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