Mayra Buvinic

How Do Women Weather Economic Shocks? A Review of the Evidence

Do women weather economic shocks differently than men? The evidence shows this to be the case, especially in low-income countries. The first-round impacts of economic crises on womens employment should be particularly salient in the current downturn, since women have increased their participation in the globalized workforce and therefore are more directly affected by the contraction of employment than in the past. Crises also have second-round impacts, as vulnerable households respond to declining income with coping strategies that can vary significantly by gender. In the past, women from low-income households have typically entered the labor force, while women from rich households have often exited the labor market in response to economic crises. In contrast, mens labor force participation rates have remained largely unchanged. Evidence also suggests that women defer fertility during economic crises and that child schooling and child survival are adversely affected, mainly in low-income countries, with adverse effects on health being greater for girls than for boys. In middle-income countries, by contrast, the effects on childrens schooling and health are more nuanced, and gender differences less salient. Providing women in poor households with income during economic downturns makes economic sense. This paper reviews workfare programs and cash transfers and finds that the former provide poor women with income only when they include specific design features. The latter have been effective in providing mothers with income and protecting the wellbeing of children in periods of economic downturn.

Equality for Women: Where Do We Stand on Millennium Development Goal 3?

There is compelling evidence of the importance of gender equality for poverty reduction and sustainable growth. So it should come as no surprise that most development actors-international agencies, bilateral donors, and most developing countries, have an official policy for promoting gender equality. Millennium Development Goal 3 (MDG3) on gender equality and womens empowerment is shared global commitment. With only seven years remaining until the end date for the MDGs, it is an opportune time to take stock of where the world stands in terms of progress toward gender equality. This volume documents trends both on the official MDG3 indicators and on an expanded set of indicators that provide a more complete measure of gender equality, especially in the area of womens economic empowerment. The message that emerges is both hopeful and sobering: progress toward equality in capabilities has been considerable, but progress toward equality of opportunities for womens economic livelihoods leaves much to be desired. Beyond tracking trends toward gender equality, the volume reviews different measures of gender equality and estimates the financial resources required to achieve this objective. While necessarily imprecise, such estimates can provide a rough guide as to whether the level of effort devoted by international donors and developing countries is adequate in the area of womens economic empowerment.

Building Social Cohesion in Latin America and the Caribbean

To help define a social cohesion agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean, this paper identifies some of the principal issues related to inequality, poverty and exclusion and addressed some of the available policy options and programs for their solution. As the evidence collected in the paper shows, inequality and exclusion impose severe costs on poverty reduction, growth, and social and political progress, ultimately detaining any effort to build social cohesion, and thus, should be a high priority for citizens, governments and the international community.

Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review

A review of the recent evaluation evidence on financial services and training interventions questions their gender neutrality and suggests that some design features in these interventions can yield more positive economic outcomes for women than for men. These include features in savings and ‘Graduation’ programs that increase women’s economic self-reliance and self-control, and the practice of repeated micro borrowing that increases financial risk-taking and choice. ‘Smart’ design also includes high quality business management and jobs skills training, and stipends and other incentives in these training programs that address women’s additional time burdens and childcare demands. Peer support may also help to increase financial risk taking and confidence in business decisions, and may augment an otherwise negligible impact of financial literacy training. These features help women overcome gender-related constraints. However, when social norms are too restrictive, and women are prevented from doing any paid work, no design will be smart enough. Subjective economic empowerment appears to be an important intermediate outcome for women that should be promoted and more reliably and accurately measured. More research is also needed on de-biasing service provision, which can be gender biased; lastly, whenever possible, results should be sex-disaggregated and reported for individuals as well as households.