Key findings: Employment intensity of growth of the agricultural sector is a measure used to quantify the effect from growth in the agricultural sector on levels of employment. Existing research suggests that growth of the agricultural sectors in middle- and low-income countries (including fragile and conflict affected states) does not necessarily lead to increased employment. ...» more
Gender
Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Pacific
Much of the available evidence on women’s economic situation in the Pacific comes from household income and expenditure surveys (HIESs), which do not usually disaggregate on the grounds of gender. While there are some data about women’s income, most analysis of expenditure is conducted at the household level and it is therefore difficult to examine trends in women and men’s ...» more
Changing attitudes and behaviours in relation to gender equality
This helpdesk report surveys literature on strategies and initiatives designed to increase awareness and to change attitudes and behaviours in order to promote greater gender equality. The structure of the report is based on the following areas: religious influences; community-level processes, alongside media and social campaigning; and activities targeting men’s attitudes and ...» more
Measuring and Evaluating Women’s Economic Empowerment
Women’s economic empowerment is a complex process involving improvements in the economic resources and skills available to them, their access to economic institutions, their ability to make decisions for themselves, and the degree of control they possess over key resources (Kabeer 2001, McDevitt 2010, Golla et al 2011, Mahmud et al 2011). Section two of this report provides a ...» more
Measuring and Evaluating Women’s Leadership
As donors have become increasingly interested in promoting women’s leadership, a growing range of measures and indicators have emerged to measure and evaluate these efforts. Despite growing interest, however, there has been little sustained analysis of the issues associated with measuring women’s leadership in the literature. Because of the lack of analysis in this area, this ...» more
Gender Inclusive Urban Planning
A gender- and socially-inclusive city promotes equitable rights and provides opportunities and support for all residents to participate in urban life. Although there are encouraging urban initiatives in various cities in South Asia, there is not yet a consolidated approach to inclusive urban policy and governance. This report looks at information on the key interrelated ...» more
Potential benefits of part-time working
This report outlines general trends in part-time working in the UK and internationally. It also considers the potential benefits of part-time working, and policies/strategies that have supported its development. General trends in part-time working include: Globalisation and associated changes in the organisation of production has been driving the need for more flexible ...» more
Literature and debates around ‘choice’ as a notion in development
The concept of choice has informed the development literature in a number of areas. It has been important in informing theoretical frameworks that underpin much development policy (through rational choice, public choice and social choice theory). From these theoretical foundations, the notion of choice has been central to defining key concepts such as human development and ...» more
Youth unemployment and livelihoods
In 2010, over 75 million young people were unemployed across the world. The global youth unemployment rate was 12.6 per cent, against a global adult unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent (UNDESA, 2012). Why are young people less likely to find a job or source of livelihood than their prime-age counterparts? There are currently a number of barriers to youth employment: Excess ...» more
Economic Empowerment and Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG)
The link between women’s economic empowerment and violence against women and girls (VAWG) complex and nuanced. While some studies have found that when women gain employment, own property or land they have a lower incidence of VAWG, other studies show a higher, or no difference. Key findings from this report include: Several studies have suggested that there is an ...» more
Political commitments to improve adolescent sexual and reproductive health
Although some progress has been made, adolescents continue to be disproportionately burdened by threats to their sexual and reproductive health. Politics heavily influences the priority setting process for reproductive health. However, the mechanisms for securing political commitment towards sexual and reproductive health are rarely examined in detail. There is little ...» more
Evaluations of interventions impacting women’s political participation
Systematic evaluations of interventions that aim to increase women’s political participation are not common. Part of the reason for this is that while there are many programmes which aim to improve democracy and political participation, not many of these specifically aim to improve women’s political participation. The main exception to this is the introduction of quotas and ...» more
Risks, effects and prevalence of VAWG
Key facts on the prevalence of violence against young women and girls include: Globally, up to six out of every ten women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. A World Health Organization study of 24,000 women in 10 countries found that the prevalence of physical and/or sexual violence by a partner varied from 15 percent in urban Japan to over 70 percent ...» more
Monetary values of the private psychological costs of VAWG
Violence against women and girls is not only an important human rights and development issue, but there is increasing evidence that the economic and social costs are considerable. Several studies have calculated the direct costs to the medical, judicial and penal systems, as well as the economic losses incurred by victims. However, few studies have attempted to quantify the ...» more
Use of participatory methods in VAWG evaluations
In spite of the growing body of evidence that violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a serious human rights and development issue, there remains a paucity of evaluations of the impact of interventions in this area (particularly the impact on girls). The majority of evaluations of programmes to prevent or tackle VAWG take the form of qualitative, input or process-level ...» more
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) and Aid
Strategies that have been tried by development agencies (government and NGO) to secure and protect the rights of LGBT people, particularly in Africa, include: Action on HIV/AIDS: Donor and NGO concerns about the links between health and economic, social and political vulnerability opened up spaces to talk about the human rights of people marginalised by their sexuality. ...» more
Effects of political quotas for women
Many countries have introduced gender quotas (or political reservations), in order to increase female participation in policy-making. This helpdesk report surveys research on the effects of political quotas for women on (1.) political processes; (2.) service delivery; and (3.) social processes. There is limited empirical evidence on these issues and research that does exist has ...» more
Time use studies and women’s empowerment
Time use studies aim to provide information on the work performed by women and highlight the time they spend on unpaid activities including domestic chores, the care of children, the elderly and the sick, water and fuel collection, and voluntary community-oriented work. In so doing, they seek to address the problem of the ‘invisibility’ of women’s unpaid work, and draw ...» more
Women and Girls in the MENA Region
Women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have seen positive changes in their economic and political rights between 2005 and 2010. According to research carried out by Freedom House, 14 out of the 17 MENA countries recorded some gains in the status of women. The Gulf States recorded the highest degrees of improvement, with women becoming more visible participants in ...» more
Girls’ access to economic assets
The literature suggests that increasing girls’ access to and use of economic assets has potentially far-reaching impacts on other aspects of their lives. However, to date, there have been few rigorous evaluations of girls’ economic empowerment programmes, particularly those which provide tangible productive/financial assets. The few evaluations available suggest that ...» more
