Wp i 2024108

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.
com/abstract=4847110
© 2024 International Monetary Fund WP/24/108
IMF Working Paper

Fiscal Affairs Department
Exploring the Role of Public Expenditure in Advancing Female Economic Empowerment and Gender
Equality
Prepared by Charla Britt and Danielle Egerer
Authorized for distribution by Rodrigo Cerda
May 2024
IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit
comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the
author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
ABSTRACT: This paper discusses connections between female economic empowerment and government
spending. It is an abbreviated overview for non-gender-experts on how fiscal expenditure may support female
economic empowerment as an interim step toward advancing gender equality. From this perspective, it offers a
preliminary exploration of key factors and indicators associated with gender-differentiated impacts in each of
five main categories of public spending (education, health, capital expenditure, government employment and
compensation, and social protection and labor market programs). It examines and proposes indices within each
category that can be used to identify and measure related gender gaps and suggests associations and
connections between those indices, public spending, and other available proxy measurements with some
benchmarking potential which is summarized at the end of each category in a Gender Lens Matrix for ease of
reference. The paper draws on an extensive literature review and examination of publicly available datasets. It
also highlights and discusses gaps in data which limit gender analysis. The purpose of the paper is to advance
dialogue on the adoption of a gendered approach to government spending, by providing a gender lens that may
assist country level assessments and discussions among IMF staff and member country authorites.
RECOMMENDED CITATION: Britt, Charla and Danielle Egerer, 2024, “Exploring the Role of Public
Expenditure in Advancing Female Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality,” IMF Working Paper No.
24/108.
JEL Classification Numbers: J16, H51, H52, H53, H54, H55, O23
Women’s economic empowerment; gender equality; gender

Keywords:
analysis; gender gaps; fiscal expenditure; government spending
Author’s E-Mail Address: [email protected], [email protected]
©International Monetary
Electronic copy available at: Fund. Not for Redistribution
https://ssrn.com/abstract=4847110
WORKING PAPERS
Exploring the Role of Public

Expenditure in Advancing Female
Economic Empowerment and
Gender Equality
Prepared by Charla Britt and Danielle Egerer1
1
Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Mauricio Soto and Brooks Evans for their support and guidance, and Daine Hale and
Kardelen Cicek for help in finalizing this paper. Valuable review comments and suggestions were also provided by Bas B.
Bakker, Fernanda Brollo, Maria Chiara Cavalleri, Qiaoe Chen, Pavis Devahasadin, Silvia Domit, Pablo F. Druck, Wala’a El-
Barasse, Almudena Fernandez, Diego Gomes, Eva-Maria Graf, Lauren Keating, Yinqiu Lu, Tewodaj Mogues, Dharana Rijal,
Axel Schimmelpfennig, Can Sever, Marina Mendes Tavares, Irene Yackovlev, and Genet Zinabou. Support for this research
was provided by the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund. Funding was provided by the Gates
Foundation.
IMF WORKING PAPERS Exploring the Role of Public Expenditure in Advancing Female Economic Empowerment and
Gender Equality
Contents
Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 6
I.Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 8
II.Structure of the Paper .................................................................................................................................. 9
III.Female Economic Empowerment ............................................................................................................. 10
IV.Education ................................................................................................................................................... 12
A.Literature Review: Data and Evidence ..................................................................................................... 13
B.Key Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 15
Literacy .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Enrollment ............................................................................................................................................. 16
C.Cross-cutting Measures and Potential Associations ................................................................................ 16
Country Income ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Spending per Student ............................................................................................................................ 18
D.Summary Implications ............................................................................................................................. 19
V.Health ........................................................................................................................................................... 20
B.Key Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 25
Maternal Health ..................................................................................................................................... 26
Family Planning ..................................................................................................................................... 27
Gender Preferences .............................................................................................................................. 27
C.Cross-cutting Measures and Possible Associations ................................................................................ 28
Per Capita Health Care Expenditure ..................................................................................................... 28
Out of pocket costs ................................................................................................................................ 29
VI.Capital Expenditure ................................................................................................................................... 31

Transportation ....................................................................................................................................... 32
Electricity ............................................................................................................................................... 32
Information and Communications Technology ...................................................................................... 33
Clean Water and Sanitation ................................................................................................................... 35
B.Key Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 37
Access to Transportation ....................................................................................................................... 37
Access to Electricity ............................................................................................................................... 38
Digital Inclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 39
WASH .................................................................................................................................................... 40
C.Cross-cutting Measures and Potential Associations ................................................................................ 41
Country Income ..................................................................................................................................... 41
INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 2
Gender Equality
Urban and Rural Disparities .................................................................................................................. 43

VII.Government Employment and Compensation ....................................................................................... 44

B.Key Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 49
Employment ........................................................................................................................................... 49
Wages ................................................................................................................................................... 49
Management .......................................................................................................................................... 50
VIII. Social Protection and Labor Market Programs ..................................................................................... 53

Unemployment and Healthcare Insurance ............................................................................................ 56
Pensions ................................................................................................................................................ 57
Childcare Services ................................................................................................................................. 58
Labor Market Programs ......................................................................................................................... 58
Cash Transfers ...................................................................................................................................... 59
B.Key Indicators .......................................................................................................................................... 61
Gender Gaps in Poverty ........................................................................................................................ 62
Pensions ................................................................................................................................................ 64
Maternity Leave ..................................................................................................................................... 65
Social Protection and Spending ............................................................................................................ 68
Pension Spending and Older Age Female Poverty ............................................................................... 68
Maternity Leave Spending and Coverage ............................................................................................. 69
IX.Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 71
Annex I. Key Definitions ................................................................................................................................... 74
Annex II. Gender Lens Matrices ....................................................................................................................... 77

A.Education ................................................................................................................................................. 77
B.Health ....................................................................................................................................................... 77
C.Capital Expenditures ................................................................................................................................ 78
D.Government Employment and Compensation ......................................................................................... 78
E.Social Protections and Labor Market Programs ...................................................................................... 79
References ......................................................................................................................................................... 80
FIGURES
1.Completion Rates – LMIC Progress over Time and Overview by Region ...................................................... 13
2.Youth Literacy Gender Parity Index (GPI) and Country Income ..................................................................... 17
3.Primary School Enrollment Gender Gaps and Country Income ...................................................................... 17
4.Primary Enrollment Rates and Spending per Student by Country Income ..................................................... 18
Gender Equality
5.Leading Causes of Death................................................................................................................................ 22

6.Fertility, Adolescent Fertility and Maternal Mortality ........................................................................................ 24
7.Maternal Mortality, Adolescent Fertility, and Health Spending ........................................................................ 29
8.Out of Pocket Costs and Family Planning Needs Met .................................................................................... 30
9.Sub-Saharan Africa - Gaps in Rural Electricity Coverage ............................................................................... 33
10.Sub-Saharan Africa - Gaps in Rural WASH Coverage ................................................................................. 36
11 Rural Polulation with Access to All season Road ........................................................................................... 38
12.Digital Gender Gaps Basic and Modeled ...................................................................................................... 40
13.Access to Electricity and Handwashing Facilities ......................................................................................... 41
14.Electricity Coverage and Female Labor Force Participation ......................................................................... 42
15.Access to WASH and Maternal Deaths ........................................................................................................ 42
16.Access to Electricity and WASH, disaggregated by Urban and Rural Areas ................................................ 43
17.Time spent on Unpaid Domestic and Care Work .......................................................................................... 45
18.Private and Public Sectors Female Employment and Wage Ratios by Income Group ................................. 47
19.Public Employment of Females by Occupational Group ............................................................................... 47
20.Females in Public and Private Sector Employment, Regional Variations ..................................................... 49
21.Public Sector Wage Ratio and Females in Management .............................................................................. 50
22.Exploration of Three Countries with Different Wage Ratio Outcomes .......................................................... 51
23.Population Coverage by Region; Coverage and Government Spending ...................................................... 54
24.Male and Female Employment and Informal Employment by Region .......................................................... 55
25.SDG 1.3.1 Tracking Measures and Countries with Disaggregated Data ...................................................... 62
26.Gender Poverty Gap over Life Course and at Increasing Rates of Poverty .................................................. 63
27.Female Poverty Level Estimates (2022), by geographic regions .................................................................. 63
28.Sex-disaggregated Retirement Age Pension Recipients, by Income Groups and Regions .......................... 64
29.Poverty Rates of Men and Women age 66+ ................................................................................................. 65
30.Mothers with Newborns Receiving Maternity Benefits .................................................................................. 66
31.Maternity Leave (disaggregated by number of weeks and by country) ......................................................... 67
32.Regional Differences in Social Protection Coverage and Spending ............................................................. 68
33.Pension Spending and Female and Male Poverty Rates (age 66+) ............................................................. 69
34.Public Expenditures on Maternity and Parental Leaves and Length of Available Leaves ............................ 69
35.Paid Leave Entitlements for Mothers and Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates ............................................ 70
TABLES
1.Gender Lens Matrix: Education ....................................................................................................................... 19
2.Gender Lens Matrix: Health ............................................................................................................................ 30
3.Gender Lens Matrix: Capital Expenditure ....................................................................................................... 44
4.Gender Lens Matrix: Government Employment and Compensation ............................................................... 52
5.Gender Lens Matrix: Social Protections and Labor Market Programs ............................................................ 71
Gender Equality
Acronyms
AE Advanced Economy
BMGF Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
DAC OECD development assistance committee
EAT IMF’s Expenditure Assessment Tool
EME Emerging Market Economy
Fintech Financial Technology
FP2020 Family Planning 2020
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GSMA Global System for Mobile Communications
HALE Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IDRC International Development Research Center
IEA International Energy Agency
IFPRI International Food Policy and Research Institute
ILO International Labor Organization
IMF International Monetary Fund
IPV intimate partner violence
IRENA International Renewable Energy Agency
ITU International Telecommunication Union
LIDC Low Income Developing Country
LMIC Low-and-middle-income country
MMR Maternal Mortality Ratio
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
PISA Program for International Student Assessment
SDG Sustainable Development Goal
SSN Social Safety Net
STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
UN United Nations
UNSD United National Statistical Division
WASH Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
WEAI Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
WEF World Economic Forum
WWBI World Bank’s Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators
YLGPI Youth Literacy Gender Parity Index
Gender Equality
Executive Summary
Female economic empowerment is macro critical, with positive multiplier effects across all categories of public
spending. A growing body of evidence shows that fiscal policies can and do influence female economic
empowerment and gender equality outcomes, particularly through social protection and labor market programs,
and investments in infrastructure, education, and health. However, there are gaps in data and information
about how different allocations of spending may shape opportunities and constraints for women, men, girls, and
boys. This paper discusses connections between female economic empowerment and government spending in
five categories of public spending: education, health, capital expenditure, government employment and
compensation, and social protection and labor market programs.
To support the adoption of a gendered approach to government spending, this paper offers a “primer” for non-
gender-experts on how fiscal expenditures may support female economic empowerment as an interim step
toward advancing gender equality. Based on an abundant literature review and carefully examined datasets,
the resultant “roadmap” of indicators offers explanation for why these are meaningful for advancing gender
equality and suggest a framework for analyses to better address gender disparities and vulnerabilities. The
intent is to establish a solid foundation on which to build support for more in-depth research and encourage
discussion and debate on identified measures and indices. We recognize there are many influences on overall
public spending, including but not limited to resource constraints, stage of economic development, political
priorities, corruption, and societal and religious norms, but have limited our focus to elements that have specific
impact on advancing female economic empowerment and gender equity.
Because empowerment is a complex and transformational process of change that is not easily defined nor
measured, the paper starts with an overview of female economic empowerment. Five sections follow, each
exploring one of the five public spending categories. Each section starts with a literature review, presenting a
narrative overview of key issues drawn from publicly available research reports, academic articles, and
documents prepared by international, multilateral, and non-governmental organizations. This helps to ground
macrolevel observations with microlevel realities and guides the selection of indicators. Examples of potentially
limiting factors or influences, including social norms that inhibit agency and decision-making, are also woven
into the narrative. This review is followed by an analysis of selected indicators and cross-cutting measures and
potential associations. We discuss the lack of availability of disaggregated data and other data gaps. Where
appropriate, measures are also segmented by income groups (advanced, emerging market, and low-income
developing economies) and geographic regions. Each section concludes with a gender lens matrix – a list of
inquiries reflecting key measures positively associated with advancements in female economic empowerment
and gender equality.
The final section of the paper offers summary conclusions and recommendations, including areas for future
research. Although there is disagreement about how and why empowerment happens, there is growing
consensus that expanding women’s economic participation (to have an income of their own) can be an
effective pathway for achieving gender equality more broadly. An economically empowered woman can engage
in markets and decent work, have access to and control over productive resources and assets, and have
greater agency in economic decision-making and control over her own time and body. Women who have better
access to and control over income are also more likely to invest in more education and nutritional food for their
children and have access to mobile phones and the digital economy. Conversely, the economic
disempowerment of women and girls is associated with gender gaps in access to education, health, and
Gender Equality
financial services, and low rates of female labor force participation and representation in management and
leadership positions.
While gender gaps are narrowing in some countries and regions, inequalities remain skewed to the
disadvantage of women and girls. Well-targeted investments and public spending can support female economic
participation and empowerment, but more disaggregated data and analysis are needed to improve
understanding about what works and why. Many surveys rely on household-level data collected from
“household heads” (de facto males, except for female-headed households) who generally provide limited
information on constraints experienced by women. Questions focused on identified gender issues could be
added to censuses and existing surveys, such as labor force surveys, population surveys, and household
surveys which are regularly undertaken by most countries, with disaggregated data collected to improve
understanding and better inform decision-making. Gender metrics in measurement also need to be improved,
with more in-depth and longitudinal analyses to better measure and quantify gender impacts and identify
meaningful measures of change. For example, labor force participation tends to be a binary (yes/no) measure,
with limited information about the quality of employment and conditions of work. Moreover, as noted in this
paper, there is scope for further and more in-depth research in each of the five spending categories and across
categories to better understand gender impacts and outcomes associated with public spending.
Economic empowerment helps to narrow gender inequalities, boosting inclusive economic growth and reducing
vulnerabilities to fiscal shocks and reforms. Based on evidence in the literature, persistent gaps in economic
domains can be narrowed through increased access to resources combined with increased capacity to
exercise strategic forms of agency as mediated by a more enabling policy environment. More specifically,
changes in legal frameworks to address gender discriminatory norms and practices in the workplace and at
home; infrastructure policies that address women’s time and mobility constraints; and macroeconomic policies
which generate broad-based employment. However, promoting inclusive economic growth and female
economic empowerment will require fiscal space. In setting priorities for fiscal policies and expenditure, the IMF
and member country counterparts could consider how fiscal space may be created by investment in human
capital that increases the productive capacity of the economy through public spending that demonstrates
promise for empowering women economically and addressing gender inequalities.
Gender Equality
I. Introduction
Female economic empowerment and gender equality are associated with positive macroeconomic outcomes.
Countries which invest in the economic future of women and girls are better able to close gender gaps and
achieve higher rates of economic growth, productivity, and poverty reduction because they support the
development of human capital and better utilize human resources.1 Nevertheless, around 2.4 billion women of
working age are not afforded equal economic opportunity, with 176 countries (out of 190) still maintaining legal
barriers that prevent their full economic participation.2 According to the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Global
Gender Gap Report, it will take 131 years to close the economic participation and opportunity gender gap at the
current rate of progress.3
The IMF recently approved its first-ever Gender Mainstreaming Strategy to bring a gender lens to all aspects of
its work. The development of this strategy confirms a clear understanding about the macro criticality of gender
gaps and how fiscal policies can exacerbate or narrow disparities. This builds on more than a decade of
gender-related research and analysis at the IMF and the 2019 Strategy for IMF Engagement in Social
Spending, which recognizes the importance of prioritizing social spending to support vulnerable groups and
provides guidance to examine spending adequacy, efficiency, and sustainability.
This paper supports ongoing IMF initiatives in applying a gender lens to better address disparities and
vulnerabilities. A growing body of evidence shows that fiscal policies can and do influence female economic
empowerment and gender equality outcomes, particularly through social protection and labor market programs,
and investments in infrastructure, education, and health.4 However, there are gaps in data and information
about how different allocations of spending can shape opportunities and constraints for women, men, girls, and
boys.
Women’s economic empowerment is considered integral to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Achieving gender equality and empowering women and girls (Goal 5) is a stand-alone Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) which also intersects with most other SDGs. In 2016, the UN Secretary General’s
High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment stated that the economic empowerment of women (to
succeed and advance economically and to make and act on economic decisions) is a “cornerstone” of the
SDGs.5
The purpose of this paper is to offer preliminary insights into how public spending may help to advance female
economic empowerment and gender equality. Stylized facts and findings are segmented into five categories of
1
Fernández, Raquel, Asel Isakova, Francesco Luna, and Barbara Rambousek, 2021, Gender Equality and Inclusive Growth, IMF
Working Paper 21/59. IMF: Washington, DC; Elborgh-Woytek, K., et al., 2013, Women, Work, and the Economy:
Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity, Staff Discussion Note 13/10, IMF: Washington, DC.
2
World Bank, 2023. Women, Business, and the Law 2023 Report. World Bank: Washington DC.
3
Based on the evolution of the global average scores for each subindex over the past 17 editions for the constant sample of 102
countries.
4
Duflo, E., 2012, “Women Empowerment and Economic Development,” Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051–1079; Fabrizio,
S., et al., 2020, “Women in the Labor Force: The Role of Fiscal Policies,” IMF Staff Discussion Note 20/03. IMF: Washington,
DC; Bertay, A. C., L. Dordevic, and C. Sever, 2020, “Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from Industry-Level
Data,” IMF Working Paper 20/119. IMF: Washington, DC.
5
UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, 2016, Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for
Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment.
Gender Equality
public spending: education, health, capital expenditure, government employment and compensation, and social
protection and labor market programs. These spending categories align with the IMF’s Expenditure
Assessment Tool (EAT) to dovetail with existing evaluation practices and country level support. Evidence-
based data and cross-country comparisons inform our exploration of potential measures (or markers) of female
economic empowerment and the appropriateness and/or practical limitations of key indicators for monitoring
and evaluating gender equality impacts or outcomes. For each category of spending, we also offer a matrix of
key measures positively associated with advancements in female economic empowerment and gender equality
to help guide country-level assessments and decision-making priorities. We have limited our focus to elements
that have a specific impact on advancing female economic empowerment and gender equality, even though
there are many influences on public spending, including (but not limited to) resource constraints, stage of
economic development, political priorities, corruption, and social norms.
Empowerment is a complex and transformational process of change that is not easily defined nor measured.
We view female economic empowerment as a necessary, though not sufficient, building block for advancing
gender equality. We recognize that our matrix and suggested markers of change are limited and imperfect
measures that provide an incomplete picture of structural and individual constraints faced by disempowered
women (and men) – presenting, in the words of Kabeer, “simple windows on complex realities.”6 However,
given finite resources and data and fiscal constraints, we believe that these markers do offer useful insights into
how public spending can support positive steps toward female economic empowerment and gender equality.
II. Structure of the Paper

This paper starts with an overview of female economic empowerment, focusing on commonly used definitions
and measures. Factors underpinning women’s economic empowerment have been studied for over 50 years,
but there is no universal agreement on definitions and measurements. As discussed in this section,
empowerment is widely regarded as both a process and an outcome, with different perspectives largely
dependent on interpretations of “power” and the factors that mediate individual and collective experiences
and/or the enabling environment. Measures and definitions used by different organizations to evaluate impacts
and results are also discussed to contextualize the subsequent analysis in each of the public spending
categories and key indicators.
Five sections follow, each exploring one of the five public spending categories – Education, Health, Capital
Expenditure, Government Employment and Compensation, and Social Protection and Labor Market Programs.
Each section starts with a literature review, presenting a narrative overview of key issues drawn from publicly
available research reports, academic articles, and documents prepared by international, multilateral, and non-
governmental organizations. Examples of potential limiting factors or influences, including social norms that
inhibit agency and decision-making, are woven into the narrative. This helps to ground macrolevel observations
with microlevel realities, and guides the selection of indicators. Key indicators are then presented along with
cross-cutting measures and associations, including some economic variables, which are sufficiently scalable
for cross-country comparisons, show strong relationships, and are readily interpretable. We discuss limitations
of the indicators, the lack of availability of disaggregated data, and other data gaps.7 Where appropriate, we
6
Kabeer, Naila, 1999, “Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment.”
Development and Change 30 (3):435-464.
7
Sources of datasets include the IMF, World Bank, United Nations (UN), and World Economic Forum (WEF), and International
Labor Organization (ILO), among others.
Gender Equality
offer examples from the literature related to these specific measures and segment by income groups
(advanced, emerging market, and low-income developing economies) and geographic regions.
Each expenditure category section concludes with a summary list of inquiries (Gender Lens Matrix) that may
guide country level analysis and assessment of public spending through a gender lens in a method
complementary to the IMF’s Expenditure Assessment Tool (EAT). Respective matrices provide a list of
recommended indices, summarize measures and objectives, and offer cross-cutting considerations and
questions to ask in the analysis (all matrices are combined in Annex 2 for ease of reference).
The final section offers summary conclusions and recommendations, including areas for future research. This
paper is intended as a preliminary exploration – to encourage discussion and debate on identified measures
and indices, and to build support and suggest areas for more in-depth research and analysis to better inform
decision-making, reduce gender disparities, and advance female economic empowerment.
III. Female Economic Empowerment

The concept of empowerment is anchored in the long history of social change work focused on addressing
inequalities through community organizing and critical consciousness.8 Feminist scholars were instrumental in
introducing the concept of women’s empowerment into development discourse in the 1980s and 1990s as a
radical approach to transforming power relations in favor of women’s rights and social justice. 9 Much of this
early work focuses on empowerment as a constitutive process that cannot be bestowed by others, but can shift
inequalities through individual consciousness (power within), organizing and collective action (power with), and
increased capacity to access and control resources (power to). Other crucial insights include: (1) empowerment
is fundamentally about power relations and women acquiring the ability to make strategic life choices and
question what was previously viewed as “normal” – not about improving women’s capacity to cope per the
status quo; and (2) empowerment is not a measurable outcome to which targets can be attached because it is
a process, not an endpoint – although some interventions can support “enabling factors” that remove obstacles
as women empower themselves.10
More recent research focuses on the importance of an enabling environment for advancing female economic
empowerment. A 2018 review of evidence on economic empowerment over a women’s life course by Kabeer,
links women’s access to resources and capacity to strategic forms of agency and achievements (as proxy
8
Calves, Anne-Emmanuele, 2009, Empowerment: The History of a Key Concept in Contemporary Development Discourse, Revue
Tiers Monde 2009/4 (No. 200): 735-749.
9
See, for example: Sen, Gita, and Caren Grown 1987, Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's
Perspectives, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).; Batliwala, Srilatha, 1993, Empowerment of
Women in South Asia. Asian-South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education and FAO’s Freedom from Hunger Project; Batliwala,
Srilatha, 1994, The Meaning of Women's Empowerment: New Comments from Action. Harvard University Press; Kabeer,
Naila, 1994, Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. Verso: London; Kabeer, Naila, 1999, Resources,
Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment, Development and Change, Vol. 30
(1999):435-464; Sen, Gita, 1997, Empowerment as an Approach to Poverty, Working Paper Series 97.07, background paper for
the UNDP Human Development Report, UNDP: New York; Rowlands, J. 1997, Questioning Empowerment: Working with
Women in Honduras. Oxfam Publishing: Oxford.
10
Cornwall, Andrea, and Althea-Maria Rivas, 2015, From ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’ to Global Justice:
Reclaiming a Transformative Agenda for Gender and Development, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2.
Gender Equality
measures of impact).11 It notes that a “major” mediating factor for strengthening women’s economic capacities
is the larger policy environment. Notably, changes in legal frameworks12 to address gender discriminatory
norms and practices in the workplace and at home; infrastructure policies that address women’s time and
mobility constraints; and macroeconomic policies which generate broad-based employment.13 A 2019 report by
Buvinic (that reviewed evaluations of economic empowerment interventions), examines objective dimensions of
empowerment (measured by increases in productivity and income) and subjective dimensions experienced by
the individual (such as, increased agency and well-being).14 Focusing on gender-responsive “smart” design that
could mitigate constraints, this review emphasizes that no design will be “smart enough” if social norms are too
restrictive and women are prevented from doing any paid work.
Women’s economic empowerment is widely conceptualized as a process and an outcome. Although

