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Poverty Number 13, January 2008

International Poverty Centre

Gender Equality

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2 International Poverty Centre

F R O M T H E swith overall equity concerns, gender equality is important for both intrinsic

A and instrumental reasons. It has a bearing on family harmony and on

wellbeing

in many dimensions. It involves policy-making with respect to society as a whole,E D I T O R i.a. educatio

n, labour and financial markets, economic and political empowerment,institutions,

and economic growth.

The prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goals are both directly and

indirectly improved by enhancing gender equity. Thus, there are close links between

the reducti

on of both gender inequalities and multidimensional poverty. Theempirical

evidence suggests that developing countries with less gender inequality tend to have

lower poverty rates.

Poverty in Focus is a regular publication of the Gender inequality represents an untapped source for stimulating economic growth andInternational Poverty Centre (IPC). Its purpose promoting s

ocial development. This is particularly true in the developing world, whereis to present the results of research on povertyand inequality in the developing world. Support women are often systematically deprived from having equal access to social services asis provided by the Swedish International well as to physical and social capital. Hence, empowering women by improving theirDevelopment Cooperation Agency (Sida). living conditions and enabling them to actively participate in the social and economic

life of a country may well be the key for long-term sustainable development.

EditorThis issue of

Poverty in Focus highlights the importance of improving gender equity forDag Ehrenpreis

pro-poor gr

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owth and improved wellbeing of poor families, with referencesto recentInternational Advisory Board research literature and sharing of important and policy-relevant results.

Oscar Altimir, CEPAL, Santiago de ChileGiovanni A. Cornia, Universit di Firenze Naila Kabeer

leads with a summary of current knowledge about the relation between

Nora Lustig, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico gender, labour markets and poverty, explaining why there are no easy generalisations

Gita Sen, Indian Institute of Management, BangaloreAnna Tibaijuka, UN Habitat, Nairobi about the

poverty implications of womens paid work.

Peter Townsend, London School of EconomicsPhilippe van Parijs, Universit de Louvain Gita Sen appr

oaches poverty as a gendered experience that has to be addressedwith due

consideration to its various impacts, responses and policy impli

cations.Desktop PublisherRoberto Astorino Joana Costa

and Elydia Silva underline the burdens of gender inequalities for societyas a whole an

d show how paid work by women reduces overall poverty and inequality.Front page: Photo by Radhika Chalasani, IFAD.A local savings and credit group meeting Denis Drechsler, Johannes Jtting and Carina Lindberg focus on the links between gender,in Powerguda village, Andhra Pradesh, India.Women have taken a leading role in promoting institutionsand development; better data can help improve policy analysis.

savings in tribal communities. The woman withJames Heintz

considers the feminisation of labour that sees women concentrated inthe book is keeping records of savings and loantransactions lower quality, more precarious forms of paid work, increasing household vulnerability.

Editors note: IPC is grateful for the support Ruth Alsop and Paul Healey find that gender inequality is a major barrier to economic growthby Naila Kabeer, both as editorial planning and poverty reduction, calling for bold policy action to challenge social institutions.consultant and lead article author, and forthe inspiring ideas by Miranda Munro, Andrew Morrison, Dhushyanth Raju and Nistha Sinha summarise a World Bank study showingrepresentative of the UK Department forInternational Development (DFID) in Brazil. a robust relationship between gender inequality and poverty; poor womens paid workThanks also to all the authors for generously plays a key role in getting their families out of poverty.contributing their intellectual products withoutany monetary remuneration. John Sender presents data indicating that when women in rural Mozambique have

greater aut

onomy, daughters are less likely to be neglected; rural wagesprovide an

escape rout

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e from poverty for a new generation of women.

IPC is a joint project between the United NationsDevelopment Programme and Brazil to promote Ranjula BaliSwain and Fan Yang Wallentin use evidence from India that microfinance maySouth-South Cooperation on applied poverty lead to increased empowerment, self-confidence, respect and esteem for women.

research. It specialises in analysing poverty andinequality and offering research-based policy Irene K B Mutalima reports on the experience of microfinance in Africa and warns thatrecommendations on how to reduce them. gender concerns often take a secondary role to the financial sustainability of theIPC is directly linked to the Poverty Group of the

credit instititutions.Bureau for Development Policy, UNDP andthe Brazilian Governments Institute for AppliedEconomic Research (IPEA). Marcelo Medei

ros and Joana Costa examine the claims of a feminisation of poverty makingthe distinction between static levels and dynamic change, and argue that currentIPC Director (acting) poverty measure underestimate the real levels of womens poverty.

Terry McKinley

Sylvia Chant also finds that the scant data on intra-household inequalities prevent

International Poverty Centre certain knowledge about the feminisation of poverty and that the focus should be

SBS Ed. BNDES, 10 andar70076-900 Brasilia DF Brazil on womensprivation beyond incomes.

This collection of articles should contribute to a better understanding of the importance

[email protected] of recognisin

g the crucial role of gender inequalities as barriers to economic and socialdevelopment,

and thus of undertaking policy and institutional reforms thatwill more

The views expressed in IPC publications are effectively reduce poverty and social injustice.those of the authors and do not necessarilyreflect the views of IPC, IPEA or UNDP.

Dag Ehrenpreis

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Poverty in Focus Ja

nuary 2008 3

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by Naila Kabeer,Gender, Labour

Institute of Development Studies, SussexMarkets and Poverty:An overview

The pro-poor potential of labour- Primary responsibility for care workintensive growth is based on the creates a close

interdependency Gender analyses of labourrecognition that labour power is the between womensactivities and family markets suggest that itisprimary asset at the disposal of the poor wellbeing. It explains why there is more difficult for womenand hence labour markets the key greater life co

urse variation in womens than men to escapetransmission mechanism through which labour force participation than mens, poverty through paidthe benefits of growth can be distributed particularly inmore formalised work and higher incomes.to the poor. economies and occupations where

such responsibilities cannot be easily Women face variousHowever, it is also premised on a number combined with economic activity. constraints related toof implicit, often unexamined, assumptions It explains why

those who continue in social norms and valuesabout the ease with which the poor can paid work through their reproductive that govern the gendertransform their labour into paid work years are mostlikely to be found in division of labour in

and paid work into improved levels of forms of self-employment or piece production andlivelihood, security and accumulation. work that allow

greater flexibility reproduction.in the use of

time. And it also explainsA gender analysis of labour and labour why womens income, when they work, Yet, women have beenmarkets suggests that this transformation is more likelyto be allocated to the entering the labour mar

ketprocess not only cannot be taken for welfare of their children. in increasing numbersgranted but that it is also far more

at all age groups.problematic for women than for men These constraints

mean that womenbecause of the existence of various face greater difficulties than men in This has led many to

gender-related constraints. translating theirlabour into paid work. question the unfair div

ision

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Moreover, theyalso face greater of roles and responsibilitiesThese constraints relate to social norms difficulties intranslating their paid within their homes.and values which govern the gender work into higher incomes, a reflection of

division of labour in production and gender inequalities in the resources that The rising number ofreproduction in different regions of men and womenbring to the labour female-headed householdsthe world. In general, these tend to market. Gender norms and practices partly reflects anassign primary responsibility for the tend to exacerbatethe effects of scarcity unwillingness toreproduction and care of the family so that poorwomen enter the labour continue accepting theto women and overall decision-making market with low

er levels of health, injustice of the situation.authority to senior males, but allow nutrition, education and skills than poorconsiderable variation in the roles and men and withfewer productive assets.responsibilities assigned to men Gender differentials in pay and workingand women in the productive conditions partly

reflect these genderefforts of the family. differentials incapital and capabilities.

