The ‘future of work’ is a policy concept that explores how various technological, socio-economic, geopolitical, demographic, cultural, and environmental megatrends are developing and interacting to create new types of jobs, industries, labour conditions, and business models. It is not well-defined or critiqued as a definition, and there is no standard approach to what concepts ...» more
Women's economic participation
Priority gender issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Despite some progress being made towards achieving gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), gender stereotyping and discrimination against women remain widespread. Key findings include: Awareness and implementation of the Law on Gender Equality (LGE) is weak. Gender stereotypes are prevalent in the media. Few women serve as ...» 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
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
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
Voice, empowerment and accountability
Voice, empowerment and accountability (VEA) interventions aim to support poor and marginalised people to build the resources, assets, and capabilities they need to exercise greater choice and control over their own development, and to hold decision-makers to account. This guide provides an overview of the best available evidence on the impact of VEA interventions. It identifies ...» more
Impact of gender-responsive budgeting
Gender-responsive budgeting has been applied by a few dozen developing countries since the mid-1980s, though to very different extents and in diverse forms. It is difficult to identify what its impact has been on gender outcomes and on resource distribution within government, due to a limited evidence base and to complexity in assessing and interpreting impact. Nevertheless, ...» more
Women’s economic role in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Key finding: Recent data illustrates that the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continues to rank lowest overall in the world on measures of women’s economic participation and opportunity (Global Gender Gap Index, 2012). However, MENA economies are not homogenous and variation does exist among countries, with fragile and conflict-affected states recording lower rates ...» 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
Women’s control of productive natural resources
This report looks at women’s access to and control of natural resources, especially water and forests. While it does not specifically look at women’s access to land, access to other natural resources are strongly linked to ownership and control of land (IFAD 2007; FAO 2007). As women continue to face restrictions on land ownership and control over land due to socially ...» more
Promoting the Economic Participation of Women
Facilitating the participation of women in economic life is seen to provide financial gain at both household and national level, as well as having long-term impacts upon poverty reduction through creating changes in the intergenerational transmission of poverty processes. However, enabling women to participate in economic life is subject to both formal and informal constraints: ...» more
Women in Business in the Pacific Islands
There is a dearth of data and statistics on women’s economic activity in the Pacific Islands. Part of the problem is that women’s economic activity has predominantly been in the informal sector or within households, and has thus been either poorly remunerated or not at all. Much of the literature stresses the need for gender-disaggregated data to allow policy-makers to factor ...» more
