1

ENHANCING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL

PARTICIPATION, GLOBALLY AND IN THE ARAB WORLD

Brussels, December

2013

Gender equality has intrinsic value for development It belongs to the definition of development, as expanding

opportunity (Sen)

Development fuels gender: As development opens up opportunities, women seize them

Gender equality is an instrument of development: Societies where women are represented in politics and

institutions invest in goods that better reflect the preferences of men and women and achieve better policy outcomes

2

3 STATEMENTS ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY AND DEVELOPMENT (WDR 12)

For the nation: Tapping into the skills and talents of women, who make up half

the population, can increase productivity and expand the development potential of the nation

For the next generation: Women with education, who are economically empowered, and

can make decisions, invest more and better in their children “we gain knowledge and knowledge is light" “we read (get an education) and we teach our children in the future” --Young women, Kharef, Yemen

For society: Societies where women are represented in politics and

institutions invest in goods that better reflect the preferences of men and women and achieve better policy outcomes 3

GENDER EQUALITY IS AN INSTRUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT

Source: WDR2012

A BROAD VIEW OF EQUALITY AND CONSTRAINTS

In the last 30 years, 552 million joined the labor force and today, 4 out of 10 workers globally are women

... And yet, on average, for every dollar a man makes, a woman earns 80 cents

.. 73 cents in Brazil

. . 62 cents in Germany

.. 78 cents in Egypt

All but 6 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women …but only 19% of all parliamentarians in the world are women.

EQUAL?

Source: Women, Business and the Law 2014

FORMAL CONSTRAINTS ARE PERVASIVE

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Most common restrictions for married women

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Asia

Middle East and North Africa

Latin America and Caribbean

High income: OECD

Europe and Central Asia

East Asia and Pacific

Agree that men should have priority over scarce jobs

0%20%40%60%80%

World

East Asia &Pacific

Europe &Central Asia

Latin America& Caribbean

Middle East &North Africa

South Asia

Female Male

USA Denmark

Japan

Mexico

Turkey

South Africa

Iran Iraq

Egypt

Malaysia Bangladesh

Pakistan

Mali

Rwanda El Salvador

Uganda

Burkina Faso

Azerbaijan China

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Ratio

, fem

ale

to m

ale

LFP

Agree: men should have more priority over scarce jobs

Relationship between perceived jobs equality and gaps in labor

force participation

Source: World Values Surveys data 91 countries

SOCIAL NORMS UNDERLIE DEPRIVATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

FEMALE LITERACY RATES (Annual percentage point

change: 1985-2010)

8

SINCE 1970, COUNTRIES IN THE MENA REGION HAVE RECORDED THE FASTEST PROGRESS IN

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE WORLD.

-0.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

Middle East & North Africa East Asia & Pacific

South Asia Latin America & Caribbean

Europe & Central Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

FEMALE LIFE EXPECTANCY RATIO OF FEMALE TO MALE PRIMARY ENROLMENT

(Average annual growth rates, %: 1985-2010)

Source: Staff calculations based on World Development Indicators, 2011.

9

PROGRESS IN EDUCATION HAS BEEN MADE ACROSS THE REGION

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

Female to Male Ratio of Enrolment Rates

Primary Secondary Tertiary

Source: World Development Indicators (2011)

10

BUT FEW WOMEN ARE REPRESENTED IN POLITICAL BODIES

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

% Women in lower or single house

Source: International Parliamentary Union, Women in National Parliaments, as of 1/3/13.

0102030405060708090

100

Egypt Jordan Morocco Iraq WestBank and

Gaza

Yemen Djibouti SaudiArabia 1/

Qatar 1/ UAE 1/ Kuwait1/

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION (%)

Men Women

Source: National household Surveys; 1/ Official estimates for national non-immigrant population.

11

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Pakistan Turkey MENA Muslimmajoritycountries

Malaysia Rest of theworld

Indonesia Bangladesh

12

RELIGION?

FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION (%)

Source: World Development Indicators (2011)

WBG LBN

JOR MAR

DJI

TUN SYR EGY

UAE OMN

BHR SAU

YEM

KWT*

QAT ALG

IRQ

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 20 40 60 80 100

FEM

ALE

LA

BOR

FORC

E PA

RTIC

IPAT

ION

(%

age

d 15

+), 2

009

FUEL EXPORTS (% of merchandise exports), 2009 or latest

Source: World Development Indicators, 2011; *includes non-nationals 13

OIL?