Some regions have stricter constraints Yet, womens disadvantaged positionthan others, curtailing womens mobility in the labourmarket also reflects thein the public domain and confining combination ofactive discrimination andthem to the domestic domain and unconscious biases that they encounterreproductive responsibilities. Womens from other market actors. Unfoundedlower than average rates of labour force beliefs about womens aptitudes, skillsparticipation in South Asia and MENA and dispositions,

assumptions that allreflects widespread adherence to the women have mothering responsibilitiesnorms of female seclusion in these and widespreadadherence to theregions; see the charts on pages 4 and 11. ideology of the

male breadwinner on

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Countries with implications ofincreasing rates of female As we noted, these are regions with lower

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higher levels labour force participation for the poverty than average levels of femalelabour force

of women workers and their households? participation than others. However, it

of gender inequality And how does

this phenomenon square should be noted that increasing levels of

in wages reported with claims about the growing both economic growth and female labour

higher levels of feminisation ofpoverty1? force participation have failedto

normalise gender differentialsin life

economic growth. Cross-country regression analysis of the expectancy in the East Asian economies

relationship between economic growth of China, South Korea and Taiwan.

and gender equality indicate thatthe part of employers, state officials and womens labourmarket participation In India, the most adverse sex ratiostrade unions, regardless of the reality plays an import

ant role in mediating among children are reported bysome

on the ground, all serve to assigning this relationshipbut not automatically of its fastest growing states.

women to less well paid jobs or paying or in expectedways.

them less than men. The consequencesGender discrimination in access

to healthof such behaviour shows up in findings For example,a World Bank research care and increasing resort to sex selectivethat gender differentials in wages cannot report in 1999suggested that higher abortions are leading to incre

asingbe explained away by differentials in levels of economic growth have been levels of excess female mortality amongeducation, skills, experience or location associated withimprovements in gender children, to male-biased sex ratios atbirthin the labour market. There is an equality as measured by womens and contributing to what Amartya Senunexplained residual which reflects secondary level

education and life calls the phenomenon of missingwomen.

gender discrimination. expectancy relative

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to men and by thelegal recognition

of womens rights. The World Bank report also explored theWomen have been entering the labour However, this positive effect only kicked effects of gender equality oneconomic

market in increasing numbers at all age in for countries that had achieved lower growth, adjusting for the possibility ofgroups. The employment elasticity of middle income levels. For countries simultaneous causality. They found that,growth in recent decades has been higher below this threshold, increases in per controlling for male education,increases

for women than men in most regions of capita GNP had little effect. in female secondary educationled

the world as shown in the table. This to increases in economic growth. Onceposes interesting questions. In addition, the report found that again, however, there was athreshold to

countries withmajority Hindu and this effect: it only occurredin better off

If labour markets are indeed the key Muslim populations, which largely countries in which female secondarytransmission mechanism through which correspond to t

he MENA region and education represented at least 10 percentthe benefits of economic growth are South Asia, reported lower than average of the population.distributed to the poor, what are the levels of gender equality.

The study suggested that thisabsence

of a relationship between gender equality

and economic growth in poorercountries

probably reflected the fact that returns to

formal education in less developed,

primarily agrarian economies were likely

to be restricted. Educationalqualifications

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tend to be used in these economies as

a primary screening mechanismin the

competition for scarce formal

sector

employment, with gender actingas a

further form of screening, giving men

preferred access to these jobs.

Different kinds of gender disc

rimination

may come into play when women

become the preferred labour force

in the course of labour-intensive

industrialisation. The relationship

between gender equality and economic

growth in semi-industrialised, export-

oriented lower and middle income

economies has been explored bySource: Global employment trends for women by S. Elder and D. Schmidt.Employment Strategy Paper No. 8, 2004 Geneva: ILO. @

Stephanie Seguino. She found that,

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Poverty in Focus

January 2008 5

controlling for male secondary education,female education was positively Global employm

ent elasticities by sexassociated with economic growth. It alsomade a stronger contribution over time

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than did male education.1991-1995 1995-1999 1999-2003

Male0.30 0.34 0.29

She also found that countries with higherlevels of gender inequality in wages Female

0.40 0.44 0.33reported higher levels of economic growth.This relationship held, even when the GDP growth

2.9% 3.6% 3.5%gender wage gap measure had been

Source: The employment intensity of growth: trends and macroeconomic determinants by S. Kapsos.adjusted for educational differentials. Employment Strategy Paper No. 12, 2005. Geneva: ILO. @

Labour-intensive growth in these Secondly, reductions in gender wage Womens increased access to p

aid workcountries was the product of specialisation gaps cannot, on their own, tell us a great has also allowed many to question thein the manufacture of commodities with deal about either female or household unfair division of roles and responsibilitieshighly price-elastic demand so that profit poverty. Womenand men do not within their homes. The rising numberlevels reflected the ability to keep labour generally participate in the labour of female-headed households inmany

costs low. The preference for women market as individual earners but as regions of the world partlyreflects theiras the primary labour force in these family breadwinners. It is difficult to unwillingness to continue acceptingindustries reflected the existence of a generalise about

the poverty of either the injustice of the situation. It is thisgender wage gap, even for more educated without takingaccount of the existence phenomenon that has given rise toclaimsworkers. This phenomenon has been and extent ofall contributions to about the feminisation of poverty

dubbed the comparative advantage household income. but there is no necessary associationof womens disadvantage.

between female headship and poverty.

If, as seems to bethe case in someHas the preference for female labour regions, womenhave gained access to A better indicator of female poverty

in processes of globally-competitive, labour marketsin a period when male and of continuing female disa

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dvantagelabour-intensive industrialisation led wages have declined sharply or male in the labour marketrelates to theto a gradual improvement of womens employment isdeclining or stagnating, economic situation of female-maintainedposition in the labour market, as models the positive i

ncome effect households, those which relysolelyof the labour market would predict? of womens access to paid work is or primarily on female earnings. ThereSupport for this hypothesis is to be likely to beoffset by the loss or decline appears to be strong evidence fromfound in evidence from cross-country in male earnings. studies of Africa, Asia and Latinregression analysis that increased trade

America that these households areand FDI net flows have led to a fall in Nor is it clear th

at increased access to overrepresented in the ranksof the poor.gender wage gaps, mainly among lower paid work bywomen will translate intoskilled occupations and hence among improvements infamily wellbeing if Female heads of these househo

lds workthe working poor. womens increased workloads in the longer hours and earn lesson average

market are not accompanied by a than households largely reliant

on male

However, there are a number of reasons commensurate increase in mens or joint incomes. At the same time, theirwhy this cannot be taken as prima facie share of unpaid domestic labour2. greater control over their incomes may

evidence of reductions in female poverty.translate into higher levels

of investmentThe overwhelming

evidence from across in their children.First of all, cross-country findings are the world suggests that this increasenot always consistent with in-country has not occurred and that the main There are no easy generalisations aboutfindings. Time series data tells us that the burden of adjustment has fallen on the poverty implications of womenslast 40 years since economic take off in poorer workingwomen who cannot paid work.the East Asian economies of Taiwan and afford to payfor domestic help. Some

South Korea have seen womens wages have coped by

increasing their working N. Kabeer: Marriage, motherhood

and masculinity in the global

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economy:and income levels grow in absolute terms, hours, with adverse consequences reconfigurations of personal and economicbut the overall gender wage gap remains for their ownwellbeing. Others have life, IDS Working Paper No. 290, 2007

. @

large. It began to decline in the 1990s with relied on their older children, usually

N. Kabeer: Mainstreaming genderequalitythe passage of gender equality legislation daughters, tolook after younger in poverty eradication and the Milleniumin Korea but has widened in Taiwan where children, oftenat the expense of the Development Goals, Commonwealth

there has been no equivalent legislation. formers educational prospects. Still Secretariat, IDRC and CIDA, 2