empowerment is not easily defined nor easily measured, there have been advancements in different
frameworks or indices to better assess related impacts and results. A 2020 report offers a compendium of
conceptual frameworks, sets of indicators, and indexes designed to support measurement of women’s
economic empowerment.15 The tools fall into two broad categories: (1) aggregate population monitoring tools,
which monitor progress according to a set of indicators in countries (or groups of countries) in order to compare
progress in women’s economic empowerment-related indicators; and (2) monitoring and evaluation tools used
to monitor and evaluate women’s economic empowerment-related inputs, outputs, and outcomes.16 The report
also identifies the exercise of agency as an “intermediate step,” with feedback loops between capabilities,
economic opportunities, and final outcomes creating both “virtuous empowerment cycles and vicious
disempowerment cycles.”17
Measuring processes, such as capacity and agency, is much more challenging than measuring outcomes.18
While different programs and projects use different metrics to monitor results associated with women’s
economic empowerment, many end up focusing on labor market outcomes, such as female labor force
participation, hours worked, and earnings.19 Among OECD development assistance committee (DAC)
countries, the most referenced components of women’s economic empowerment are access to and control
over resources (such as, financial services, assets and capital, technology, property and land, natural
11
Kabeer, Naila, 2018, Gender, Livelihood Capabilities and Women’s Economic Empowerment: Reviewing Evidence over the Life
Course. Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence (GAGE) Program, UK Aid.
12
For more on legal frameworks and equality see: Server, Can, 2022, Legal Gender Equality as a Catalyst for Convergence,
Washington, DC: IMF.
13
Ibid.
14
Buvinic, Mayra and Megan O-Donnell, 2019, Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review.
World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press.
15
Buvinic, Mayra, et al., 2020, Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Compendium of Selected Tools. Data2X and
Center for Global Development.
16
The report also identifies 20 population monitoring tools with 312 indicators distributed across identified dimensions of women’s
economic empowerment, and 15 monitoring and evaluation tools with 164 indicators. Buvinic, Mayra, et al., 2020, Measuring
Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Compendium of Selected Tools. Data2X and Center for Global Development.
17
Buvinic, Mayra, et al., 2020, Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Compendium of Selected Tools. Data2X and
Center for Global Development.
18
Kan, Sophia, and Stephan Klasen, 2018, Macroeconomics and Gender: Recent Research on the Linkages Between Economic
Growth and Women’s Economic Empowerment, IDRC: Ottawa, Canada.
19
For example, a survey undertaken as part of International Development Research Center’s (IDRC) GrOW program revealed more
than 40 different measures (across 32 papers and research proposals related to economic empowerment), with the most
common being female labor force participation, followed by education rates, autonomy and household decision-making power,
gender inequality in social norms, and gender inequality in legal institutions. Kan, Sophia, and Stephan Klasen, 2018,
Macroeconomics and Gender: Recent Research on the Linkages Between Economic Growth and Women’s Economic
Empowerment, IDRC: Ottawa, Canada.
Gender Equality
resources, and food production), and access to opportunities (such as skill development and training, business
development and entrepreneurship, and leadership within economic arenas and communities).20
Different frameworks and indices do offer examples of key metrics that can be used for assessing the role of
public spending in advancing female economic empowerment. However, the conundrum in measuring
economic empowerment lies in finding meaningful measures of progress that can be collected and compared
at scale and longitudinally. There is a dearth of reliable disaggregated data to support both cross-country (by
income groups and regions) and in-country comparisons (capturing rural and urban and regional differences)
over time, given the context-specificity and multiple dimensions associated with female economic
empowerment.
In addition, more readily measurable indicators do not fully capture how and why change happens. This is
because increasing independence and self-reliance in one domain, such as the workplace, does not
automatically translate into improvements in other domains, such as power dynamics in households and social
interactions.21 Moreover, positive effects in widely-accepted economic dimensions of empowerment, such as
increases in productivity and income, may dissipate over time because more subjective empowerment effects,
such as increased agency and well-being, are less responsive to change in contexts where gender constraints
(and social norms) are more deeply embedded.22
We attempt to address these conundrums by relying foremost on a literature review. In the sections on the five
public expenditure categories that follow, our approach is guided by: (1) identifying measures that offer starting
points for further examinations of potential links between spending and gender disparities; and (2) improving
interpretation of available data to better reflect complexities of context, interdependence, and intersectionality in
the array of mediating factors that impact female economic empowerment and gender equality.
IV. Education
Gender gaps in education have narrowed significantly across most countries and regions over the last three
decades. Nevertheless, gaps remain, with women and girls often the most disadvantaged or excluded.
Achieving a “basic skills” level of education for all children could add an estimated $700 trillion over the
remainder of this century, which is 5 times current annual world gross domestic product.23 A host of factors
impact gender gaps in education including why girls are not initially enrolled and reasons they drop out or fall
behind. Reducing fundamental barriers of cost and distance increases girls’ enrollment. Early marriage and
pregnancy and inadequate hygiene facilities for girls reaching puberty are among the reasons girls fall
behind. Many cross-sectoral and intersectional impacts between health and education are observed. We
explore the Youth Literacy Gender Parity Index, Gender Parity in Primary School Enrollment, Country
Income and Per Student Spending on Education.
20
OECD, 2022, Analysis of Development Assistance Committee Members’ Policies in Support of Women’s Economic
Empowerment. OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD Publishing, Paris.
21
Lombardini, Simone, Kimberly Bowman, and Rosa Garwood, 2017, A ‘How To’ Guide to Measuring Women’s Empowerment:
Sharing Experience from Oxfam’s Impact Evaluations, cited in Buvinic, Mayra, and Megan O’Donnell, 2019, “Gender Matters in
Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review,” World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press.
22
Buvinic, Mayra, and Megan O’Donnell, 2019, “Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A Research Review,”
World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press.
23
Eric A. Hanushek, and Ludger Woessmann, 2022, The Basic Skills Gap, IMF Finance and Development Magazine.
Gender Equality
A. Literature Review: Data and Evidence
Economic growth is closely linked to the skills of the population, which underscores the importance of
increasing human capital through investments in high-quality equitable education. Between 1995 and 2020,
every low-and-middle-income country (LMIC) made gains in education, with the proportion of girls completing
lower-secondary school increasing from about half to three-quarters between 1995 and 2020.24 The number of
out-of-school children in primary education also fell by 35 percent, during the same period – among whom 53
percent were girls.25 Moreover, in countries where boys and girls have similar access to schooling, girls in
some places are outperforming boys and achieving higher levels of educational attainment but this does not
necessarily translate to better labor force participation (see Section VII for relationship to employment).
Nevertheless, glaring gaps in education persist even in basic education (Figure 1), and one of every three girls
in Sub-Saharan Africa, one of every 14 girls in South Asia, and one of every 12 girls in the Middle East and
North Africa are not completing primary school.26
Figure 1. Primary and Lower Secondary Completion Rates by Gender
Source: World Bank Open Indicators.
While many education systems are failing both males and females, women and girls are the most
disadvantaged or excluded on average.27 A 2021 review of “what works” to improve girls’ education draws on
impact evaluations conducted in 54 LMICs to better understand educational outcomes pertaining to access and
learning.28 It finds that girls’ access to school is more responsive to changes in costs, distance, and health
conditions. Moreover, a 2022 systematic review of studies on policies and interventions designed to
reduce/remove gender barriers in education in LMICs, found that the most effective programs addressed the
24
Evans, David, 2022, Where is the World on Girls’ Education, in Girls’ Education and Women’s Equality: How to Get More Out of
the World’s Most Promising Investment, Center for Global Development: Washington DC.
25
UNICEF, 2022, Primary Education (updated June 2022).
26
Based on World Bank World Development Indicators, cited in Evans, David, 2022, Where is the World on Girls’ Education, in
Girls’ Education and Women’s Equality: How to Get More Out of the World’s Most Promising Investment. Center for Global
Development: Washington DC
27
World Bank, 2018, World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, World Bank, Washington, DC;
Anababette Wils and Gabrielle Bonnet, 2015, The investment Case for Education and Equity, Executive Summary UNICEF.
28
Evans, David, and Fei Yuan, 2021, What We Learn about Girls’ Education from Interventions That Do Not Focus on Girls, The
World Bank Economic Review, 0(0), 2021:1-24.
Gender Equality
affordability of tuition and fees, lack of adequate food, and insufficient academic support. There were also
promising results for interventions that address lack of adequate water and sanitation, inadequate school
access and inability to afford school supplies.29 However, the report cautions that more research is needed,
because of substantial gaps in the evidence.
The reasons for students discontinuing education are many. Women and girls are more likely to leave school to
take care of family members or household responsibilities, they may be pressured into early marriage or
become pregnant, and schools may not provide adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management when
they reach puberty. Men and boys tend to have more opportunities for employment, which can make the
opportunity cost of additional years of schooling higher for males than females. For women, social norms often
inhibit employment aspirations and opportunities and are reflected in educational aspirations and subjects
studied30 (discussed further in Sections VI and VII in terms education and employment paths, including
opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Evidence suggests that interventions
that increase the benefit of attending school, such as conditional cash transfers, are likely to increase student
(boys and girls) time in school, and those that increase the benefit of increased effort and better academic
performance, such as merit scholarships, are likely to improve learning outcomes.31
Other findings from the literature review offer positive associations between health and education. For example,
there is evidence that treatments for intestinal worms and anemia improve children’s (girls and boys)
educational outcomes.32 Similarly, spending on supplements for girls’ health (iron and vitamin A) combined with
establishing local community schools to decrease distance-to-schooling added 2.6 and 1.4 additional years of
schooling per US$100 spent, respectively.33 Increased levels of education are also positively associated with
improved sexual and reproductive health knowledge, use of contraceptives, lower fertility rates, fewer
adolescent pregnancies, and more frequent use of health care services.34
Cross-sectoral benefits are intergenerational. Each year of formal education completed by a mother translates
into her children remaining in school for an additional one-third to one-half year in many countries.35 The
education of a mother also reduces the probability of infant mortality (by 5 to 10 percent), with children of
mothers who have secondary education (or higher) twice as likely to survive beyond age 5, compared to those
whose mothers have no education.36 A 10 percent higher educational parity index score is associated with a
2.1-year increase in female life expectancy at birth, and almost a one-year increase in male life expectancy at
29
Center for Global Development, 2022, Girls’ Education and Women’s Equality: How to Get More Out of the World’s Most
Promising Investment, Washington DC.
30
Marcus, Rachel, 2018, The Norms Factor: Recent Research on Norms, and Women’s Economic Empowerment. ODI and
International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
31
Glewwe, Muralidharan, 2016. Improving Education Outcomes in Developing Countries: Evidence, Knowledge Gaps, and Policy
Implications in Handbook of Economics of Education, volume 5, 2016, pages 653-743.
32
Croke, Kevin, and Rifat A. Atun, 2014, The Long Run Effects of Early Childhood Deworming on Literacy and Numeracy: Evidence
from Uganda, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public Health.
33
United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative and Malala Fund, 2021, Spending Better for Gender Equality in Education: Why the
Quality of Financing Matters for Girls’ Education, and What to Do About It.
34
Gadoth, A., and J. Heymann, Gender Parity at Scale: Examining Correlations of Country-level Female Participation in Education
and Work with Measures of Men's and Women's Survival. EClinicalMedicine. 20. 100299. 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100299.
35
Karam, Azza, n.d., Education as the Pathway Toward Gender Equality, UN Chronicle
36
Ibid.
Gender Equality
birth.37 Moreover, women’s longevity has positive associations with men’s life expectancy, implying that males
benefit from the education of females who tend to invest a larger share of income in healthcare, education,
communal infrastructure, and livelihoods.38
B. Key Indicators
Literacy rates have been tracked in some form continuously since the 1800s.39 However, the use of literacy as
a proxy for education has been largely superseded by enrollment and completion measures and, more
recently, learning outcomes. The World Bank introduced the concept of “learning poverty,” which is defined as
being unable to read and understand simple text by age 10. In 2019, 53 percent of all children in LMICs fell into
this category – the goal is to halve that figure by 2030.40 Since the year 2000, the Program for International
Student Assessment (PISA) has been also used to measure achievement and critical thinking in math, science,
and reading among 15-year-old students every three years in 65 countries.
While the newer measures are very valuable and can offer some insight on education quality, there are
significant data gaps. For our exploration, we focus on literacy and enrollment because the data for comparison
are readily available across almost all countries, regions, and income levels.
Literacy
Literacy has tremendous depth and breadth as a measure for analysis, and is included as SDG indicator 4.6.1.
However, literacy rate collection methods are inconsistent, with substantial variation over time and across and
within countries.41 We focus on the Youth Literacy Gender Parity Index (YLGPI), which measures the
differences in literacy rates between male and female youth (ages 15-24). This index is publicly available
(World Bank Indicator) and includes 148 countries across all income categories – 54 low-income developing
countries (LIDCs), 81 emerging market economies (EMEs), and 13 advanced economies (AEs). In addition,
YLGPI data go back as far as 1970 (for a few countries) and becomes widely available from 2010, with the
more recent data for 73 percent of countries being from 2017 (or more recent).
While the YLGPI has limitations, with the exclusion of the adult population (which is less likely to learn to read)
there is no corresponding drag in this indicator. This makes it more likely to reflect changes due to recent
spending and, given that both male and female rates are likely to be similarly imperfect in collection methods,
the differences between them may be useful. However, the data should be viewed in conjunction with literacy
levels, as a narrow gender gap may exist with low levels of literacy for both sexes. Similarly, if comparing a
37
Gadoth, A., and J. Heymann, Gender Parity at Scale: Examining Correlations of Country-level Female Participation in Education
and Work with Measures of Men's and Women's Survival. EClinicalMedicine. 20. 100299. 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100299.
38
Ibid.
39
While only 12 percent could read and write in 1820, over the course of the 19th century global literacy more than doubled.
Literacy rates went higher in the second half of the 20th century with the expansion of basic education as a global priority.
Roser, Max, and Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, 2016, Literacy, published online at OurWorldInData.org.
40
World Bank, 2019, Ending Learning Poverty: A Target to Galvanize Action on Literacy (worldbank.org).
41
For example, data on literacy are collected through self-reporting directly by individuals or head-of-households; testing from
proficiency examinations; and indirect estimations or extrapolations, such as from literacy tests and household surveys, census
data, and administrative data on school enrollment. At one point in time, to be deemed literate you needed 6 years of primary
education in Greece, four years in Brazil, and two in Paraguay. Global Education Monitoring Report Team, 2006, EFA Global
Monitoring Report Education for All -Literacy for life UNESCO.
Gender Equality
parity rate over time, a change may not mean an improvement for one gender; instead, it may mean that
participation or opportunities for the other gender have declined.
Enrollment
School enrollment and completion rates as a proxy for education have higher data accuracy and allow for more
segmented evaluation. Enrollment rates are the ratio of total enrollment to the population of the age group that
officially corresponds to the level of education. Net enrollment rates reflect enrolled students within a proscribed
age range for that level of schooling, while gross enrollment rate captures students enrolled regardless of age
(which provides indications of lags in initial enrollment, interruptions in education, and repetition of grades).
Both are available for primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education, which allows inquiry into whether
inequities are disbursed across levels or are accumulating disproportionately.
Enrollment rate data are available for 190 countries (184 have both male and female disaggregated data – 58
LIDC/91 EME/35 AE) and go as far back as 1970, with the vast majority of reporting countries latest available
value being 2017 (or more recent). From 2000 to 2015, many countries narrowed gender gaps in education,
mainly at primary level. In high income countries with disparities, gender gaps tilt toward male marginalization,
especially at higher levels of education.42 Nevertheless, most disparities are at the expense of girls, especially
in low-income countries. One study found that both males and females were worst off in education systems in
which females had disadvantages (enrollment and attainment), concluding that female disadvantage could be a
sign of a weak education system overall.43
Programs focusing on increasing primary enrollment would help to close gender gaps in education. Income
inequalities affect school enrollment, with only three percent of children from the wealthiest quintile (as
compared with 23 percent from the poorest quintile) out of school.44 In countries with low enrollment levels
(defined as under 75 percent), on average, gender gaps in primary completion or secondary enrollment are
attributable to gaps in primary school enrollment rather than gaps in grade progression. 45
C. Cross-cutting Measures and Potential Associations

Country Income
Country income is strongly associated with rates of participation and persistence in education at all levels, with
high-income countries tending to have consistently higher rates than low-income counterparts.46 Some
internationally focused studies found country income was a determinant and correlated with higher mean
scores on the PISA reading test but only up to around US$20,000 per capita gross domestic product (GDP). 47
The strongest performers among high-income PISA participating countries tended to invest more in teachers
(however the relationship between performance and teachers’ salary did not hold outside high-income
42
UNGEI, 2018, Global Education Monitoring Report Gender Review.
43
Psaki, Stephanie, Katharine McCarthy, Barbara S. Mensch, 2018, Measuring Gender Equality in Education: Lessons from Trends
in 43 Countries Population and Development Review 44(1): 117-142.
44
UNICEF DATA, 2022, Primary School Age Education, June 2022.
45
46
Fiske, Edward B., 2012, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education. UNESCO.
47
OECD, 2012, PISA Results in Focus: What 15-year-olds Know and What They Can Do with What They Know.
Gender Equality
countries) and to develop policies and commit resources toward ensuring all students succeed, including those
who are struggling.48
Figure 2 offers a simple picture of youth literacy gender parity rates for LIDC, EME and AE countries. These
data cohere with findings in the literature and provide possible direction for further segmentation and
exploration of outliers. While it shows that AEs and EMEs are generally at parity, it is important to examine
levels of youth literacy to ensure that parity is coupled with high levels of educational attainment. Along with
country income, the level of aid supporting education should also be considered, as the scope and quality of
education in low-income countries can be highly dependent on foreign aid.49
Figure 2. Youth Literacy Gender Parity Index (GPI) and Country Income
1.2
1.1
1.0
parity =1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
Low Income Developing Countries Emerging Market Economies Advanced Economies
Source: World Bank Open Data.
Enrollment rates also reveal differences in outcomes largely associated with country income (Figure 3).
Countries with low enrollment overall (defined as less than 75 percent on average), typically show gender gaps
in enrollment50 and nearly all low enrollment countries are low-income countries, coupled with a few EMEs.
Figure 3. Primary School Enrollment Gender Gaps and Country Income
48
Ibid.
49
Bayraktar, Nihal, 2020. Volatility of Education Aid and Female Education in Advances in Cross-Section Data Methods in Applied
Economic Research.
50
Gender Equality
Spending per Student
Most research examining per student spending and educational outcomes is focused on high income countries
seeking to optimize and/or rationalize expenditure.51 Research that included some countries outside of the
OECD countries which are typically studied, found the relationship between per pupil expenditure in secondary
education and higher PISA math scores was strong in countries that spend less than US$8,000 per student per
year, which offers some minimum at which to start focusing on efficiency at the secondary level.52 However,
many low-income countries spend much less than this, and returns to additional spending can be higher.53 For
example, one study notes that an investment of US$100 can result in 13.9 years of education in Kenya and 2.7
additional years in India.54
Examining countries that spend less but achieve higher enrollment rates may be useful as a benchmark,
providing the impact of foreign aid is considered. Figure 4 explores associations between primary enrollment
rates and spending per student by geographic regions. Spending and primary enrollment data are available for
154 countries (LIDC 48, EME 70, AE 36). However, spending data are not available for many countries with
low enrollment rates (defined as 75 percent or less). Spending data are on an aggregated basis, while
enrollment data are available on an aggregated and a sex-disaggregated basis.
Figure 4. Primary Enrollment Rates and Spending per Student by Country Income
While segmentation in levels of spending against enrollment rates offer insights and potential for
benchmarking, these are not always straight-forward calculations. Distributions of education funds can be
uneven across regions and schools, disadvantaging high poverty areas and rural populations.55 A study
focused on the Indonesian school system found that government education spending had a positive effect on
school enrollment, including increasing the probability of enrollment of poor children and girls, but that
discrepancies remained between rural and urban areas.56 Spending also tends to be concentrated on the most
51
52
Vegas, Emiliana, and Chelsea Coffin, 2015, When Education Expenditure Matters: An Empirical Analysis of Recent International
Data. University of Chicago Press.
53
Evans, David, 2019, Education Spending and Student Learning Outcomes. World Bank: Washington DC.
54
Dhaliwal, I., et al., 2012, Comparative Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Inform Policy in Developing Countries: A General
Framework with Applications for Education, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), MIT.
55
UNICEF, 2015, The Investment Case for Education and Equity Executive Summary.
56
Megawati, Megawati, 2020, The Effects of Government Education Spending on School Enrollment in Indonesia, Jurnal Ilmiah
Universitas Batanghari Jambi.
Gender Equality
educated, because of the higher unit costs for higher education. In low-income countries, on average, 46
percent of public resources are allocated to the 10 percent of students who are most educated, in comparison
with 26 percent and 13 percent in lower-middle and upper-middle income countries, respectively.57
D. Summary Implications
Interventions that target gender barriers to education are often multifaceted and context-specific. This limits the
scope for comparison and application in different countries or settings, and for unpacking the effects of single
components.58 While conclusions are not definitive, there is evidence of positive associations between
spending on students and improvements and in literacy and educational attainment that benefit all students.
The literature also points to the value and importance of cross-sectoral impacts in health, water and sanitation,
and education, which suggests that expenditure in these areas should be examined in tandem with potential
multiplier effects that are supportive of advances in female economic empowerment and gender equality.
Table 1 provides guidance on different measures and factors to consider in assessing educational outcomes
and public spending. It offers a schematic of key indicators to consider, and questions to ask – but these must
be tempered by knowledge of context specific constraints that may exacerbate existing disparities.
Table 1. Gender Lens Matrix: Education

category/measure/objective/availability consider with questions to ask in the analysis
LITERACY
youth literacy gender parity index youth literacy - if both are high, can efficiency be improved?
(measure gender gaps in literacy) - if gaps exist, is this due to enrollment or completion gaps?
148 countries (LIDC 54/EME 81/AE 13) - if both are low, is it due to enrollment, completion or effectiveness?
youth literacy youth literacy GPI

(measure overall level of youth literacy)
ENROLLMENT
primary/secondary/tertiary enrollment GPI enrollment - if gaps exist, do they exist at all levels of enrollment or do they accumulate at one level?
(measure gender gaps in enrollment) employment - if gaps accumulate at one level, what are possible factors? Out of pocket schooling costs,
190 countries (LIDC 59/EME 93/AE 38) distance to school, hours in family care roles, marriage, teen pregnancy, inadequate hygiene
facilities, food insecurity, access to labor markets?
primary/secondary/tertiary enrollment (gross) enrollment GPI - if a low enrollment (<75%), increasing primary enrollment reduces future gender gaps
(measure enrollment level - regardless of age) enrollment net - are there cultural or religious norms to consider?
- are conditional cash transfers or merit scholarships available?
- if levels are low, is this due to lack of resources? lack of access? safety concerns?
primary/secondary/tertiary enrollment, (net) enrollment gross - are there delays in enrollment? repetition of grades? education interruption? high drop-out
(measure of age appropriate students) enrollment GPI rates?
INCOME
country income (LIDC,EME,AE) literacy - are there associations between country wealth and other measures? Regional impacts?
(indication of stage of economic development) enrollment
spending
EDUCATION SPENDING
per student spending $PPP literacy - are funds unevenly distributed? rural/urban? wealthy/poor? male/female?
(measure government spending per student) enrollment - are levels (primary/secondary/tertiary) subsidized by public funding? external aid?
154 countries (LIDC 48/EME 70/AE 36) income - where measures are strong, can efficiency be improved? Transparency? accountability?
health initiatives - are there other spending categories (i.e., health) that may impact education gaps?
- do PISA scores offer a bennchmark?
57
Wils, Annababette, Gabrielle Bonnet, and Mathieu Brossard, 2015, The Investment Case for Education and Equity, Executive
Summary. 10.13140/RG.2.1.2958.5440.
58
Psaki, S., et al., 2022, Policies and Interventions to Remove Gender-related Barriers to Girls’ School Participation and Learning in
Low- and Middle-income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 12, e1207.
Gender Equality
V. Health
Globally health outcomes have improved, but disparities remain between high-and-low-income countries and
between men and women. Barriers to seeking health care and preventing disease are affected by social
norms which influence mobility, access to education and employment, care economy responsibilities, and
reproductive choices.59 These constraints are most evident in female-specific health-related conditions, such
as maternal mortality and fertility rates, which offer insights into the status of women and girls, prevailing
gender inequalities, and opportunities for female economic empowerment. The relationship between public
spending and health outcomes can be difficult to measure and compare, as out-of-pocket costs limit access,
there are barriers to access specific to women, and no two countries are alike when it comes to their
healthcare systems.60 Improved access to family planning can result in positive lifelong and intergenerational
impacts on education, labor productivity, and asset accumulation, and is among the most cost effective of
development interventions. We focus on key indicators in three interconnected areas: maternal health, family
planning, and gender preferences evident in sex ratios at birth and the prevalence of stunting.
Good health is an intrinsic welfare outcome and instrumental to economic growth. Poor health reduces global
GDP by an estimated 15 percent each year.61 A 2020 report quantifies the upside of health as an investment
(rather than a cost to manage), and concludes that targeted health improvements could add as much as US$12
trillion to global GDP in 2040.62 Other findings from this report include that economic returns to investing in
health could be as high as US$2 to US$4 for each US$1 invested, and that in LMICs more than half of the total
health improvement opportunity could be delivered through existing interventions with incremental costs of less
than US$100 spent per year of healthy life gained.
While most diseases affect both males and females, risk factors and behaviors often differ and maternal health
has intergenerational impacts on the health and well-being of children. Poor maternal health is a risk factor for
neonatal survival and infant health, increasing the risk of child stunting and reduced cognitive development,
with implications for school performance and adult health and productivity.63 There is also evidence that a
mother’s current and childhood health affect health outcomes that can persist into next generations,
underscoring the importance of investing in the health of women and girls.64
59
Women’s reproductive choices can be controlled or coerced, such as pregnancy pressure, birth control sabotage, and sexual
coercion.
60
Schneider, E., et al., 2021, Mirror, Mirror 2021 Reflecting Poorly: Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-income
Countries, The Commonwealth Fund.
61
Estimate is based on the potential to reduce disease burdens using proven interventions for 52 diseases and quantification of
impacts on population health, the economy, and wider welfare in nearly 200 countries over the period to 2040. McKinsey Global
Institute, 2020, Prioritizing Health: A Prescription for Prosperity.
62
The report also aggregates findings at regional, income, and global levels. McKinsey Global Institute, 2020, Prioritizing Health: A
Prescription for Prosperity.
63
Victora, Cesar, et al., 2008, “Maternal and Child Undernutrition: Consequences for Adult Health and Human Capital, The Lancet
2008: 371(9609) L340-357.
64
Bhalotra, Sonia, and Samanth B. Rawlings, 2011, “Intergenerational Persistence in Health in Developing Countries: The Penalty
of Gender Inequality,” Journal of Public Economics, Volume 95, Issues 3-4, April 2011: pages 286-299.
Gender Equality
Health outcomes have improved over the last several decades, but low-income countries continue to bear the
largest disease burdens and higher rates of mortality and morbidity. Global life expectancy at birth increased
from 66.8 years in 2000 to 73.3 years in 2019.65 However, gaps in life expectancies persist, with a 16-year and
10-year difference for low- and low-middle-income countries, respectively.66 Also, while the incidence and
mortality from communicable diseases (such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria) have declined dramatically,
these diseases still cause nearly half of all deaths in low-income countries.67 Maternal mortality rates have
fallen by nearly 40 percent since 2000, but an estimated 94 percent of those deaths now occur in low and low-
middle income countries.68 Child mortality is 16 times higher in low-income countries than in high-income
countries.69 While no two countries are alike when it comes to healthcare systems,70 health spending in low-
income countries is often financed by out-of-pocket spending (44 percent) and external aid (29 percent), while
government spending dominates in high-income countries (70 percent).71
Gender inequality and social norms create barriers to women seeking health care and women are more likely
to forgo healthcare altogether for financial reasons or to access poorer quality healthcare.72 The need for out-
of-pocket payments constrains women’s use of healthcare services more than men, because they have fewer
financial resources and are less likely to secure additional monetary support from family or community
members.73 While rates of hospital stays and emergency medical admissions are nearly equivalent for males
and females in high-income countries, studies report male-to-female ratios of 2.2:1.0 for emergency abdominal
surgeries and 1.4:1.0 for general admissions (excluding obstetric care) in LMICs.74 One study in India
demonstrated the average inpatient health care expenditure is lower for women, regardless of the type of
disease and duration of stay in the hospital. Researchers attributed this to discrimination in spending for
women’s health care (paid largely out-of-pocket) relative to income earners in the family (mainly men, given low
rates of female labor force participation), and the low status of women due to patriarchal structures (which
similarly influence sex-selective abortions and discrimination in food allocations with women tending to eat last
relative to other family members).75
Leading causes of death differ by region, country, age, and gender. At the global level, for women and men of
all ages, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, followed by infectious and parasitic diseases
65
WHO, 2022 World Health Statistics 2022: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. World Health
Organization: Geneva.
66
McKinsey Global Institute, 2020, Prioritizing Health: A Prescription for Prosperity.
67
68
Ibid.
69
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, cited in McKinsey Global Institute, 2020, Prioritizing Health: A Prescription for
Prosperity.
70
Schneider, E., et al., 2021, Mirror, Mirror 2021 Reflecting Poorly: Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-income
Countries, The Commonwealth Fund.
71
WHO, 2021, Global Expenditure on Health: Public Spending on the Rise? World Health Organization: Geneva.
72
Remme, M., et al., 2020, Investing in the Health of Girls and Women: A Best Buy for Sustainable Development. BMJ. 2020 Jun
2;369:m1175.
73
Azad, A.D., et al., 2020, The Gender Gap and Healthcare: Associations Between Gender Roles and Factors Affecting Healthcare
Access in Central Malawi, June–August 2017. Arch Public Health 78, 119 (2020).
74
Ibid.
75
Mmoradhavaj and Nandita Naikia, 2019 Gender Disparities in Health Care Expenditure and Financing Strategies for Inpatient
Care in India SSM Population Health. 2019 Dec; 9: 100372. Published online 2019 Feb 2.
Gender Equality
(including diarrhea and HIV/AIDS) and cancers (Figure 5).76 However, maternal conditions are among the top
five causes of death among women aged 15 to 39 and the leading cause of death for women aged 15 to19.77
Figure 5. Leading Causes of Death by Female Age Groups
Source: WHO Global Health Estimates 2019.
Most maternal deaths and disability are preventable because health care solutions to avoid or manage
complications are well-known.78 Severe bleeding after birth is the most common cause of death and can kill a
healthy woman within hours if she is unattended.79 The main causes of maternal mortality in developing nations
are inadequate skilled assistance in labor and emergency obstetric care and lack of family planning. 80
Poor outcomes in maternal and reproductive health tend to reflect gender inequality in the low status of women
and girls, and prevalence of harmful or discriminatory social norms.81 Longitudinal analysis of data provides
evidence that countries with higher levels of gender inequality (as expressed by son preference) are less likely
to address women-specific health outcomes, resulting in higher levels of maternal mortality, slower rates of
decline in maternal mortality, and life expectancy differentials that are less favorable for women.82 Moreover,
76
77
WHO, 2020, Global Health Estimates 2020: Deaths by Cause, Age, Sex, by Country and by Region, 2000-2019, World Health
78
WHO, 2019, Trends in Maternal Mortality 2000 to 2017: Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United
Nations Population Division. World Health Organization: Geneva.
79
WHO, 2023, Maternal Mortality: Key Facts..
80
Nour, NM, 2008, An Introduction to Global Women's Health. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2008 Winter;1(1):33-7; Balhotra, Sonia, and
James Gomes, 2014, Maternal Mortality and Female Life Expectancy: The Importance of Gender Inequality. Institute for Social
and Economic Research: University of Essex.
81
Heise, Lori, et al. 2019, “Gender Inequality and Restrictive Gender Norms: Framing the Challenges to Health,” Lancet. 2019 Jun
15;393(10189):2440-2454; Banda, P.C., et al., Women at risk: Gender inequality and maternal health, Women Health. 2017
Apr;57(4):405-429.; Balhotra, Sonia, and James Gomes, 2014, Maternal Mortality and Female Life Expectancy: The Importance
of Gender Inequality. Institute for Social and Economic Research: University of Essex.
82
Balhotra, Sonia, and James Gomes, 2014, Maternal Mortality and Female Life Expectancy: The Importance of Gender Inequality.
Institute for Social and Economic Research: University of Essex.
Gender Equality
social norms that perpetuate discrimination and low status of women can be reproduced within healthcare
systems, resulting in harmful practices and poor women-specific health outcomes.83
Associations between maternal health and family planning with female economic empowerment and gender
equality were most prominent in the literature review. Many studies show that higher social status, education
level, and increased financial autonomy of women predict higher rates of prenatal health care.84 A study in
Zambia examining the impact of lack of female autonomy on maternal health found that women who had lower
autonomy in household decision-making were more likely to be exposed to maternal health risks, regardless of
household wealth.85 Adolescent girls typically have limited autonomy and may face stigma when trying to obtain
contraceptives, even if there are no restrictive laws and policies.86
Access to family planning positively impacts the lives of both women and their children. Numerous studies offer
evidence of socioeconomic multiplier effects associated with reproductive health. 87 Improvements in
reproductive health services and family planning have been associated with increases in women’s education,
earnings, and assets, as well as reduced rates of fertility and age at first birth.88 It is well documented that the
introduction of the birth control pill in the United States had a positive effect on women’s higher education,
career investment, and age at first marriage.89 A longitudinal analysis (1920-1970) of women’s labor force
participation in the United States, found that alleviating the adverse effects of pregnancy and childbirth
combined with the introduction of high-quality infant formula enabled a 52 percent increase in workforce
participation among women aged 23 to 33 years.90 In another study, children conceived in areas with greater
access to family planning were two to 7 percent more likely to attain 16 years (or more) of education and went
on to live in higher-earning households as adults.91 This study also found that increasing legal and financial
access to contraceptives likely led to a 20 to 30 percent gain in family incomes for the children (due to their
higher educational attainment).
While access to family planning and contraceptives have helped to reduce fertility rates worldwide, other
factors affect these decisions. In countries with fertility rates below replacement (i.e., 2.1 children), policies
83
For example, In Nigeria, which has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality, an assessment reported that harmful practices
were observed in 59.6 percent of deliveries and disrespectful or abusive practices were observed in 34 percent. Oduenyi,
Chiorna, et al., 2021, Gender Discrimination as a Barrier to High-quality Maternal and Newborn Health Care in Nigeria: Findings
from a Cross-sectional Quality of Care Assessment, BMC Health Services Research 21, Article No: 198(2021).
84
Azad, A.D., et al., 2020, The Gender Gap and Healthcare: Associations Between Gender Roles and Factors Affecting Healthcare
Access in Central Malawi, June–August 2017. Arch Public Health 78, 119 (2020)..
85
Banda, Pamela, et al., 2017, Women at Risk: Gender Inequality and Maternal Health, Women Health 2017 Apr;57(4):405-429.
doi: 10.1080/03630242.2016.1170092.
86
WHO, 2023, Adolescent Pregnancy: Key Facts.
87
Grepin, Karen A., and Jeni Klugman, 2013, Closing the Deadly Gap Between What We Know and What We Do: Investing in
Women’s Reproductive Health, World Bank: Washington DC.; Stenberg, Karin, et al., 2013, Advancing Social and Economic
Development by Investing in Women’s and Children’s Health: a New Global Investment Framework, Health Policy, volume 383,
Issue 9925, P1333-1354.
88
Onarheim, Kristine Husoy, Johana Helene Iversen, and David E. Bloom, 2016, Economic Benefits of Investing in Women’s
Health: A Systematic Review. PLoS ONE 11(3):e0150120.
89
Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence F. Katz, 2000, “The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career and Marriage
Decisions,” Working Paper 7527, National Bureau of Economic Research: Cambridge, MA.
90
Albanesi, Stephania, and Claudia Olivetti, 2009, Gender Roles and Medical Progress. Working Paper No. 14873, National Bureau
of Economic Research: Cambridge MA.
91
Based on comparison with children conceived in the same areas whose mothers had less access to family planning. Bailey,
Martha J., 2013, “Fifty Years of Family Planning: New Evidence on the Long-Run Effects of Increasing Access to
Contraception,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2013:341-409.
Gender Equality
targeted at reducing women’s childcare burdens have helped to increase rates.92 Rates also tend to be slightly
higher in countries were men commonly help with household chores. Places with the highest fertility rates tend
to have lower ages at marriage and/or sexual activity, as reflected in adolescent fertility rates (Figure 6). When
women have many children, they tend to start earlier than the healthiest years for reproduction (ages 20 to 35)
and may not safely space pregnancies (at least 24 months) which increases pregnancy risks.
Figure 6. Fertility, Adolescent Fertility and Maternal Mortality

