Post on 25-Dec-2015
Highlights from the World Development Report on Gender Equality and some US comparisons
Jeni KlugmanDirector, Gender and Development
World Bank
Women Construction Owners and Executives Annual Congressional and Leadership ConferenceWashington DC February 8 2012
What does the WDR 2012 do?
Addresses four questions:
(2) Why do inequalities matter?
(3) Why do they persist?
(4) What to do?
(1) Is there gender equality ?
In the last 20 years, university enrollments for women rose 7-fold … and in 2009, women accounted for 51% of college students…
Equal?
…. And yet 35 million girls are still out of school today
many of them in Sub-Saharan Africa…
In low & middle income countries life expectancy among women has increased by 20 years since 1960
Equal?
In low & middle income countries life expectancy among women has increased by 20 years since 1960
…. And yet, relative to boys and men, almost 4 million women die too early in the developing world compared with rich countries
Equal?
Missing Women
China and India 1,249,000 222,000 284,000
Sub-Saharan Africa 53,000 203,000 751,000
Total 1,427,000 617,000 1,347,000
In the last 30 years, 552 million joined the labor force and today, 4 out of 10 workers globally are women
Equal?
... And yet, on average, for every dollar a man makes, a woman earns 80 cents
Mexico 80¢ Germany 62¢
Bangladesh 12¢
Nigeria 60¢
For every dollar a man makes, a woman earns…
Malawi 90¢
Sri Lanka 50 ¢
• Almost all rich countries passed the laws in 1970s to ensure equal pay for equal work, and gains came early but have tailed off.
• In OECD countries, gender wage gaps now averages around 18%.
Wage gaps
Trends in the US
Improved significantly since 1979, but hovered around 80% since 2004.
Occupational segregation in US
• Hours of work:– 26% of all female wage workers in 2010 worked part time vs.
13% of men (mainly younger) – 25% of men in full-time jobs worked more than 40 hours,
compared to 14% of women
• Occupations – Women are more likely than men to work in professional and
related occupations, but concentrated in education and health (70% of total) and not in higher paying job groups.
– In 2010, only 8% of female professionals were employed in computer and engineering fields, compared with 43% of males
Occupational segregation in the US
Among F500 companies in the US in 2010, women were
•4% of CEOs •8% of top earners•16% of board seats• 14% of executive officers;•52% of management and professional occupations.
Women in business in the US
All but 6 countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Equal?
… and yet 510 million women will be abused by their partner in their lifetime.
Japan (Yokohama)
Brazil (Sao Paulo)
Bangladesh (Matlab)
Ethiopia (Butajira)
percentage women abused
Domestic violence: percentage women abused
13%
27%
42%
49%
246,000 women
• Given persistent disparities, useful to capture and compare across countries
• GII reflects gender-based disadvantage in three dimensions – reproductive health, empowerment and labor market shows the loss in potential human development due to gender inequality in these dimensions.
• Some countries do much worse in gender equality than in human development on average: in 2011, US ranks 4th on HDI, but only 47th on GII.
– Among developed countries, the US ranks above only four in gender equality – Chile, Argentina, Barbados and Qatar -- and behind all European countries.
– Poor performance driven by relatively high maternal mortality and adolescent fertility rates, as well as low empowerment in terms of share of women in congress.
– Other countries do better – eg Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark
Global comparisons: Gender Inequality Index
Why do these inequalities matter
Is the right thing to do…
... is the smart thing to do
Shortchanges the next generation … educated women invest more in children
… witnesses of violence tend to become abusers
Eliminating discrimination against female workers and managers could increase productivity per worker by 25 to 40%
In an economically integrated world, even modest improvements in the efficiency of the use of resources give countries with less discrimination and more equality a competitive edge.
Inequality has costs
Why do gaps persist?Underlying causes of gender inequality
HOUSEHOLDS
FORMAL INSTITUTIONS
MARKETSENDOWMENTS
ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
AGENCY
INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS
policies
Gend
er E
qual
ity
Growth
What can we do to eliminate these gaps?
Focus on gaps that do not disappear with growth
Gaps in human endowments
Earnings and productivity gaps
Gender differences in voice and agency
Reproduction of gender inequality over
time
Target determinants of gender inequality
HOUSEHOLDS
Stable income
FORMAL INSTITUTIONS
Lower costs
MARKETS
Increasing returns to education ENDOWMENTS
ECONOMIC OPPS.
AGENCY
CCTs
INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS
Progress: Education
Growth
Gen
der E
qual
ity
Less Progress: Economic Opportunities
HOUSEHOLDSMARKETSAGENCY
INFORMAL INSTITUTIONS
ENDOWMENTS
FORMAL INSTITUTIONS
FORMAL INSTITUTIONS
Biased law/regulations,
and limited infrastructure
MARKETSDifferential access to
labor/credit/land markets, and
networks
INFORMAL INSTITUTIONSSocial norms on
care/market work ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES
HOUSEHOLSDifferential allocation
time/resources
Growth
Gen
der E
qual
ity