003. @

And as we noted, rising female incomes others have taken their children tohave not eradicated discrimination work with them

in fields, roadsides

1. See below, pages 24-27.against daughters. and market place.

2. See below, page 26.

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by Gita Sen,Indian Institute of Management Poverty as a Gender

edExperience:The policy implicati

ons

Policy discussions about the of the design and implementation

ofThe poverty experience is interactions between poverty and gender anti-poverty policies and programmes.gendered by the differential inequality havetended in the last twoimpacts on women and men, decades to use the idea of the feminisation Understanding how gender relationsgirls and boys, and by their of poverty toexplain differences between work to define the experienceofdifferent responses. male and femalepoverty in a given programmes requires focusing on:

context, as well aschanges over time.This should be considered Typically, this

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approach has fed the Who gets or has access to resources;more in the design and perception that female-headed households How roles and relationships ofwork,

implementation of however definedtend to be poorer responsibilities, cooperation, sharing

anti-poverty policies than other households. Recent empirical or conflict define both womens andand programmes. work has, however, cast doubt on this mens living and working conditions

generalisation and sent analysts of gender within households;For poor women, time is and poverty back

to the drawing board. How structures and programs ofthe

often the most valuable

state and other actors, e.g. the privateresource; it is so much It is clear now that, not only is the sector and civil society, reinforce ortaken up by caring work empirical generalisation inaccurate, transform those roles andthat they can remain caught but that a single-minded focus on relationships; andin a vicious circle of poverty. female-headed households narrows How normative frameworks affecting

which households

we focus on and differential entitlements andCollecting more gender- how we understand what goes on responsibilities are challengedor

based data can improve within them. Focusing on female-headed reinforced by policies and programmes.the functioning of social households is of

course much simpler,policies and help since this avoids having to address the The generalisation that girls and womenensure the reduction messy complexitiesposed by gender bear greater work burdens and

of gendered poverty. relations withinhouseholds, or the responsibility for the care ofhuman

ways in whichdevelopment policies and beings through unpaid work within

programmes affectthem. But it is clearly households is well grounded empi

ricallyinadequate to th

e task. through numerous time-use and

qualitative studies. However, theViewing poverty

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as a gendered experience of care work variesexperience allows

us to broaden the profoundly between poor versus non-

scope of analysis to include all poor poor, rural versus urban, or landed versus

householdshoweverheaded. It also landless households. Evidence fromthe

directs us to a wider range of issues National Sample Survey in Indiashows

beyond simply asking whether women that care work in the poorestrural

or men are poorer inincome terms. These households is likely to includemainly

include the waysin which poverty is fuel and water gathering, whilein

made a genderedexperience by norms somewhat better-off households,

and values, divisions of assets, work and it includes the care of livestock and

responsibility, and relations of power kitchen gardens, or fodder collection.

and control. Gendered experiences In households that are even better off,

include (i) thedifferential impacts of women are also more likely toengage

poverty on girlsversus boys, and women in activities such as embroideryand

versus men within the household; supervision of household workers.

(ii) the gendered ways in which poor

households and their members respond The care work done by women and girls

to poverty; and (iii) the gendered impact in the poorest households tends

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Poverty in Focus

January 2008 7

therefore to be extremely time- and unpaid work with home-made or freely additional demands on poor womens

drudgery-intensive, but critical to gathered consumption items like food, time if designed in this way. Although

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household members ability to sustain clothing, andfuel. These tensions are women may be willing to pay

this timebasic daily consumption. As a result, it often resolvedby sacrificing the leisure, tax in order to improve their childrensdrastically limits womens choice of play-time, or

education of daughters, health, nutrition or education,it is

compatible income earning opportunities, who are expected to take on additional nonetheless a costly burden and maytheir ability to take time off for care work including kitchen tasks, involve other hidden sacrifices

andgovernment programmes, social foraging, andlooking after siblings, burdens. The hidden genderedcost ofexchanges or minimal leisure, and their as well as o

ther responsibilities. programmes also raises questions aboutpossibilities for acknowledging their own

programme sustainability.needs for rest, recuperation or health care. Another gendered

response is desertionor abandonment

of families, a strategy How can these insights be used forThe gendered impact of poverty not only often used by poormen to escape the programme assessment? The collectiondistinguishes between women and men, responsibilities

of contributing to of more gender-based information canbut also differentiates how care work household consumption, particularly be a way to improve programmeburdens and responsibilities are when their partners or spouses become functioning, e.g., the Observatorio deexperienced by different women. pregnant. A third phenomenon noticed Genero y Pobreza as a complement to theEvidence suggests that, where such particularly inSouth Asia is selective Oportunidades programme in Mexi

co.burdens are reinforced by strong gender education andhealth care with sharply Such information can be usedto

norms that define the good woman lower entitlements for women and understand better the way inwhich

as self-sacrificing, poor women in girls relative tomen and boys. Such the care economy and gendered

povertyparticular are likely to receive much less differentials in

entitlements are reinforced are affected by and affect

social policies.acknowledgement ofor attention to through gendered

norms and values Programme development based on

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suchtheir needs for nutrition or health care, that permeate across the economic information can help to ensure thatnot only by other family members but spectrum.While they tend to be lower in gendered responsibilities for care are

even by themselves. intensity forbetter-off households, they not reinforced, as these are at the core

do not completelydisappear. of gendered poverty.Poor households cope in a variety ofways, some of which are gendered. The gendered impacts of poverty Such approaches can be complementedIn doing so, they react not only to and of household responses to by programmes to transform masculinist

insufficiency of incomes but also impoverishment are often missed in norms and behaviours in relation to careto insecurity and risk. As household the design ofanti-poverty policies and work and responsibilities. Scho

ols,income rises above poverty levels, risk programmes. Womens responsibilities public education, child and adolescentmanagement often dictates behaviours for care fundamentally affect their programme should focus genderthat appear more appropriate to lower ability to participate in social education not only on girls

but alsoincome levels, at least until the new programmes, inlabour markets, on boys and young men. Consistenthigher level becomes more secure. and to derivebenefits from household attention has to be paid toviolence

Well known are such responses as resources. Forpoor women, time is often against women and girls withinincreased time spent on work, reduced the most valuable resource, and poor households which is often triggeredconsumption levels, increases in debt, womens time is so much taken up by by womens not meeting maledemandsdebt-peonage, migration, and fostering caring work that they can remain caught in relation to food, keepingthe house

in or out of household members. in a viciouscircle of poverty. Even worse, clean, taking care of children, sexualityLess understood are such strategies social policiesoften profit from this or reproduction. Such changesin

as maintenance of socio-economic gendered division of work and its anti-poverty programmes may require

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networks through ceremonies associated norms, thereby reinforcing as a pre- or at least a co-requisite,requiring consumption, spreading risk the gendered norms and roles that are the transformation of mindsetswithin

and borrowing potential by taking at the root

of womens poverty and government bureaucracies towardson multiple jobs, desertion or within-householdinequalities. greater awareness of the genderedabandonment of the family, and selective

consequences of policieseducation or rationing of health care Putting mothers at the service of and programmes.among family members. the state represents a convenient

marriage of new social policies built M. Molyneux: Mothers at the S

erviceAt least three of these responses are on downsizingand decentralising the of the New Poverty Agenda: Progresa/gendered, although with variations state while ensuring community Oportunidades, Mexicos conditional

transfer programme, Social Policy andacross cultural and economic contexts. responsibilitieslargely womens Administration, 40 (4): pp 42549, 2006. @

While men may take on more paid work, for the success ofprogrammes. Recent

G. Sen & C. Sen: Womens Domestic Workpartly to buy items such as tobacco and examination ofconditional cash transfer

and Economic Activity: Resultsfrom National

liquor, women often face difficult time programmes through a gender lens Sample Survey, Economic and Politicalallocation choices between paid and reveals that they can make significant Weekly, April 27, 1985, ppWS49-55.

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by Joana Costa and Elydia Silva,International Poverty Centre The Burden of Gend

erInequalities for S

ociety

Gender inequalitie

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s are present in The disadvantages faced by women in theWomen face barriers to enter many ways inthe labour market. Two labour market have negative economicthe labour market; if they relevant indicators of these inequalities consequences for the society as a who

le.find a job, their earnings are the ratiobetween female and male The elimination of the various barrie

rs theyare lower than those of men. participation in

the paid workforce and face would result in an increase in their

the ratio between female and male earnings and consequently anincreaseReducing gender inequalities hourly wages.These indicators reflect in the income of the households. It m

ightimplies benefits not only for the fact thatwomen face barriers to also result in the economic empowerme

ntwomen but also for men, enter the labour market and, when they of women, economic growth and thechildren and the elderly, find a job,their earnings are lower than reduction of poverty and inequality.for both poor and rich. those of men.