Note: regional group fertility medians for countries that also report maternal mortality.
Adolescent fertility rates are also associated with child marriage, which is frequently driven by poverty, social
norms, and/or other socio-economic and environmental stressors on families. As of 2021, the number of child
brides was estimated at 650 million globally.93 There is strong evidence that child marriage has potent negative
impacts on the life and health of the girl and future generations.94 These include less formal education,
increased risk of premature birth and neonatal, infant, and child death, reduced agency in decision-making, and
increased risk of gender-based violence, including physical violence and sexual abuse.95 A 2020 IMF working
paper on whether child marriage affects economic growth, offers that long-term annual per capita real GDP
growth in emerging and developing countries would increase by 1.05 percentage points if child marriage were
ended.96
92
Doepke, Matthias, and Fabian Kindermann, 2019, Bargaining over Babies: Theory, Evidence, and Policy Implications, American
Economic Review 2019, 109(9): 3264–3306
93
WHO, 2023, Adolescent Pregnancy: Fact Sheet.
94
Nour, N.M., 2008, An Introduction to Global Women's Health. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2008 Winter;1(1):33-7.
95
Adolescent fertility rates reflect physical and sexual abuse, with 24 percent of adolescents aged 15–19 years estimated to have
already been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime, and 16 percent
of adolescent girls and young women aged 15–24 subjected to this violence within the past 12 months according to WHO, 2021,
Violence Against Women Prevalence Estimates (2018).
96
Pritha, Mitra, et al., 2020, Does Child Marriage Matter for Growth? IMF Working Paper: African Department, February 2020.
Gender Equality
Family planning is regarded as among the most cost effective of development interventions.97 Saving mothers
and reducing debilitating complications from childbirth also saves the lives of infants and children. In high
income countries, a woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death is one in 5,400, while in low-income countries this
is one in 45.98 Every US$1 spent on addressing unmet needs for contraceptives may yield US$120 in accrued
health and economic benefits from reducing maternal and infant mortality and unintended pregnancies. 99 One
study calculates that Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal could each increase per capita income by 8 to 13 percent by
meeting one-third of the unmet need for family planning in 2030.100 In 69 countries tracked, nearly half (48
percent) of family planning funding came from international donors, with 35 percent from domestic
governments and 17 percent through out-of-pocket spending.
B. Key Indicators
Among the multitude of measures found in the literature, we focus on key indicators in three interconnected
areas: (1) maternal health, as measured by maternal mortality and fertility rates; (2) family planning, as
measured by women making their own informed decisions and access to modern methods of contraception;
and (3) gender preference, as measured by evidence of male preferences that skew population ratios and
stunting outcomes. Maternal mortality is the first item under SDG 3 (3.1), with sexual and reproductive health
rights also a key indicator (SDG 3.7).
Two other measures frequently found in the literature are health adjusted life expectancy (HALE) and births
attended by skilled health staff. HALE is a hypothetical estimate of the number of years that women and men
can expect to live in good health that accounts for years lost to violence, disease, malnutrition, and other
factors.101 While this offers longitudinal data that can be compared across countries, regions, and income
levels, HALE-related gender gaps are complicated to compare and potential associations with female economic
empowerment and gender equality have not been studied much. In terms of obstetric care, increased skilled
birth attendant coverage around the world has not corresponded to expected declines in maternal and neonatal
mortality in many LMICs. This raises questions about the accuracy and validity of these estimates and what the
indicator truly measures.102
97
FP2020, FP2020 Family Planning’s Return on Investment, Family Planning 2020, Washington DC
98
Based on the probability that a 15-year-old woman will eventually die from a maternal cause, with this difference partly because
women in less developed countries have, on average, more pregnancies than women in developed countries which increases
their lifetime risk of death due to pregnancy. WHO, 2023, Maternal Mortality: Key Facts.
99
Based on US$30-50 in benefits from reduced infant and maternal mortality US$60-100 in long-term benefits from economic
growth. FP2020, Family Plannings Return on Investment. FP2020: Family Planning's Return on Investment | Family Planning
2030 (fp2030.org).
100
Bloom, David E., et al., 2013, A Demographic Dividend for Sub-Saharan Africa: Source, Magnitude, and Realization. IZA
Discussion Paper No. 7855.
101
The global HALE (at birth) variance between males and females is currently 2.4 years, with female HALE lower than male HALE
in 11 out of 183 countries. HALE (age 60) averages 1.79 years longer for women, with female HALE lower than male HALE in 5
out of 183 countries. WHO HALE at birth and HALE age 60 metadata - rationale for indicator.
102
Radovich, E., et al., 2019, ‘, ‘Who Assisted with the Delivery of (NAME)?’ Issues in Estimating Skilled Birth Attendant Coverage
through Population-based Surveys and Implications for Improving Global Tracking. BMJ Global Health 2019;4: e001367.
Gender Equality
Maternal Health
Maternal health is best measured through three indicators: maternal mortality, total fertility, and adolescent
fertility. These measures viewed together may direct further exploration of whether efforts to improve access to
quality health care and/or delaying first pregnancies can offer improvement in female health outcomes.
Maternal Mortality
Maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is the number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant
or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births. Although MMR data have limitations due to
varied sources and collection methods, as one of the leading causes of death for women aged 15 to 49, it is a
key measure of women’s health.103 Data are publicly available (World Bank indicator) and include over 170
countries (55 LIDC, 81 EME and 35 AE) going back to 1985, with gaps and lags in some cases.
Maternal mortality is widely regarded as a proxy indicator for women’s “value” or “status” in society, with higher
MMRs indicative of women’s disempowerment and gender inequality. SDG 3.1 establishes a goal to reduce the
global MMR to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. Using data from the latest available year, 42
percent of the countries were still above that goal. Maternal mortality tends to be higher in low-income countries
and EMEs, and is highest overall in Sub-Saharan Africa. A focus on family planning (delaying first births and
spacing out pregnancies) may reduce demand for specialized and emergency obstetric care and could
significantly improve maternal mortality rates.
Total Fertility
Total fertility represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of
her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.
Data are publicly available for 185 countries (59 LIDC, EME 89, and 37 AE), with most countries tracking this
since 1960. The global average fertility rate is around 2.3 children per woman today, but significant variances
exist across countries and within populations. All but one AE is under the replacement rate (2.1), while
approximately half of EMEs and only a handful of LIDCs are at that level. Countries with fertility rates over 2.1
are predominantly in Sub-Saharan Africa (60 percent).
Adolescent Fertility
Adolescent fertility rate is the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15-19 and is part of SDG 3. Data are
publicly available back to 1960 for 187 countries (59 LIDC, 89 EME, 37 AE). This indicator is important as the
risk of death associated with pregnancy is about one-third higher among 15- to 19-year-olds than among 20- to
24-year-olds.104 However, discrepancies are common, in part, because available data may not accurately
report the age of the mother.105
103
WHO, 2020, Global Health Estimates 2020: Deaths by Cause, Age, Sex, by Country and by Region, 2000-2019.
104
Nove, Andrea, et al., 2014, Maternal Mortality in Adolescents Compared with Women of Other Ages: Evidence from 144
Countries. The Lancet Global Health, Volume 2, Issue 3, e155-e164: March 2014.
105
Tracking Progress Tool, Data Visualization for Community Indicators and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Gender Equality
Family Planning
Agency in family planning and demand for family planning satisfied by modern methods are publicly available
datasets from the World Bank. Additional data is also emerging from FP2020 (now FP2030) commitment-
making countries, which may provide further insights at the country level. Studies of the impact of reduced
access in the United States are being added to the literature, as well. While neither of these indicators are
highly robust as a dataset, they do provide important insights into female empowerment as measured by family
planning decision-making and reproductive coercion.106
Informed Family Planning Decisions

Women making informed family planning decisions is the proportion of women ages 15-49 years (married or in
union) who make their own decision in three selected areas: can say no to sexual intercourse with their
husband or partner if they do not want; able to decide on use of contraception; and able to decide on their own
health care. Only women who provide a “yes” answer to all three components are considered as women who
“make her own decisions.” Data are available for 64 countries (EME 22, LIDC 42) going back to 2005, with
significant gaps and lags and, in many countries, only one year of survey data. Approximately 60 percent of the
countries in the dataset are in Sub-Saharan Africa which limits applicability.
Demand for Family Planning Satisfied

Demand for family planning satisfied refers to the percentage of married women with demand for family
planning, aged 15-49 years, whose need for family planning is satisfied with modern methods. Data are
available for 63 countries (EME 22, LIDC 41) going back to 1991, with significant gaps and lags, and only one
year of data for some countries. Again, approximately 60 percent of the countries in the dataset are in Sub-
Saharan Africa which limits applicability.
Gender Preferences
Sex Ratios at birth

Natural sex ratios at birth fall between 1.03 and 1.07 in favor of girls. The World Economic Forum uses five-
year averages of sex ratios at birth in its Health and Survival sub-index to capture the phenomenon of “missing
women” in countries with son preference, drawing largely on data from EMEs and AEs where sex identification
and selection is possible. However, UN sex ratio data from 2000-2020 provide a more complete picture,
showing that in the past two decades some countries have had annual averages as high as 115 boys per 100
girls. Data is available for 185 countries (LIDC 59, EME 89, and AE 37). Based on 2020 data, 84 countries are
above 1.05 (an accepted midpoint), including 11 countries above 1.07, which may point to a preference for
male children. Data over the 20-year span (2000-2020) also demonstrate that sex ratios are normalizing in
some countries that previously were skewed toward boy children, which is partially attributed to government
efforts to curb sex selection, including bans on prenatal sex tests and massive advertising campaigns.107
Prevalence of stunting
106
Reproductive coercion influences fertility and rates of pregnancy, pressuring women to become pregnant when they do not wish
to be. It includes pregnancy pressure or coercion, birth control sabotage, and sexual coercion.
107
Pew Research Center, August, 2022 India’s Sex Ratio at Birth Begins to Normalize by Tong, Yunping.
Gender Equality
Prevalence of stunting is the percentage of children under age 5 whose height for age is more than two
standard deviations below the median for the international reference population ages 0-59 months. Stunting is
the effect of chronic malnutrition due to inadequate nutrition over a long period and recurrent illnesses. Studies
indicate that stunting reduces cognitive ability and development, increases the likelihood of chronic diseases
later in life, and can create severe complications when giving birth – all of which increase health care costs.108
Some researchers argue that stunting is over-diagnosed, given natural height differences across regions and
peoples.109 Nevertheless, as an indicator of gender disparities, examining stunting outcomes at the country
level may be useful. Data are available on 153 countries (59 LIDC, 82 EME, and 12 AE) and go back to 1986 in
some cases, although there are considerable gaps and lags. Disaggregated data are available for 149
countries. While on average male children show higher incidents of stunting, places where female children are
disadvantaged may indicate male preference in food allocation. Of the 149 countries with disaggregated data,
23 show a female disadvantage in stunting outcomes.
C. Cross-cutting Measures and Possible Associations
COVID-19 has strained healthcare systems worldwide, highlighting the importance of improving health
spending efficiency to ensure better health and progress on SDG targets. A 2022 IMF working paper on macro-
efficiencies of healthcare recommends increasing allocations of spending toward essential health coverage and
applying a micro approach to derive more “fine-grained policy measures.”110 It also notes that the scope for
efficiency gains is largest among LIDCs and EMEs. While country income is a valuable cross-cutting measure,
we also suggest two other measures.
Per Capita Health Care Expenditure
Current expenditure on health per capita as expressed in international dollars at purchasing power parity. The
dataset covers 188 countries (58 LIDC, 94ME, and 36AE), with relatively current data that are available back to
1980 for most countries. Figure 7 offers cross-regional comparisons of spending, MMRs, and adolescent
fertility. This shows a general association between lower spending and higher MMRs. However, in some cases,
higher adolescent fertility rates may be driving MMR – even in regions with relatively higher per capita
spending, such as Latin America and the Caribbean. Geographic regions or country wealth subsets within
regions (EME, LIDC) may offer comparators for benchmarking.
108
Hailu, B.A., Bogale, G.G. & Beyene, J. Spatial Heterogeneity and Factors Influencing Stunting and Severe Stunting Among
Under-5 Children in Ethiopia: Spatial and Multilevel Analysi. Scientific Reports 10, 16427.
109
Scheffler, Christiane and Michael Hermanussen, 2021, Stunting is the Natural Condition of Human Height, American Journal of
Human Biology DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23693.
110
Garcia-Escribano, Mercedes, Pedro Juarros, and Tewodaj Mogues, 2022, “Patterns and Drivers of Health Spending Efficiency,”
IMF Working Papers 22/48, IMF: Washington DC.
Gender Equality
Figure 7. Maternal Mortality, Adolescent Fertility, and Health Spending
Out of pocket costs
Out-of-pocket payments are spending on health directly paid by households as a percentage of total health
expenditure. Dataset is current up to 2019-2018 for all countries (LIDC 58, 94 EME, and AE 36) but not
disaggregated by gender. Understanding out-of-pocket costs is important as they comprise a relatively larger
portion of healthcare costs in low-income countries, and because of women’s more limited access to and
control over household financial resources. Price-sensitivity to even small costs in low-income countries,
underscores the importance of subsidizing key preventive health products and services and eliminating cost-
sharing when possible.
Geographic regions or income groups within geographic regions may offer comparators for benchmarking, and
patterns may emerge when viewed against other measures, such as family planning needs met (Figure 8).
Data offer that when family planning needs are not met, out-of-pocket costs tend to be higher (note this does
not include Sub-Saharan Africa). In the top 10 percent of having needs met, median out of pocket costs are
approximately 30 percent, in the lowest 10 percent, out-of-pocket costs are 46 percent. This is not to suggest
universal causality, but if both factors are present, it may suggest a direction for further exploration in
conjunction with other potential factors, such as access to family planning and aid.
Gender Equality
Figure 8. Out of Pocket Costs and Family Planning Needs Met
Source: World Bank Open Data
The economic costs of not addressing avoidable diseases and mortality are high – with negative lifelong and
intergenerational impacts. However, the relationship between spending and health outcomes can be
inconclusive, largely because of differences in health system quality and coverage, governance factors, social
norms, and gender constraints that drive health-related behaviors, risks, and inequalities in access and use.
While health priorities vary across and within countries and regions, in many countries spending on women’s
health to reduce maternal mortality and increase access to family planning would improve health outcomes
overall and increase human capital. This would enable multiplier effects broadly supportive of female economic
empowerment and gender equality, including greater agency in reproductive health and increased opportunity
to pursue education and employment.
Table 2 provides guidance on different types of measures and factors to consider in assessing health outcomes
and public spending. It offers a schematic of key indicators to consider and questions to ask – but these must
be tempered by knowledge of context specific constraints that may exacerbate existing disparities.
Table 2. Gender Lens Matrix: Health

MATERNAL HEALTH
maternal mortality fertillity rate - if high, could this be due to access to health care or high adolsecent and/or adult fertility?
(measure deaths in childbirth) adolescent fertilty - if low, are benchmarks possible by country wealth and/or region?
170 countries (55 LIDC/81 EME/35 AE) out of pocket - are access issues to or high out of pocket costs detering necessary health care?
total fertility rate maternal mortality - if lower than 2.1, sufficient parental leave and childcare? jobs protected? flexible schedules?
(estimated children born per woman) adolescent fertility - if high, is it coupled with high maternal mortality? high adolescent fertility?
185 countries (59 LIDC/EME 89/37 AE) decision making - do women make their own health care decisions? do cultural/religious view impact?
family planning - do women have access to family planning? is it affordable?
employment/education - is high fertility coupled with low female education and employment?
adolsecent fertility rate total fertility rate - are rates high for country wealth or region?
(measure adolecent births per 1,000 women) maternal mortality - is high adolsecent fertility coupled with high maternal mortality?
187 countries (59 LIDC/89 EME/37 AE) education - are there connections to general health or education initiatives?
Gender Equality
FAMILY PLANNING
women making informed family planning decisions fertility rate - is access the limiting factor or are there other constraints on women?
(measure decision making autonomy) education - is there an link to education and work opportunities for women?
64 countries (LIDC 42/EME 22) employment - do societal norms play a role?
demand for family planning satisfied fertillity rate - is this coupled with high fertility or high adolescent fertility rates?
(measure if needs are met) adolescent fertilty - is access a limiting factor?
63 countries, (LIDC 41/EME 22) out of pocket - are out of pocket costs prohibitive?
GIRL CHILDREN
sex ratio at birth natural range 1.03-1.07 - is this outside the natural range? If so, are measures being taken to address this?
(measure of sex preference) - how does this compare regionally?
185 countries (59 LIDC/EME 89/37 AE)
prevelence of stunting disaggregated data - is there a higher level of female than male stunting?
(sex preference in food allocation) maternal mortality - are there cultural norms driving this?
153 countries (59 LIDC/82 EME/12 AE) - is this coupled with high maternal mortality and larger overall healthcare issues?
SPENDING
per capita spending $PPP maternal mortality - are women receiving an equal share of health spending?
(measure health care expenses) family planning needs - are rural populations underserved? funding evenly dispursed?
188 countries (58 LIDC/94ME/36AE)
out of pocket costs as % of total expenditures maternal mortality - are costs limiting health care access generally?
(measure personal cost of healthcare) fertility rates - are aid programs operating in parallel?
188 countries (58 LIDC/94ME/36AE) adolescent fertility
VI. Capital Expenditure

