How Are Women Doing? The World Bank Weighs in on Gender & Development - WAPPP Seminar Series

The Men: Sudhir Shetty, Sector Manager, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, The World Bank; and Jishnu Das, Senior Economist in the Development Research Group, The World Bank

The Talk: World Development Report: Gender Equality and Development

The Question: Are women better or worst off than they've been in previous decades?

Not all inequalities are created equal.

At least, that's what researchers at the World Bank have concluded with the release of this year's Gender Development Gap report.

Sudhir Shetty and Jishnu Das, two economists who worked on the report, were on hand at WAPPP to present the latest findings to the Women's Leadership Board at WAPPP on how women have progressed around the world in the past few decades.

The results are positive, but reveal that there's still a long way to go.

While some areas such as education have improved dramatically, researchers says, inequality stubbornly persists in areas such as maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS infection, the wage gap, and domestic violence.

The reason, say Shetty and Das, is a complex interaction between markets, households and formal institutions that must all work together in order to ensure women are supported by every aspect of society.

For instance, curbing female mortality necessitates deep political will on the part of the government to reform its institutions. "I have never been to a district hospital in India where a doctor is not drunk after 8 o'clock," says Das. "The institutions are just not working, and these are the problems that effect female mortality."

The researchers say that there are ways to tackle these challenges. To reduce female mortality, for instance, countries must concentrate on improving clean water and sanitation so that infant girls stand a better chance of survival. A look at the historical data in the US and Europe revealed telling data to the team: as access to clean water improved at the turn of the 20th century, so too did the survival of baby girls.

Some challenges like domestic abuse, however, require a far more complex approach. Political will must drive an agenda that prioritizes the well-being of women and their children; economic opportunities such as access to land, better infrastructure, and greater emphasis on child care can all contribute to a shifting climate that empowers women within their households and in society. Buy-in from men is also a critical aspect in reducing domestic violence; as Shetty says: "This report is about gender -- not just women."

*Photo Image Courtesy of World Bank
Effie-Michelle Metallidis is a guest student blogger for the Women and Public Policy Program and Master in Public Policy first-year student at Harvard Kennedy School.

Women, Business, and the Law - WAPPP Seminar Series

The Woman: Rita Ramalho, Program Manager, Enterprise Analysis Unit, The World Bank Group

The Talk: Women, Business and the Law 2012: Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion

The Question: How do laws in different countries affect a woman's ability to start businesses and get jobs?

A lower retirement age sounds pretty decent, right? Who wants to work into their 70s, after all? Shorter working days sound good, too. A good work-life balance is strike in this fast-paced world.

But while these may sound like job perks, they're the sorts of prohibitive laws that keep women from achieving the same economic status as men in many countries, say researchers from the World Bank.

In a recent survey of 141 economies conducted by the Enterprise Analysis Unit of the World Bank Group, researchers found that 103 countries have laws that may hinder women's economic opportunities. The laws, which range from restricting the property rights of women in the Phillipines to not paying for maternity leave in Papua New Guinea, account for disparities in income, and affect the way women make decisions about whether to enter the workforce.

"In practice, there's less women in the private sector and [less] entrepreneurs," says Rita Ramalho, the EAU's Program Manager. "We want to see what regulations play a role in that."

According to Ramalho's team, there are a lot. Legally, women can be restricted by:

• Needing permission from men to travel outside the home
• Needing a male witness to sign contracts or conduct business transactions
• Being barred from deciding on property and finance decisions if men are the only legally recognized heads of the household
• Getting married. Marriage can restrict a woman's rights to property, business transactions, and sometimes also results in her paying higher taxes.

The good news is that while gender disparity still exists on the books, many countries are amending their laws. The most active reformer has been Kenya, who amended its constitution last year to grant women equal inheritance property rights and the ability to confer citizenship onto their children. These small changes allow women greater autonomy over their property, their children's future, and the ability to decide with greater independence.

Keep up with Rita's blog to find out more about the World Bank's research on women.

*Above: A Kenyan woman learns to sew through a World Relief microfinance initiative. Courtesy world-relief.org
Top: American women assemble a B-17 bomber during World War II on an air base in Long Beach, California. Courtesy Library of Congress
Effie-Michelle Metallidis is a guest student blogger for the Women and Public Policy Program and Master in Public Policy first-year student at Harvard Kennedy School.