Therefore, reducing gender inequalities

implies benefits not only forwomen but

Simulations show that The gender gapindicators among urban also for men, children and the elderl

y, andremoving entry barriers adults in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El for the poor as well as the rich.would have a much stronger Salvador and Mexico are shown in theimpact on growth, poverty chart below. In each of these countries, It is difficult to know exactly whatand inequality than ending the rate ofeconomic activity among would be the impact on society ofwage discrimination. females is below 62 per cent while the a reduction of gender inequalities.

male rate is higher than 84 per cent. However, some techniques allowPaid work for women The ratio between female and male estimates of what society would gaineffectively reduces labour marketparticipation is not more with less gender inequality.

Simulatingpoverty and inequality. than 0.6 in Chileand Mexico. The female what would happen to poverty,

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socialhourly wage is aro

und 80 per cent of inequality and the total level of income

that of malesfor all countries, except in society gives an idea ofthe direction

Argentina with a ratio of 92 per cent. and magnitude of what wouldhappen

if the gender gaps in participation and

wages were eliminated.

In order to draw scenarioswithout

gender bias in the labour market of

these five Latin American countries, we

constructed counterfactuals basedon

two separate static simulations. The first

one calculates what might happen if we

suppose women enter the labour market

to the same extent as men. In other

words, the assumption is thatthe barriers

to womens entrance in thelabour

market are the same as those for men,

while ignoring any changes inthe

gender wage gap.

In the second simulation wekeep

participation rates constant and

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eliminate the gender wage

discrimination. In other words,we

eliminate the gender discrimina

tion by

assuming that women with thesame

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Poverty in Fo

cus January 2008 9

characteristics as men receive the same

wages and salaries.

Each of these simulations generates anew level and distribution of income insociety. This allows us to estimate theirimpact in terms of economic growth,poverty and inequality. The resultspresented here must be consideredwith the caveat that these simulationexercises are essentially partialequilibrium effects. Nonetheless,they provide important empiricalevidence that gender inequalities

act as barriers to pro-poor growth.

The simulated gender gap indicatorsare very different from the real ones,as shown in the lower part of the charton the previous page. Applying the maleparticipation structure to women resultsin an increase of female labourparticipation rate in all five countries.Only in Mexico was the increase notenough to approximate the female discriminationwas eliminated, the fall in decrease of four percent

age pointseconomic activity rate to the male one. poverty incidence would vary from 1.1 in the incidence of poverty.

per cent in Chile to 10 per cent in Brazil.Moreover, without wage discrimination,

Although these figures are not exactthe earnings of women would increase While the simulation of no wage and must be used withcaution, theirsubstantially in all five countries. discrimination

shows little impact on overall direction and magnitude canActually, in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico inequality, t

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he participation simulation hardly be disputed. Atleast twothey would even be higher than those has a strong effect. There would be a important conclusions arise fromof men because, on average, working reduction byaround five per cent in the these simulations.

women in these countries are better Gini inequality measure of the familyqualified than men. In a few words, it per capitaincome for the five countries First, gender inequalities

in the labourmeans that it is not the characteristics if women increased their labour market market represent a burden to theof women but gender discrimination participationto the level of men. entire society, not onlyto women.

that put females in a worse position

A reduction of gender gaps in wagein the labour market. Reducing gender inequality would also and participation can result in higher

promote economic growth. The growth economic growth as wellas reduced

To avoid difficulties related to the choice of the meanincome level would vary poverty and inequality.

of a specific poverty line we made our from 6 per centin Brazil to 11 per centsimulations for different lines and in Chile an

d El Salvador if there were Second, the reduction ofthe discrepancy

measures of poverty; the substantive no differentiated gender barriers to between the female and male economicconclusions always converged. The results enter the labour market; and from activity levels has moreimpact in these

shown in the chart above are based on 2 per cent in El Salvador to 8 per cent three areas than the reduction of thethe impacts on poverty incidence for the in Brazil without any gender gender wage gap.initial poverty lines defining the 20 per discriminationin wages.

cent poorest households in each country.Gender discrimination among

paidMost importan

t of all, this growth workers is important butit seems that

Eliminating barriers to participation would be very pro-poor since it has an increasing the female participation inwould have a much stronger effect important imp

act on poverty. the labour market wouldbe a priorityon poverty than ending wage In the outs

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tanding case of Chile, in in order to have faster and strongerdiscrimination. If women faced no the simulation of no barriers to effects in the reduction

of povertybarriers to enter the labour market, the participation,the relation between and inequality.

incidence of poverty would be reduced growth andpoverty would be aroundby at least 25 per cent in Argentina and one to four, that is, for each percentage J. Costa, E. Silva andM. Medeiros:

The Growth Equivalent ofReducing

Brazil and by as much as 41 per cent in point of growth due to improved Gender Inequalities in Latin America.Chile. On the other hand, if only wage gender equity

there would be a IPC Working Paper, forthcoming.

----------------------- Page 10-----------------------


by Denis Drechsler,Johannes Jtting and Carina Lindberg, Gender, Institution

sOECD Development Centre

and Development:

Better data, betterpolicies

Gender equality represents an around 20 per cent of all wageEnabling women to actively untapped sourcewhen it comes to employment outside agriculture isparticipate in social and stimulating economic growth and held by women.economic life may well be promoting socialdevelopment. This isthe key for long-term particularly truein the developing world, As illustrated by these figures,women

sustainable development. where women areoften systematically face serious inequalities in man

ydeprived from ha

ving equal access to regions of the world. AlthoughGender inequalities are still social servicesas well as to physical discrimination against women hashuge in most developing and social capital.In fact, increased multiple facets, most researchin thiscountries both in education gender equality

promises significant area exclusively focuses on examiningand in labour markets. returns. Apart f

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rom being an important a) the economic status of women;goal in itself,

empowering women by b) womens access to resources such asThey are generated by improving theirliving conditions and education and health; and/orsocial institutions such as enabling them to

actively participate in c) the political participation

informal family laws, cultural the social andeconomic life of a country and empowerment of women.traditions and social norms. may well be the key for long-term Less attention, however, is given to

sustainable development. social institutions that impacton genderA new international data

equality such as informal family laws,base provides systematic According to the

World Banks World cultural traditions and socialnorms.empirical evidence on Development Report 2000/01, closing In order to address this importantthe socio-economic the gender gapin schooling would have information gap, the OECDstatus of women. significantly increased and sometimes Development Centre introduced the

more than doubled economic growth in Gender, Institutions and Development

sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Data Base (GID-DB) in March 2006.