Studies and available data indicate that public spending on infrastructure, to provide clean water and
sanitation facilities, electricity, transportation, and digital connectivity and financial services, are critical for
alleviating time poverty, supporting women’s economic participation, and improving health and education
outcomes. Most data focus on household access to infrastructure, with limited attention to distributional
effects on males and females that may change household power dynamics or promote female economic
empowerment and gender equality. These data present an incomplete picture of services, with little
information on quality, reliability, and affordability. We draw gender specific evidence from the literature for
four main types of infrastructure and related services: transportation, electricity, information and
communications technology, and water and sanitization. For each we highlight how the lack of critical
infrastructure and services disproportionally affects the lives and livelihoods of women and girls.
Over the last several decades there has been notable progress in expanding infrastructure and related
services, but significant gaps remain, especially in rural areas, LIDCs, and fragile and conflict-affected states.
The IMF estimates that additional annual spending of about US$1.4 trillion will be needed for roads, electricity,
and water and sanitation in LIDCs and EMEs to make meaningful progress toward SDGs in these areas (SDGs
6,7,9,11).111 Infrastructure availability, quality, and condition impact women, men, girls, and boys differently
because of respective roles, responsibilities, and vulnerabilities.112 In this section, we look at gender-
differentiated impacts of infrastructure investments in transport, electricity, water, sanitation, and hygiene
(WASH), and information and communications technology (ICT).
111
Gaspar, V., et al., 2019, Fiscal Policy and Development: Human, Social and Physical Investment for the SDGs, IMF Staff
Discussion Note January 2019 SDN/19/03.
112
OECD, 2021, Women in Infrastructure: Selected Stocktaking of Good Practices for Inclusion of Women in Infrastructure, OECD
Public Governance Policy Papers, No. 07.
Gender Equality
Transportation
Investments in roads and transportation can be beneficial for all, but women have different travel patterns,
threat perceptions, cost constraints, and safety concerns which impact their mobility. More than 1 billion people
live further than two kilometers from an all-season road, and “uncounted numbers” are unable to access work
and educational opportunities due to the lack of availability or high cost of transport.113 In rural India, better
access to roads and more frequent bus service increased the odds of nonagricultural employment among both
men and women, and raised women’s non-agricultural labor force participation rates to levels higher than that
of men, especially in communities with more egalitarian social (gender) norms.114
Many studies highlight how travel and transport patterns of women and men reflect gendered roles and
responsibilities, including child and elder care. Women use cars less and rely on public transport more,
because of the need to use cheaper modes of transport.115 Relative to men, women cycle less, walk more, and
tend to trip-chain – taking shorter trips, stopping at multiple destinations, and traveling more during off-peak
travel times.116 Women also tend to adjust travel plans and behavior because of security concerns and fear of
sexual harassment, curtailing freedom of movement and mobility.117 An estimated 80 percent of women are
afraid of being harassed in public spaces, with safety concerns and limited access to transport reducing the
probability of women’s labor force participation in developing countries by 16.5 percent.118 Street lighting and
public transport safety measures help to increase women’s mobility and economic empowerment, because this
enables them to more safely use transportation for getting to and from work.119
Electricity
Access to reliable and affordable electricity and laborsaving appliances within the home reduces women’s
domestic workloads, potentially freeing up time for other productive activities. Women and girls spend, on
average, 18 hours per week and travel long distances to collect biomass for cooking.120 In 2020, 733 million
people lacked access to electricity, with 2.4 billion reliant on inefficient and polluting energy sources for
cooking, such as wood, dung, and crop residues.121 Women and girls are disproportionately affected by indoor
air pollution from unclean combustible fuels used for cooking, accounting for 6 out of 10 of the 4.3 million
premature deaths globally in 2012.122
113
Rozenberg, Julie, and Marianne Fay, eds, 2019, Beyond the Gap: How Countries Can Afford the Infrastructure They Need while
Protecting the Planet. Sustainable Infrastructure Series. Washington, DC: World Bank.
114
Lei, Lei, Sonalde Desai, and Reeve Vanneman, 2019, The Impact of Transportation Infrastructure on Women’s Employment in
India, Feminist Economics, Vol. 25, Issue 4:94-125.
115
Dominguez Gonzalez, Karla, et al., 2020, Why Does She Move? A Study of Women’s Mobility in Latin American Cities.
116
UN Women, 2020 Women’s access to safe transport.
117
Dominguez Gonzalez, Karla, et al., 2020, Why Does She Move? A Study of Women’s Mobility in Latin American Cities.
118
Gonzalez Carvajal, Karla, 2018, Transport is Not Gender-Neutral. Transport. for Development, World Bank.
119
Ellsberg Mary, et al., 2015, Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls: What Does the Evidence Say? Lancet 2015 Apr
18;385(9977):1555-66; UN Women, Creating Safe and Empowering Public Spaces with Women and Girls, | UN Women, What
We Do: Ending Violence Against Women.
120
UN Women, 2018, Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
121
UN Women, 2022, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2022.
122
UN Women, 2018, Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Gender Equality
Around 80 percent of the world’s people without access to electricity live in rural areas (75 percent in Sub-
Saharan Africa).123 The main regions without clean and affordable energy sources are sub-Saharan Africa,
Central Asia, and South-Eastern Asia; furthermore, within these regions, the countries most affected (more
than half) are fragile or conflict-affected states.124 Figure 9 illustrates the electricity coverage gap between rural
and urban communities in Sub-Saharan African countries.
Figure 9. Sub-Saharan Africa - Gaps in Rural Electricity Coverage
Financing represents one of the major barriers to achieving universal access to electricity because many
projects require public support.125 According to the 2022 Tracking SDG 7 Progress Report, the share of the
world’s population with access to electricity rose from 83 percent in 2010 to 91 percent in 2020, an increase of
approximately 1.3 billion people globally.126 SDG 7.1 targets universal access to affordable, reliable,
sustainable, and modern energy services, with indicator 7.1.1 focusing on access to electricity. International
Energy Agency (IEA) projections suggest that achieving full access to electricity by 2030 will require annual
investments of just over US$35 billion.127
Information and Communications Technology
Although digital connectivity is expanding globally, an estimated 37 percent (2.9 billion people) have never
used the Internet – 96 percent of whom live in LIDCs.128 Even among the 4.9 billion counted as “Internet users”
123
Olanrele, Iyabo, 2020, “The Impact of Access to Electricity on Education and Health Sectors in Nigeria’s Rural Communities,”
Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 7(4):3016-3035, June 2020.
124
125
IEA, Reports SDG7: Data and Projections - 2.0 Access to Electricity/Outlook for electricity access.
126
IEA, IRENA, UN Statistical Division (UNSD), World Bank, and WHO, 2022, Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report. World
Bank, Washington DC.
127
128
International Telecommunication Union, 2021, Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2021, United Nations, Geneva
Switzerland. Press Release (itu.int).
Gender Equality
many share devices, go online infrequently and/or have connectivity speeds that limit usefulness of their
connection – especially among women and girls.129 Moreover, there is evidence of a digital gender divide,130
with women’s use of the internet (on all devices) is estimated at 57 percent in comparison with 62 percent for
men globally.131 This divide is largest in South Asia, with a gender gap of 23 percent (207 million women), and
sub-Saharan Africa, with a gender gap of 13 percent (74 million women).132 A 2021 study estimates that
increasing the digital inclusion of women and girls by 2025 could boost global GDP by US$524 billion.133
A recent study estimates that over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.134
However, segmentation in subjects studied, especially in STEM education (areas of study that strengthen
digital skills and foster ICT-related employment), are perpetuating gender gaps in related work opportunities.
For example, just 7 percent of girls in upper secondary (versus 18 percent of boys) across 34 developing
countries chose STEM majors, adding to the disadvantage of women and girls in ITC.135 Furthermore, two IFC
reports found evidence of gender gaps in online e-commerce platforms and estimated that closing earnings
gap between male and female vendors by 2025 would yield almost US$300 billion in additional market value.136
Financial technology (fintech) companies enable increased financial inclusion among the unbanked, especially
in more remote places and among women. This can enable better control over savings and income, with
potential multiplier effects in social benefits over time, such as in education, public health, agriculture, and
women’s access to and control over income.137 Research has shown that women in Niger who received
government subsidies through mobile money instead of cash have greater power in household decision-
making, and that women-led households in Kenya that adopted mobile money saw an increase in household
savings.138 However, a 2022 IMF study looking at fintech adoption and gender inequity (measured by female
employment) was less conclusive.139 It found a positive correlation in AEs and EMEs, but in LIDCs the effect
was insignificant or even negative – largely attributed to differences in governance, law, and regulations.
Among the 114 advanced economy and developing countries studied, the effect of fintech was positive in Sub-
Saharan African, Asia and Pacific and European countries, insignificant in Latin America and Caribbean, and
negative in Middle East and North Africa.
Gender equality in Internet and mobile phone access and improving digital literacy are part of SDG 5, which
focuses on achieving gender equality pledges in the use of ICTs to “promote the empowerment of women”
(Goal 5b). Developing and maintaining high-quality ICT infrastructure and networks generally require public
129
Ibid.
130
The digital gender divide is defined the gap between the ability of men and women to access and use the Internet and digital
technologies. DAKA and Women in Digital Transformation, 2022, Gender Digital Divide Index Report.
131
International Telecommunication Union, 2021, Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2021, United Nations, Geneva
Switzerland. Press Release (itu.int).
132
Shanahan, M., 2022, The Mobile Gender Gap Report, GSMA.
133
Alliance for Affordable Internet, 2021, The Costs of Exclusion: Economic Consequences of the Digital Gender Gap. Web
Foundation.
134
International Finance Corporation, 2019, Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa Spotlight on Ghana.
135
ILO and UN Children’s Fund, 2018, GirlForce Skills: Education and Training for Girls Now, ILO and UNICEF: Geneva and New
York, cited in UNICEF, 2020, Mapping gender Equality in STEM from School to Work, UNICEF Office of Global Insight and
Policy, November 2020.
136
IFC, 2021, Women and E-commerce in Africa; and IFC, 2021, Women and E-commerce in Southeast Asia. International Finance
Corporation: Washington, DC. Women and E-commerce (ifc.org).
137
McKinsey Global Institute, 2016, Digital Finance for All: Powering Growth in Emerging Economies.
138
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2019, “Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion in Africa.”
139
Loko, B., and Y. Yang, 2022, Fintech, Female Employment and Gender Inequality, 2022 IMF WP/22/108.
Gender Equality
investment for equitable coverage as private companies are more likely to participate only where there is a
positive return on investment, such as in urban or more densely populated areas.
Clean Water and Sanitation
While basic WASH coverage has increased over the past two decades, large inequalities remain in
accessibility, availability, and quality.140 About 2 billion people lack access to safe water services.141 Moreover,
at least 733 million people live with high and critical levels of water stress, in places where demand for safe and
usable water is greater than the supply.142 SDG 6 focuses on clean water and sanitation. According to a 2022
WHO report, meeting drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene targets by 2030 will require a fourfold increase in
the pace of progress and would save 829,000 lives annually.143
Globally, women and girls are disproportionately responsible for collecting and managing water use in their
households. A 2017 report analyzing practices in 61 countries offers that women and girls are responsible for
water collection in 8 out of 10 households with water off premises.144 In locations where water is severely
limited, women will walk long distances to collect safe water.145 This can expose women and girls to physical
risks and harm, including gender-based violence. Access to and availability of water has been further
exacerbated by climate change, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.146
Data documenting progress on WASH from 2000 to 2017 indicate that 8 in 10 people living in rural areas lack
access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.147 These numbers are even more stark in Africa, where 411
million people lack basic drinking water service, 779 million lack basic sanitation services (including 208 million
who continue to practice open defecation), and 839 million lack basic hygiene services.148 Figure 10 illustrates
coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa and highlights the lack of access in rural areas where water management may
be particularly burdensome for women and girls.
140
UNICEF and WHO, 2022, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa 2000-2020: Five years into the SDGs,
New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization; UNICEF and WHO, 2019, Progress on
Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000-2017: Special Focus on Inequalities. Joint Monitoring Program Report,
New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization.
141
In disaggregating, this amounts to 1.2 billion people with only basic services, 282 million with limited services, 367 million using
unimproved sources, and 122 million drinking surface waters These figures are based on the latest data from 138 countries.
Safely managed drinking water services is defined as located on premises, available when needed and free from contamination.
Overall, safely managed drinking water services were accessible for 74 percent of the global population. WHO, 2022, World
Health Statistics 2022: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: World Health Organization.
142
143
WHO, 2022, World Health Statistics 2022: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: World
Health Organization.
144
WHO, 2017, Safely Managed Drinking Water: Thematic Report on Drinking Water, World Health Organization: Geneva.
145
146
Armah, Frederick Ato, et al., 2018, Access to improved water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa in a quarter century. Heliyon.
2018 Nov 16;4(11): e00931.
147
UNICEF and WHO, 2019, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000-2017: Special Focus on
Inequalities. Joint Monitoring Program Report, New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health
Organization.
148
UNICEF and WHO, 2022, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa 2000-2020: Five years into the SDGs,
New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization.
Gender Equality
Figure 10. Sub-Saharan Africa - Gaps in Rural WASH Coverage
Women and girls are disproportionately responsible for caring for family members who become sick, often due
to unsafe water and hygiene. A 2018 study examining access to water and sanitation services over a 25-year
time frame across 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa found improvement in access to improved water sources
but declines in access to improved sanitation (from 69 percent in 2000-2005 and 74 percent in 2005-2020 to 53
percent in 2010-2015).149 The study also shows large disparities to access based on wealth status and locale,
with rich households in urban areas 329 percent and 277 percent more likely to have access to improved water
sources and sanitation facilities, respectively, in comparison with the urban poor.
Inadequate WASH services impact everyone, with additional negative implications for the health, safety,
mobility, and educational and economic opportunities of women and girls. Nearly one-third of the global
population (2.3 billion people) lack basic handwashing facilities with water and soap at home.150 An estimated
500,000 people die each year and many more become sick from diarrhea or acute respiratory infections that
could be prevented by good hand hygiene, increasing significant financial losses from sickness and death.151
As of 2022, 3.4 billion people still lacked access to safely managed sanitation services (with excreta safely
disposed on-site or treated off-site).152 Furthermore, 419 million people worldwide did not use a toilet and
practiced open defecation, including 36 countries with open defecation rates between 5 percent and 25 percent
and 13 countries where open defecation rates range from 25 percent to over 50 percent.– the majority of which
are in Sub-Saharan Africa.153 Open defecation increases risk of gender-based violence for women who are
149
The study reportedly pooled regression analysis of compositional and contextual factors that systematically vary with access to
water and sanitation services. Armah, Frederick Ato, et al., 2018, “Access to Improved Water and Sanitation in Sub-Saharan
Africa in a Quarter Centurty, Heliyon, 2018 Nov 16;4(11): e00931.
150
WHO, 2022, World Health Statistics 2022: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Geneva: World
Health Organization.
151
UNICEF, 2021, Hygiene
152
WHO, 2022, WHO and UNICEF, 2023. Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000–2022: special focus
on gender. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund and World Health Organization.
153
Ibid.
Gender Equality
more vulnerable when walking to open defecation sites alone (or with children) and in using unsafe, dark, and
inappropriately located toilets. Unaffordable and/or inaccessible WASH services also have specific impacts on
women’s health, due to increased needs for water and hygiene during menstruation, pregnancy, and
postpartum recovery.154
Women and girls will forego educational, social, and economic opportunities because of limited access to
adequate menstrual hygiene management facilities and supplies, and the social stigmas attached to
menstruation.155 In some countries, public buildings, including schools and health centers, lack toilets that are
private, separate, safe, and sanitary.156 The lack of water and sanitation facilities in schools negatively impacts
attendance, especially among girls reaching puberty. A 2022 report calculates that less than half of schools and
health care facilities in Africa have basic water and sanitation services.157
B. Key Indicators
The literature offers evidence of how improvements in infrastructure and related services can benefit women
and other family members. However, most data collection focuses on access, with limited attention to
distributional effects on men and women. While this offers some evidence of disparities in service, it provides
limited information on the quality, reliability, availability, and affordability of services, and gendered benefits and
impacts. Moreover, cross-country comparisons are challenging, given different levels of private sector
investments in different countries and sectors, such as energy, transport and water and sanitization, and
variations in infrastructure projects size, frequency, and geographic coverage. Below we discuss strengths and
weaknesses of key indicators and potential associations.
Access to Transportation
One of the most widely accepted metrics for tracking access to transport is the Rural Access Index (RAI) which
is also part of SDG 9. It measures the proportion of the rural population who live within 2 km of an all-season
road. Data are limited to 28 countries (LIDC 20/EME 8) (Figure 11) and are not disaggregated, with latest
available data prior to 2017 for half of the countries. Road quality executive opinion survey data are published
by the World Economic Forum and provide valuable background on infrastructure condition, but do not give
insight into populations served, availability of public transportation, or safety, which are typically found in
localized studies.
154
155
Misconceptions commonly associate menstrual blood with uncleanliness, “impurity,” and sexual activity, which places additional
stress and shame on schoolgirls. Among other studies, see Barasa, V. and Waldman, L., 2022, Exploring the Intersection of
Sanitation, Hygiene, Water, and Health in Pastoralist Communities in Northern Tanzania, Institute of Development Studies:
Brighton; and Johnston-Robledo, I., and J. C. Chrisler, 2020, The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma, in Bobel C.,
et al., eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
156
UNICEF, 2022, WASH facilities Influence School Attendance among Adolescent Girls: Millions of Girls and Women Lack
Adequate Facilities for Menstrual Hygiene Management.
157
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene produced internationally comparable
estimates of progress on drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene and is responsible for global monitoring of the Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) targets related to WASH. The report calculates that (in 2019) 47 percent of schools had basic drinking
water, 54 percent had basic sanitation, and 38 percent had basic hygiene services in 2019; and 46 percent of health facilities
had basic water services, 29 percent had basic sanitation services, and 40 percent had basic health care waste management
services. UNICEF and WHO, 2022, Progress on drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in Africa 2000-2020: Five years into the
SDGs, New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization.
Gender Equality
Figure 11. Rural Population with Access to All-season Road
Access to Electricity
Electrification data track the percentage of the population with access to electricity. This information is collected
from industry, national surveys, and international sources and aggregated in the World Bank Global
Electrification Database.158 The dataset is publicly available (World Bank indicator), with data from 1990
forward for a majority of the 193 countries (LIDC 59, EME 95, AE 39), and for rural and urban areas (not
disaggregated by gender). The IEA identifies minimum electricity access thresholds of consumption as 250 and
500 kilo watts per year for rural and urban areas, respectively.159
Access to electricity is an important metric, but insufficient as a measure because of the lack of service-level
and use data. Electricity-related data primarily focus on binary measures, such as connection to an electricity
grid or renewable off- or mini-grid connections. These access measures do not offer any insights into the
quality of supply (availability, adequacy, reliability, safety, and affordability) or how it is used within households.
While levels of access to electricity can appear to be relatively high, this may mask the reality that many
households lack adequate and reliable supply or can only afford to consume minimum thresholds of electricity
usage. It may also mask different choices in how available electricity is used, for example prioritizing television
and fan use over the use of electric stoves for cooking or other labor-saving appliances that could reduce
women’s workloads.160
As measures of female economic empowerment, it is important to understand both access (to adequate,
affordable, and reliable energy sources) and whether there is sufficient electricity to power labor-saving
158
Data are also part of the Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report, led jointly by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the
International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the United Nations Statistics Division, the World Bank and the World Health
Organization.
159
IEA, 2021, World Energy Model Documentation. International Energy Agency.
160
One study argues that data indicate that rural households in the developing world generally use electricity firstly for lighting and
followed by powering televisions and fans. Bensch, Gunther, Gunnar Gotz, and Jörg Peters, 2020, Effects of Rural Electrification
on Employment: A Comment on Dinkelman (2011).
Gender Equality
appliances and equipment that can reduce time poverty and increase engagement in productive economic
activities. While there is no single internationally-accepted definition of modern energy access, there is
agreement that electricity access should include: (1) household access to a minimum level of electricity; (2)
household access to safer and more sustainable cooking and heating fuels and stoves; (3) access to modern
energy that enables productive economic activity; and (4) access to modern energy for public services (such as
for health facilities, schools, and street lighting).161
Digital Inclusion
Collection of sex-disaggregated data on ICTs has improved, however there are discrepancies in measurement
approaches which limit comparisons and analysis of trends in access and use. A comprehensive “stock-taking
report” on digital inclusion notes a “severe lack of official sex-disaggregated data” on most ICT-related topics,
noting that most indicators are conceptually unclear, lack an agreed methodology, and are not regularly
collected by most countries in any region or development category (less than 50 percent of countries, for most
indicators). This report also highlights that barriers to the collection of sex-disaggregated data include low data
collection and analysis capacity of national statistics offices; diversity of potential issues and indicators; and the
lack of conceptual and definitional clarity.162
None of the major ICT or gender equality global indices incorporate technology beyond “access” indicators,
such as indicators of meaningful use and affordability.163 The UN includes four ICT access measures in its
Minimum Set of Gender Indicators.164 However, only 69 countries submit sex-disaggregated data on Internet
access to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) which is the UN agency for ICTs.165 ITU offers a
data dashboard with key data per country collected annually (available as an excel download), but only
individual internet use is disaggregated by sex.166 Another challenge is the lack of standardized measurement
methods, with different methods producing different results.167 For example, the Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSMA) and the ITU define the difference in the Internet penetration rate between men and
women in terms of a proportion of the Internet penetration rate for men, while the World Wide Web Foundation
defines it as a proportion of Internet penetration rate for women.
One of the more robust datasets is available on the Digital Gender Gaps Portal (digitalgendergap.org) which
uses big data to track progress on gender inequalities in Internet and mobile access and use across 193
countries in real-time.168 They have indicators that use data from the Facebook Gender Gap Index by country
and other offline indicators on the country’s development status, with models for more countries (176 versus
161
IEA, 2021, World Energy Model Documentation, International Energy Agency.
162
These are: proportion of adults with an account at a bank or other financial institution or with a mobile-money service provider;
proportion of individuals using the internet; proportion of individuals who own a mobile telephone; proportion of households with
access to mass media. EQUALS, 2019, Taking stock: Data and evidence on gender equality in digital access, skills, and
leadership. United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society/International Telecommunications Union. EQUALS
Research Report 2019.pdf (itu.int).
163
EQUALS, 2019, Taking stock: Data and evidence on gender equality in digital access, skills, and leadership. United Nations
University Institute on Computing and Society/International Telecommunications Union. EQUALS Research Report 2019.pdf
(itu.int).
164
UNSD, 2017, Minimum Set of Gender Indicators.
165
Tyers, A., 2020, Gender Digital Divide Desk Review Report, USAID.
166
ITU, Digital Development Dashboard..
167
168
University of Oxford, Digital Gender Gaps.
Gender Equality
97) and a combined index which fits with ITU statistics but offers estimates for more countries.169 However,
these estimates should be used with caution, as the model tends to estimate gaps that are further away from
parity (Figure 12).
Figure 12. Digital Gender Gaps Basic and Modeled
Source: digitalgendergap.org.
Data2X is also being used to explore how digital traces from big data can help measure gender gaps in
education and occupations, but there is little information collected on quality, purpose, and impact. 170
Furthermore, there are no measures for and limited tracking of (through surveys) online abuse which can take
many forms and is more often targeted at women, including bullying, stalking, and threatening messages,
sexual harassment, and the sharing of private photos and videos without permission.
WASH
Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Universal access to water and sanitation are recognized by the UN as human rights which are fundamental to
health, dignity, and prosperity.171 There is evidence to support the costs and benefits of sanitation and drinking
water supplies, including the economic value of reducing access time and increasing healthcare savings, as
well as other social, environmental, and broader economic impacts.172 However, credible data on meaningful
levels of access are lacking in many countries, with limited reporting on proximity, quality, affordability, quantity,
and reliability. Without data in these dimensions, it is difficult to measure improvements in access to water and
sanitation services with any degree of confidence. To better understand access to water, input data (such as,
reliability, quantity, and quality of water supplied) and outcome data (from surveys of household experiences in
169
Overview: Digital Gender Gap Indicators. Indicators - Digital Gender Gaps.
170
The Project “Digital Traces of the Gender Digital Divide” is based at the University of Oxford and works in collaboration with the
Qatar Computing Research Institute. Project - Digital Gender Gaps.
171
The UN General Assembly first recognized the human right to safe drinking water as part of binding international law in 2010 and
the human right to sanitation was explicitly recognized as a distinct right in 2015.
172
Hutton, Guy, 2013, “Global Costs and Benefits of Reaching Universal Coverage of Sanitation and Drinking Water Supply,”
Journal of Water and Health, 11.1, World Health Organization.
Gender Equality
accessing water) should be used together.173 The use of longer timeframes (10 years and more) in reporting
also helps to understand sector trends.
Access to Basic Handwashing Facilities

Access is based on the percentage of the population with basic handwashing facilities, including soap and
water available on the premise. Handwashing facilities may be fixed or mobile and include a sink with tap
water, buckets with taps, tippy-taps, and jugs or basins designated for handwashing. Soap includes bar soap,
liquid soap, powder detergent, and soapy water but does not include ash, soil, sand or other handwashing
agents. The dataset is publicly available (World Bank indicator) and covers 101 countries (EME 47, LIDC 54)
with recent data (rural and urban) for most countries and some countries with data back to the year 2000, but
not disaggregated by gender.
C. Cross-cutting Measures and Potential Associations

Country Income
Figure 13 compares access to electricity and access to basic handwashing facilities by country income, which
coheres with findings in the literature and provides possible direction for further segmentation and exploration
of outliers. While this shows that countries with the least access are primarily LIDCs, there are LIDCs with full
electricity coverage of their populations which may offer a direction for further analysis. Similarly, many EMEs
and LIDCs have made strides toward full access to handwashing facilities, which may offer comparators. Sex-
disaggregated data would help assess potential gender gaps in access and income quartiles and affordability
would offer further guidance to direct focus.
Figure 13. Access to Electricity and Handwashing Facilities
Higher levels of female labor force participation can also be found with increased access to electricity. Figure
14 highlights the percentage of females in the labor force by region and within some regions, showing
173
Eberhard, R., 2018, Access to Water and Sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Sector Reforms and Investments, Key
Findings to Inform Future Support to Sector Development. Deutsche Gesellschaff fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ):
Bonn, Germay.
Gender Equality
differences between those countries with 100 percent electricity coverage and countries with less than that. As
electricity coverage varies widely in the Sub-Sahara African region, an illustrative example of one country
(Cabo Verde) moving from moderate coverage (58 percent) to high coverage (89 percent) is offered.
Figure 14. Electricity Coverage and Female Labor Force Participation
Source: World Bank and ILO
Investment in access to safe WASH has demonstrated cost-effectiveness and lends significant multiplier
effects in improved outcomes in health, education, and child development. Figure 15 shows the potential
relationship between Maternal Mortality and WASH. Among the 95 countries for which both measures are
available, countries with lower than 100 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, have a median WASH
population coverage of 88 percent. At the other end of that spectrum, countries that record over 500 maternal
deaths per 100,000 live births have a considerably lower median WASH coverage of 22 percent.
Figure 15. Access to WASH and Maternal Deaths
Maternal Mortality Ratio (national estimate, per 100,000 live births)

People with Basic Handwashing Facilities including Soap and Water (% of population)
Linear (People with Basic Handwashing Facilities including Soap and Water (% of population))
100% 2,000
90% 1,800
Maternal Mortality
Access to WASH
80% 1,600
70% 1,400
60% 1,200
50% 1,000
40% 800
30% 600
20% 400
10% 200
0% -
Kyrgyz…
Dominican…
Zimbabwe
Moldova
Syria
Ecuador
Jamaica
Timor-Leste
India
Bolivia
Philippines
Pakistan
Zambia
Ghana
Kenya
Senegal
Uganda
Ethiopia
Gambia, The
Lesotho
Haiti
Liberia
Tajikistan
El Salvador
Kiribati
Colombia
Cameroon
Sudan
Afghanistan
Chad
Kazakhstan
Costa Rica
Source: World Bank
Gender Equality
At current rates of progress, recent estimates offer that a four-fold increase in spending will be needed to
achieve universal access to safely managed WASH services by 2030.174 The situation is most acute for LIDCs
and in fragile and conflict settings where investments will need 10- and 23-fold increases, respectively, given
current rates of progress.175
Urban and Rural Disparities
Figure 16 compares average access to electricity and basic handwashing facilities based on rural and urban
coverage. This confirms findings from the literature that significant disparities remain, with government
spending needed to address gaps. Lack of sex-disaggregated data presents a significant barrier in guiding
programming to address issues that tend to have greater impacts on women and girls. Beyond rural/urban
divides, intersectional factors also disproportionately impact women, including age, marital status, and
economic status, among others.176
Figure 16. Access to Electricity and WASH by Urban and Rural Areas
Infrastructure and related services are not gender neutral. Although there has been notable global progress in
the development of infrastructure and related services, gaps persist. These disparities tend to be especially
impactful for women and girls, and generally skew larger depending on poverty, region, and rurality.
Improvements in data collection scope, alignment, segmentation, and frequency are needed to support more
meaningful analysis of gender-differentiated impacts and the ways that different types of infrastructure and
related services may advance female economic empowerment and gender equality.
Table 3 provides guidance on different types of measures and factors to consider in assessing infrastructure
services and public spending. It offers a schematic of key indicators to consider and questions to ask – but
these must be tempered by knowledge of context specific constraints that may exacerbate existing disparities.
174
WHO, 2022, World Health Statistics 2022: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals, World Health
175
WHO, 2021, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, 2000–2020: Five Years into the SDGs. World
Health Organization: Geneva.
176
Savoy, C., and J. Staguhn, 2022, The Role of Water in Catalyzing Gender Equity, Center for Strategic & International Studies,
September 6, 2022.
Gender Equality
Table 3. Gender Lens Matrix: Capital Expenditure

TRANSPORTATION
rural access index region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(population within 2km of all-season roads) income group - are public transportation or safety data available?
28 countries (20 LIDC/8 EME) education/employment - does this impact female employment? education?
ELECTRICITY
access to electricity region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(measure percentage of population with access) income group - what are priorities for use?
193 countries (LIDC 59/EME 95/AE 39) education/employment - adequacy? reliability? affordability? safety?
- does this impact female employment? education?
DIGITAL INCLUSION -
digital gender gaps portal region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(measure gap in access to internet) income group - would women benefit from fintech?
176 countries (LIDC 55/EME 84/37 AE) - reliability? affordability?
- access to hardware or internet?
WASH -
Access to Basic Handwashing Facilites region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(measure population with access) income group - hours or distance to water supply?
101 countries (LIDC 54/EME 47) education/health - safety? affordability?
- does this impact other aspects of female health? education enrollment or completion?
VII. Government Employment and

