Download What is Gender Equality?

Gender Analysis for the
PRSP and MDGs
Monitoring
Gulnara Febres, WBI
Poverty Analysis Workshop, Tirana, Albania
April 7 - 11, 2008
1
Gender Issues in the Balkan
Countries’ PRSPs
Issues:
 MDG indicators: gender-responsive?
 To evaluate gender sensitivity of the
Balkan countries’ PRSPs
 To identify existing gaps in gendersensitive approach
 Potential opportunities
2
Why to Address Gender?


Gender based inequalities slow economic
growth and poverty reduction, and tend
to be most extreme in the lowest income
countries and poorest HHs
Failure to conduct poverty diagnosis in a
gender-responsive manner runs the risk
of ignoring important avenues to poverty
reduction.
3
What is Gender Equality?
Gender equality means equal
access to the “opportunities that
allow people to pursue a life of
their own choosing”—
that is, gender equality in rights,
resources, and voice (World Bank
2006, WDR).
4
What is Gender Equality?



Equality of rights refers to equality
under the law
Equality of resources refers to equality
of opportunity, including equality of
access to human capital investments and
other productive resources and to
markets.
Equality of voice captures the ability to
influence and contribute to the political
and development processes.
5
Key Elements of Gender Equality
Gender equality in rights, resources, and voice
Leveling the field of
opportunities
Household
Economy &
Markets
Society
Household
resource
and task
allocations,
fertility
decisions
Access to
land, financial
services, labor
markets,
technology
Civic and
political
participation
Aggregate economic performance
(poverty reduction, growth)
Domains of
choices,
domains for
policy
6
Framework : Key Elements of Gender
Equality
Ties together key elements of gender equality*




In the household: increased gender equality between men
and women changes the allocation of HH expenditures,
resulting in a larger share of resources devoted to
children’s education and health.
In the market, gender inequality is reflected in unequal
access to land, credit, and labor markets, and in
significantly less access to new production technologies.
In society, gender inequality is expressed as restrictions
to women’s participation in civic and political life.
In addition to improving individuals’ lives, increased
gender equality can contribute to better aggregate
economic performance.
*Source – WB Global Monitoring Report 2007
7
Pathways for Gender
Equality

There are several pathways through
which gender equality in rights,
resources, and voice stimulate
productivity, earnings, and better
child development outcomes, thus
generating better development
outcomes in an economy.
8
Gender equality ↔ growth?
Increased gender equality in households, markets, society
Women have
better access to
markets
Women have better
education and
health
Increased labor force participation by
women, productivity, and earnings
Income/consumption
expenditure
Current poverty reduction and
economic growth
Mothers have greater control
over decision- making in
households
Improved well-being for children
Differential
savings rate
Better health and educational
attainment & greater productivity as
adults
Future poverty reduction and
economic growth
9
Pathways for Poverty Reduction
Women’s LF Participation, Productivity, and
Earnings:

Working women contribute to HH income and
expenditure. In poor HH, such contributions can be
crucial for keeping the HH out of poverty;


this is the reason to increase access to education,
markets (labor, land, credit), and technology.
This increased access contributes to:
 current poverty reduction through higher consumption
 future poverty reduction through the impact on
children’s accumulation of human capital and the
potential impact on aggregate saving
10
Constraints to women’s LF participation

Reproductive role

Time burden of domestic tasks
(KR-24.8% of women are
kept at home due to care for children, elderly, sick or
housekeeping vs. 1.5% of men)
(Uganda, Zambia, Burkina Faso – time for collecting fire
wood range from 125 to 664 hours per year)
11
Disincentives to women’s LF participation

Current effect:

Future effect:
Wage gaps and discrimination
against women in labor markets persuades women to stay
home.
The wage loss/segregation into
low-paying jobs lead to underinvestment in girls
education.
12
“Inequality trap”?




Land: in LAC and SSA, 70-90% of land is owned by
men.
When women have access to land, they have less
tenure rights. SSA-permanent land rights are held
by men
Women are less likely to apply for loans as they do
not have assets to offer as collateral.
Cumulative disadvantages (ethnicity, race, location
and disability)
13
Pathways for Poverty Reduction
Factors for Children’s Well-Being


Women’s education, health
Mothers’ greater control over resources
more resources allocated to food and to
children’s health and education.
better child dev-t in the present
intergenerational transmission
of earnings capacity
prospects
for future poverty reduction
14
MDG 3
MDG 3: Promote gender equality
and empower women


