GENDER ISSUES ACADEMIC YEAR The impact of globalization and development on gender equality (E.Chiappero-Martinetti)

World Bank, Gender Equality and Development, World Development Report 2012, selected sections of Part III (full report downloadable on the World Bank website)

UNDP - Human development defined as: being “ … about creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests.” “ Development is thus about expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they value.” “ Fundamental to enlarging these choices is building human capabilities —the range of things that people can do or be in life. The most basic capabilities for human development are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable, to have access to the resources needed for a decent standard of living and to be able to participate in the life of the community. Without these, many choices are simply not available, and many opportunities in life remain inaccessible.” HDR

WDR 2012: why gender equality matters? «First, gender equality matters intrinsically, because the ability to live the life of one’s own choosing and be spared from absolute deprivation isa a basic human right and should be equal for everyone,independent of whether one is male or female. Second, gender equality matters instrumentally, because greater gender equality contributes to economic efficiency and the achievement of other key development outcomes» (p. 3)

Intrinsic value A. Sen: development as a process of expanding freedoms equally for all people => equality as a core objective in itself. – Womens’s empowerment and gender equality embodied in MDG 3 and MDG5

Instrumental value Gender equality can enhance economic efficiency and improve development outcomes in three ways: 1.Removing barriers that prevent women to access to education, economic opportunities and productive inputs 2.Improving women’s absolute and relative status feeds other development outcomes (inclusing those for their children) 3.Leveling the playing field (= chances to become socially and politically active, make decisions, shape policies) can lead over time to more representative and more inclusive institutions and societies

A global agenda for greater gender equality Four priority areas: 1.Reducing excess female mortality and closing education gaps where they remain 2.Improving access to economic opportunities for women 3.Increasing women’s voice and agency in the household and in society 4.Limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations

An agenda (2) In addition: one cross-cutting priority => supporting evidence-based public action through better data, better knowledge generation and sharing, and better learning

Three types of activities 1.Providing financial support by the Intl development community to countries willing and able to undertake reforms and specific initiatives (delivery of clean water and sanitation, better health services). NB: maximize impact and minimize duplication

Three types of activities (2) 2.Fostering innovation and learning through experiments and ad hoc evaluation, paying attention to results and process, as well as context, facilitating a scaling-up of successful experience

Three types of activities (3) 3. Leveraging effective partnerships: successful reforms requires partnerships within and across borders among international development community, academia, think tanks, private sector

Four general principles for policy and program design 1.Comprehensive gender diagnostics as a precondition for policy and program design (what happens in households, markets, formal institutions; their interactions; how they are shaped by social norms)

Four general principles (2) 2. Targeting determinants vesus targeting outcomes: target the market and institutional (multiple) constraints that generate gender gaps 3. «Upstreaming» and strategic mainstreaming: effective action requires coordinated multisectoral interventions or sequential interventions. To maximize impact is necessary to upstream gender issues from specific sector products and projects to country and sector programs (more strategic gender mainstreaming)

Four general principles (3) 4. No one size fits all: nature, structure and functionings of markets and institutions, as well as norms and cultures, vary widely across countries; same policy can have veryu different impact => multiple paths to reform

Problem: how this agenda can be concretely and effectively implemented at micro-meso level? Let us consider the interaction between households, markets and institutions and figure out possible actions

a)Families make choices (fertility, economic decisions in time and money allocation, consumption,savings etc) that influence gender outcomes b)They make these choices according to preferences, incentives and constraints and in relation to theri relative voice and bargaining power – Preferences are shaped by gender roles, social norms and social networks (i.e. informal institutions) – Incentives are influenced by the markets (labor, credit, land and goods markets) – Constraints arise from the interplay of formal institutions and markets but also reflect the influence of informal institutions  Household decision making, markets, formal institutions combine and interact to determine gender-related outcomes