Compensation
Women tend to gravitate toward jobs with shorter working hours and greater flexibility. The importance of
balancing the distribution of care economy responsibilities is crucial, particularly for childcare. Across the
world, 606 million working age women (or 21.7 percent) perform unpaid care work on a full-time basis,
compared to 41 million men (or 1.5 percent).177 Paid family and maternity leave, smaller gaps in wages, and
a more-enabling (non-discriminatory) work environment support better outcomes in the recruitment and
retention of female workers. Paternity leave also potentially eases childcare burden and helps women’s
reentry into the labor market in ways that are good for all – children as well as mothers and fathers. Women
are attracted to public service jobs for several reasons, including lower gender wage gaps, work-life balance,
better benefits, and greater job security. Given the public sector’s size and impact in many countries, it could
serve as a positive role model in promoting diversity and equal opportunity and advancing female economic
empowerment. In exploring gender gaps in government employment and compensation, we look at
measures of employment, wages, and management roles.
Gender balance within the public sector increases the efficiency and quality of government services, by
drawing more fully on the pool of available talent. Public sector employment accounts for 36 percent of paid
formal employment globally and amounts to over half of employment in low- and lower-middle income
countries.178 Among women working in formal employment in lower- and middle-income countries, 48 percent
177
ILO, 2019, A quantum leap for gender equality: for a better future of work for all, ILO: Geneva.
178
Nwankwo, Ugonma, Megan O’Donnell, and Charles Kenny, 2021, Unpacking Gender Gaps and Data Gaps in Public Sector
Employment and Pay, CGD Policy Paper 209, Center for Global Development: Washington DC.
Gender Equality
work in the public sector.179 Public sector employment comprises over 23 percent of overall government
spending in AEs, 27 percent in EMEs and 26 percent in LIDCs and for some countries is the largest component
of current spending.180
A pivotal factor in anyone’s decision to enter the workforce is the notion of a reservation wage,181 which is the
wage at which an individual is incentivized to work – including benefits. A women’s decision to work (or not)
also often hinges on her managing workloads inside and outside the home. Women perform a disproportionate
amount of unpaid care work, limiting employment options and opportunities (Figure 17). Globally women
perform three-quarters of unpaid care work (76.2 percent of the total of hours provided), amounting to a yearly
total of 201 working days (on an 8-hour basis) as compared with 63 working days for men.182 This “double
burden” of performing more work inside the home while also in the workforce limits the time that women (and
girls) have for other activities, impacting productivity and economic participation. It can also derail a woman’s
career trajectory, by discouraging her from seeking employment or remaining in the workforce.
Figure 17. Time spent on Unpaid Domestic and Care Work
Source: WWBI.
Globally, the principal reason given by women of working age for being outside the labor force is unpaid care
work, whereas for men it is “being in education, sick or disabled.”183 A 2020 study of labor force participation in
84 countries offers that marriage and childbearing often reduce women’s labor force participation (while having
the opposite effect for men).184 The global “parenthood employment gap” is 40.3 percent.185 However, a
longitudinal study in Egypt which examined labor force participation from 1988 to 2018 found that, while
employment rates tend to rise for women as their children get older, this can depend on the type of
179
Ibid.
180
Based on latest available WEO data
181
Hall, Robert; Lieberman, Marc (2007). Economics: Principles and Applications
182
ILO, 2018, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. ILO: Geneva.
183
Azcona, Ginette, et al “2020 Spotlight on Goal 8 - The Impact of Marriage and Children on Labor Market Participation’" UN
Women and ILO; ILO, 2018, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. ILO: Geneva.
184
Data disaggregated by marital status and the presence of children. Azcona, Ginette, et al., 2020, “Spotlight on Goal 8 - The
Impact of Marriage and Children on Labor Market Participation,”, UN Women and ILO.
185
ILO, 2018, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. International Labor Office: Geneva.
Gender Equality
employment (private or public sector), with public sector employment less affected by the timing of marriage or
age of children.186
Women are more likely to work where childcare services are affordable and widely available and when men
assume greater responsibility for household tasks.187 Across almost all countries, access to free or subsidized
childcare for low-income households increases women’s labor force participation.188 In Norway, the expansion
of universal childcare for toddlers added three women with families to the workforce for every 10 children
enrolled in full time care.189 In Germany, the introduction of 12 months of paid leave following childbirth, led to
an increase in women’s workforce participation.190 Also, among women with college degrees, paid leave was
shown to increase workforce participation 5 years after birth by up to 50 percent in California and New
Jersey.191 Furthermore, Québec’s 2006 nontransferable paternal leave (which aimed to involve fathers in
caregiving and redistribute care responsibilities) increased fathers’ participation in parental leave by 250
percent and the amount of time spent on daily household work by 23 percent – even long after the leave had
ended.192
Women are attracted to public service jobs because of wages and benefits, work-life balance, and job security.
Gender wage gaps are smaller in the public sector with a wage ratio of 87 percent, in comparison with 74
percent in the private sector (using the median).193 Variability depends, in part, on country income levels, with
reported female-to-male wage ratios in the public sector for lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income
countries generally outperforming high-income countries (Figure 18). While women out-earn men in the public
sector in some countries, it is important to make comparisons based on jobs similarity and differences in
education and experience.194 For example, in Jordan, 86 percent of women employed in the public sector have
a university degree, compared to 31 percent for men.195
186
Economic Research Forum, 2019, The Evolution of Labor Supply in Egypt from 1988-2018: A Gendered Analysis. Working
Paper Series No. 1358: October 2019, Economic Research Forum: Cairo, Egypt.
187
This is the difference between the employment-to-population ratio for fathers and mothers of children aged 0–5 years. Laat, Joost
and Almudena Sevilla, 2011, The Fertility and Women's Labor Force Participation Puzzle in OECD Countries: The Role of Men's
Home Production, Feminist Economics, 17, issue 2, p. 87-119.
188
Giannelli, G., 2015, Policies to Support Women’s Paid Work. IZA World of Labor 2015: 157 7.
189
Andresen, Martin and Tarjei Havnes, 2018, Child Care, Parental Labor Supply and Tax Revenue, No 11576, IZA Discussion
Papers, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
190
Gupta, Vasudha, et al., 2019, Accelerating Gender Parity: What Can Governments Do? McKinsey & Company.
191
Jones, Kelly, and Britni Wilcher, 2019, Reducing Maternal Labor Market Detachment: A Role for Paid Family Leave, No. 2019-
07, Working Papers, American University, Department of Economics.
192
Patnaik, A., 2019. Reserving Time for Daddy: The Consequences of Fathers’ Quotas. Journal of Labor Economics 37(4): 1009–
1059.
193
194
Ibid.
195
Winkler, Hernan and Alvaro Gonzalez, 2019, Jordan Jobs Diagnostic. Jobs Series No. 18. World Bank, Washington, DC.
Gender Equality
Figure 18. Private and Public Sectors Female Employment and Wage Ratios by Income Group
Female Employment Female to Male Wage Ratios
Source: WWBI.
Available data indicate public sector gender gaps in employment, seniority, and pay, with under-representation
in management and leadership positions – although less so than in the private sector.196 Public sector jobs are
comparatively well-paid, with a wage premium of about 13 percent for women and low-skilled workers, given
the difference in wages between the public and private sector after controlling for education, gender, age, and
location.197 However, women remain overrepresented in lower-level positions in the public sector as shown in
Figure 19, with significant gaps in management and among senior officials. Across countries, women account
for about 57 percent and 38 percent of the lowest and highest paid public sector jobs, respectively. 198 There are
also differences by regions, with women in Sub-Saharan Africa, MENA, and the Asia-Pacific comprising less
than 40 percent of employees in the public sector, and women in Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean
making up over half.199
Figure 19. Public Employment of Females by Occupational Group
Source: WWBI.
196
Employment and Pay, CGD Policy Paper 209, Center for Global Development: Washington DC; McKinsey & Company, 2021,
Women in the Workplace: 2021. Women in the Workplace 2021: The State of Women in Corporate America.
197
Wage premium is defined by the WWBI as the percentage difference in public sector wages compared to private sector wages.
However, incomes within the data are limited to self-reported wages, and do not include bonuses, allowances, and in-kind
payments. Gindling, T. H., et al., 2019, Are Public Sector Workers in Developing Countries Overpaid? Evidence from a New
Global Data Set, Policy Research Working Paper No. 8754, World Bank: Washington, DC.
198
199
Ibid.
Gender Equality
Gender wage gaps are widened by occupation, industry, workforce composition, marriage, and children.
Globally, on average, women continue to be paid approximately 20 percent less than men.200 Some portion of
the wage gap is due to differences in occupation and industry, with male-dominated occupations generally
garnering higher wages.201 However, women who work in higher-paying male-dominated occupations are often
paid less than similarly employed and educated men.202 Data offer that the proportion of women decreases as
the hourly wage increases in different occupations worldwide – in some cases very sharply.203 Moreover,
working in a business with a predominantly female workforce brings a 14.7 percent wage penalty compared to
working in a comparable business with a different gender mix.204 There is also evidence of a wage penalty for
mothers. A Danish study tracking careers of women seeking invitro fertilization found that women who became
pregnant ended up with lower earnings compared with similar women who were not successfully treated. 205
Another study looking at data across 22 European countries found that women with families have lower
personal earnings (even later in life) than childless women and single mothers.206
Leading by example, the public sector can advance female economic empowerment by mediating income and
employment gaps. Gender balance within the public sector creates a public face that is more likely to reflect the
composition of society. In many countries, government is the principal employer for formal sector employment,
and the example of equitable government compensation and employment standards can help to promote equal
pay and employment opportunities for women and disadvantaged groups.207 There is evidence that increased
transparency, reporting and monitoring of sex-disaggregated data, and publicized goals can advance female
economic empowerment as an intermediary measure, through employment, wage equity, and benefits which
improve gender equality outcomes. The Japanese government in 2015 set a target of hiring 30 percent women
for civil-service career-track positions and exceeded that goal in 2020 at 35.4 percent.208 Israel set a goal for
women to fill half of the country’s senior civil service positions within two years, and to allow designating some
posts just for women to ensure the target is reached.209 Within the United Kingdom’s National Health Service,
which has flexible working options for men and women, women make up 46 percent of all executive directors
and 38 percent of nonexecutive roles.210
200
Based on data covering some 70 countries and about 80 percent of wage employees worldwide. Global Wage Report 2018/19:
What lies behind gender pay gaps, International Labor Office: Geneva.
201
Blau, Francine, and Lawrence Kahn, 2017, The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations. Journal of Economic
Literature. 55. 789-865. 10.1257/jel.20160995; ILO, 2019, A quantum leap for gender equality: for a better future of work for all,
ILO: Geneva.
202
Gould, Elise, Jessica Schieder, and Kathleen Geier, 2016 What is the Gender Pay Gap and Is It Real? The Complete Guide to
How Women Are Paid Less Than Men and Why It Can’t Be Explained Away. October 20, 2016, Economic Policy Institute.
203
ILO, 2019, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps, International Labor Office: Geneva.
204
ILO, 2019, A quantum leap for gender equality: for a better future of work for all, ILO: Geneva.
205
Lundborg, P., E. Plug, and A.W. Rasmussen, 2017, Can Women Have Children and a Career? IV Evidence from IVF
Treatments. American Economic Review 2017 Jun;107(6):1611-37.
206
Muller, J.S., N. Hiekel, A.C. Liefbroer, 2020, The Long-Term Costs of Family Trajectories: Women's Later-Life Employment and
Earnings Across Europe. Demography. 2020 Jun;57(3):1007-1034.
207
IMF, 2016, Managing Government Compensation and Employment – Institutions, Policies, and Reform Challenges. IMF:
Washington DC.
208
Nippon.com 2023, Record High Number of Women Hired to Japanese Civil Service.
209
Winer, Stuart, 2020, Cabinet Sets Goal for Women to Fill Half Senior Civil Service Positions by 2023, The Times of Israel. 18
October 2020 Article.
210
Gender Equality
B. Key Indicators
Female labor force participation is often poorly measured and underestimated, including in the public sector.
The World Bank’s Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators (WWBI) provide the best available data on employment,
advancement, and compensation in both the public and private sectors. However, even these data are limited
given that many countries do not have the administrative and information technology systems in place to
regularly produce accurate data.
The WWBI dataset covers 132 countries total, although data are not available from all countries for every
indicator – especially disaggregated data. There are 54 series available which are disaggregated, although
some are very sparsely populated. For example, out of the 132 countries globally with data on employment,
fewer than 80 offer any kind of disaggregated wage data and what is provided is based on self-reporting of
wages that do not include bonuses, allowances, and in-kind payments.211
Employment
Females as a share of public sector paid employees. The WWBI database provides measures for females as a
share of public sector paid employees, measuring women in the public workforce by industry and occupational
groups. Data are available for 108 countries from 2011 onward (LIDC 38, EME 45, AE 25). These data can
also be parsed by education, age, and versus the private sector as shown in Figure 20.
Figure 20. Females in Public and Private Sector Employment, Regional Variations
Source: WWBI.
Wages
The WWBI dataset provides data on public sector wages. The data for female-to-male wage ratio in the public
sector are available for 95 countries (30 LIDC, 42 EME, 23 AE) with some data from 2011 to 2018 currently.
Most recent datapoints for most countries are current, with some up to 10 years older.
211
Gender Equality
While in most cases the gender wage gap in the public sector is less than in the private sector, wage gaps do
persist and should be reduced. Only in a very few cases have gender wage gaps disappeared at the country
level, though further review by occupation or industry categories may still evidence gaps. The WWBI provides
cross-country pay comparisons by occupation (both mean and median), wage quintile, pay compression,
gender wage premiums by industry and against private sector, relative wages to a clerk reference point, and
the P-Values for select gender wage premiums.
Management
Public sector employment (as a share of total employment), by occupational group for management, measures
the percentage of public sector employees who are managers. Data are publicly available from WWBI and
include 132 countries (38 LIDC, 63 EME, 31 AE), going back to 1993 in some cases. Most data are current,
although a small portion of countries have not reported in three to five years.
Even though women are well represented in the public sector, they are largely confined to a few industries and
occupations. Women make up 64 percent of the education and more than 70 percent of health workers in the
public sector, but comprise only about 38 percent of the public administration workforce.212 One likely reason
for this disparity is bias in task assignments that relegates women to jobs where they are less visible and get
fewer opportunities for advancement.213 Figure 21 depicts differences observed in public sector wage ratio and
the percentage of women in public sector management across regions. These differences likely reflect social
norms that influence mobility, education, and advancement opportunities.
Figure 21. Public Sector Wage Ratio and Females in Management
Source: WWBI.
212
Mukhtarova, T., F. Baig, and Z. Hasnain, 2021, Five Facts on Gender Equity in the Public Sector, Worldbank.org Governance for
Development (September 27, 2021).
213
Ibid.
Gender Equality
The salaries of public servants and other government employees are an important component of public
spending in most countries. Yet the differences between countries are very large. Throughout Europe, the
share of government spending that is devoted to the compensation of government employees ranges between
5 percent and 15 percent. By contrast, throughout most of Africa the available figures range between 30
percent and 50 percent. While some correlations may be found with country income and related to the
development cycle, we also found interesting variations related to the composition and concentration of women
in the workforce.
Public sector wages, particularly for low-skilled workers, tend to be higher relative to the private sector. Public
sector wages and jobs are also typically more stable and secure. Aggregation of all the differences into the
lifetime value of a career in either sector provides a measure of the long-term public-private pay gap. This gap
is close to zero in many major European countries; although in some countries, low-skilled workers enjoy a
sizeable public-sector premium.214 However, across the world, the top civil servants tend to either have zero or
even a negative pay premium.215
Overall wage gaps may reflect the type of jobs (clerical/management) or industries (health/education) that
women enter or the level of education. Knowing the composition allows for targeted recruitment, training, and
retention to narrow gaps. Figure 22 provides data on three countries with varying wage gap outcomes. More
specifically, in one case (where when women participate more as professionals and managers) the wage gap is
narrower, while in another case (where women participate more in the clerical sector) the overall wage gap is
wider and, in the third case, the wage gap is widest even though women are participating more evenly at all
levels.
Figure 22. Exploration of Three Countries with Different Wage Ratio Outcomes
Source: WWBI.
Examining the representation of women across levels and sectors of public employment to identify bulges and
gaps would allow for consideration of actions to target those inequities. As noted, most public sectors have
higher participation by women, but they are largely confined to a few industries and occupations.
214
Postel-Vinay, Fabien, 2015, Does it Pay to be a Public-sector Employee? IZA World of Labor 2015:156.
215
Housmann, R., L. Nedelkoska, and S. Noor, 2020, You Get What You Pay for: Sources and Consequence of the Public Sector
Premium in Albania and Sri Lanka, Center for International Development, Harvard University CID Faculty Working paper No.
376 February 2020.
Gender Equality
Even if gender balance is better in the public sector than in the private sector, we are far from equality. Women
are attracted to work within the public sector because of shorter working hours, better benefits, and smaller
wage gaps. Work-life balance is another important factor in many women’s decision to enter (and stay) in the
public sector workforce, because of disparities in care economy responsibilities.
Governments can advance female economic empowerment and gender equality by setting fair and equitable
standards for hiring, promotion, wages, training, and benefits (such as childcare). Increasing workforce diversity
in the civil service sets an important and positive example for the labor market more generally. Given the
intersectionality of gender, occupation, and economic empowerment, improving diversity and equity in the
public sector can increase efficiency and the provision of higher quality services.
Table 4 provides guidance on different types of measures and factors to consider in assessing government
employment and compensation and public spending. It offers a schematic of key indicators to consider and
questions to ask – but these must be tempered by knowledge of context specific constraints that may
exacerbate existing disparities.
Table 4. Gender Lens Matrix: Government Employment and Compensation

LABOR
females in the public sector wage ratios - if high, what is the wage gap? are women represented in leadership?
(measure level of participation) leadership - if low, what may be drivers? time spent in unpaid work? inflexible work hours? lack of benefits?
108 countries (LIDC 38/EME 45/AE 25). time in unpaid work - are women concentrated by occupation or industry? why?
education - is education a factor? is education of women aligned with labor market needs?
paid maturnity/childcare - are there cultural or religious norms to consider?
private sector - is there transparency? targeted hiring initiives?
WAGES
female to male wage ratio in the public sector labor - what is the composition of females in the labor force?
(measure difference in pay) leadership/management - are females at all levels or do they accumulate more in one industry or occupation?
95 countries (30 LIDC/42 EME/23 AE) education - are cross country comparisons available? country income? percentage of public spending?
private sector - are women more or less educated in similar jobs?
wage premium
LEADERSHIP
female share of public sector in management labor - how does management participation compare across countries? industires?
(measure representation in management) wage ratios - are wages comparable for women and men in management?
132 countries (38 LIDC/63 EME/31 AE) education - are women more or less educated for comparable management jobs?
private sector - are hiring practices or training not supportive of female advancement?
- are women in management concentrated or absent in any industries?
Gender Equality
VIII. Social Protection and Labor Market

Programs
Women tend to be disadvantaged in social protection and labor market programs, with lower rates of
coverage and accrued benefits. This increases the vulnerability of families during adverse shocks, economic
reforms, and fiscal consolidation, and risks of female poverty, especially in old age. To avoid unintended
consequences, equity considerations need to be applied in determining coverage, adequacy, distribution,
and delivery methods. The literature offers evidence that targeting women recipients can improve nutrition
and health within households, and increase women’s autonomy over how money is spent, saved, and/or
invested. Programs that take into consideration informal employment, unpaid work, and career interruptions
due to children and family caregiving show promise for increased autonomy in decision-making, which is
associated with advances in female economic empowerment and gender equality. However, measuring sex-
disaggregated impacts and outcomes are difficult, because data are limited and generally collected only at
the household level. We analyze poverty gender gaps over the life course, as well as poverty rates and
coverage of pensions and maternity leave to explore the adequacy of social protection and labor market
programs through a gender lens.
Social protection and labor market programs support opportunities for increasing human capital, alleviating
poverty, and avoiding future poverty.216 However, less than half (46.9 percent) of the global population are
covered by at least one social protection benefit (excluding some healthcare and sickness benefits) – which
leaves 4.1 billion people unprotected.217 Social protection includes social safety net (SSN) programs that
provide cash or in-kind benefits to mitigate income and employment losses and offer protection from adverse
shocks, economic reforms, and fiscal consolidation.218 While programs can be classified in different ways, they
are widely understood to be forms social assistance to protect households from poverty and destitution by
ensuring a minimum level of economic well-being.219 Labor market programs complement and interact with
social protection in providing skills that may help to protect against loss of employment and income.220 Active
labor market programs are social expenditures (other than education) that increase gainful employment or
216
Grosh, Margaret, et al., 2008, For Protection and Promotion: The Design and Implementation of Effective Safety Nets, World
Bank: Washington, DC; Morley, Samuel, and David Coady, 2003, From Social Assistance to Social Development: Targeted
Education Subsidies in Developing Countries, Center for Global Development, International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI), Washington, DC.
217
ILO, 2021, World Social Protection Report 2020-2022, ILO: Geneva.
218
Fiscal Affairs Department and Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, 2022, IMF Engagement on Social Safety Net Issues for
Surveillance and Program Work, IMF Technical Notes and Manuals 2022/000.
219
This includes cash transfer programs, pensions, school feeding programs, nutrition programs, fee waivers and targeted
subsidies, emergency and other non-contributory programs. Grosh, Margaret, et al., 2008, For Protection and Promotion: The
Design and Implementation of Effective Safety Nets, World Bank: Washington, DC.
220
Fiscal Affairs Department and Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, 2022, IMF Engagement on Social Safety Net Issues for
Surveillance and Program Work, IMF Technical Notes and Manuals 2022/000.
Gender Equality
earning capacity, while passive labor market programs provide temporary income support to unemployed or
underemployed workers.221
Adequacy of social protection and labor market programs coverage and benefits are largely associated with
spending levels and country incomes (Figure 23). On average, countries spend 12.9 percent of GDP on social
protection (excluding health), with high-income countries spending 16.4 percent in comparison with 2.5 percent
spent by lower-middle-income countries and 1.1 percent spent by low-income countries.222 Higher coverage is
available in Europe and Central Asia (83.9 percent) and the Americas (64.3 percent), with fewer covered in
Asia and the Pacific (44.1 percent), the Arab States (40 percent), and Africa (17.4 percent).223 Recent
estimates offer that achieving at least a basic level of social security through a nationally defined social
protection minimum (or floor) would require additional investments of US$362.9 billion for LMICs and US$750.8
billion for upper-middle-income countries per year, equivalent to 5.1 and 3.1 percent of GDP, respectively.224
For low-income countries this additional investment would amount to US$77.9 billion, equivalent to 15.9
percent of GDP.225
Figure 23. Population Coverage by Region; Coverage and Government Spending
Source: EAT and World Bank Open Data.

Note: coverage data available on 122 countries; spending and coverage data on 103 countries.
While varying by region and country, women and children are generally disadvantaged in coverage rates and
benefit levels. Among the 30.6 percent of people covered by comprehensive social security systems (that
include a full range of benefits, from child and family benefits to old-age pensions), women’s coverage is lower
than men’s by 8 percentage points.226 National expenditure on social protection for children equates to just 1.1
percent of GDP on average.227 Only 26.4 percent of children globally receive social protection benefits, with
221
For example: unemployment insurance (contributory); unemployment assistance (non-contributory); employment retention
schemes; and public employment guarantee schemes. Fiscal Affairs Department and Strategy, Policy, and Review Department,
2022, IMF Engagement on Social Safety Net Issues for Surveillance and Program Work, IMF Technical Notes and Manuals
2022/000.
222
223
Ibid.
224
Ibid.
225
Ibid.
226
Ibid.
227
Ibid.
Gender Equality
coverage especially low in Africa (12.6 percent), the Arab States (15.4 percent), and Asia and the Pacific (18
percent).228
Most contributory social protection programs, such as pensions, are available only for formal economy workers,
disproportionately impacting the working poor and women who work primarily in the informal sector.229 Two
billion of the world’s employed population (aged 15 and over) work informally, representing 61.2 percent of
global employment.230 In more than half of countries (55.5 percent), the share of women in informal
employment exceeds that of men, amounting to more than 90 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, 89 percent in
South Asian countries, and almost 75 percent in Latin American countries (see figure 24).231
Figure 24. Male and Female Employment and Informal Employment by Region
Source: ILOSTAT and World Bank Open Data.