Target 10: Eliminate gender disparities in
primary and secondary education
Target 11: Eliminate gender disparity in
elected organs and decision making
positions
15
MDG3 Effect on Other MDGs
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
are channels to attaining other MDGs —




universal primary education (MDG2),
lower under-five mortality (MDG4),
improved maternal health (MDG5),and
lower likelihood of contracting HIV/AIDS
(MDG6).
16
Official Indicators for MDG3
Household
Economy and
market
Society
Ratio of girls’ to
boys’ enrollment in
primary,
secondary, and
tertiary education
Share of women in
wage employment
in the
nonagricultural
sector
Proportion of seats
held by women in
national
parliaments
Ratio of literate
females to males
among 15–24year-olds
17
Official Indicators for MDG3



Show progress and responsiveness of girls’ school
enrollments to gender informed policy interventions
(stipends, conditional cash transfers, etc).
But gender gaps remain: of the 137 mln. illiterate
youths in the world, 63% were female (UNESCO,
EFA Global Monitoring Report)
The female-to-male literacy ratio was lowest in SSA,
MENA, and SA (in 25 countries, fewer than 80
literate women to 100 literate men). In Yemen and
Afghanistan – 36 to 100 respectively.
18
Limitations of the Official MDG3
Indicators

Partially measure gender equality

Do not monitor key elements of gender
equality (health outcomes and disparities in access to
productive resources such as land, credit, and technology)

Inadequate measurement of
empowerment

National-level indicators can veil
inequalities between particular subgroups
19
The unfinished education agenda:
Must attend to:


Fragile states and countries unlikely to meet the
enrollment target—of the 22 countries unlikely to
achieve the target even by 2015, 16 countries are in
SSA, nine of which are fragile states.
Disadvantaged and excluded groups within countries,
seen when statistics are disaggregated by income,
race, ethnicity, disability and rural-urban residence.

Levels of enrollment (especially secondary), not just
gender parity ratios.

Gender disparities in the transition from one level of
education to the next.
20
Official MDG indicators conceal inequalities
within countries

I. 1. Ratio of girls’ to boys’ enrollment in primary,
secondary, and tertiary education –



say nothing about educational outcomes (Completion?
Getting a job?) Gaps b/w boys and girls completion
rates remain high in SSA and SA (90% to 83% and
67% to 57% respectively)
Changes in the indicators based on parity ratios are
difficult to interpret. (Increases in female-to-male ratios
can result from a fall in male rates with female rates
remaining constant)
Measure the status of women relative to men, rather
than whether women are empowered (whether they
have the ability to exercise options, choice, and control)
21
Where are the limitations?

I 2. Share of women in non/agric. wage employment






Is not taking into account the circumstances of each
country – such as the share of n/a employment as a
percentage of total employment.
Is of limited use for low-income countries where wage
employment is not a main source of jobs.
Does not capture the dimensions of job quality/ability of
women to work for pay (economic empowerment)
Does not quantify barriers inhibiting women from
participating in a LF.
Does not capture the ability of women to control their
fertility
I 3. Proportion of seats held by women in national
parliaments

Political participation is captured only at the national
level, not at provincial or local levels,
22
Recommended additional indicators
for MDG3**
Household
Economy and
markets
Modifications of official
MDG indicators
Additional indicators
Additional indicators
Primary completion
rate of girls and boys
(MDG 2)
Percentage of 15to 19-year-old girls
who are mothers or
pregnant with their first
child
Labor force
participation rates
among women and
men aged 20-24 and
25-49
Under-five mortality
rate for girls and boys
(MDG4)
**Recommended by
the UN Millennium
Project Task Force.
Percentage of
reproductive-age
women, and their sexual
partners, using modern
contraceptives (MDG6)
23
Additional indicators: value added?

Meet 3 criteria:
1.
2.
3.


data availability (wide country coverage),
strong link to poverty reduction,
and amenability to policy intervention
School completion rate is measured (MDG2), under
five mortality (MDG4). A low-cost step forward –
just sex-disaggregate the data.
Contraceptive prevalence is measured (MDG6), just find % of use of modern contraceptives.
24
Prospective MDG 3 Indicators***
Household
Economy and
markets
Society
Test scores, male and
female
Gender gap in wages
Percentage voting by
male, female, and ratio
Proportion of women
who have ever been
victims of physical
violence by an
intimate male partner
Share of women in
informal wage and selfemployment in
nonagricultural
employment
Proportion of women in
the executive branch
Percent of employed
women who face access to
child care
Percentage of individuals
who possess basic
citizenship documents,
female, and ratio
Business by average size
and sex of owner
Access to credit for women
and men
Land ownership by female,
male, and jointly held
***data for these
indicators are not
currently available, but
25
easy to collect.
Data needs on gender equality:


