Diane Elson

Labor Markets as Gendered Institutions: Equality, Efficiency and Empowerment Issues

Abstract Labor markets are gendered institutions operating at the intersection of the productive and reproductive economies. Participation in labor markets does not automatically empower women. Reduction in gender differentials in earnings may be the result of harmonizing down rather than up. Discrimination against women may persist because, in the absence of institutional changes, it is profitable. It is important to distinguish between static and dynamic, and micro- and macro-efficiency. Labor market regulation has an important role to play in the institutional transformation needed to reconcile goals of efficiency and equality.

Gender Awareness in Modeling Structural Adjustment

Abstract The macroeconomic models underpinning the design of structural adjustment programs are gender-blind. This paper discusses strategies for introducing gender analysis into these models and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the models from a gender perspective. It concludes that besides being blind to gender, the models are also blind to the waste of resources and impoverishment that stems from deficient aggregate demand, undemocratic decision making and directly unproductive expenditures that buttress male power. This waste is, however, likely to be diminished by moves to more egalitarian systems of gender relations, entailing changes in the structure of entitlements and the social matrix in which macroeconomic processes are embedded.

The economic, the political and the domestic: Businesses, states and households in the organisation of production

(1998). The economic, the political and the domestic: Businesses, states and households in the organisation of production. New Political Economy: Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 189-208.

Gender and the global economic crisis in developing countries: a framework for analysis

This paper sets out a framework for thinking about the gender dimensions of the economic crisis. It considers the likely impact of the crisis, as well as the responses to it, on the part of both individuals and collectivities, in three spheres of the economy: finance; production; and reproduction. It identifies the kinds of ‘gender numbers’ that we need; sex-disaggregated statistics of various kinds. It also argues that we need to pay attention to gender norms – the social practices and ideas that shape the behaviour of people and institutions. The norms may be reinforced in times of crisis; but they may also start to decompose as individuals transgress norms under the pressures of crisis. In addition, there may be opportunities for the transformation of norms, through collective action to institute new, more egalitarian, social practices and ideas.

Integrating gender issues into national budgetary policies and procedures: some policy options

The national budget generally has different implications for women and men, but it is put together without consideration of gender equality. Tools are being developed to integrate gender analysis into appraisal of delivery of public services, composition of expenditure and revenue, and overall budget strategy. A gender-aware budget statement can indicate the extent to which the budget is gender-balanced, and be used to monitor resource allocations and outcomes. The Commonwealth Secretariat is facilitating a pilot project to explore the practical use of some of these tools in preparation and presentation of the budget in South Africa, Sri Lanka and Barbados. Copyright

transcending the impact of the financial crisis in the United Kingdom: towards plan F—a feminist economic strategy

This paper sets out a framework for understanding the impacts of the financial crisis and its aftermath that is based on the idea of three interacting spheres: finance, production and reproduction. All of these spheres are gendered and globalised. The gendered impact of the current crisis is discussed in terms of the impact on unemployment, employment protection and security, public sector services, social security benefits, pensions, and the real value of wages and living standards. Drawing on the analysis of the UK Women’s Budget Group, the paper demonstrates that the biggest falls in disposable income as the result of austerity policies by the Conservative-led government since 2010 have been borne by the most vulnerable women—lone mothers, single women pensioners and single women without children. Working-age couples without children have been least affected. The paper then goes on to discuss what an alternative economic strategy, based on feminist political economy, might look like. It utilises the notion of the ‘reproductive bargain’, first developed to understand the transition in Cuba in the 1990s. It sets out a possible feminist economic strategy that insists on the incorporation of reproductive and care work into the analysis of alternative economic policies and links employment, wages and social security payments to public provisioning of trans-generational reproductive services. It suggests feasible strategies to finance the proposed Plan F—a feminist economic strategy.

Gender Equality and Economic Growth in the World Bank World Development Report 2006

Abstract This contribution examines how gender equality features in the World Banks World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development, focusing on its conceptual framework, use of empirical evidence, and policy recommendations. It concludes that despite acknowledging that liberalization and privatization have been captured by elites for their own benefit, the report still clings to a neoclassical understanding of how markets and competition work. Moreover, although the report emphasizes gender inequality in opportunities as a trap that hinders economic growth, it shows no understanding of economic growth as a gendered process in which old forms of gender inequality are weakened but new forms of gender inequality emerge.

The Financial Requirements of Achieving Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

Although the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been ratified in global and national forums, they have not yet been incorporated into operational planning within governments or international organizations. The weak link between the policies and the investments needed for their implementation is one barrier to progress. An assessment of the resources required is a critical first step in formulating and implementing strategies to achieve the MDGs. This is especially true for policies to promote gender equality and empower women. Although enough is known about such policies to implement them successfully, the costs of such interventions are not systematically calculated and integrated into country-level budgeting processes. Using country-level data, the paper estimates the costs of interventions aimed at promoting gender equality and womens empowerment in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. It then uses these estimates to calculate the costs of such interventions in other low-income countries. Finally, the paper projects the financing gap for interventions that aim directly at achieving gender equality, first for the five countries, and subsequently for all low-income countries.

Social Reproduction in the Global Crisis: Rapid Recovery or Long-Lasting Depletion?

This chapter examines the social dimensions of the recent global economic crisis through the prism of social reproduction, allowing us to examine the invisible, unpaid parts of economies, as well as the much more visible paid parts. The crisis has been a crisis of capital accumulation, with falling investment, output and employment. But it has also been a rupture in social reproduction, understood as ‘the process by which all the main relations in the society are constantly recreated and perpetuated’ (Mackintosh 1981: 10) This process requires non-market and not-for-profit activities as well as market and for-profit activities, and includes unpaid work in families as well as paid work in businesses (Elson 1998). Social reproduction involves the reproduction of labour as well as of capital. It is a contested and contradictory process, and, from time to time, action by the state is required to try to safeguard it. In the recent crisis, there was swift action by governments to safeguard some aspects of social reproduction, but not of others. This chapter asks why, and examines some of the consequences.

Expenditure Incidence Analysis: A Gender-Responsive Budgeting Tool for Educational Expenditure in Timor-Leste?

Gender-disaggregated expenditure incidence analysis (EIA) is a tool for assessing the gender responsiveness of budgets and policies. However, to date there has been a limited take-up of gender-disaggregated EIA in policy and budget decision making. Using data from the 2007 Timor-Leste Living Standards Survey (TLLSS) and interviews and discussions with stakeholders, this paper conducts an EIA of expenditures on public schools and discusses the effectiveness of this analysis as an input into budget decision making. While gender-disaggregated EIA can assist in identifying gender gaps, its potential can only be fulfilled when combined with additional gender analysis and supported by a deep understanding of budget decision-making processes and the actors involved. The gender-disaggregated EIA of Timor- Lestes educational spending confirmed its usefulness as an indicator of inequalities in educational expenditure. However, a range of political, cultural, and technical barriers constrains the use of gender-disaggregated EIA in policy and budget decision making.