Note: sex-disaggregated data on both employment and informal employment available for only 43 countries.
Gender social protection gaps are, in part, driven by discriminatory laws and social norms that influence labor
market outcomes and social security system structures. The difference in expected lifetime earnings between
women and men amounted to US$172.3 trillion globally or twice the size of the world’s annual GDP, even
before the COVID-19 pandemic.232 Women are overrepresented among the unemployed and as unpaid
contributing family workers, making up nearly two-thirds of contributing family workers (those who work in
family businesses without any direct pay).233 As noted, women’s labor force participation varies over their life
course, with lower rates during reproductive years and variation across regions, depending on social norms
and care responsibilities.234
228
UNICEF, 2021, Social Protection and Gender Equality Outcomes Across the Life-Course: A Synthesis of Recent Findings.
229
230
ILO, 2018, Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (third edition), International Labour Office: Geneva.
231
232
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2022, Goalkeepers Annual Report: The Future of Progress.
233
ILO, 2018, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work, ILO: Geneva.
234
Gender Equality
Inequalities in the care economy were exposed during the COVID-19 safety measures and closures, with more
women than men leaving the workforce, largely because of intensified unpaid care work.235 However, despite
strong evidence of the disproportionate impact of pandemic control measures on women, many social
protection programs implemented during COVID-19 were not gender-responsive.236 As of May 2021, more than
3,300 social protection and labor market measures were planned, adapted, or implemented in more than 220
countries and territories, with public spending largely targeted toward increased support for healthcare,
sickness, and unemployment benefits.237 However, a 2022 report revealed that less than one in five social
protection measures addressed gender issues, such as supporting women in informal employment, mitigating
risks of violence, and/or addressing unequal distribution of care work.238
Among the many different types of social protection and labor market programs, research suggests that
positive life-course impacts for women and girls are most evident from health insurance, pensions, childcare
services, active labor market programs, and cash transfers.239 As discussed in greater detail below, these
programs have demonstrated effects on economic security and empowerment, health, education, well-being,
and voice and agency. Evidence of female economic empowerment outcomes include increased probability of
employment and higher incomes or earnings and financial inclusion, strengthened risk management, better
access to assets and inputs, and improved intra-household gender relations. While autonomy in decision-
making is a frequently cited as indicator, as noted other factors may negatively impact female empowerment
and intra-household dynamics, such as women’s restricted mobility, time poverty, limited access to and control
over assets and resources, and unequal distributions of unpaid care and domestic work.
Unemployment and Healthcare Insurance
Contributory social protection programs can exacerbate gender gaps and vulnerabilities. In many countries,
social protection programs are designed based on the model of a male “breadwinner” who works uninterrupted
throughout his career in formal employment. This disadvantages women who are overrepresented in informal
employment, tend to have lower total accumulated contributions from formal employment, and/or have fewer
resources because they lack access to and control over assets. Extending social protection to workers in the
informal sector can have important impacts on women’s livelihoods and help to address constraints on
women’s economic agency and other vulnerabilities.240
Women and men tend to have different spending priorities, which underscores the importance of women’s
access to social protection benefits as a social safety net. A randomized control trial in Northern Macedonia
235
de Paz Nieves, Carmen, Isis Gaddis, Miriam Muller, 2021, Gender and COVID-19: What have we Learnt, One Year Later?
Poverty and Equity Global Practice, Policy Research Working Paper 9709 (June 2021), World Bank: Washington, DC; UN
Women, 2020, Whose Time to Care? Unpaid Care and Domestic Work during COVID-19; ILO, 2020, ILO Monitor: COVID-19
and the World of Work, 6th ed. Updated Estimates and Analysis.
236
Gentilini, U., et al. 2021, Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-time Review of Country Measures,
Working Paper 159043, World Bank: Washington DC; Fisseha, S., et al., 2021, COVID-19: The Turning Point for Gender
Equality, Lancet 398, S0140-6736(21)01651-2.
237
Gentilini, U., et al., 2021, Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-time Review of Country Measures,
Working Paper 159043, World Bank: Washington DC, cited in Gavrilovic, Maja, et al., 2022, Gender-responsive Social
Protection Post-COVID-19, Science 375 (6585).
238
Based on the examination of 3099 social protection and labor market responses. Gavrilovic, Maja, et al., 2022, Gender-
responsive Social Protection Post-COVID-19, Science 375 (6585).
239
240
Kabeer, N., C. Piza, and L. Taylor, 2012, What Are the Economic Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs? A Systematic
Review of the Evidence. Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
Gender Equality
found that spending on food was 5 percentage points higher and resulted in better nutrition (for poorer
households) when women were recipients.241 Moreover, a study undertaken in Bangladesh and Uganda, found
that women’s available assets are more likely to be drawn down during adverse shocks.242
The pandemic highlighted the crucial role of healthcare services, and unemployment and healthcare insurance.
Unemployment benefits remain one of the least developed programs within social protection, with just 18.6
percent of unemployed workers worldwide having effective coverage.243 Globally 3.6 percent of GDP is spent
on income security for people of working age, but only one-third of the world’s working-age population has
income security protected by law in the event of sickness.244 Many LMICs recently extended health insurance
to previously uninsured populations, including workers in the informal sector. This benefits women who are
more likely to work in the informal economy. However, while extending health insurance can improve use of
healthcare services and reduce risks of falling into poverty due to out-of-pocket health expenditure, this benefit
also needs to be coupled with support for quality healthcare services that are accessible and available.245
Pensions
Old age pensions are a critical safety net for preventing poverty in old age, especially among women who tend
to live longer. Pensions are the most widespread form of social protection in the world, with 77.5 percent of
people above retirement age receiving some benefits and coverage amounting to 7 percent of GDP
expenditure on average.246 The adequacy of benefits is most important for people in low-paid jobs and those in
precarious forms of employment, especially women who are more likely to have had interrupted careers (due to
unpaid care work) and to earn less (because of gender wage gaps and occupational segregation) – which
impacts accumulated contributions. In some countries, contribution credits help to mitigate these discrepancies
by valuing unpaid care and domestic work.247
Increasing women’s income from old age pensions can be empowering, with multiplier effects in health and
education.248 In South Africa, studies of state pensions provide evidence of increases in female bargaining
power within the household for recipient women, with declines when men receive the pensions. Female
pensioners were 13 to 17 percentage points more likely to be the primary decision makers in their household
as compared with non-eligible women.249 Studies also found that female recipients of pensions were more likely
241
Armand, Alex, et al., 2020, The Effect of Gender-Targeted Conditional Cash Transfers on Household Expenditure: Evidence from
a Randomized Experiment, The Economic Journal, 130(631), May 2020; Almas, Ingvild, et al., 2018, The Economic Journal,
Volume 128, Issue 612, 1 July 2018, pages F609-F639.
242
Quisumbing, A., N. Kumar, and J.A. Behrman, 2018, Do Shocks Affect Men’s and Women’s Assets Differently? Evidence from
Bangladesh and Uganda. Development Policy Review 36 (1), 3–34.
243
244
Ibid.
245
Camilletti E., 2020, Social Protection and Its Effects on Gender Equality: A Literature Review. Innocenti Working Paper 2020-06.
Florence: UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti.
246
247
248
UNICEF, 2021, Social Protection and Gender Equality Outcomes across the Life-Course: A Synthesis of Recent Findings.
249
Ambler, Kate, 2014, Bargaining with Grandma: The Impact of the South African Pension on Household Decision Making, The
Journal of Human Resources 51(4).
Gender Equality
to invest in the welfare of their grandchildren (especially granddaughters) than male recipients and to support
their daughters in seeking jobs.250
Childcare Services
Affordable and available childcare services can reduce and redistribute unpaid care work. Women and girls are
disproportionately tasked with unpaid care and domestic work, spending triple the amount of time in such
unpaid activities in comparison with men.251 Worldwide only 44.9 percent of women with newborns receive a
cash maternity benefit.252 Social protection programs can improve the recognition and value attached to unpaid
care and domestic work (SDG 5.4), including via maternity and paternity leave and access to childcare
services, which increases women’s economic participation.253 Social norms that delegate unpaid care economy
responsibilities to women are also reflected women’s labor market segregation into lower paid occupations,
with negative implications for women’s contributions and benefits during working and older ages.254 Disparities
can be addressed through social protection systems and programs that value care work and mitigate gendered
risks and vulnerabilities specific to ages and stages in the life course.255 However, studies note that these non-
contributory social protection programs need to provide adequate benefits that are regularly delivered in a
predictable manner.256
Labor Market Programs
Labor market outcomes are influenced by societal expectations, employer policies, legal frameworks, and
availability of care, all of which affect women’s education and career trajectories.257 Women tend to face greater
discrimination in the labor market when married and with children.258 Estimates from 51 countries indicate that
(in 2015) some 45.8 percent of mothers of young children under 5 years of age were in employment, compared
with 53.2 percent of women without children of that age.259 Social expectations are difficult to measure, but one
study by McKinsey found that no countries with high levels of equality on social indicators have low equality in
terms of employment.260 The undervaluing of women’s time and labor distort markets, economic policies, and
economic decision-making, limiting choices, participation in the paid economy as well as benefits gained.261
Labor market programs may help close gender gaps in the workforce. In many countries, public works
programs create temporary employment opportunities for women through female quotas and by offering
250
Kabeer, Naila, 2012, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Inclusive Growth: Labor Markets and Enterprise Development, SIG
Working Paper 2012/1.
251
UN Women, 2019, Progress of the World’s Women 2019–2020: Families in a Changing World.
252
253
254
UN Women, 2019, Progress of the World’s Women 2019–2020: Families in a Changing World; UNICEF, 2021, Social Protection
and Gender Equality Outcomes across the Life-Course: A Synthesis of Recent Findings; ILO, 2018, Care Work and Care Jobs
for the Future of Decent Work, ILO: Geneva.
255
256
257
World Economic Forum, 2022, Global Gender Gap Report 2022.
258
259
ILO, 2019, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All, ILO: Geneva.
260
261
Singh, Nisha, Anam Parvez Butt, and Caludia Canepa, 2018, Shifting Social Norms in the Economy for Women’s Economic
Empowerment: Insights from a Practitioner Learning Group. SEEP Network and Oxfam.
Gender Equality
women-friendly working conditions.262 These increase labor force participation, especially among young
women, but the transition to more stable employment can be difficult. Evidence from experimental and quasi
experimental studies on the effects of labor market programs in lower-middle-income countries suggests that
effectiveness can hinge on the intensity and quality of the program, duration (longer or more intensive
programs being more effective), and barriers to participation.263 Barriers include transportation and mobility,
costs, time constraints, and social norms (e.g., occupational segregation, inequalities in unpaid care and
domestic work, and availability and affordability of childcare services).
Cash Transfers
Cash transfers are among the largest and most diverse set of social protection programs. They include cash,
food, and different types of stipends or scholarships to improve education, healthcare, and nutrition. A growing
body of evidence shows that cash transfers (both conditional and unconditional) can be promising tools for
reducing poverty and improving measures of well-being, including increasing household consumption, school
enrolment and attendance for girls, and income-generation, savings, and/or transitions to paid employment – all
of which help to improve women’s socioeconomic status, agency, and living standards, and reduce vulnerability
to risky sexual behaviors and early marriage.264 However, timing and exposure can be critical to outcomes and
the accrual of positive impacts over time, with earlier exposure associated with increased educational
attainment and delayed marriage and childbearing, which have positive affect on economic empowerment
outcomes.265
Cash transfers that target female recipients may increase positive impacts on health and nutrition, and in
educational attainment. Programs in Zambia reported economic benefits and decision-making among poor
women, including diversification into non-farm enterprises and savings with long-term improvements in
women’s financial position and household well-being.266 A 2021 study examining the long-term impact of
childhood exposure to Mexico’s Progresa Program (targeting children’s nutrition, health and education) found
improved outcomes in early adulthood among women, with increases in educational attainment, geographic
mobility, labor market performance, and household living standards.267 A 2020 study of Brazil’s Bolsa Familia,
which targets poor women, assessed the relationship between this program and women’s empowerment,
262
Chopra, Deepta, 2018, Initiating women’s empowerment; achieving gender equality: Interlinkages amongst Social Protection,
Infrastructure and Public Services. Background paper for Expert Group Meeting at Sixty-third session of the Commission on the
Status of Women, 13–15 September, UN Women, New York.
263
264
Bastagli, F., J. Hagen -Zander, and G. Sturge, 2016, Cash Transfers: What does the Evidence Say? Overseas Development
Institute (ODI); Winters, Paul, et al., 2016, The Transfer Project, Cash Transfers, and Impact Evaluation in Sub-Saharan Africa,
From Evidence to Action: The Story of Cash Transfers and Impact Evaluation in Sub Saharan Africa; Dake, Fidelia, et al., 2018,
Cash Transfers, Early Marriage, and Fertility in Malawi and Zambia, Studies in Family Planning, Volume 49, Issues 4:295-317;
Handa, Sudhanshu, et al., 2018, Can Unconditional Cash Transfers raise Long-term Living Standards? Evidence from Zambia,
Journal of Development Economics 133 (2018) 42-64; Handa, Sudhanshu, Frank Otchere, and Paul Sirma, 2021, More
Evidence on the Impact of Government Social Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana, Malawsi, and Zimbabwe, Development
Policy Review, Volume 40, Issue 3.
265
266
Natali, L., et al., 2016, Making Money Work: Unconditional cash transfers allow women to save and re-invest in rural Zambia,
Innocenti Working Paper No.2016-02, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence.
267
Parker, Susan W., and Tom Vogl, 2021, Do Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Economic Outcomes in the Next Generation?
Evidence from Mexico, Working Paper 24303, (February 2018, revised January 2021), National Bureau of Economic Research:
Cambridge, MA.
Gender Equality
examining the effects on economic independence, physical health, and psychosocial well-being.268 While
women experienced some improved status in all three dimensions, the degree of empowerment obtained
depended largely on ancillary services in health and social assistance. Moreover, in Pakistan, a study
examining differences on panel households from 2011 to 2016 found that the Benazir Income Support Program
led to improvements in women’s mobility, political participation, and socioeconomic wellbeing. 269
Cash transfer programs that target female recipients may also reduce risks of gender-based violence, including
intimate partner violence (IPV). A randomized experiment in Northern Ecuador found that cash, vouchers, and
food transfers targeted to women reduced controlling behaviors and physical and/or sexual violence by 6 to 7
percent.270 A 2018 mixed-method review of 14 quantitative and 9 qualitative studies focused on LMICs found
evidence of reductions in IPV associated with increases in economic security and well-being, although the
results for women’s empowerment were ambiguous depending on program design features and behavioral
responses to program components.271 This suggests that program framing and complementary activities,
including those that engage men and aim to shift intra-household power relations, will be important design
features for understanding how to maximize and leverage cash transfers in ways that reduce IPV and mitigate
potential adverse impacts.
While cash transfers generally are shown to benefit women, attached conditions and methods of delivery
matter. There are questions in the literature about conditionalities for receiving benefits, such as requiring
school attendance or health care visits. While there is some evidence that conditionalities increase the use of
services, there is also evidence that this is not needed for achieving positive outcomes and may, in fact,
exacerbate women’s time poverty as they tend to be responsible for adherence to prescribed conditions. 272
Moreover, there are concerns that targeting women as recipients in these types of programs may
unintentionally reinforce stereotypes, and that the focus on poverty does not address structural inequalities and
unequal power dynamics within households.273
Digitized social protection payments can increase women’s autonomy over how money is spent, saved, or
invested. Among those who have access, digital payments provide a convenient and safe option for delivery,
especially in contexts where women’s mobility and free time are limited and access to cash may otherwise be
constrained.274 Digitized payments can improve economic security, increase agency and decision-making, and
268
Sugiyama, Natasha Borges, and Wendy Hunter, 2020, Do Conditional Cash Transfers Empower Women? Insights from Brazil’s
Bolsa Familia, Latin American Politics and Society, Volume 62, Issue 2 (May 2020):53-74.
269
Iqbal, Tehmeena, Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda, and Shujaat Farooq, 2020, “Unconditional Cash Transfers and Women Empowerment:
the Case of Benazir Income Support Program in Pakistan,” Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies,
6(2), 401-418.
270
Hidrobo, Melissa, Amber Peterman, Lori Heise, 2016, The Effect of Cash, Vouchers, and Food Transfers on Intimate Partner
Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Northern Ecuador, American Economic Journal Applied Economics
8(3):284-303 (July 2016).
271
Buller, Ana Maria, et al., 2018, A Mixed-Method Review of Cash Transfers and Intimate Partner Violence in Low and Middle-
Income Countries, UNICEF, Office of Research, Innocenti Working Paper: WP-2018-02.
272
273
Holmes, R. and N. Jones, 2013, Gender and Social Protection in the Developing World: Beyond Mothers and Safety Nets,
London: Zed Books, cited in UNICEF, 2021, Social Protection and Gender Equality Outcomes Across the Life-Course: A
Synthesis of Recent Findings.
274
Gender Equality
reduce financial stress and conflict.275 Cash transfers delivered by mobile phone to women in Niger provided
sustained benefits for food security and diet diversity, compared with cash transfers delivered in person,
including the added benefits from less time and money spent in traveling to receive the transfer. 276 However, e-
payments can exacerbate pre-existing inequalities. For example, COVID-19 response measures which relied
on digital outreach, registration, and payout created barriers for some women because of digital divides in
ownership, access, and knowledge of how use to ICTs.277
B. Key Indicators
Social protection and labor market programs encompass a wide array of multi-dimensional programs, making
categorization and measurement of impacts and expenditure on a broad scale complicated. Spending on social
protection (excluding healthcare and sickness) is generally measured as a percentage of GDP and typically
focuses on adequacy, efficiency, and sustainability. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed inequalities and gaps in
social protection coverage, comprehensiveness, and adequacy across all countries, revealing inadequate
levels of coverage (or no protections at all), especially among vulnerable groups in the informal economy.278
Datasets for social protection and labor market programs are limited. Much of the information is gathered
through surveys using inconsistent forms and collection methods measured at the household level. Data
assembly and harmonization are also challenging and imperfect. The World Bank’s ASPIRE database, which
collects data related to social protection and labor market programs for all non-OECD countries has limited
information: among 125 countries in the database, only 34 countries disaggregate among recipients; 52
countries have data for both individuals and households; and 39 countries have data only at the household
level. Moreover, ASPIRE organizes programs largely based on the objective and nature of each program, but
program objectives tend to overlap, blurring the line between classifications.279
SDG 1.3 aims to ensure social protection systems for all, including floors, as part of SDG 1 to end poverty.
Eight different measurements are being used to track outcomes, based on the proportion of the population
covered by social protection (floors or systems). However, most of these measures are not disaggregated.
Figure 25 shows the limited number of countries tracking female recipients in each category among the 123
countries reporting any sex-disaggregated data for SDG 1.3.1 (although new entries are being made),
demonstrating gaps in both data as well as coverage.280
275
O’Donnell, Megan, Mayra Buvinic, and Shelby Bourgault, 2022, A Core Set of WEE Indicators to Inform Digital Social Protection
Payment Programs, Center for Global Development (June 2022).
276
Among households which received mobile transfers diet diversity was 9 to 16 percentage points higher, and children ate one-
third more of a meal per day. Aker, Jenny C., et al., 2016, Payment Mechanisms and Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from a
Mobile Money Cash Transfer Experiment in Niger, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2016 65:1, 1-37.
277
EBRD, 2020, Building Back Better for Gender Equality: Lessons from the EBRD. European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development: London; Holmes, Rebecca, et al., 2020, Strengthening Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) During the
Implementation of Social Protection Responses to COVID-19, Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19 – Expert Advice
Helpline (SPACE).
278
World Social Protection Report 2020–22: Social protection at the crossroads ‒ in pursuit of a better future International Labor
Office – Geneva: ILO, 2021.
279
World Bank, 2018, The State of Social Safety Nets 2018, World Bank: Washington, DC.
280
The wide array of social protection and labor program objectives are also part of other SDGs, including 2.1 ending hunger and
ensuring access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food; 3.8 achieving universal health coverage; 5.4 recognizing the valuing
unpaid care and domestic work through provision of public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies; 8.5 achieving
full and productive employment and decent work; 10.4 adopting policies, especially fiscal, wage, and social protection to
progressively achieve greater equality.
Gender Equality
Figure 25. SDG 1.3.1 Tracking Measures and Countries with Disaggregated Data
Source: ILOstat.
Note: 12 entries have figures, the balance state "No unemployment protection programme anchored in national
legislation"
Gender Gaps in Poverty
Measurements of poverty corroborated with gender inequality are difficult to measure, because data are
collected based on households, not individuals. However, UN Women periodically publishes poverty forecasts
that are disaggregated by sex and new releases can be downloaded from their website.281 This poverty
estimate covers 182 countries (AE 37, EME 87, LIDC 58), providing insights into sex-disaggregated income
and poverty levels, across countries and regions. Identifying poverty profiles through household composition
and using data from 91 countries, this research reveals important gender inequalities.282 For example, the
share of young girls who reside in poor households is almost 1 percentage point higher than boys (principally
driven by results from India); gaps in poverty rates by sex are associated with differences in household
compositions between women and men, with women more likely to be live in households with young children;
and, women’s vulnerability to poverty is higher between ages 25 and 34, when they are most likely to have
young children.283 Moreover, gender poverty gaps are concentrated in Central and South Asia and Sub-
Saharan Africa, where 88.4 percent of the world’s poor reside, and in Latin America and the Caribbean where a
considerably smaller share of the world’s poor reside (4 percent).284
Figure 26 demonstrates gender poverty gaps over the life course (female less male rate of poverty in the
population, based on a poverty threshold of US$1.90). Among the 25 to 34 age group differences are greatest,
with 123 women for every 100 men living in poverty.285 Poverty rates are highest among children, decrease for
adolescents and young adults, and then stabilize among people aged 50 or older. Adult and child poverty are
intertwined, with poor children more likely to live in larger households. This helps to explain why poor children
account for 28 percent of the total population, but 46 percent of the poor.286 There is also a widening gender
gap at higher levels of poverty. When the poverty rate is below 5 percent the gap is negligible; however, as
281
This is done in collaboration with the UNDP and the Pardee Center for International Futures using the International Futures
Modelling Platform. See UN Women, 2022, Poverty deepens for Women and Girls, According to the Latest Projections.
282
Boudet, A., et al., 2021, Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, Policy
Research Working Paper 9553, World Bank: Washington, DC.
283
Ibid.
284
Ibid.
285
Ibid.
286
Ibid.
Gender Equality
poverty levels increase, the gender poverty gap shows female disadvantage above the line and male
disadvantages below the line.
Figure 26. Gender Poverty Gap over Life Course and at Increasing Rates of Poverty
Source: Boudet, A, 287 Source: UN Women Poverty Estimates.
The poverty rate of US$1.90 per person per day was considered the extreme poverty threshold until the World
Bank replaced it with $2.15 in September 2022.288 While the UN Women’s most recent release predates that
change, it does offer regional findings for female poverty at US$3.20 and US$5.50 as shown in Figure 27.
Figure 27. Female Poverty Level Estimates (2022) by Geographic Regions
Source: UN Women Poverty-Estimates.
287
Ibid. See page 5 with reference to GMD (Global Monitoring Database), Global Solution Group on Welfare Measurement
and Capacity Building, Poverty and Equity Global Practice, World Bank, Washington, DC.
288
World Bank, Factsheet: An Adjustment to Global Poverty Lines.
Gender Equality
Pensions
Persons above retirement age receiving a pension disaggregated by sex is available from ILOSTAT for only 56
countries (AE 4, EME 42, LIDC 10). Data are mostly from 2020 with a few dating back to 2018. However, only
5 countries include disaggregated social security coverage as partially available. Figure 28 shows median
coverage levels for men and women, with variations for income groups and regions.
Figure 28. Sex-disaggregated Retirement Age Pension Recipients, by Income Groups
Source: ILOstat.
All OECD countries have disaggregated data available on several levels, including gross pension replacement
rate of average wages, retirement age, years to retirement, and old age income poverty. 289 OECD.Stat data
show lower pensions for women (compared to men) in some countries, and that 16.2 percent of women over
66 are living in poverty (defined as having an income below half the national median equalized household
disposable income) as compared with 11 percent of men (Figure 29). Notably, poverty rates over age 76 are
higher where large gender poverty gaps persist, with an overall ratio of income poverty at 16.6 percent.
289
OECD, 2021, Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators, OECD Publishing: Paris.
Gender Equality
Figure 29. Poverty Rates of Men and Women age 66+
Source: OECD.Stat.
Maternity Leave
Maternity leave is available on ILOstat as part of SDG 1.3.1 tracking which measures the proportion of mothers
with newborns receiving benefits.290 There are datasets for 81 countries (AE 5, EME 55, LIDC 21) and several
regional groupings which may offer benchmarks. Nearly all countries in the dataset have information as recent
as 2020, although much of data are compiled through household surveys using different methodologies which
limits cross-country comparisons.
A 2014 ILO report offers a comprehensive review of the national maternity and paternity laws and practices for
185 countries.291 The ILO also has an online Working Conditions Laws Database (TRAVAIL) which identifies
country-specific legislative measures adopted to protect the health and welfare of working women during
pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding and to ensure employment protection and non-discrimination.292 This
includes types of coverage (maternity, paternity, adoption, and parental leave), eligibility and duration, cash
benefits, health protection measures, and employment security. While HTML reports can be generated for each
country, the data cannot be parsed in chart form.293
The ILO reports that globally about 45 percent of mothers with newborns receive a maternity benefit, leaving 71
million mothers uncovered.294 As Figure 30 shows, there are regional differences in maternity coverage which
may offer opportunity for comparators.
290
ILO, ILOSTAT, SDG indicator 1.3.1 - Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems (%) | annual.
291
Addati, Laura, Naomi Cassirer, and Katherine, Gilchrist, 2014, Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and Practice across the
World, ILO: Geneva.
292
ILO, TRAVAIL, Working Conditions Laws Database.
293
ILO, TRAVAIL, How to Use This Database?
294
ILO, World Social Protection Data Dashboard - Universal Social Protection
Gender Equality
Figure 30. Mothers with Newborns Receiving Maternity Benefits
Source: ILOstat.
OECD.Stat publishes data back to 1970 (and as current as 2021), reporting different types of leave. More
specifically, total number of weeks for job-protected maternity leave; job-protected parental and home care
leave; paid maternity, parental and home care leave; and father-specific leave.295 OECD.Stat lists countries and
the average maternity leave with job protection for 20 weeks, although this ranges from zero to 52 weeks
(because of legal variations for countries where there is no separate legislation for maternity leave). The weeks
of parental leave reserved for the exclusive use of mothers around childbirth are reported, with data shown for
the total duration of paid maternity and parental leave the number of weeks which a women can take after the
birth of a child (both maternity and parental leave).
Another source for country level data is the International Network of Leave Policies and Research which has
produced an annual review since 2005 and covers nearly 50 countries.296 Although this is not in exportable
format, the Mutual Information System on Social Protection contains downloadable data on social protection for
31 countries, including maternity leave, but the data tables are not in a simple numeric format which makes
cross country comparisons difficult.297
Figure 31 shows differences in maternity leave practices for 49 countries drawn from the 2022 International
Review of Leave Policies and Research. While the chart is not complete and there are multiple notes and
caveats for each country which should be reviewed, this does illustrate the wide range of leave duration
available.298
295
OECD.Stat Database - Social Protection and Well-being/Gender/Employment/Length of Maternity, Parent and Home Care Leave
and Paid Father-specific Leave.
296
Koslowski, A., et al., 2022, International Review of Leave Policies and Research 2022.
297
Mutual Information System on Social Protection, Comparative Tables.
298
Where private and public sectors are noted, only the public sector is shown. Koslowski, A., et al., 2022, International Review of
Leave Policies and Research 2022.
Gender Equality
Figure 31. Maternity Leave by Number of Weeks and Country
Source: International Review of Leave Policies and Research 2022
While women in the workforce may have rights to maternity leave and some form of wage replacement, the
duration, amount, and eligibility terms vary greatly.299 Paid family leave can increase women’s attachment to
the workforce, drawing more educated women back into the work force. A study in California covering women
with earnings near the maximum benefit threshold found an increased likelihood of women returning to the pre-
leave firm with no evidence that higher amounts in weekly benefits increased leave duration.300
Investments in maternity benefits help to ensure a minimum level of income security during this critical stage in
the lives of mothers and children.301 The absence of income security forces many women to keep working into
the very late stages of pregnancy and/or return to work prematurely after the birth, increasing health risks for
mother and child.302 Although there are few legislated protections for women in the informal sector, an
increasing number of countries are providing maternity cash benefits to low-income residents or informal
workers through non-contributory maternity cash benefits financed by public funds.303 The ILO estimates that a
minimum package of social security covering family allowances and maternity benefits is affordable and
feasible even in the poorest countries, noting the importance of assessing the costs of providing adequate
maternity protection relative to not providing it.304 When a woman becomes ill or dies, her productivity declines
and/or income is lost, with negative impacts on the family and community. Her children are also much more
likely to drop out of school, suffer poor health, and die.305 In OECD countries that adopted paid maternity leave,
infant, neonatal, and under-five mortality rates declined by 1.9 to 5.2 percent.306
299
Durán-Valverde, F., et al. 2020. Financing gaps in social protection: Global estimates and strategies for developing countries in
light of the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, ILO Working Paper, ILO: Geneva.
300
Bana, S., K. Bedard, and M. Rossin-Slater, 2020 The Impacts of Paid Family Leave Benefits: Regression Kink Evidence from
California Administrative Data Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 5 August 2020.
301
ILO, 2015, Social Protection for Maternity: Key Policy Trends and Statistics, Social Protection Policy Paper, No. 15, International
Labor Office, Social Protection Department: Geneva.
302
ILO, 2021, World Social Protection Report 2020–22: Social Protection at the Crossroads ‒ in Pursuit of a Better Future,
International Labor Office: Geneva.
303
Durán-Valverde, F., et al., 2020. Financing Gaps in Social Protection: Global Estimates and Strategies for Developing Countries
in Light of the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond, ILO Working Paper: Geneva.
304
Addati, Laura, Naomi Cassirer, and Katherine Gilchrist, 2014, Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and Practice across the
World, ILO: Geneva.
305
Ibid.
306
Khan, M.S., 2020, Paid Family Leave and Children Health Outcomes in OECD countries. Child Youth Service Review 2020
Sep;116:105259.
Gender Equality