Middle East andNorth Africa. Despite

international declarations on gender The data base suggests a framework

equality, as examplified by the that groups twelve individual social

Millenium Development Goals, only institutions indicators into four

few countries have actually achieved main categories:

gender equalityin primary and

secondary education. The differences i) Family Code, including information

are even morepronounced in higher on marriage customs (age of marriage,

education. In South Asia and sub- inheritance practices, and existence of

Saharan Africa,for example, girls only polygamy) and decision-making power

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make up half of the number of students within a household (parental authority,

in tertiary education. repudiation);

Equally alarming

are labour market ii) Physical Integrity, capturing violence

indicators, whichclearly highlight that against women through traditional

countries do notadequately use their practices such as female genita

lavailable human

resources, in particular mutilation or other attacks (e.g. rape,

those of the female population. In many assault, harassment);

developing countries, womenseconomic activitie

s are marginalised to iii) Civil Liberties, measuring the extent

the informal sector, small-scale farming to which women can participatein social

and/or domesticwork. Cases in point are life (e.g. moving freely in public without

South Asia andthe Middle East and the obligation to wear a veil

or beNorth Africa: in

both regions only escorted by male relatives); and

----------------------- Page 11-----------------------

Poverty in Focus

January 2008 11

iv) Ownership Rights, indicating the land they cultivate. Some countries regressing female labour forcequality of womens most basic economic in the Middle

East and North Africa participation on growth, socialrightto hold property, whether in the require womento have male company institutions and a set ofcontrol

form of bank loans, land, or other when leavingthe house, making it variables such as access to

educationmaterial assets. difficult forthem to attend educational and health.

facilities andengage in business

The GID-DB covers a total of 161 activities inde

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pendently. The regions Information on restrictive socialcountries and has been compiled banks and lending institutions also institutions and their impact onfrom various sources. It combines in often ask female clients to obtain their womens social and economic

a systematic and coherent fashion the husbands permission or co-signature development is vital to understandcurrent empirical evidence that exists before granting

them a credit. In some gender equality. Better dataare

on the socio-economic status of women. instances, social norms such as female urgently needed to designmeaningfulThe social institutions variables have all genital mutilation or any other type of policies that can addressthe root

been coded (on a scale from 0 to 1, where violence against womenwithin or causes of gender equality.A school1 indicates full discrimination) in order to outside of the householdnot only built exclusively for girlsmight seem

allow for cross-country comparisons. violate womensbasic human rights, to be an important step t

owardsbut they seri

ously impair their health achieving gender equality. But if socialThe impact of restrictive social norms status and fu

ture chances in a norms prevent girls from attenting thison womens social and economic professional career. facility, the school does little to improvedevelopment is easy to imagine:

the status of girls and women.even if economic opportunities might Preliminary analyses using the GID-DBexist, restrictive social norms will clearly indicate the relevance of social Social norms that impact on

genderprevent women from taking advantage institutions for understanding the equality are hard to observe and evenof them. Women neither lack interest economic roleof women. There are more difficult to measureand quantify.in paid work nor are they short strong indications that high inequality The GID-DB is a first attempt to introduceof entrepreneurial ideas, but when in social institutions is associated with social institutions into thedebate, but it

society and family members discourage lower rates of female participation in cannot provide a comprehensive account

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women to engage in economic the labour market. What is more, the of all traditions and cultural practicesactivities, it is not easy to pursue a common assertion that economic that affect the role of women.professional career. growth alone

will eventually accomplishgender equality

seems too simplistic: In view of these challenges, the OECDIn sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of growth is often a necessary, but far from Development Centre is currentlywomen work in the agricultural sector, sufficient condition for improving the constructing an Internet platformbut patriarchal traditions often deny status of women. This is a robust result that will allow people to

report theirthem the right to own and manage the of an in-depth econometric analysis experiences and share theirperceptions

of social norms that impedegender

equality. This initiative, Wiki-Gender, will

provide an open resource for people

interested in finding outmore about

gender equality around theworld.

It will allow users to modify and

improve data provided therein, inviting

them to challenge existinginformation

and to provide new entriesthat will

increase the common knowledge base.

Only then will we have a better

understanding of the manifold ways

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in which social institutionsaffect

womens development and can

construct policies that effectively

address the current situation.

J. Jtting, C. Morrisson, J. Dayton-Johnson,

and D. Drechsler: Measuring Gender

(In)Equality: The OECD Gender

, Institutions

and Development Data Base;Note: The explanatory variable uses the arithmetic average of all sub-sectors ofsocial institutions; Journal of Human Development,a value of 1 (0) indicates the highest (lowest) level of inequality in social institutions. forthcoming, March 2008. @

----------------------- Page 12-----------------------


by James Heintz,Political Economy Research Institute, Poverty, Employment

University of Massachusetts Amherst

and Globalisation:A gender perspective

Fundamental and far-reaching responsibility for unpaid, non-marketGlobalisation and neo-liberal changes have taken place in the world housework and caring labour. Thispolicies impact the gender economy over the

past several decades constrains their choices in terms ofdynamics of employment that have hada profound impact on the labour force participation and theirand poverty outcomes. lives of womenand men. access to paid employment, bothformal

and informal. The allocation of

time toWith feminisation of labour Two key aspectsof the transformation non-market as opposed to market

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workwomen are concentrated are (i) the heightened and growing limits the household income that

womenin lower quality, more degree of global

economic, social and control directly. Furthermore, with more

precarious forms of cultural integrationi.e. the process of time allocated to non-market work,paid work; household globalisationand(ii) a shift in policy women frequently have less paidwork

vulnerability is increasing. stance towards deregulated markets, experience or have to interrupttheir

privatisation, asmaller role for the state employment, factors which oftenAccess to paid employment and a relatively

narrow focus on translate into lower earnings.does not always translate into reducing inflation.control over a portion of the

Gender segmentation is endemic inhouseholds income. These changes impact employment and labour markets around the world,

withpoverty outcomes for

women and men. women often concentrated in low-paid,It is critical to incorporate Gender dynamics are

central to this unstable and poor-quality employment.the gender dimension into discussion. Whether households stay Wage labour markets might notbe thethe growth-employment- out of povertyin this changing global only, and often not the mostimportant,poverty nexus. environment mayhinge on whether market exchange relating to these forms

women participate inthe labour force and of employment. For instance, quasi

have access to decent paid employment. labour markets exist in whichworkers

sell a product or service, but within aWomens measured

labour force set of dependent relationships that limit

participation hasbeen increasing in many their authority over the employm

ent

regions around the world, a process arrangement. Examples include

sometimes describe

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d as the feminisation sub-contracted production, or homework,

of labour. However,these global changes in which workers produce or assemble

have a fundamental impact on the goods for a set of specification given

allocation of labour time and economic by the work provider within alonger

resources in thehousehold. Moreover, supply chain.

employment opportunities are unequally

distributed, with women concentrated in Often social benefits and protection are

lower quality, more precarious forms of absent for these types of prec

arious and paid work. Taken together, all these factors informal employment, raising the

have enormous implications for the economic risk that women working

invulnerability of

households, the risk of these activities face, as they are undertaken

poverty and achieving sustainable human outside the ambit of labour legislation.

development. There

fore, the analysis mustincorporate a gender

perspective when This type of labour force segmentation

interpreting howglobal policy changes reduces womens earning potential.With

impact employment and poverty. lower expected earnings, investment in

female education is frequently neglected.

Gender relationsdetermine the ways in

which market andnon-market work is Similarly, perceived lower earning

organised. Women

often have primary potential of women reinforces the gender

----------------------- Page 13-----------------------

Poverty in Focus January 2008 13

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division of labour within the household, household joblessness, thereby placing incorporate the gender dimension intosince the opportunity cost, in terms of further upward pressure on the countrys the growth-employment-poverty nexus.foregone income, of specialising in average unemployment

rate. Otherwise, the picture will not be

fullyunpaid care work is lower for women

understood and the implementation ofthan for men. Structural changesthat threaten an effective development strategy

household living standards also will be compromised.Women who specialise in providing demonstrate the impact of establishedunpaid care work face enormous gender norms on men. Not all men The two feminisationsof labour and

economic risks. Such specialisation not occupy identical positions within of povertydo not provide an adequateonly lowers their earnings potential and the global economy. Many men are framework for understanding thereinforces dependencies on a male employed in precarious activities with connections between employment andbreadwinner. Often women do not have low earnings. Inaddition, racial and poverty risk. For example, the feminisationthe same access to social protections, ethnic identity frequently circumscribes of labour may be a response to, insteadsuch as pensions for old age, thereby the economic oppor

tunities available to of a cause of, increases in precariousincreasing their risk of falling into poverty. both men and women. employment around the world. Similarly,

the gendered dynamics of poverty areThe gender division between market Growing earnings inequality, an erosion complex and also have implicationsforand non-market work, the unequal of the quality of paid work, or greater the well-being of children and men.distribution of employment opportunities, joblessness disproportionately affectsand womens lower earnings potential those in more unstable forms of Therefore, poverty risk cannot bereinforce established gender dynamics employment. The entire household reduced to simple indicators, such asat household level. For example, womens men, women and childrenbecomes female headship. Instead, we need ainfluence over the distribution of susceptible to poverty. Such pressures framework for linking employment andresources and labour within the household affect men who have been socialised to poverty, which takes into accountis weakened when opportunities to earn think of themselve

s as breadwinners. In gendered interactions at three levels:income through employment are limited. particular, establis

