kebbi
By Stella Abah, Gender, Social Inclusion, & Community Engagement Advisor, IHP Kebbi State, Nigeria Gender roles are expectations set by society to define and explain how women and men should act based solely on whether they are born male or female. Despite different generations possessing their own distinct values in this regard, there are nonetheless rigid widespread similarities in how gender is perceived.[1] Rigid gender norms and gender inequalities drive ill health for women, men, girls and boys, and contribute to poverty.[2] That means everyone can be a victim of these gender norms. An adolescent girl who may want to go to school in Kebbi may be denied access to education due to the culture’s predominant restrictive gender norms and biases that creeps in at the community and home level. Such girls are sometimes forced into early marriage – often with men much older – putting them at greater risk for complications in pregnancy, HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), exploitation and more risk of gender-based violence (GBV).[3] For boys, an emphasis on being strong or macho encourages them to engage in risky behaviors like smoking, drinking and using drugs at an earlier age.[4] They’re also more likely to get injured in traffic and occupational accidents, and die of homicide.[5] […]
Increasing women’s participation in the labor market to improve the GDP
Potential gains in GDP from women's labor market participation Brookings Institution estimates by increasing women's labor market participation to the same rate as advanced economies, Africa would gain 44 million more labor market participants. According to Andinet Woldemichael, some policy areas worth focusing on in Africa include: empowering women in the informal sector and escaping the "middle dip" in labor force participation. Furthermore, he encourages focusing on gender parity in pay as well as improving protections for women. Source: Brookings Institution https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/01/29/figure-of-the-week-economic-gains-from-increasing-female-labor-force-participation-in-africa/
How can we encourage female economic empowerment?
WI-HER Program Coordinator Maddison Hall talks about the importance of providing financial literacy education to teach women how to invest both in themselves and their communities. […]
Entrepreneurial women in Jordan leverage the gig economy during COVID
Entrepreneurial women in Jordan leverage the gig economy during COVID A scholar of gender and development shares how leveraging the growing gig economy in Jordan can offer one way forward in changing the perceptions of women entering the labor market and provide more flexible opportunities to work. The piece is based on preliminary findings from qualitative research in Jordan about the role of the sharing economy in promoting economic growth and empowerment. https://theconversation.com/the-sharing-economy-helps-women-find-new-economic-opportunities-in-jordan-131427
Legal barriers to women’s participation in the labor market
Gender Gaps in Economic Participation and Legal Restrictions Data suggests there is a strong relationship between legal restrictions and labor market participation rates for women across countries. This figure from the IMF, based on a sample of almost 100 countries, illustrates various gender gaps in both economic participation and legal restrictions. Source: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1502.pdf
Where are gender gaps in the workplace?
While several companies have invested in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs aimed at empowering women in their own value chain and in their broader consumer/client communities, a report in 2014 from the International Center for Research on Women, Dalberg, and Witter Ventures found that only three of the 31 corporate-funded women's economic empowerment programs included in the analysis completed a full, rigorous impact evaluation. 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒐𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑹𝑶𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔. There has been increasing concern in the international development community that some of these globally reaching CSR programs are not designed to make long-term meaningful headway on women's empowerment, but rather satisfied with surface-level and short-term fixes. Instituting a comprehensive measurement and evaluation plan is an essential first step to understanding economic empowerment program's impact and to give meaningful impact to the significant investments that many of these companies are contributing. Read more: http://www.wi-her.org/wi-her-series-breaking-barriers-and-raising-the-bar-on-measurement-part-iii-measuring-corporate-womens-leadership-and-economic-empowerment-programs/
WI-HER recommends Duvendack and Mader on financial inclusion
Financial inclusion initiatives alone do not lead to empowerment. As Duvendack and Mader show in this systematic review of reviews, financial inclusion had positive effects on women's economic empowerment, but the positive effects were likely due to additional program features, such as ones focused on women's rights and context. This suggests that financial inclusion efforts alone may not improve women's economic empowerment, but they be part of a broader toolkit to pursue it. (For more on gendered outcomes, see pages 74-78). https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/71522/1/Published_Version.pdf