The body of literature on women’s engagement in politics in Tanzania is relatively small, consisting of journal articles and government and NGO reports. Key topics covered by the literature include: Special seats for women: A quota system was introduced in 1985 to increase the number of women in parliament. Two journal articles by the same author look at this system in ...» more
Gender
Regional progress of the world’s girls and women
What regions have made the most progress in achieving gender equality, and where has progress being slow? Key findings include the following: As the world’s poorest region, Sub-Saharan Africa is performing poorly on many gender equality indicators. For example, it has the highest rates of maternal and newborn mortality, and also the lowest proportion of deliveries attended ...» more
Global progress of the world’s girls and women
Globally, remarkable progress has been made in achieving gender equality in some areas, while progress has been slow and stagnant in other areas. Findings include the following: Substantial progress has been made in closing the gender gap in primary enrolment, with two thirds of all countries in the developing world achieving gender parity in this area. Considerable ...» more
Improving access to menstrual hygiene products
The market for menstrual hygiene products in developing countries is expanding rapidly, driven both by private demand and by public efforts to improve girls’ educational outcomes and women’s health and dignity. However, many women and girls cannot consistently afford the monthly cost of disposable menstrual products and revert to less hygienic solutions when facing cash ...» more
Facts about security and justice challenges
Some of the global statistics included in this report are: A gap in access to justice exists for a majority of the people in the world, perhaps even as many as two thirds, according to an estimate by the Hague Institute for the Internationalization of Law. Preventing and redressing violence against women and girls is now on the public policy agenda, but abuse and violence ...» more
Comprehensive sexuality education
Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) has strong support in the international discourse, and is supported by a relatively robust evidence base. In general, the evidence suggests that CSE has positive impacts on behaviour change, such as increased condom use, girls’ empowerment and delayed sexual debut. This is achieved through increasing knowledge and changing attitudes. ...» more
Gender and conflict
What do we know about the role of gender inequality in producing or exacerbating the structural causes of violence and conflict, and about the multi-layered effects of violence and conflict on gender relations? What do we know about how to support gender equality in fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCAS)? This Topic Guide introduces the research evidence. ...» more
Gender responsive budgeting
Gender responsive budgeting (GRB) brings together two issues that are not commonly associated with one another: gender equality and public financial management. GRB argues that gender equality principles should be incorporated into all stages of the budget process. GRB initiatives seek to improve the results of budgets in general, and gender equality and women’s empowerment…» more
Women’s networks in MENA
There is a large number of women’s networks in the region, ranging in size and influence. Grassroots networks exist alongside high-level political and policy networks. Most are focused on women-only activities. The key areas of activity are: improving women’s entrepreneurship and developing women as business owners and business leaders; peacebuilding; reducing violence ...» more
Social protection
Social protection is commonly understood as “all public and private initiatives that provide income or consumption transfers to the poor, protect the vulnerable against livelihood risks and enhance the social status and rights of the marginalised; with the overall objective of reducing the economic and social vulnerability of poor, vulnerable and marginalised groups” (Devereux ...» more
Lessons from Female Engagement Teams
Evaluations of Female Engagement Teams (FETs) used by the military to engage with women in Afghanistan that are available indicate that: Female soldiers have had a deescalating effect as Afghan males generally accepted females being searched as long as it was done by other females. FETs have had positive engagement with both women and men and were viewed as a kind of ‘third ...» more
Examples of PFM impacts on gender equality
Research for this report was unable to find conclusive cases where public financial management (PFM) reform led to impacts on gender equality. This is because PFM reform does not necessarily lead to gender equality impacts, and conversely improvements in gender equality do not always require, or follow on from, PFM reform. It may also be that gender impacts are rarely covered ...» more
Gender in development
Gender inequality matters to development for two reasons. First, it is a justice problem. Ideologies of women’s inferiority are used to justify serious human rights abuses including female infanticide, child marriage, female genital mutilation, sexual violence, and deprivation of equal access to health care, education, property, employment and pay. Second, gender inequality is developmentally inefficient….» more
Gender and humanitarian issues
A wealth of academic research and UN, INGO, NGO and CSO publications document the differences between the needs, capacities and perceptions of women and men and boys and girls on the types of humanitarian assistance needed in a natural or man-made disaster. When these different perspectives are not taken into account interventions are not effective…» more
Donor action on women’s employment in ASEAN countries – update
This report updates on an earlier report on the same topic. It confirms that donor action on women’s employment and entrepreneurship has been limited or very recent in ASEAN countries. The ILO is the major aid entity involved. Other major ones include the Asian Development Bank, UN Women and the International Finance Corporation. Limitations and gaps in the literature are ...» more
Links between women’s empowerment (or lack of) and outbreaks of violent conflict
A number of studies quantitatively find a strong correlation between levels of gender inequality and conflict. They find that gender inequality increases the likelihood that a state will have internal conflict and international disputes. There is substantial evidence that traditional patriarchal gender identities lead to militaristic and violent conflict approaches. Women ...» more
Links between gender-based violence and outbreaks of violent conflict
Gender-based violence (GBV) is prevalent in all contexts and countries of the world. There are studies that quantitatively find a strong correlation between levels of structural/institutional GBV (manifested as gender inequality) and conflict (e.g. Caprioli, 2005, etc). They find that gender inequality increases the likelihood that a state will have internal conflict. Countries ...» more
Gender-related results in security and justice policy and programming
There is a paucity of evidence that examines the overall impacts of security and justice programming on gender-related results in the two areas of this query. The literature available tends to be donor funded evaluations and policy papers, it tends to be fragmented, and it tends to examine programmes on a case-by-case basis. Security and justice programing is highly context ...» more
Donor action on women’s employment in ASEAN countries
Donors have attempted little to improve women’s participation and conditions in the ASEAN workforce. Isolated cases highlight some findings: Success stories include donors action through: national policies (Cambodia); mandatory monitoring of working conditions (Cambodia); gender-sensitive design and evaluation of projects (Viet Nam, Cambodia); capacity development for ...» more
Inclusive institutions
Institutions are the formal and informal rules and norms that structure citizens’ rights, entitlements, opportunities and voice. How can policymakers and practitioners support inclusive institutions to promote development that ‘leaves no-one behind’? What do we know about what has – or hasn't – worked, and where? This Topic Guide synthesises the evidence, debates and approaches ...» more