Social Protection and Spending
The prevalence of at least one social protection benefit varies by country income and region. Figure 32 shows
the percentage of the regional population covered and total spending levels (represented by social assistance
spending plus pension spending). This dataset has limitations as some regions are represented by very few
countries because data on both measures are not available (i.e., Sub-Saharan Africa 26, Middle East North
Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan 18, Emerging and Developing Asia 22, Caucuses and Central Asia 7, Latin
America and the Caribbean 23, Emerging and Developing Europe 6, Advanced Economies 4).
Figure 32. Regional Differences in Social Protection Coverage and Spending
Source: EAT and ILOstat.
Parsing through types of coverage and how this is distributed for men and women is difficult. Currently, for
SDG 1.3.1 only 14 countries include disaggregated data on coverage for at least one social protection benefit
in ILOstat. Some categories do enable better comparisons, such as recipients of unemployment benefits and
retirement age receiving a pension, but considerable gaps remain.
Pension Spending and Older Age Female Poverty
Poverty among individuals aged 66 to 75 years is less prevalent than among those aged 75 and above. 307
Lower earnings-related pension income and longer life expectancy are the main drivers of higher poverty
incidence among women in comparison with men, with women more predominate among the older age
group.308 Figure 33 shows pension spending as a percentage of GDP and poverty rates above 66 years for
males and females in OECD countries. Outliers are explained by differences in the maturation of the pension
system, with the current generation of pensioners receiving lower pensions, and indexing of individual pensions
to less than earnings growth, which tends to lower the relative value of pensions compared to earnings when
retirees grow older.309
307
OECD, 2021, Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators, OECD Publishing: Paris..
308
Ibid.
309
Ibid.
Gender Equality
Figure 33. Pension Spending and Female and Male Poverty Rates (age 66+)
Source: OECD/OECD.Stat.
Maternity Leave Spending and Coverage
A 2018 OECD report gives public expenditure on maternity leave and parental leave per live birth.310 In the 34
countries included, basic maternity leave ranged from 6 to 39 weeks and averaged 18 weeks. Figure 34 shows
public expenditure per live birth (USD 2015; PPP 2017) measured against data on the number of weeks of paid
maternity leave and paid parental and home care available to mothers. Given available data, it is unclear what
drives higher expenditure per birth, as there is no information on how many weeks mothers decided to take.
This limits opportunities to parse possible connections and explain anomalies, suggesting areas for further
study.
Figure 34. Public Expenditure on Maternity and Parental Leaves and Length of Available Leaves
Source: OECD Social Expenditure Database and OECD Health Statistics.311
310
OECD Family Database, PF2.1 Parental Leave
311
Ibid.
Gender Equality
Nevertheless, in general, higher spending is associated with lower maternal and infant mortality rates. Figure
35 shows public expenditure on maternal and parental leave per live birth against combined infant and
maternal mortality rates (adjusted to incidence per 1000 live births). Again, more data would be needed to
parse possible connections and anomalies.
Figure 35. Paid Leave Entitlements for Mothers and Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates
Source: OECD, 2018, “Summary of paid leave entitlements available to mothers”, OECD Family Database,
PF2.1 Parental Leave. and World Bank Data.
Social protection programs design features, implementation and delivery modalities, financing, and governance
mechanisms, have implications for gender relations, female economic empowerment, and gender equality.
Evidence from the literature offers that female economic empowerment and gender equality outcomes differ
depending on duration, ages and stages, program design and implementation. Context also matters
significantly, especially the prevalence and strength of discriminatory social norms which inhibit women’s self-
efficacy or agency.
Economic security and female economic empowerment are more commonly associated with programs that
support improved health, education, and employment opportunities through cash and asset transfers, childcare
services, parental leave, pensions, and active labor market training. Programs that lower the cost of schooling
for girls and incentivize parents to send their girls to school can reduce the risk of adolescent girls dropping out
of school due to pregnancy or early marriage. Maternity leave and healthcare benefits can reduce out-of-pocket
health expenditure and help ensure that pregnant and lactating women have needed goods and services for
their own and children’s health. Expanding pension benefits can have a positive impact on women’s autonomy
in decision-making and reduce rates of poverty among the elderly. Moreover, increasing non-contributory
programs are beneficial for women because they are more likely to work in the informal economy, have careers
interrupted during childbearing years, and earn less while working (due to gender wage gaps).
Table 5 provides guidance on different types of measures and factors to consider in assessing social protection
and labor market programs and public spending. It offers a schematic of key indicators to consider and
questions to ask – but these must be tempered by knowledge of context specific constraints that may
exacerbate existing disparities.
Gender Equality
Table 5. Gender Lens Matrix: Social Protection and Labor Market Programs

POVERTY
female poverty level estimates poverty level - is there a higher level of poverty overall which may coincide with a wider gender gap?
(measure gender gaps in poverty) geographic region - are there regional or country wealth comparators?
182 countries (LIDC 58/EME 87/AE 37) country income - does a bulge occur at higher risk ages (child bearing and old age) for women?
poverty over the lifecycle - is poverty accompanied by high fertility rates? adolescent fertility?
fertility rates if so, are there programs to support family planning?
maternity benefits - are women supported by paid maternity leave or any maternity health programs?
education - are women and girls disadvantaged in education?
informal employment - are older women supported by pensions?
SOCIAL PROTECTIONS
at least one social protection disaggregated by sex maternity coverage - is there universal coverage?
(percentage of the population covered) unemployment levels if not, are women less covered than men due to care economy/unpaid work?
(123 countries (LIDC 44/EME 71/AE 8) geographic region - are there regional or country wealth comparators?
country income - are there comparators in spending? are there efficiencies to be found?
informal employment
government spending
PENSIONS
women and men receiving a pension country wealth - are there regional or country wealth comparators?
(identifies gender gaps in pension systems) geographic region - how large is the pension gender gap as women age?
56 countries (LIDC 10/EME 42/AE 4) female poverty - what is the poverty gap for women along the same age progression?
informal employment - are there systemic issues? indexing?
government spending - are credits given for unpaid work? Non-contirutory programs?
MATERNITY
effective coverage labor force participation - are there legal rights to maternity leave and job protection?
(measure the rights to maternal leave) informal employment - are there regional comparators?
81 countries (LIDC 21/EME 55/AE 5) country wealth - is there income replacement?
geographic region - what portion of women may be in informal employment and have no coverage?
leave coverage/duration - cash benefits? UCT? CCT?
spending per live birth - are there implications for maternal health, mother an infant mortality?
IX. Conclusion
This paper is a preliminary exploration of key factors and indicators associated with gender-differentiated
impacts in each of the five main categories of public spending. The intent is to encourage discussion and
debate on the identified measures and indices, and more in-depth research and analysis in each category of
spending. The purpose is to better inform decision making on public spending. While public spending is not a
panacea to close all gender gaps, it may move the needle toward advancing female economic empowerment
and gender equality. This paper is meant to be practical, not theoretical, and to offer actionable
recommendations for discussions, further inquiry and decision-making in dialogue with IMF member countries.
Although there is disagreement about how and why empowerment happens, there is growing consensus that
expanding women’s economic participation (to have an income of their own) can be an effective pathway for
achieving gender equality more broadly.312 An increasing body of evidence from the literature shows that when
women are able to access earnings and have decision-making power in how that money is spent, families are
better off overall – children, spouses or partners, and the women themselves. An economically empowered
woman can engage in markets and decent work, have access to and control over productive resources and
assets, and have greater agency in economic decision-making and control over her own time and body.
Women who have better access to and control over income are also more likely to invest in more education
and nutritional food for their children and have access to mobile phones and the digital economy. Conversely,
the economic disempowerment of women and girls is associated with gender gaps in access to education,
312
Kan, Sophia, and Stephan Klasen, 2018, Macroeconomics and Gender: Recent Research on the Linkages Between Economic
Growth and Women’s Economic Empowerment, IDRC: Ottawa, Canada.
Gender Equality
health, and financial services, and low rates of female labor force participation and representation in
management and leadership positions.
The following recommendations emerged out of the literature review and our analysis. These are aimed at
supporting interactions and strengthening gender analysis and integration in collaboration with IMF member
country counterparts.
Strengthen collection of disaggregated data. Improving the collection and use of data on gender issues will
provide a better basis for understanding what works to reduce barriers to female economic empowerment. We
reiterate what we repeatedly found in the literature and in many of the datasets: there is a need for more
disaggregated data and analysis to better inform decision-making. Many surveys rely on household-level data
collected from “household-heads” (de facto males, except for female-headed households) who generally
provide limited information on constraints experienced by women. Disaggregated data should also be collected
based on residence/locale, age, and educational attainment to show how gender intersects with other factors to
create disadvantages.
Improve gender metrics in measurement. Very few evaluations include long-term follow-ups or broader
measures of well-being. More in-depth and longitudinal analysis is needed to measure and quantify gender
impacts. The literature highlights positive associations with female economic empowerment and improved
health, education, employment, and well-being. However, more information is needed to identify meaningful
measures of change. For example, labor force participation tends to be a binary (yes/no) measure, with limited
information about the quality of employment and conditions of work, including gender-based occupational and
management-level segregation and wage gaps. Data on public spending in social services should ideally
capture care economy provisions, to better understand to what extent these responsibilities are shared
between families, governments, and/or other institutions. Also, attending school and acquiring learning are not
the “finish line” for educational attainment; rather the ultimate objective or measurement should be whether
“girls can empower themselves through education to achieve their life aspirations.”313
Support an enabling environment for narrowing gender gaps through targeted public spending. Sound
fiscal policies are necessary for macroeconomic stability which ostensibly boosts economic growth and
opportunities for all. However, expenditure aimed at promoting economic growth are not necessarily gender
neutral. Allocations of resources and policy priorities are gendered processes which often replicate and
perpetuate inequalities. Recognizing that effective public financial management also plays an important role in
fostering gender equality, fiscal policy can provide resources to promote female economic empowerment,
through public employment opportunities for women, supporting improved pedagogy and educational outcomes
that prepare students for employment or self-employment in the private sector, and by mitigating constraints to
female economic participation through better, safer, regular, and reliable transportation services, access to
electricity and internet connectivity, and publicly funded childcare services.
Female economic empowerment is macro critical, with positive multiplier effects across all categories of public
spending. Economic empowerment helps to narrow gender inequalities, boosting inclusive economic growth
and reducing vulnerabilities to fiscal shocks and reforms. Although gender gaps are narrowing in some
countries and regions, inequalities remain skewed to the disadvantage of women and girls. Well-targeted
313
Evans, David, and Fei Yuan, 2021, What We Learn about Girls’ Education from Interventions That Do Not Focus on Girls, The
World Bank Economic Review, 0(0), 2021:1-24.
Gender Equality
investments and public spending can support female economic participation and empowerment, but more
analysis is needed to improve understanding about what works and why. To support these analyses, questions
focused on identified gender issues could be added to censuses and existing surveys, such as labor force
surveys, population surveys, and household surveys which are regularly undertaken by most countries.
Moreover, as noted in this paper, there is scope for further and more in-depth research in each of the five
spending categories to better understand gender impacts and outcomes associated with public spending levels
and potential benchmarks.
While all gender gaps cannot be eliminated simply through expenditure policy, based on evidence in the
literature, persistent gaps in economic domains can be narrowed through increased access to resources
combined with increased capacity to exercise strategic forms of agency as mediated by a more enabling policy
environment.314 More specifically, changes in legal frameworks to address gender discriminatory norms and
practices in the workplace and at home; infrastructure policies that address women’s time and mobility
constraints; and macroeconomic policies which generate broad-based employment. However, promoting
inclusive economic growth and female economic empowerment will require fiscal space. In setting priorities for
fiscal policies and expenditure, the IMF and member country counterparts could consider how fiscal space may
be created by investment in human capital that increases the productive capacity of the economy through
public spending that demonstrates promise for empowering women economically and addressing gender
inequalities.
314
Gender Equality
Annex I. Key Definitions

Agency is the ability to make decisions and act upon them to achieve a desired outcome, free from violence,
retribution, or fear.
Equality means providing each individual or group of people the same basic resources and opportunities
(sometimes referenced as “a level playing field”).
Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances, and that different approaches, allocations, or
resources may be needed to address disadvantages or inequalities to achieve equality in opportunities
(creating a “level playing field”).
Female Economic Empowerment is the same concept as Women’s Economic Empowerment, but includes
both women and girls.
Gender refers to identities assigned to men and women that affect relationships and responsibilities. Societal
and individual expectations about gender are learned and can and do change over time. These differ within and
among cultures or social groups, and often intersect with other factors, such as race, class, age, and sexual
orientation.
Gender analysis is a subset of socioeconomic analysis that is used to identify, understand, and explain gaps
between males and females that exist in households, communities, and countries as well as key domains,
including gendered division of labor, access to and control over resources, assets, opportunities, and services,
leadership roles and decision-making power. A gender analysis is a first step to designing gender-intentional
programs and activities, leading to the identification and a better understanding of who may be included and
excluded based on their sex or gender identity. It helps to mitigate potential differential impacts of development
policies and programs on males and females, including unintended or negative consequences.
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is an umbrella term for any harmful threat or act directed at an individual or
group based on actual or perceived biological sex, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, and/or
lack of adherence to varying socially constructed norms around masculinity and femininity. Types of GBV
include, but are not limited to child, early, and forced marriage; female genital mutilation/cutting; so-called
“honor”-based violence and killings, and other harmful practices; acid violence; dating violence; domestic
violence; female infanticide; femicide or gender-related killing of women and girls; all forms of human
trafficking; intimate partner violence; sexual harassment; stalking; all forms of sexual violence, including
reproductive and sexual coercion.
Gender equality expands opportunities so that equal opportunities and benefits are available to males and
females.
Gender equity recognizes that to achieve equality special measures may be necessary to compensate for
gender gaps and the legacy of discrimination. This usually involves a focus on women, because women are
typically in a subordinate or disadvantaged position.
Gender Equality
Gender gap refers to disparities in male and female economic, social, political, and intellectual conditions and
position within society, due to the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities.
Gender inclusion transcends masculine and feminine stereotypes of roles and responsibilities, and is
premised on the belief that all services, opportunities, and establishments should be open to all people
regardless of gender identity.
Gender integration is a process for identifying and addressing gender inequalities during strategy and project
design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
Gender lens is a perspective used to identify and understand power biases and differences in different
contexts by analyzing gendered opportunities and constraints in accessing resources and opportunities.
Gender mainstreaming involves embedding a gender perspective into an organization’s operations and
activities, including strategies, structures, policies, systems, and culture.
Gender norms are a subset of social norms which are shaped by patriarchy. Gender norms are socially
constructed, based on collective beliefs about what behaviors are appropriate for women and men and the
relations between them.
Intersectionality recognizes that experiences of inequality result from the interaction of gender with other
social markers of difference, including age, race, class, religion, disability status, sexual orientation, and gender
identity and expression, compounding forms of discrimination. An intersectional approach examines differences
within and among groups of men and women and gender non-conforming individuals, and how these
differences create unequal opportunities.
Sex is the biological categorization of a person as male, female, or intersex that is assigned at birth based on
biological indicators, including hormones, sex chromosomes, internal reproductive organs, and external
genitalia.
Sex-disaggregated data are quantitative and qualitative data collected and presented by sex which enables
measurement of differences in outcomes between males and females.
Social norms are shared expectations and often unspoken beliefs about what people do and should do. These
are embedded in formal and informal institutions, and in attitudes and behaviors that guide how individuals
interact in society, the economy, and within the household. In the context economic opportunities, social norms
influence the control of productive assets, with gendered occupational roles and care responsibilities often
limiting women’s ability to seek employment and to establish and/or expand a business.
Stereotypes are standardized mental pictures that are held in common by members of a group and that
represent an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.
Vulnerable groups are those groups or individuals at greater risk of poverty, displacement, injury, or social
exclusion, based on context or situation. This includes different factors, such as ethnicity, age, sexual
orientation, disability status, poverty, occupation, and location.
Gender Equality
Women’s economic empowerment exists when women and girls can equitably participate in, contribute to,
and benefit from economic opportunities as workers, consumers, entrepreneurs, and investors. This requires
access to and control over assets and resources, as well as the capability and agency to manage the terms of
their own labor and the benefits accrued. Women's economic equality is one facet of gender equality more
generally, which requires attention to the full range of gender gaps—economic, political, educational, social,
and otherwise.
Gender Equality
Annex II. Gender Lens Matrices

A. Education
LITERACY
youth literacy gender parity index youth literacy - if both are high, can efficiency be improved?
(measure gender gaps in literacy) - if gaps exist, is this due to enrollment or completion gaps?
148 countries (LIDC 54/EME 81/AE 13) - if both are low, is it due to enrollment, completion or effectiveness?
youth literacy youth literacy GPI

(measure overall level of youth literacy)
ENROLLMENT
primary/secondary/tertiary enrollment GPI enrollment - if gaps exist, do they exist at all levels of enrollment or do they accumulate at one level?
(measure gender gaps in enrollment) employment - if gaps accumulate at one level, what are possible factors? Out of pocket schooling costs,
190 countries (LIDC 59/EME 93/AE 38) distance to school, hours in family care roles, marriage, teen pregnancy, inadequate hygiene
facilities, food insecurity, access to labor markets?
primary/secondary/tertiary enrollment (gross) enrollment GPI - if a low enrollment (<75%), increasing primary enrollment reduces future gender gaps
(measure enrollment level - regardless of age) enrollment net - are there cultural or religious norms to consider?
- are conditional cash transfers or merit scholarships available?
- if levels are low, is this due to lack of resources? lack of access? safety concerns?
primary/secondary/tertiary enrollment, (net) enrollment gross - are there delays in enrollment? repetition of grades? education interruption? high drop-out
(measure of age appropriate students) enrollment GPI rates?
INCOME
country income (LIDC,EME,AE) literacy - are there associations between country wealth and other measures? Regional impacts?
(indication of stage of economic development) enrollment
spending
EDUCATION SPENDING
per student spending $PPP literacy - are funds unevenly distributed? rural/urban? wealthy/poor? male/female?
(measure government spending per student) enrollment - are levels (primary/secondary/tertiary) subsidized by public funding? external aid?
154 countries (LIDC 48/EME 70/AE 36) income - where measures are strong, can efficiency be improved? Transparency? accountability?
health initiatives - are there other spending categories (i.e., health) that may impact education gaps?
- do PISA scores offer a bennchmark?
B. Health
MATERNAL HEALTH
maternal mortality fertillity rate - if high, could this be due to access to health care or high adolsecent and/or adult fertility?
(measure deaths in childbirth) adolescent fertilty - if low, are benchmarks possible by country wealth and/or region?
170 countries (55 LIDC/81 EME/35 AE) out of pocket - are access issues to or high out of pocket costs detering necessary health care?
total fertility rate maternal mortality - if lower than 2.1, sufficient parental leave and childcare? jobs protected? flexible schedules?
(estimated children born per woman) adolescent fertility - if high, is it coupled with high maternal mortality? high adolescent fertility?
185 countries (59 LIDC/EME 89/37 AE) decision making - do women make their own health care decisions? do cultural/religious view impact?
family planning - do women have access to family planning? is it affordable?
employment/education - is high fertility coupled with low female education and employment?
adolsecent fertility rate total fertility rate - are rates high for country wealth or region?
(measure adolecent births per 1,000 women) maternal mortality - is high adolsecent fertility coupled with high maternal mortality?
187 countries (59 LIDC/89 EME/37 AE) education - are there connections to general health or education initiatives?
FAMILY PLANNING
women making informed family planning decisions fertility rate - is access the limiting factor or are there other constraints on women?
(measure decision making autonomy) education - is there an link to education and work opportunities for women?
64 countries (LIDC 42/EME 22) employment - do societal norms play a role?
demand for family planning satisfied fertillity rate - is this coupled with high fertility or high adolescent fertility rates?
(measure if needs are met) adolescent fertilty - is access a limiting factor?
63 countries, (LIDC 41/EME 22) out of pocket - are out of pocket costs prohibitive?
GIRL CHILDREN
sex ratio at birth natural range 1.03-1.07 - is this outside the natural range? If so, are measures being taken to address this?
(measure of sex preference) - how does this compare regionally?
185 countries (59 LIDC/EME 89/37 AE)
prevelence of stunting disaggregated data - is there a higher level of female than male stunting?
(sex preference in food allocation) maternal mortality - are there cultural norms driving this?
153 countries (59 LIDC/82 EME/12 AE) - is this coupled with high maternal mortality and larger overall healthcare issues?
SPENDING
per capita spending $PPP maternal mortality - are women receiving an equal share of health spending?
(measure health care expenses) family planning needs - are rural populations underserved? funding evenly dispursed?
188 countries (58 LIDC/94ME/36AE)
out of pocket costs as % of total expenditures maternal mortality - are costs limiting health care access generally?
(measure personal cost of healthcare) fertility rates - are aid programs operating in parallel?
188 countries (58 LIDC/94ME/36AE) adolescent fertility
Gender Equality
C. Capital Expenditures
TRANSPORTATION
rural access index region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(population within 2km of all-season roads) income group - are public transportation or safety data available?
28 countries (20 LIDC/8 EME) education/employment - does this impact female employment? education?
ELECTRICITY
access to electricity region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(measure percentage of population with access) income group - what are priorities for use?
193 countries (LIDC 59/EME 95/AE 39) education/employment - adequacy? reliability? affordability? safety?
- does this impact female employment? education?
DIGITAL INCLUSION -
digital gender gaps portal region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(measure gap in access to internet) income group - would women benefit from fintech?
176 countries (LIDC 55/EME 84/37 AE) - reliability? affordability?
- access to hardware or internet?
WASH -
Access to Basic Handwashing Facilites region - regional? income? urban/rural comparators?
(measure population with access) income group - hours or distance to water supply?
101 countries (LIDC 54/EME 47) education/health - safety? affordability?
- does this impact other aspects of female health? education enrollment or completion?
D. Government Employment and Compensation

LABOR
females in the public sector wage ratios - if high, what is the wage gap? are women represented in leadership?
(measure level of participation) leadership - if low, what may be drivers? time spent in unpaid work? inflexible work hours? lack of benefits?
108 countries (LIDC 38/EME 45/AE 25). time in unpaid work - are women concentrated by occupation or industry? why?
education - is education a factor? is education of women aligned with labor market needs?
paid maturnity/childcare - are there cultural or religious norms to consider?
private sector - is there transparency? targeted hiring initiives?
WAGES
female to male wage ratio in the public sector labor - what is the composition of females in the labor force?
(measure difference in pay) leadership/management - are females at all levels or do they accumulate more in one industry or occupation?
95 countries (30 LIDC/42 EME/23 AE) education - are cross country comparisons available? country income? percentage of public spending?
private sector - are women more or less educated in similar jobs?
wage premium
LEADERSHIP
female share of public sector in management labor - how does management participation compare across countries? industires?
(measure representation in management) wage ratios - are wages comparable for women and men in management?
132 countries (38 LIDC/63 EME/31 AE) education - are women more or less educated for comparable management jobs?
private sector - are hiring practices or training not supportive of female advancement?
- are women in management concentrated or absent in any industries?
Gender Equality
E. Social Protections and Labor Market Programs