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hed gender roles may (1) the household level; (2) at the levelIncreasing womens access to paid cause men to see the deterioration in of intra-household dynamics; and (3)

theemployment has the potential to change employment as apersonal failing, individual level. Only by analysing

the

gender roles and household dynamics, instead of a systemic economic problem. employment-poverty nexus at each ofdepending on the resilience of gender

these three levels, will an adequatenorms in society and the type of The coping strategiesadopted at the analysis be produced.employment to which women have access. household level in

response to negativeeconomic shocks unders

core the Despite this call for a more complex

The relationship between paid market importance of taking these dynamics into analysis of the connections betweenwork and prevailing gender relations account when considering the linkages gender relations, employment andis complex. Access to remunerative between growth, employment and poverty, one fact remains clear:employment does not always translate poverty. For countrieswith well-developed womens paid employment is aninto control over a portion of the social welfare systems, government policies essential factor determining the riskhouseholds income. Similarly, labour mitigate these negative consequences. of poverty that families face.

market participation may involve costs However, for countries without publiclyas well as benefits. These factors influence supported systemsof social protection, Womens employment contributesthe extent to which womens access to households and communities become a to total household income; womensemployment alters gender dynamics. safety net of last resort. participation in the labour market

can affect intra-household bargainingLabour supply decisions are often An additional link

exists between paid outcomes, conditional on decision-determined at both household and employment, non-market work and making processes and who controlstheindividual levels. Womens labour force human development.The ability to income; and access to employmenthasparticipation has been shown to increase translate access to paid employment into important implications for individualwith economic crises and policies that new capabilities,greater freedom and freedoms, capabilities and dignity.trigger labour displacement, job improved investments

in children

instability and higher rates of depends on the nature of relationships Exactly how womens employmentunemployment. Women also increase within the househo

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ld and the process by affects social and economic wellbeing willtheir labour force participation in which decisions are made concerning the depend on the institutional contextand

response to sustained structural allocation of labour time and economic the specific prevailing gender relat

ions.unemployment. For instance, research resources. Indeed,increased genderinto the determinants of womens labour inequalities, evenin the short-run,supply in post-apartheid South Africa can have long-term

consequences J. Heintz: Globalization, Economic Policyhas shown that womens labour force for economic growth and human and Employment: Poverty and gender

implications. ILO Employment Strategy

participation responded to increases in development. Therefore, it is critical to Papers, Geneva 2006:3. @

----------------------- Page 14-----------------------


by Ruth Alsop and Paul Healey,Department for International Gender Equality and

Development, UK

Economic Growth

for poverty reduction

Analysis indicatesthat investments that limits their choice in relation toInvestments in gender in gender equality can accelerate the State, markets and society. Thisequality can accelerate economic growthand poverty reduction. combination of factors perpetuatesboth economic growth However, despiteincreasing interest in womens reduced capacity to move out

and poverty reduction. the growth effects of inequality and a of poverty and contribute togrowth.

resurgence of concern over gender It points to key policy and programmeGender discrimination is discrimination, there is little to suggest options for womens economiccommon in labour, land, that gender differentiation is consistently empowerment, viz.: addressing thecredit and technology or effectivelyaddressed in growth policy gender gap in human capital; reducingmarkets; it needs to be formulation or

implementation. womens time burdens; providingspecifically addressed.

opportunities and incentives for

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womensThe evidence sug

gests that gender equal employment outside of theReducing the time burden inequality andwomens limited capacity household and promoting genderof women enables them to to respond to

economic opportunity responsive budgeting.engage in paid employment, inhibits growthvia three main channels:improve the productivity of

Womens education levels correlate with

Education affectswomens capacityfarm labour or increase

wages and per capita income. Higherto make eff

ective choices about

entrepreneurial activity. earnings potentially also increase

employment, family planning

household savings and investmentfor

and investments in children.Gender budgeting mehods

growth. Womens level of education,

Labour market participation impactscan be applied to better target

bargaining power within households,

productivity,income and savings.government expenditures to

economic status and control over

Institutions govern womens assetmaximise their impact on

household resources are all strong

use, time burden, and intra andgender inequality.

determinants of fertility and the human

extra household bargaining positions.

capital outcomes of their childrenall of

There are serious limitations in current which have a positive effecton growth.

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analysis resulting partly from lack of

data and partlyfrom the difficulties in The link between investment in human

examination ofcomplex information. capital and growth is not news, but what

Creating betterdata and improving the evidence indicates is that more

analysis are obviously priorities for attention to reducing gender inequality in

well informed growth policy. In addition education, and across differenttypes of

though, and even prior to better educationincluding health education

informed policy

development, there will result in significant growth effects.is sufficient p

roof currently availableto begin the

process of addressing the For a variety of reasons education

detrimental growth and poverty effects remains high on the agenda of

manyof gender inequ

ality. governments, so education willcontinue

to be a key factor in equalising

Gender discrimination in labour, land, relationships between men and women

credit and technology markets is a and in giving women access to income

common phenomenon. There is a wealth earning opportunities. As educating

of evidence showing that: women have females makes good economic sense,

less choice about and lower returns to growth policy can continue tosupport

engagement in labour markets; fewer efforts towards equal educational

women own landor access other opportunities, particularly in terms of

productive assets;womens choices are post-primary education for girls

where theconstrained by

an opportunity structure highest returns to investment a

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re found.

----------------------- Page 15-----------------------

Poverty in Fo

cus January 2008 15

It is widely believed that reducing the participationin the labour force. Yet, a but surprisingly poorlyaddressedtime burden of non-paid or domestic number ofthese countries have not issue of the determinants of genderlabour is critical for womens economic established policies and practices which inequality. Gender inequality is rootedempowerment. Policies designed to reflect these conventions and provide in beliefs and norms

of male/femalepromote growth have failed to elicit the little interms of the welfare provision behaviour and all evidence points to theexpected market response from women that wouldaid womens entry and fact that formal institutionslegal andin part because women are time-poor participationin the labour market. While regulatoryas well as i

nformal onesand locked into activities for which there wage and labour inequalities remain in social and culturalareweighted against

is little or no substitute labour. even the most sophisticated economies, womens equal participation in private

employment discrimination is more and public life, including markets.Commonly classified as tasks belonging marked inpoorer countries, suggestingto the reproductive sector, these activities that this is an area of promising action Formal institutions comprise legislationessentially involve reproduction and to addressthe effects of gender and regulations. Informal

institutionsmaintenance of the future and current inequality on growth. comprise customary lawand sociallabour force and include activities such

norms. Both govern gender relations andas fetching water, cooking, collecting Women and men enter the labour force as behaviour, as well aswomens ownershipfirewood, childcare. Across the world either employees or as entrepreneurs. Key of and access to productive a

ssets.women take greater responsibility areas for policy and practiceaddressing

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than men for maintaining domestic both formsof engagementinclude Getting the formal legal and regulatoryenvironments, child care and non-cash formalising the informal sector, ensuring structure right is critical,but enforcementeconomy activities. equal pay a

nd benefits, giving equal by the state is oftenundermined by

access to business assets, and providing customary law and norms. ManyReducing the time burden of women natal andmaternity welfare support. countries have passed or are in theenables them to engage in paid Equality inthe terms of employment of process of putting inplace legislationemployment, improve the productivity of women and r

ules governing womens and policies that seekto equalise genderfarm labour or increase entrepreneurial capacity todevelop as entrepreneurs relations. However, itis common practiceactivity. Key interventions that would is of particular importance for poverty for traditional socialinstitutions toin addition to reducing drudgeryfree reduction in

countries in which override these formal,state imposedwomen to make the choices about economic growth is taking off through institutions in the hou

sehold, in theengaging in activities with a more direct a transitionto a market based economy. market and in relation to thestate.contribution to growth include:

The barrierswomen face when Changing culture, particu

larly the powertargeted infrastructure such as roads,

establishingand managing businesses relationships and behaviour that culture

wells, energy that improve access,are common

and limit growth. Women- defines, is a sensitiveissue for donorsreduce time burdens and/or increase

run businesses are frequently unable and most governments. However, change

ease of use of domestic servicesto respond

to emerging economic in some social institutions may be pre-reducing the cost of existing

opportunities,as regulations relating to requisite to gender equ

ality.

