Legal barriers to womenβs 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. πΎππππππ ππππππππππ ππππππππππ πππ πππππππππ πππππ ππππ πππππππ π πππππ ππππ ππππππππ πππππππππππ πππ π πππ ππππππππππ, πππππππππ ππππππ ππππππ πππ ππππππ πππ ππππππππ ππππππ πππ πππ πππππ πππ πππππππππππ, πππππ ππππππππ πππ πππππππππππ, πππ πππ πΉπΆπ° πππ πππ ππππππππππ ππππππππππ. 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
Policies that bring results: Lessons from Swedenβs success in womenβs economic empowerment
Sweden is one of the most gender-equal societies today, in large part due to the country's feminist government and policies. Even so, a lot still need to be done, including in the business sector, which is still heavily dominated by males. This interactive timeline shows the policies and legal shifts that have made a dramatic -- and positive -- impact on women's participation in the workforce today. https://sweden.se/society/gender-equality-in-sweden/
What does economic empowerment mean in Fiji and Solomon islands
While this piece is from 2016, it shares an important perspective; it is important to understand and pursue gender equality and economic empowerment based on context and location. The authors argue against the use of universal definitions of economic empowerment and gender equality, because these definitions do not recognize the many variations in economics and what it means to have economic security and mobility. While authors focus on Fiji and the Solomon Islands, the arguments are important to consider in broader contexts as well. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0966369X.2016.1160036?journalCode=cgpc20
Intersection between womenβs economic empowerment and reproductive rights
The connections between women's reproductive empowerment and economic empowerment is a recent area of analysis, and evidence over the last five years has been emerging that demonstrates the associations between greater reproductive freedoms and women's increased participation in economic activities. Read more about the intersections of women's economic and reproductive empowerment here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13545701.2019.1674451
Advocating education for women in financial literacy
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.
The Impact of Act East GESI sensitization trainings in Tanzania
By Paula Majumdar, May 2020 After an interview with Dr. Michael Mboya, a Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist at the Ministry of Health in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, I gained some insight as to how impactful our Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases | East gender equity and social inclusion (GESI) trainings are for our participants. I really appreciated his enthusiasm for the topic and hope that we have the opportunity to foster this type of eagerness among participants in the future. Here are his responses below: Before this training what did you think of the word gender? Prior to the training I was already familiar with the concept of gender, however this training brought greater awareness around social inclusion. I learned more about marginalized groups and other pockets in society that are less fortunate. [β¦]