Gender norms are reflected in laws that implicitly or explicitly circumscribe women’s agency. These in turn can reinforce societal norms. Family codes may limit decision-making: head of household

laws, permission to work, selecting matrimonial residence, unilateral divorce laws etc. Low or no legal minimum Age of Marriage Laws for girls may

limit decision-making power within the household, with respect to education, work. Labor laws may limit opportunities: restrictions on industry

and hours worked; maternity leave and childcare; legislation that discourages or does not recognize part-time work.

14

FORMAL NORMS CONTINUE TO CONSTRAIN WOMEN’S MOBILITY AND DECISION MAKING

Source: Women, Business and the Law 2014

FORMAL CONSTRAINTS ARE PERVASIVE

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Most common restrictions for married women

Sub-Saharan Africa

South Asia

Middle East and North Africa

Latin America and Caribbean

High income: OECD

Europe and Central Asia

East Asia and Pacific

Traditional gender norms further reinforce each other to restrict women’s mobility and choice

Limited employability for young people, especially women (tracking)

Queuing for public sector jobs Limited opportunities in the

private sector and for entrepreneurship (stereotypes, harassment, safety, control of assets)

16

MENA SPECIFIC CONSTRAINTS LIMIT FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION

“Boys move however they want, wherever they want” “They sit in the coffee shops, waiting…” After their studies, “they stay at home, go apply for companies, get depressed and say why did I waste my time..” “jobs here are only for those who have connections, whoever doesn’t have connections stays at home and doesn’t work.” Source: West Bank and Gaza and Yemen Qualitative Assessments, 2012

Agree that men should have priority over scarce jobs

0%20%40%60%80%

World

East Asia &Pacific

Europe &Central Asia

Latin America& Caribbean

Middle East &North Africa

South Asia

Female Male

USA Denmark

Japan

Mexico

Turkey

South Africa

Iran Iraq

Egypt

Malaysia Bangladesh

Pakistan

Mali

Rwanda El Salvador

Uganda

Burkina Faso

Azerbaijan China

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Ratio

, fem

ale

to m

ale

LFP

Agree: men should have more priority over scarce jobs

Relationship between perceived jobs equality and gaps in labor

force participation

Source: World Values Surveys data 91 countries

SOCIAL NORMS UNDERLIE DEPRIVATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS

SO CIAL NORMS HOWEVER ARE NOT DESTINY

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF FEMALE IMMIGRANTS FROM MENA TO

US (%)

Married

Single

0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

United States France

MARITAL GAP IN FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION OF EMIGRANTS FROM

MENA (%)

Emigrated inAdulthood

Emigrated inChildhood

Born in Country

To the World Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and shared prosperity

Gender was a special theme in IDA16 and IDA17: Progress on gender mainstreaming in lending is tracked and reported 9 core indicators on gender mainstreaming monitored in IDA16 8 indicators monitored in the corporate scorecard (IDA and

IBRD)

All country strategies draw on findings from stand-alone or integrated gender assessments Country programs involve financing for gender-related lending

and analytical work

19

GENDER EQUALITY IS INTEGRAL TO THE WORLD BANK

Bolster job creation for all, led by the private sector

Enhancing women’s agency and legal reforms to put women on an equal footing

Bridge the remaining gender

gaps in health, education and basic services

Remove constraints to

participation and entry into the formal labor

market, especially in the private

sector

Nurture female-owned and managed

businesses through

expanded access to finance and business skills

20

PRIORITIES IN MENA

Evidence-based policy making through experiments, pilots, and greater public access to gender-disaggregated data

ANALYTICAL WORK 1. Regional report:

“Opening Doors: Gender Equality in the Middle East and North Africa”

2. Palestine: “Aspirations on Hold? Young Lives in the West Bank and Gaza”

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SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT WE ARE DOING

1400 young female community college graduates participated in a pilot: 3 week soft skills and employability skills training Short term incentive for firms to hire young women (6 month

job voucher)

Objective: To increase labor force participation and employability of female graduates

Short term: job vouchers induced a 39% rise in female employment.

Long term: the majority of the jobs did not translate into permanent employment, but labor force participation was higher by 10 percentage points.

22

JORDAN NEW WORK OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN (NOW) PILOT:

LEARNING WHAT WORKS

THINK EQUAL!

Gender Equality and Development (World Development Report 2012) Opening Doors: Gender Equality and

Development in the Middle East and North Africa

Available (as well as may other resources) at http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/gender

24

READ

25

BACKUP SLIDES

IS THIS A CASE OF THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE?