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infrastructure and domestic servicesthe right o

f women to own assets andto increase usage, and childcare operate busin

esses in their own name States seeking to enhance womens

schemes, which are often essential prevent them

from doing so. Informal contributions to growthhave proved that

for labour market participation by barriers and costs, such as much greater they can take action towardsthis end by

reducing time burdens. exposure thanmen to official harassment, providing a formal enab

ling environment.

Patterns of gender equality generally enforcement of nuisance taxes and social When well monitoredandgovernment

improve as economies grow, diversify rules governing womens behaviour and functionaries and citizenprovided with

and mature. The transition to market bargaining position, limit the free and incentivessuch efforts have provided aeconomies creates employment equal operation of asset and product framework for social change.

opportunities for women across sectors. markets forwomen.

At higher overall income levels,

The growth effects ofgender inequality

indicate that governmentscan no longermanufacturing and service sectors Action can alsobe taken to better target

afford to dismiss social institutions astend to support more gender equality, government expenditures to maximise

beyond their remit ortoo difficult toas do higher levels of urbanisation and their impacton gender inequality.

manage in practice orfor analystseducation. More open and competitive Gender budgeting integrates gender

to ignore as explanatory variables.

economies are less tolerant of certain analysis intoeconomic policy, offering

sorts of discriminatory practices, which in the opportuni

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ty to reduce gendereconomic terms represent an inefficient inequality and improve expenditures Gender Equality and Growth. Evidenceuse of human resources. that targetgrowth promoting initiatives. and Action, DFID, UK,2007;

R. Alsop, M. Bertelsenand J. Holland:

Many countries have ratified international Common to both better analysis and Empowerment in Practice:From Analysis to

conventions supporting womens equal each of these action areas is the simple Implementation. The World

Bank, 2006. @

----------------------- Page 16-----------------------


by Andrew Morrison,Dhushyanth Raju and Nistha Sinha, Gender Equality

The World Bank

Is Good for the Poor

The relationship between the and poverty is strong in onlytwo out

Developing countries with incidence of poverty and the level of ten countries examined.lower gender inequality tend of gender equality as measured byto have lower poverty rates. various alternative indices suggests that One reason for these mixed results is that

developing countries with higher gender it is not easy to define headship. StudiesLess gender inequality in equality tend to

have lower poverty apply a variety of techniquesincludingresources such as education rates. The chart presents a scatter plot definitions of headship used bynational

and access to employment of poverty headcountratio (for the $2 per surveys, self-reported headship status bycan reduce the likelihood of day poverty line) and gender equality, as survey respondents, and definitions baseda household being poor. measured by thefemale-to-male ratio of on contributions to household in

come.

sex-specific HumanDevelopment Indices

Female labour force for a set of 73 coun

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tries circa 1997. The There is also substantial heterogeneityparticipation, in particular, inverse relationship between gender among female-headed households.plays a key role in cushioning equality and poverty shown in this Depending on the country and region, the

households from the impact scatter plot isquite robust to other population of female-headed house

holdsof macroeconomic shocks measures of poverty and other measures may be primarily composed of elderlyand keeping them out of gender equality. widows, divorced women, single womenof poverty.

with children, or women whosehusbands

Bivariate correlat

ions, of course, cannot are migrants. Some of these groups,suchOther major factors are establish causality. One could easily as the elderly and widows, are moregender inequality in access to argue, for example, that increases in vulnerable to falling into poverty thanland titles and, as a result, wealth drive increases in gender others, such as women who receiveto credits. Microfinance can equalityrather than the other way remittances from migrant husbands.reduce gender inequality roundsince discri

mination may becomeand poverty. increasingly costly to firms in developed Why might female-headed households

beeconomies with t

ighter labour markets. more likely to be poor than male-headed

In fact, crosscountry correlations and households? A study from Brazilexamines

even more rigorous regression analysis three possible explanations: (1) fewer

are unlikely ever to allow us to establish adults have positive income, (2) the labour

definitive relationships between gender income of principal earners is low, and

equality and poverty; the simultaneities (3) the dependency ratio is high. The study

are too great and wedo not have comes to the conclusion that the low

suitable econometric instruments to labour income of the principal

earnerssolve this probl

em. is the primary reason why fem

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ale-headed

households in Brazil are poorer.

It is considerably easier to examine

the links betwee

n gender equality and Simulations show that if the earners

poverty at thehousehold level. It is often in female-headed households hadthe

thought that female-headed households average incomes of earners inmale-

are more likely to be poor than male- headed households, their averageper

headed households.

Empirical evidence capita expenditure would be higher thanon this score, h

owever, is mixed. that of male-headed households.This is

One review of61 studies on headship primarily because female-heads are more

and poverty found female-headed likely to participate in thelabour market

households to bedisproportionately relative to male-heads.

represented amongthe poor in only

38 cases; another finds that the Are female-headed households more

relationship between female headship likely to be chronically poorthan male-

----------------------- Page 17-----------------------

Poverty in Focus

January 2008 17

headed households? That depends on thedifferences in their respective abilitiesto adopt and manage risk. Empiricalanalysis of poverty dynamics showsthat household heads education,household demographics and averagewealth are important determinants ofchronic poverty. To the extent thatfemale household heads tend to haveless education and their householdscontain a higher proportion of

dependents, their households are morelikely to be chronically poor than maleheaded households.

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Ample evidence suggests that greatergender equality in resources such aseducation and access to employment canreduce the likelihood of a householdbeing poor. Female labour forceparticipation, in particular, has been

shown to play a key role in cushioninghouseholds from the impact of in particular hasbeen microcredit. in general. Coupled with higher levelsmacroeconomic shocks and keeping Microcredit programmes, by providing of tenure insecurity for women in manyhouseholds from falling into poverty. small loans mainly for non-agricultural settings, this suggests thatwomens

microenterpriseactivities, have had a agricultural productivity relat

ive toAt the same time, barriers to female significant positive effect on household mens is likely to be lower due to higherlabour force participation remain incomes and assets, child schooling, tenure insecurity.significant in some countries. Barriers child and maternal health, and thefrequently identified include: the time empowerment offemale borrowers. Several studies in Sub-Saharan Africaburden associated with child-rearing Consequently, microcredit programmes show that women have lower

agriculturaland other domestic tasks, low are found widely around the developing productivity than men on same-sizededucational levels vis-a-vis men in world and areconsidered to be an plots growing the same crop

s. Whateversome regions of the developing world important, cost-effective instrument limited land rights women possess maythat make women less competitive for for helping the poor transform their be precisely because men do

not workquality jobs, the role of existing wage economic circumstances by enabling on womens individual plots,and the

male-female wage gaps in generating them to pursuemore lucrative reallocation of labour and

other inputsan underinvestment in female livelihood opportunities. from mens plots to womens

plots mayeducation and lower female labour

threaten these rights.force participation rates than would be With regard to lan

d markets, data onthe case in the absence of such wage landholdings disaggregated by sex are There are a host of intere

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sting policygaps, and laws and customs that inhibit woefully lacking

in many regions of the research issues related togender equalitywomens participation in labour markets. world. The scant existing evidence and poverty reduction. Forsome of these

appears to show that the distribution issues, the accumulated bodyof research

Constraints to womens participation in of land ownership is heavily skewed is impressive; for others it is scant indeed.other markets also matters for poverty towards men. In Latin America, between Surprisingly, there are manyareas of

reduction. The existing research on 70 and 90 per centof formal owners of crucial importance to policysuch as

credit markets in developing countries farmland are male and conditional on gender issues in the functioning of creditadmittedly scarcesuggests that by land ownership,men on average own and land marketswhere quitebasic

and large women receive unfavorable more farmlandthan women. questions remained to be answered.treatment not because of discriminatory

These questions are of centraltreatment per se, but rather because Land ownership

and tenure are crucial importance to the design ofpoverty

of gender differences in individual for a numberof reasons. Land ownership reduction policies and projects.characteristics that are relevant for is often theprimary source of transferableloan qualification, e.g. holding land titles. and inheritablewealth; it is also

frequently a requisite for participating A. Morrison, D. Raju and N. Sinha:GenderOne institution that has had a major in formal credit markets in rural areas. Equality, Poverty and Economic Growth.impact on relaxing credit constraints for Careful studiesshow that tenure Policy Research Working Paper4349.