POVERTY
female poverty level estimates poverty level - is there a higher level of poverty overall which may coincide with a wider gender gap?
(measure gender gaps in poverty) geographic region - are there regional or country wealth comparators?
182 countries (LIDC 58/EME 87/AE 37) country income - does a bulge occur at higher risk ages (child bearing and old age) for women?
poverty over the lifecycle - is poverty accompanied by high fertility rates? adolescent fertility?
fertility rates if so, are there programs to support family planning?
maternity benefits - are women supported by paid maternity leave or any maternity health programs?
education - are women and girls disadvantaged in education?
informal employment - are older women supported by pensions?
SOCIAL PROTECTIONS
at least one social protection disaggregated by sex maternity coverage - is there universal coverage?
(percentage of the population covered) unemployment levels if not, are women less covered than men due to care economy/unpaid work?
(123 countries (LIDC 44/EME 71/AE 8) geographic region - are there regional or country wealth comparators?
country income - are there comparators in spending? are there efficiencies to be found?
informal employment
government spending
PENSIONS
women and men receiving a pension country wealth - are there regional or country wealth comparators?
(identifies gender gaps in pension systems) geographic region - how large is the pension gender gap as women age?
56 countries (LIDC 10/EME 42/AE 4) female poverty - what is the poverty gap for women along the same age progression?
informal employment - are there systemic issues? indexing?
government spending - are credits given for unpaid work? Non-contirutory programs?
MATERNITY
effective coverage labor force participation - are there legal rights to maternity leave and job protection?
(measure the rights to maternal leave) informal employment - are there regional comparators?
81 countries (LIDC 21/EME 55/AE 5) country wealth - is there income replacement?
geographic region - what portion of women may be in informal employment and have no coverage?
leave coverage/duration - cash benefits? UCT? CCT?
spending per live birth - are there implications for maternal health, mother an infant mortality?
Gender Equality
References
Addati, Laura, Naomi Cassirer, and Katherine, Gilchrist, 2014, Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and
Practice Across the World, International Labor Office: Geneva.
Aker, Jenny C., et al., 2016, Payment Mechanisms and Anti-Poverty Programs: Evidence from a Mobile Money
Cash Transfer Experiment in Niger, Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2016 65:1, 1-37.
Albanesi, Stephania, and Claudia Olivetti, 2009, Gender Roles and Medical Progress. Working Paper No.
14873, National Bureau of Economic Research: Cambridge MA.
Alliance for Affordable Internet, 2021, The Costs of Exclusion: Economic Consequences of the Digital Gender
Gap. Web Foundation.
Almas, Ingvild, et al., 2018, Measuring and Changing Control: Women’s Empowerment and Targeted
Transfers, The Economic Journal, Volume 128, Issue 612, 1 July 2018, Pages F609–F639.
Ambler, Kate, 2014, Bargaining with Grandma: The Impact of the South African Pension on Household
Decision Making, The Journal of Human Resources 51(4).
Andresen, Martin and Tarjei Havnes, 2018, Child Care, Parental Labor Supply and Tax Revenue, No 11576,
IZA Discussion Papers, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
Armah, Frederick Ato, et al., 2018, Access to Improved Water and Sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa in a
Quarter Century. Heliyon. 2018 Nov 16;4(11): e00931.
Armand, Alex, et al., 2020, The Effect of Gender-Targeted Conditional Cash Transfers on Household
Expenditure: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment, The Economic Journal, 130(631), May 2020.
Azad, A.D., et al., 2020, The Gender Gap and Healthcare: Associations between Gender Roles and Factors
Affecting Healthcare Acess in Central Malawi, June–August 2017. Arch Public Health 78, 119 (2020).
Azcona, Ginette, et al., 2020, 2020 Spotlight on Goal 8 – The Impact of Marriage and Children on Labor Market
Participation. UN Women and ILO: New York and Geneva.
Bailey, Martha J., 2013, Fifty Years of Family Planning: New Evidence on the Long-Run Effects of Increasing
Access to Contraception, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, 2013:341-409.
Balhotra, Sonia, and James Bhalotra, 2014, Maternal Mortality and Female Life Expectancy: The Importance of
Gender Inequality, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex.
Bana, S., K. Bedard, and M. Rossin-Slater, 2020 The Impacts of Paid Family Leave Benefits: Regression Kink
Evidence from California Administrative Data, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 5 August 2020.
Banda, Pamela, et al., 2017, Women at Risk: Gender Inequality and Maternal Health, Women Health 2017
Apr;57(4):405-429, DOI: 10.1080/03630242.2016.1170092
Barasa, V. and Waldman, L., 2022, Exploring the Intersection of Sanitation, Hygiene, Water, and Health in
Pastoralist Communities in Northern Tanzania. IDS Working Paper 562, Institute of Development Studies:
Brighton
Bastagli, F. J. Hagen -Zander, and G. Sturge, 2016, Cash transfers: what does the evidence Say? Overseas
Development Institute (ODI).
Gender Equality
Batliwala, Srilatha, 1993, Empowerment of Women in South Asia. Asian-South Pacific Bureau of Adult
Education and FAO’s Freedom from Hunger Project.
Batliwala, Srilatha, 1994, The Meaning of Women's Empowerment: New Concepts from Action. Harvard
University Press
Bayraktar, Nihal, 2020. Volatility of Education Aid and Female Education in Advances in Cross-Section Data
Methods in Applied Economic Research
Bensch, Gunther, Gunnar Gotz, and Jörg Peters, 2020, Effects of Rural Electrification on Employment: A
Comment on Dinkelman (2011).
Bertay, A. C., L. Dordevic, and C. Sever, 2020, Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from
Industry-Level Data, IMF Working Paper 20/119. IMF: Washington, DC.
Bhalotra, Sonia, and Samantha B. Rawlings, 2011, Intergenerational Persistence in Health in Developing
Countries: The Penalty of Gender Inequality, Journal of Public Economics, Volume 95, Issues 3-4, April
2011: pages 286-299.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2019, Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion in Africa.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2022, Goalkeepers Annual Report: The Future of Progress
Blau, Francine, and Lawrence Kahn, 2017, The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations. Journal
of Economic Literature. 55. 789-865. 10.1257/jel.20160995
Bloom, David E., et al., 2013, A Demographic Dividend for Sub-Saharan Africa: Source, Magnitude, and
Realization. IZA Discussion Paper No. 7855.
Boudet, A., et al., 2021, A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition, Poverty and Equity
Global Practice, Policy Research Working Paper 9553, World Bank: Washington, DC.
Buller, Ana Maria, et al., 2018, A Mixed-Method Review of Cash Transfers and Intimate Partner Violence in
Low and Middle-Income Countries, UNICEF, Office of Research, Innocenti Working Paper: WP-2018-02.
Buvinic, Mayra and Megan O-Donnell, 2019, Gender Matters in Economic Empowerment Interventions: A
Research Review. World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press.
Buvinic, Mayra, et al., 2020, Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Compendium of Selected Tools.
Data2X and Center for Global Development.
Calves, Anne-Emmanuele, 2009, Empowerment: The History of a Key Concept in Contemporary Development
Discourse, Revue Tiers Monde 2009/4 (No. 200): 735-749.
Camilletti E., 2020, Social Protection and Its Effects on Gender Equality: A Literature Review. Innocenti
Working Paper 2020-06. Florence: UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti.
Center for Global Development, 2022, Girls’ Education and Women’s Equality: How to Get More Out of the
World’s Most Promising Investment, Washington DC.
Chopra, Deepta, 2018, Initiating women’s empowerment; achieving gender equality: Interlinkages amongst
Social Protection, Infrastructure and Public Services. Background paper for Expert Group Meeting at Sixty-
third session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 13–15 September, UN Women, New York.
Gender Equality
Cornwall, Andrea, and Althea-Maria Rivas, 2015, From ‘Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’ to
Global Justice: Reclaiming a Transformative Agenda for Gender and Development, Third World Quarterly,
Vol. 36, No. 2.
Croke, Kevin, and Rifat A. Atun, 2014, The Long Run Effects of Early Childhood Deworming on Literacy and
Numeracy: Evidence from Uganda, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard School of Public
Health.
DAKA and Women in Digital Transformation, 2022, Gender Digital Divide Index Report.
Dake, Fidelia, et al., 2018, Cash Transfers, Early Marriage, and Fertility in Malawi and Zambia, Studies in
Family Planning, Volume 49, Issues 4:295-317.
de Paz Nieves, Carmen, Isis Gaddis, Miriam Muller, 2021, Gender and COVID-19: What have we learnt, one
year later? Poverty and Equity Global Practice, Policy Research Working Paper 9709 (June 2021), World
Bank: Washington, DC.
Dhaliwal, I., et al., 2012, Comparative Cost-Effectiveness Analysis to Inform Policy in Developing Countries: A
General Framework with Applications for Education, Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), MIT.
Doepke, Matthias, and Fabian Kindermann, 2019, Bargaining over Babies: Theory, Evidence, and Policy
Implications, American Economic Review 2019, 109(9): 3264–3306
Dominguez Gonzalez, Karla, et al., 2020, Why Does She Move? A Study of Women’s Mobility in Latin
American Cities. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Duflo, E., 2012, Women Empowerment and Economic Development, Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4),
1051–1079.
Eberhard, R., 2018, Access to Water and Sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of Sector Reforms and
Investments, Key Findings to Inform Future Support to Sector Development. Deutsche Gesellschaff fur
Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): Bonn, Germany.
EBRD, 2020, Building Back Better for Gender Equality: Lessons from the EBRD. European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development: London.
Economic Research Forum, 2019, The Evolution of Labor Supply in Egypt from 1988-2018: A Gendered
Analysis. Working Paper Series No. 1358: October 2019, Economic Research Forum: Cairo, Egypt.
Elborgh-Woytek, K., et al., 2013, Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity,
Staff Discussion Note 13/10, IMF: Washington, DC.
Ellsberg Mary, et al., 2015, Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls: What Does the Evidence Say?
Lancet 2015 Apr 18;385(9977):1555-66.
EQUALS, 2019, Taking Stock: Data and Evidence on Gender Equality in Digital Access, Skills, and Leadership.
United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society/International Telecommunications Union.
Evans, David, 2019, Education Spending and Student Learning Outcomes. World Bank: Washington DC.
Evans, David, 2022, Where is the World on Girls’ Education, in Girls’ Education and Women’s Equality: How to
Get More Out of the World’s Most Promising Investment. Center for Global Development: Washington DC.
Evans, David, and Fei Yuan, 2022, What We Learn about Girls’ Education from Interventions That Do Not
Focus on Girls, The World Bank Economic Review, Vol. 36, Issue 1, February 2022, pages 244-267.
Gender Equality
Fabrizio, S., et al., 2020, Women in the Labor Force: The Role of Fiscal Policies, IMF Staff Discussion Note
20/03. IMF: Washington, DC.
Fernández, Raquel, Asel Isakova, Francesco Luna, and Barbara Rambousek, 2021, Gender Equality and
Inclusive Growth. IMF Working Paper 21/59. IMF: Washington, DC.
Fiscal Affairs Department and Strategy, Policy, and Review Department, 2022, IMF Engagement on Social
Safety Net Issues for Surveillance and Program Work, IMF Technical Notes and Manuals 2022/000.
Fiske, Edward B., 2012, World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education. UNESCO
Fisseha, S., et al., 2021, COVID-19: The Turning Point for Gender Equality, Lancet 398,(10299):471-474.
FP2020, FP2020 Family Planning’s Return on Investment, Family Planning 2020; Washington, DC
Gadoth, A., and J. Heymann, Gender Parity at Scale: Examining Correlations of Country-level Female
Participation in Education and Work with Measures of Men's and Women's Survival. EClinicalMedicine. 20.
100299. 10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100299.
Garcia-Escribano, Mercedes, Pedro Juarros, and Tewodaj Mogues, 2022, Patterns and Drivers of Health
Spending Efficiency, IMF Working Paper 22/48, IMF: Washington DC.
Gaspar, V., et al., 2019, Fiscal Policy and Development: Human, Social and Physical Investment for the SDGs,
IMF Staff Discussion Note January 2019 SDN/19/03.
Gavrilovic, Maja, et al., 2022, Gender-responsive Social Protection Post-COVID-19, Science 375 (6585).
Gentilini, U., et al. 2021, Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-time Review of Country
Measures, Working Paper 159043, World Bank: Washington DC.
Giannelli, G., 2015, Policies to Support Women’s Paid Work. IZA World of Labor 2015: 157.
Gindling, T. H., et al., 2019, Are Public Sector Workers in Developing Countries Overpaid? Evidence from a
New Global Data Set, Policy Research Working Paper No. 8754, World Bank: Washington, DC.
Glewwe, Muralidharan, 2016, Improving Education Outcomes in Developing Countries: Evidence, Knowledge
Gaps, and Policy Implications in Handbook of Economics of Education, volume 5, 2016, pages 653-743.
Global Education Monitoring Report Team, 2006, Education for All - Literacy for life. EFA Global Monitoring
Report. UNESCO.
Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence F. Katz, 2000, The Power of the Pill: Oral Contraceptives and Women’s Career
and Marriage Decisions, Working Paper 7527, National Bureau of Economic Research: Cambridge, MA.
Gonzalez Carvajal, Karla, 2018, Transport is Not Gender-Neutral. Transport for Development, World Bank.
Gould, Elise, Jessica Schieder, and Kathleen Geier, 2016, What is the Gender Pay Gap and Is It Real? The
Complete Guide to How Women Are Paid Less Than Men and Why It Can’t Be Explained Away. Report,
October 20, 2016, Economic Policy Institute.
Grepin, Karen A., and Jeni Klugman, 2013, Closing the Deadly Gap Between What We Know and What We
Do: Investing in Women’s Reproductive Health, World Bank: Washington DC.
Grosh, Margaret, et al., 2008, For Protection and Promotion: The Design and Implementation of Effective
Safety Nets, World Bank: Washington, DC.
Gender Equality
Hailu, B.A., Bogale, G.G. & Beyene, J., 2020, Spatial Heterogeneity and Factors Influencing Stunting and
Severe Stunting Among Under-5 Children in Ethiopia: Spatial and Multilevel Analysis. Scientific Reports
10, 16427
Hall, Robert; Lieberman, Marc (2007). Economics: Principles and Applications.
Handa, Sudhanshu, et al., 2018, Can Unconditional Cash Transfers raise Long-term Living Standards?
Evidence from Zambia, Journal of Development Economics 133 (2018) 42-64.
Handa, Sudhanshu, Frank Otchere, and Paul Sirma, 2021, More Evidence on the Impact of Government Social
Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ghana, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, Development Policy Review, Volume
40, Issue 3.
Eric A. Hanushek, and Ludger Woessmann, 2022, The Basic Skills Gap, IMF Finance and Development
Magazine.
Heise, Lori, et al. 2019, Gender Inequality and Restrictive Gender Norms: Framing the Challenges to Health,
Lancet. 2019 Jun 15;393(10189):2440-2454.
Hidrobo, Melissa, Amber Peterman, and Lori Heise, 2016, The Effect of Cash, Vouchers, and Food Transfers
on Intimate Partner Violence: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Northern Ecuador, American
Economic Journal Applied Economics 8(3):284-303 (July 2016).
Holmes, R. and N. Jones, 2013, Gender and Social Protection in the Developing World: Beyond Mothers and
Safety Nets, London: Zed Books.
Holmes, Rebecca, et al., 2020, Strengthening Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) During the
Implementation of Social Protection Responses to COVID-19, Social Protection Approaches to COVID-19
– Expert Advice Helpline (SPACE).
Housmann, R., L. Nedelkoska, and S. Noor, 2020, You Get What You Pay for: Sources and Consequence of
the Public Sector Premium in Albania and Sri Lanka, Center for International Development, Harvard
University CID Faculty Working paper No. 376 February 2020.
Hutton, Guy, 2013, Global Costs and Benefits of Reaching Universal Coverage of Sanitation and Drinking
Water Supply, Journal of Water and Health, 11.1, World Health Organization.
IEA, 2021, World Energy Model Documentation, International Energy Agency.
IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, and WHO, 2022, Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report. World Bank,
Washington DC.
IFC, 2021, Women and E-commerce in Africa, International Finance Corporation: Washington, DC.
IFC, 2021, Women and E-commerce in Southeast Asia. International Finance Corporation: Washington, DC.
ILO and UN Children’s Fund, 2018, GirlForce Skills: Education and Training for Girls Now. ILO and UNICEF:
Geneva and New York.
ILO, TRAVAIL - How to Use This Database?
ILO World Social Protection Data Dashboard - Universal Social Protection
ILO, 2015, Social Protection for Maternity: Key Policy Trends and Statistics, Social Protection Policy Paper, No.
15, International Labor Office, Social Protection Department: Geneva.
Gender Equality
ILO, 2018, Care Work and Care Jobs for the Future of Decent Work. International Labor Office: Geneva.
ILO, 2018, Women and Men in the Informal Economy: A Statistical Picture (third edition), International Labour
Office: Geneva.
ILO, 2019, A Quantum Leap for Gender Equality: For a Better Future of Work for All, International Labor
ILO, 2019, Global Wage Report 2018/19: What Lies Behind Gender Pay Gaps, International Labor Office:
Geneva.
ILO, 2020, ILO Monitor: COVID-19 and the World of Work, 6th ed. Updated Estimates and Analysis,
International Labor Organization Geneva.
ILO, 2021, World Social Protection Report 2020–22: Social Protection at the Crossroads ‒ in Pursuit of a Better
Future, International Labor Office: Geneva.
IMF, 2016, Managing Government Compensation and Employment – Institutions, Policies, and Reform
Challenges. IMF: Washington DC.
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, Human Development Network, The World Bank, 2013, The Global
Burden of Disease: Generating Evidence, Guiding Policy — Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Edition. Seattle,
WA: IHME, 2013.
International Finance Corporation, 2019, Digital Skills in Sub-Saharan Africa Spotlight on Ghana.
International Telecommunication Union, 2021, Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures 2021, United
Nations, Geneva Switzerland. Press Release (itu.int).
Iqbal, Tehmeena, Ihtsham Ul Haq Padda, and Shujaat Farooq, 2020, Unconditional Cash Transfers and
Women Empowerment: the Case of Benazir Income Support Program in Pakistan, Journal of Business and
Social Review in Emerging Economies, 6(2), 401-418.
Jones, Kelly, and Britni Wilcher, 2019, Reducing Maternal Labor Market Detachment: A Role for Paid Family
Leave, No. 2019-07, Working Papers, American University, Department of Economics,
Johnston-Robledo, I., and J. C. Chrisler, 2020, The Menstrual Mark: Menstruation as Social Stigma, in Bobel
C., et al., eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Menstruation Studies, Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.
Kabeer, N., C. Piza, and L. Taylor, 2012, What Are the Economic Impacts of Conditional Cash Transfer
Programs? A Systematic Review of the Evidence. Institute of Education, University of London, UK.
Kabeer, Naila, 1994, Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought. Verso: London.
Kabeer, Naila, 1999, Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s
Empowerment. Development and Change 30 (3):435-464.
Kabeer, Naila, 2012, Women’s Economic Empowerment and Inclusive Growth: Labor Markets and Enterprise
Development, SIG Working Paper 2012/1.
Kabeer, Naila, 2018, Gender, Livelihood Capabilities and Women’s Economic Empowerment: Reviewing
Evidence over the Life Course. Gender and Adolescence Global Evidence (GAGE) Program, UK Aid.
Kan, Sophia, and Stephan Klasen, 2018, Macroeconomics and Gender: Recent Research on the Linkages
Between Economic Growth and Women’s Economic Empowerment, IDRC: Ottawa, Canada.
Karam, Azza, n.d., Education as the Pathway Toward Gender Equality, UN Chronicle
Gender Equality
Khan, M.S., 2020, Paid Family Leave and Children Health Outcomes in OECD Countries. Child Youth Service
Review 2020 Sep;116:105259.
Koslowski, A., et al., 2022, International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2022.
Laat, Joost and Almudena Sevilla, 2011, The Fertility and Women's Labor Force Participation Puzzle in OECD
Countries: The Role of Men's Home Production, Feminist Economics, 17, issue 2, p. 87-119,
Lei, Lei, Sonalde Desai, and Reeve Vanneman, 2019, The Impact of Transportation Infrastructure on Women’s
Employment in India, Feminist Economics, Vol. 25, Issue 4:94-125.
Loko, B., and Y. Yang, 2022, Fintech, Female Employment and Gender Inequality, 2022 IMF WP/22/108
Lombardini, Simone, Kimberly Bowman, and Rosa Garwood, 2017, A ‘How To’ Guide to Measuring Women’s
Empowerment: Sharing Experience from Oxfam’s Impact Evaluations.
Lundborg, P., E. Plug, and A.W. Rasmussen, 2017, Can Women Have Children and a Career? IV Evidence
from IVF Treatments. American Economic Review 2017 Jun;107(6):1611-37.
Marcus, Rachel, 2018, The Norms Factor: Recent Research on Norms, and Women’s Economic
Empowerment. ODI and International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
McKinsey & Company, 2021, Women in the Workplace 2021: The State of Women in Corporate America.
McKinsey Global Institute, 2016, Digital Finance for All: Powering Growth in Emerging Economies.
McKinsey Global Institute, 2020, Prioritizing Health: A Prescription for Prosperity.
Megawati, Megawati, 2020, The Effects of Government Education Spending on School Enrollment in
Indonesia, Jurnal Ilmiah Universitas Batanghari Jambi.
Mmoradhavaj and Nandita Naikia, 2019, Gender Disparities in Health Care Expenditure and Financing
Strategies for Inpatient Care in India SSM Population Health. 2019 Dec; 9: 100372. Published online 2019
Feb 2.
Morley, Samuel, and David Coady, 2003, From Social Assistance to Social Development: Targeted Education
Subsidies in Developing Countries, Center for Global Development, International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC.
Mukhtarova, T., F. Baig, and Z. Hasnain, 2021, Five Facts on Gender Equity in the Public Sector,
Worldbank.org Governance for Development (September 27, 2021).
Muller, J.S., N. Hiekel, A.C. Liefbroer, 2020, The Long-Term Costs of Family Trajectories: Women's Later-Life
Employment and Earnings Across Europe. Demography. 2020 Jun;57(3):1007-1034.
Natali, L., et al., 2016, Making Money Work: Unconditional cash transfers allow women to save and re-invest in
rural Zambia, Innocenti Working Paper No.2016-02, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence.
Nippon.com, 2023, Record High Number of Women Hired to Japanese Civil Service
Nour, NM, 2008, An Introduction to Global Women's Health. Rev Obstet Gynecol. 2008 Winter;1(1):33-7.
Nove, Andrea, et al., 2014, Maternal Mortality in Adolescents Compared with Women of Other Ages: Evidence
from 144 Countries. The Lancet Global Health, Volume 2, Issue 3, e155-e164: March 2014.
Gender Equality
Nwankwo, Ugonma, Megan O’Donnell, and Charles Kenny, 2021, Unpacking Gender Gaps and Data Gaps in
Public Sector Employment and Pay, CGD Policy Paper 209, Center for Global Development: Washington
DC.
O’Donnell, Megan, Mayra Buvinic, and Shelby Bourgault, 2022, A Core Set of WEE Indicators to Inform Digital
Social Protection Payment Programs, Center for Global Development (June 2022).
Oduenyi, Chiorna, et al., 2021, Gender Discrimination as a Barrier to High-quality Maternal and Newborn
Health Care in Nigeria: Findings from a Cross-sectional Quality of Care Assessment, BMC Health Services
Research 21, Article No: 198(2021).
OECD Family Database, PF2.1 Parental Leave
OECD, 2018, Bridging the Digital Gender Divide: Include, Upskill, Innovate.
OECD, 2021, Women in Infrastructure: Selected Stocktaking of Good Practices for Inclusion of Women in
Infrastructure, OECD Public Governance Policy Papers, No. 07.
OECD, 2021, Pensions at a Glance 2021: OECD and G20 Indicators, OECD Publishing: Paris.
OECD, 2022, Analysis of Development Assistance Committee Members’ Policies in Support of Women’s
Economic Empowerment. OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, OECD Publishing, Paris.
OECD.Stat Database - Social Protection and Well-being/Gender/Employment/Length of Maternity, Parent and

Home Care Leave and Paid Father-specific Leave.
Olanrele, Iyabo, 2020, The Impact of Access to Electricity on Education and Health Sectors in Nigeria’s Rural
Communities, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 7(4):3016-3035, June 2020.
Onarheim, Kristine Husoy, Johana Helene Iversen, and David E. Bloom, 2016, Economic Benefits of Investing
in Women’s Health: A Systematic Review. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0150120.
Parker, Susan W., and Tom Vogl, 2021, Do Conditional Cash Transfers Improve Economic Outcomes in the
Next Generation? Evidence from Mexico, Working Paper 24303, (February 2018, revised January 2021),
National Bureau of Economic Research: Cambridge, MA.
Patnaik, A., 2019. Reserving Time for Daddy: The Consequences of Fathers’ Quotas. Journal of Labor
Economics 37(4): 1009–1059.
Pew Research Center, August, 2022 India’s Sex Ratio at Birth Begins to Normalize by Tong, Yunping
Postel-Vinay, Fabien, 2015, Does it Pay to be a Public-sector Employee? IZA World of Labor 2015:156.
Pritha, Mitra, et al., 2020, Does Child Marriage Matter for Growth? IMF Working Paper: African Department,
February 2020.
Psaki, S., et al., 2022, Policies and Interventions to Remove Gender-related Barriers to Girls’ School
Participation and Learning in Low- and Middle-income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.
Campbell Systematic Reviews, 12, e1207.
Psaki, Stephanie, Katharine McCarthy, Barbara S. Mensch, 2018, Measuring Gender Equality in Education:
Lessons from Trends in 43 Countries. Population and Development Review 44(1): 117-142.
Quisumbing, A., N. Kumar, and J.A. Behrman, 2018, Do Shocks Affect Men’s and Women’s Assets Differently?
Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda. Development Policy Review 36 (1), 3–34.
Gender Equality
Radovich, E., et al., 2019, ‘Who Assisted with the Delivery of (NAME)?’ Issues in Estimating Skilled Birth
Attendant Coverage through Population-based Surveys and Implications for Improving Global Tracking.
BMJ Global Health 2019;4:e001367.
Remme, M., et al., 2020, Investing in the Health of Girls and Women: A Best Buy for Sustainable Development.
BMJ. 2020 Jun 2;369:m1175. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1175.
Rowlands, J. 1997, Questioning Empowerment: Working with Women in Honduras. Oxfam Publishing: Oxford.
Rozenberg, Julie, and Marianne Fay, eds, 2019, Beyond the Gap: How Countries Can Afford the Infrastructure
They Need while Protecting the Planet. Sustainable Infrastructure Series. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Savoy, C., and J. Staguhn, 2022, The Role of Water in Catalyzing Gender Equity, Center for Strategic &
International Studies, September 6, 2022.
Scheffler, Christiane and Michael Hermanussen, 2021, Stunting is the Natural Condition of Human Height,
American Journal of Human Biology. DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.23693
Schneider, E., et al., 2021, Mirror, Mirror 2021 Reflecting Poorly: Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other
High-income Countries, The Commonwealth Fund.
Sen, Gita, and Caren Grown 1987, Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's
Perspectives, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN).
Sen, Gita, 1997, Empowerment as an Approach to Poverty, Working Paper Series 97.07, background paper for
the UNDP Human Development Report, UNDP: New York.
Server, Can, 2022, Legal Gender Equality as a Catalyst for Convergence, IMF Working Paper: Washington,
DC: IMF.
Shanahan, M., 2022, The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2022, GSMA
Singh, Nisha, Anam Parvez Butt, and Caludia Canepa, 2018, Shifting Social Norms in the Economy for
Women’s Economic Empowerment: Insights from a Practitioner Learning Group. SEEP Network and
Oxfam.
Stenberg, Karin, et al., 2013, Advancing Social and Economic Development by Investing in Women’s and
Children’s Health: a New Global Investment Framework, Health Policy, volume 383, Issue 9925, P1333-
1354.
Sugiyama, Natasha Borges, and Wendy Hunter, 2020, Do Conditional Cash Transfers Empower Women?
Insights from Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, Latin American Politics and Society, Volume 62, Issue 2 (May
2020):53-74.
UNICEF, 2021, Hygiene
UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, 2016, Leave No One Behind:
A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment.
UN Women, Creating Safe and Empowering Public Spaces with Women and Girls
UN Women, What We Do: Ending Violence Against Women
UN Women, 2018, Turning Promises into Action: Gender Equality in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development.
Gender Equality
UN Women, 2019, Progress of the World’s Women 2019–2020: Families in a Changing World.
UN Women, 2020 Women’s access to safe transport
UN Women, 2020, Whose Time to Care? Unpaid Care and Domestic Work during COVID-19.
UNGEI, 2018, Global Education Monitoring Report Gender Review.
UNICEF and WHO, 2019, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2000-2017: Special
Focus on Inequalities. Joint Monitoring Program Report, New York: United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) and World Health Organization.
UNICEF and WHO, 2022, Progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa 2000-2020: Five years
into the SDGs, New York: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization.
UNICEF DATA, 2022, Primary School Age Education, June 2022.
UNICEF, 2015, The Investment Case for Education and Equity, January 2015.
UNICEF, 2020, Mapping gender Equality in STEM from School to Work, UNICEF Office of Global Insight and
Policy, November 2020.
UNICEF, 2021, Social Protection and Gender Equality Outcomes Across the Life-Course: A Synthesis of
Recent Findings.
UNICEF, 2022, Primary Education (updated June 2022).
United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative and Malala Fund, 2021, Spending Better for Gender Equality in
Education: Why the Quality of Financing Matters for Girls’ Education, and What to Do About It.
UNSD, 2017, Minimum Set of Gender Indicators.
Vegas, Emiliana, and Chelsea Coffin, 2015, When Education Expenditure Matters: An Empirical Analysis of
Recent International Data. University of Chicago Press.
Victora, Cesar, et al., 2008, Maternal and Child Undernutrition: Consequences for Adult Health and Human
Capital, The Lancet 2008: 371(9609) L340-357.
Winer, Stuart, 2020, Cabinet Sets Goal for Women to Fill Half Senior Civil Service Positions by 2023. The
Times of Israel. 18 October 2020 Article.
WHO, Adolescent Pregnancy: Fact Sheet.
WHO, 2017, Safely Managed Drinking Water: Thematic Report on Drinking Water, World Health Organization:
Geneva.
WHO, 2019, Trends in Maternal Mortality 2000 to 2017: Estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank
Group and the United Nations Population Division. World Health Organization: Geneva.
WHO, 2020, Global Health Estimates 2020: Deaths by Cause, Age, Sex, by Country and by Region, 2000-
2019, World Health Organization: Geneva
WHO, 2021, Global Expenditure on Health: Public Spending on the Rise? World Health Organization: Geneva.
WHO, 2021, Progress on Household Drinking Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, 2000–2020: Five Years into the
SDGs. World Health Organization: Geneva.
Gender Equality
WHO, 2021, Violence Against Women Prevalence Estimates 2018. World Health Organization: Geneva.
WHO, 2022, World Health Statistics 2022: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals.
Geneva: World Health Organization.
Wils, Annababette, Gabrielle Bonnet, and Mathieu Brossard, 2015, The Investment Case for Education and
Equity, Executive Summary, 10.13140/RG.2.1.2958.5440.
Winkler, Hernan and Alvaro Gonzalez, 2019, Jordan Jobs Diagnostic. Jobs Series No. 18. World Bank,
Washington, DC.
Winters, Paul, et al., 2016, The Transfer Project, Cash Transfers, and Impact Evaluation in Sub-Saharan
Africa, From Evidence to Action: The Story of Cash Transfers and Impact Evaluation in Sub Saharan
Africa.
World Bank, Factsheet: An Adjustment to Global Poverty Lines
World Bank, 2018, The State of Social Safety Nets 2018, World Bank: Washington, DC.
World Bank, 2018, World Development Report 2018: Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, World Bank,
Washington, DC.
World Bank, 2019, Ending Learning Poverty: A Target to Galvanize Action on Literacy. World Bank,
Washington DC.
World Bank, 2023. Women, Business, and the Law 2023 Report.. World Bank, Washington DC.
World Economic Forum, 2022, Global Gender Gap Report 2022.
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4847110

Wp i 2024108

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Wp i 2024108

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Wp i 2024108

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.

IMF Working Paper

Authorized for distribution by Rodrigo Cerda

Women’s economic empowerment; gender equality; gender

Author’s E-Mail Address: [email protected], [email protected]

Exploring the Role of Public

Prepared by Charla Britt and Danielle Egerer1

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 6

II.Structure of the Paper .................................................................................................................................. 9

III.Female Economic Empowerment ............................................................................................................. 10

VI.Capital Expenditure ................................................................................................................................... 31

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 2

Urban and Rural Disparities .................................................................................................................. 43

VII.Government Employment and Compensation ....................................................................................... 44

VIII. Social Protection and Labor Market Programs ..................................................................................... 53

Annex I. Key Definitions ................................................................................................................................... 74

Annex II. Gender Lens Matrices ....................................................................................................................... 77

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 3

5.Leading Causes of Death................................................................................................................................ 22

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 4

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 5

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 6

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 7

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 8

II. Structure of the Paper

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 9

III. Female Economic Empowerment

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 10

Women’s economic empowerment is widely conceptualized as a process and an outcome. Although

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 11

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 12

A. Literature Review: Data and Evidence

Figure 1. Primary and Lower Secondary Completion Rates by Gender

Source: World Bank Open Indicators.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 13

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 14

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 15

C. Cross-cutting Measures and Potential Associations

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 16

Low Income Developing Countries Emerging Market Economies Advanced Economies

Source: World Bank Open Data.

Figure 3. Primary School Enrollment Gender Gaps and Country Income

Source: World Bank Open Data.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 17

Spending per Student

Source: World Bank Open Data.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 18

Table 1. Gender Lens Matrix: Education

youth literacy youth literacy GPI

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 19

A. Literature Review: Data and Evidence

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 20

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 21

Figure 5. Leading Causes of Death by Female Age Groups

Source: WHO Global Health Estimates 2019.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 22

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 23

Figure 6. Fertility, Adolescent Fertility and Maternal Mortality

Source: World Bank Open Data.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 24