Vouchers helped women find jobs quicker than they otherwise would have In the end, the

control group caught up to the voucher group in terms of employment

WHY DIDN’T THE HARE WIN?

After the vouchers expired…

Still working at same firm, 23

Quit and found another job, 16

Quit due to marriage or child

birth, 8 Fired, 8

Unaffordable without

subsidy, 39

Other, 6

FIRMS DO NOT FIND IT WORTHWHILE TO FORMALIZE EMPLOYMENT OR TO PAY

MINIMUM WAGES.. Had firms registered these workers as formally

employed, employers would have to pay social security taxes and payroll taxes , adding 20 percent to the cost of employing a worker an unaffordable financial burden?

Where the minimum wage was not made a pre-condition for employment (for the training and control groups), more than 25% of those employed earned less than 150JD throughout our entire pilot

And the overwhelming reason that firms terminated employment after the vouchers ended was that the employees were “unaffordable without the subsidy”

29

INFORMING POLICY AND SUPPORTING THE TRANSITION IN YEMEN

Establish peace and security; reconstruction and humanitarian assistance

Establish a legal minimum age of

marriage for girls; and birth and marriage

registration

Girls schools and female teachers,

especially in rural areas +

Expanding % of attended births

Create conditions for diversified economic growth and private

sector led job creation

Microfinance to SMEs and home-based

businesses run by women

New policy note highlights stark gender disparities and priority areas for action

National Dialogue considering a minimum age of marriage and a quota for women in political bodies Supporting the implementation of the recommendations

of the National Dialogue

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

AlgeriaBahrain

Egypt, Arab Rep.Iran, Islamic Rep.

JordanKuwait

LebanonMorocco

QatarSaudi Arabia

Syrian Arab RepublicTunisia

United Arab EmiratesWest Bank and Gaza

Unemployment, youth male Unemployment, youth female

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT RATES (%)

Source: World Development Indicators (2011) 30

0102030405060708090

Women Men Women Men Women Men

Jordan Egypt West Bank and Gaza

Illiterate Primary Secondary Post-Secondary

31

AND WOMEN STAY UNEMPLOYED LONGER, ESPECIALLY MORE EDUCATED WOMEN

% OF UNEMPLOYED WOMEN AND MEN WHO HAVE BEEN UNEMPLOYED FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR

Source: National household surveys

2010

2006 2009

11

43 44

58

37

24 26

82 78

45

76

63

8

58

34 32 27

20 19

84 87

29

80

40

0102030405060708090

100

Morocco Djibouti Jordan Iraq Egypt WestBank

Yemen Qatar 1/ UnitedArab

Emirates1/

Bahrain1/

Kuwait 1/ Oman 1/

Women Men

32

PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IS A DOMINANT SOURCE OF EMPLOYMENT, ESPECIALLY FOR

WOMEN SHARE OF EMPLOYED WORKERS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR (%)

Latent participation: When Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education opened up a new batch of positions in 2011, applications from women were 4 to 5 times the number of vacancies

Source: National household Surveys; 1/ Official estimates for national non-immigrant population.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

West Bank andGaza

Iraq Egypt Yemen

PUBLIC SECTOR WAGE GAP (Difference in Average Hourly Earnings in the Public and Private Sectors, %)

Males

Females

2009

33

IN MANY COUNTRIES, THE PUBLIC SECTOR ALSO PAYS BETTER, ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN

Source: National household Surveys

2006

2006 2005

Educational segregation influences occupational segregation

Skills mismatches

Gender stereotypes of employers and misperceptions about the private sector

Limited access to networks and lack of labor market information

34

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR ARE LIMITED, ESPECIALLY

FOR WOMEN

Only 15% of businesses in the region are owned by women. Out of 12789 households in rural

villages in the governorate of Menya in Egypt, there were only 200 female business owners. That's less than 2%! Only 14% of these female business

owners currently have loans

In many countries, female owned firms hire more women than male owned firms. Thus, constraints to female entrepreneurship can also potentially l imit opportunities for female employment 35

FEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENTREPRENEURS, OR THE SKILLS TO SET UP AND RUN A

BUSINESS

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Female owned Male owned

SHARE OF FEMALE WORKERS BY GENDER OF OWNER (%)

Source: World Bank, Investment Climate Surveys

36

THE TIME FOR REFORM IS NOW

If all those in the working age population look for work, the number of jobs needed in MENA will increase exponentially—200 million jobs by 2050, three-quarters of them for women

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, Population Estimates and Projections Section, 2010-2050, World Development Indicators, 2011.