“Women should work. Why should I stay at home if I can work outside? I should also earn income and my people and myself should enjoy the money I can make. Those days where our mothers were to ask for money from our fathers, even for simple things like underwear are gone: we need our own money and this means that we should work.”
Young woman in Bukoba municipality, Tanzania
The World Bank recently published its World Development Report 2012, this time around focusing on Gender Equality and Development. It is a lengthy report (452 pages) that covers all areas that are deemed important when referring to gender equality and reform. The report provides extensive data that covers issues of health, education, economic participation and the progress of the millennium development goals. With the help of the data, the report takes an empirical approach to understand the major differences between the state of welfare of men and women. The report uses historical data (drawn from the World Bank’s past research) to understand the progress thus far. Major themes that the report covers besides the economic outcomes include: the impact of globalization on gender equality, economic opportunities, and women’s agency. The report ends with a section on the necessary policy interventions needs to fasten the progress of gender equality. Some of these policy interventions and their related initiatives include:
Closing gender gaps in human endowments- Increasing access to education among disadvantaged groups
- Increasing access to clean water
- Increasing access to specialized maternity services
Closing gender gaps in voice and agency
- Increasing women’s access to the justice system
- Shifting norms regarding violence against women
Supporting evidence based public action
- Generating new information
- Facilitation knowledge sharing and learning
This report might not qualify as a summer read, but definitely an excellent point of reference to anything related to gender (in)equality, and if you are in the sector this report will no doubt add value to your current work.