The World Bank 2007. Background paperthe poor in general and for poor women insecurity impairs investment incentives for the Global Monitoring Report 2007. @

----------------------- Page 18-----------------------


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by John Sender,Development Studies, Reducing the Gender

University of Cambridge

Gap in Education:The role of rural wag

e labour

Analysis of researchresults from suggested that wage employment forResearch results from rural rural Mozambiqueoffers some important women is generally associated withMozambique show that new insights into gender relations and lower levels of education of girls, mostwhen women have greater the inter-generatio

nal transmission of often the oldest girl who substitutes foreconomic autonomy, poverty. The Mozambican Rural Labour her mother in the domestic division ofdaughters are less likely Survey (MRLS) underpinned the research labour. In contrast, the argument hereto be neglected. and covered many

of the poorest rural emphasises the positive impact of

households in the country. In some womens access to decent rural wage

Divorced and separated of these households, especially in employment opportunities, as thebasiswomen clearly achieve households wherewomen have greater for investment in their daughters future.better results in educating autonomy in making resource allocationtheir children than do decisions, the welfare of young Many non-divorced/separated womenother women. daughters is less likely to be neglected were found to be employed in bad jobs,

than in other households. often working for pitifully lowwagesRural wage employment can

on nearby small farms as seasonal casualprovide an escape route This finding confirms patterns found laborers. Part of the explanation

for thisfrom poverty for a new in the international literature on the finding may be the fact that mengeneration of women determinants of

gender gaps in education husbands or fathersare forciblyin Mozambique. and in nutrition

between sons and preventing them from travelling t

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odaughters. However

, the estimates of work in the better types of job offeredYet, the share of both aid autonomy in this literature have not by larger-scale employers. Divorced

and

and public expenditure considered divorced and separated status separated women in the MRLS were moredevoted to agriculture as an unambiguous indicator of womens likely than other women to succeed inand rural wage labour ability to act independently. finding a decent job.in Africa has remainedremarkably small. The MRLS contains

a remarkably high At the same time, divorced and separatedincidence of div

orced, separated and women clearly achieve better resu

lts in widowed women. Many women in the educating their children than doother

survey told theresearchers that they women. Divorced and separated mot

hersbecame wage work

ers following the are especially good at investingin their

death of or desertion by their spouse, daughters education compared tonon-

or said that they left the labour market divorced/separated mothers and tomale

as soon as they married or began to wage workers. Thus, in absoluteterms,

cohabit. These statements highlight the the daughters of divorced and separated

need to examineinteractions between women have achieved more schoolin

glabour market pa

rticipation and marital in terms of the mean and median

status; and themajor objective here is number of years of schooling

to assess the implications of these completedthan the daughters of

interactions forrural girls. non-divorced/separated women, as

shown in the table.In much of the liter

ature, the focus is

on maternal education as predicting Moreover, the education gap between

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the level of child education, particularly daughters and sons of divorcedand

the education ofgirls, rather than separated mothers is lower thanthe

on the types o

f wage employment open corresponding gap between theto women and their ef

fects on girls daughters and sons of non-divorced/

schooling. In apaper commissioned separated mothers, i.e. divorced and

for a 2003 UNESCO report, Naila Kabeer separated mothers favour their sons far

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Poverty in Focus January 2008 19

less than non-divorced/separatedmothers. The chart shows that the size of Education of sons and daughters of female and malethe gender gap, measured by the ratio principal respondents in the MRLSof the mean or median years ofeducation achieved by sons compared

Principal r

espondentsto daughters, is much higher for non-divorced/separated than divorced

FemaleMale

and separated mothers.Variable Stat Marital Status

DS NDSIt is not surprising that the sons of themale principal respondents in the MRLS Children 16 yrs + Years of schooling Mean 4.62 4.25

4.36have had more years of educationa

Median 5.00 4.004.00

mean of 5.39 yearsthan other childrenin the MRLS, since their fathers are more Sons 16 yrs +

Years of schooling Mean 5.29 4.895.39

educated and earn higher wages, onMedian 5.00 5.00

5.00

average, than female wageworkers.Daughters 16

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yrs + Years of schooling Mean 3.93 3.403.23

It is, however, surprising that, as shown in

Median 4.00 3.003.00

the Table, the children of divorced and

separated female principal respondents Note: DS = divorced or separated; NDS = non divorced/separated.are, on average, better educated thanthe children of male principal Thus, as shown in the chart, the size of age, will be greater if

their daughtersrespondentsbecause the daughters the gender gap between the education remain at school for as

long as possible.of divorced and separated women boost of sons anddaughters is particularly

the average by being significantly better large for t

he children of the male Rural wage employment hastheeducated than the daughters of male principal respondents, very much larger potential to provide anescape routeprincipal respondents. than the gender gap for the children from poverty for a newgeneration of

of divorcedand separated women. women in Mozambique. Therefore, it isThe median number of years of

unfortunate that donors h

ave done soeducation completed by the daughters Some divorced

and separated women little to develop effective policies toof divorced and separated women is appear to have gained in self-confidence promote the massive investments in4 years, compared to 3 years for the not only through schooling, but also as a agri-business and rural infrastructuredaughters of male principal respondents. result of the emancipatory experience of required to increase thedemand for

Although the sons of divorced and a successfulstruggle to survive on their female wage labour in rural Africa. Theseparated women do complete 35 per wage income without a male partner. most influential donor in

Africa, thecent more years of education than As a result, they appreciate that their World Bank, has only very recentlytheir daughters, 5.29 years compared to daughters would be unwise to rely on in the World Development Report2008

3.93 years, the sons of male principal male support,especially if men continue recognized that Making therural labour

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respondents are much more privileged, to restrict womens access to the labour market a more effectivepathway out ofreceiving 70 per cent more years of market. Instead, they believe that their poverty is a major policy challengeeducation than the daughters of the daughters wel

fare and, less altruistically, that remains poorly understood andprincipal male respondents. their ability tocare for them in their old sorely neglected in policy making.

In fact, the share ofboth aid and public

expenditure devoted to agricultural

investments in Africa hasremained

remarkably small; and there has been

hardly any funding of research on rural

wage labour. Most donors,NGOs and

government agencies continue to

believe as an article of faith that the

poverty of rural womenand their

daughters can be reducedsignificantly

by efforts to promote and subsidize

self-employment in micro-enterprises,

rather than wage employment.

J. Sender and C. Oya:Divorced, Separated

and Widowed Female Workers in Rural

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Mozambique. Feminist Economics,

forthcoming 2008. @

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by Ranjula Bali Swain andFan Yang Wallentin, Empowering WomenUppsala University

through Microfinance:

Evidence from India

Microfinance programmes have development objective for microfin

anceMicrofinance programs been increasinglypromoted for programmes, it is still unclearwhat

aim to reduce income their positive economic impact and the women empowerment means.poverty while also belief that they

empower women.empowering women. We investigate the impact of the Self Given the complexity of defining

wom

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