Promoting the Gender Equality MDG: Women’s Economic Opportunities William Kingsmill Head, Growth & Investment Group Policy Division

Gender and pro-poor growth Gender inequality in education and employment reduce economic growth Gender inequality reduces the amount of human capital in society and harms economic performance Countries that are unable to meet the MDG for gender equity will suffer considerable consequences in terms of foregone economic growth Which optic? Growth optic. Debt to Stephan Klassen, University of Gottingen and his paper for OPPG (AfDB,BMZ,DFID and the World Bank) MDG1 (Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger) and MDG3 (Promote gender equality and empower women), inextricably linked. Productive participation clearly achieved through pro-poor growth (definition: average growth rate of the income of the poor rises faster than the income of the country as a whole). Viewpoint leads to the following question how women’s contribution can be strengthened to allow for greater pro-poor growth. ‘Implication of multi-dimensional nature of poverty’ – Looking at household income ignores completely gender differentials in income poverty; need a broader view to understand barriers which maintain gender inequality.

Link between gender inequality & pro-poor growth Six gender-specific issues are important for pro-poor growth: Education for productivity Education for health Employment opportunities Empowerment opportunities Access to assets and inputs Corruption and nepotism 1 Removal of gender gaps in education is particularly critical for women to be able to grasp these opportunities and contribute to growth through direct and indirect means. Gender discrimination artificially restricts the pool of talent. 2 Positive externalities of female education: reduce fertility levels, reduce child mortality, promote education of the next generation. Ensuring that fertility decline reaches the poorer segments of the population would be particularly important as it would not only boost growth, but also reduce inequality. 3 Employment opportunities: gender gaps in employment impose a similar distortion on the economy as do gaps in education. 4 Empowerment opportunities: female employment increases their bargaining power within families leads to greater investment in health and education, promoting human capital of the next generation and improving the potential for further growth. 5 Improving access for women to productive assets and inputs: will be of particular importance for improving both agricultural and non-agricultural performance 6 Women are less prone to corruption and nepotism than men. Improving the access of women to the workforce and decision-making is likely to improve governance in business and government. And getting more women into politics can promote investment of importance to women (eg time saving infrastructure)

Gender inequality, education & growth Gender inequality in education reduces the average amount of human capital in a society and thus harms economic performance. 1 Removal of gender gaps in education is particularly critical for women to be able to grasp these opportunities and contribute to growth through direct and indirect means. Gender discrimination artificially restricts the pool of talent. Investment in education does deliver higher growth rates. In Uganda education influenced the observed increasing income inequality. Between 1992-93 and 2002-03 the contribution of different educational levels to inequality rose from 16 percent to 25 percent, while the contribution of inequality among households where the head had a similar education fell for 84 percent to 75 percent.

Fertility, longevity & education Promoting female education reduces fertility, increase female life expectancy, increases child mortality, and promotes education of the next generation Positive externalities of female education: reduce fertility levels, reduce child mortality, reduce malnutrition promote education of the next generation. Ensuring that fertility decline reaches the poorer segments of the population would be particularly important as it would not only boost growth, but also reduce inequality. Gender gaps among the poor are higher than among the non-poor so policies to boost female enrolment would particularly help poor women.

Gender inequality & employment Gender inequality in employment reduces the average amount of human capital in a society, lowers productivity and so harms economic performance. Employment opportunities: gender gaps in employment impose a similar distortion on the economy as do gaps in education. Women face severe constraints in access to formal sector employment (and also barriers to pay equality): combination of economic, cultural, institutional barriers. Expansion of the female labour force is associated with higher rates of pro poor growth. Many East Asian countries were able to become competitive on world markets through the use of female-intensive export oriented manufacturing industries.

Empowerment opportunities Female employment increases their bargaining power within families leads to greater investment in health and education, promoting human capital of the next generation and improving the potential for further growth. Empowerment opportunities: female employment increases their bargaining power within families leads to greater investment in health and education, promoting human capital of the next generation and improving the potential for further growth. Investment in roads, water, fuel access can free women’s time for more productive activities: more likely if women have a political voice.

Widening access to productive inputs Women’s activities are under-resourced and under-capitialised 5. Improving access for women to productive assets and inputs: will be of particular importance for improving both agricultural and non-agricultural performance (land, fertilizer, seeds, credit, etc) Different and/or separate productive activities between men and women may lead to differential access to productive assets and inputs. Where agriculture is a major source of employment, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, if women face little formal control over land & reduced access to credit and agricultural inputs, they will be unable to produce as productively as men. Example: In Lesotho women have until recently been disadvantaged through the law. They could not inherit land or property, get a job or sign a contract without the permission of their husbands (source: DFID Policy Paper: Reducing Poverty By Tackling Social Exclusion, Sept 2005).

Corruption and nepotism Women are less prone to corruption and nepotism than men. Improving the access of women to the workforce and decision-making is likely to improve governance in business and government. And getting more women into politics can promote investment of importance to women (eg time saving infrastructure)

Reducing gender inequality can reduce inequality more broadly If gender gaps are larger among poor households, closing the gender gap would disproportionately increase incomes among the poor and reduce inequality in society. Important that efforts to reduce gender gaps are targeted towards closing gender gaps among the poor, otherwise might increase inequality

The evidence suggests a wide variation of experience in individual countries … Country gender strategies all look the same. PRS’s do not do justice either.