The proposed complementary indicators do not remedy all
the shortcomings of the official MDG3 indicators. Data
collection efforts must be scaled up.
Inter-agency Expert Group on Gender Statistics was
formed in December 2006 by the initiative of UNSD, WB
and UNFPA.
 3 Task Forces were formed: (TF on VAW, TF on GS
training, TF on Time Use Surveys).
26
Instruments:
To advance women’s rights,
resources, and voice through:
 Laws
 Institutions
 Policies (for example, genderinformed budget)
27
Laws

The difference between high and low
performer countries in not in the laws
themselves, but in the mechanisms to
implement them.
Formula :
institutions to enforce good laws (A) +
sex-disaggregated statistics (B) +
associated budget allocations (C)
Successful gender policies
28
Institutions




Most countries now have separate gov-t agencies to
promote gender equality, some are elevated to ministerial
status (Cambodia Ministry of Women’s Affairs).
“National Women’s Machineries”
Integration of gender concerns in donor agencies (for
example: WB Gender Action Plan 2007-2009, UNDP
Gender Plan)
Alliances between the gov-t and advocacy organizations,
NGOs and civil society
29
Policies


Moving beyond gender-targeted
interventions to full and sustained gender
mainstreaming in the budget process
Good practice example: Moldova’s Gender
Equality Law of Feb.2006



Specifies the mandates & responsibilities of public
institutions with a role of enforcement;
Authorizes public budget funding for these agencies;
Establishes penalties and reparations for violations of
the law.
30
Gender-informed budget tools:

Gender-disaggregated beneficiary assessments
Public-expenditure benefit incidence analysis
Tax incidence analysis

Good practice example, Chile:




has included gender as a cross-cutting theme in a
performance-based national budget,
is using incentives (salary bonuses) for public
sector staff as a tool to achieve measurable results.
31
Business case for investing in
MDG3?




Progress toward attaining MDG3 should have
multiplier effects and spur progress to other MDGs.
There can be significant advancement in gender
equality when there is a will.
Laws, institutions and policies matter.
Gender mainstreaming will work with high level
leadership as well as technical and budgetary
resources. It is not cost free.
32
Part 2. Gender in the Balkan
Countries PRSPs


Five Balkan PRSPs (Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, FYROM, Montenegro, Serbia) were
reviewed to:
Examine the degree to which gender issues were
included:


In the 4 core PRSP elements (diagnosis, public
actions, monitoring, and consultative process);
In the 8 sectoral areas (health, education, labor
markets, agriculture, safety nets, infrastructure,
governance and financial services)
33
Rating system


Rating system used in the review of core
PRSP elements:
“0”= no mention of gender issues
“1”= brief mention of gender
issues
“2”= gender issues treated with
some elaboration
Scores averaged for each core element
34
Average Scores by Core
PRSP Component:
Core
component
Diagnosis
PRSPs
Public Actions
1.2
Monitoring &
Evaluation
1.0
Consultative
process
0.2
1.2
35
Coverage of Gender Issues in Core Elements of
PRSP in the Balkan countries
Poverty Diagnostics
Priority Sectors and Policy Actions
2
2
1
1
0
0
Albania
BiH
M acedonia
M ontenegro
Albania
Serbia
Monitoring
BiH
M acedonia
M ontenegro
Serbia
Participatory Process
2
2
1
1
0
0
A l bani a
Bi H
M ac edoni a
M ont enegr o
Ser bi a
A lbania
B iH
M acedo nia
M o ntenegro
Qualitative Rating: 0- No mention of gender, 1 – Brief mention of gender issues, 2 – Gender issues
treated with some elaboration
Serbia
Gender Issues in Core Elements of PRSP by
Country in the Balkan region
Albania
Macedonia (Interim)
BiH
2
2
2
1
1
1
0
0
Poverty
Priority
Diagnostics Sectors and
Public Action
M&E
Participatory
process
Poverty
Diagnostics
Priority
Sectors and
Public Action
M&E
Participatory
process
0
Poverty
Diagnostics
Priority
Sectors and
Public Action
Serbia
Montenegro
2
2
1
1
0
0
Poverty
Diagnostics
Priority Sectors
and Public
Action
M&E
Participatory
process
Poverty
Diagnostics
Priority Sectors
and Public
Action
M&E
Participatory
process
Qualitative Rating: 0- No mention of gender, 1 – Brief mention of gender issues, 2 – Gender
issues treated with some elaboration
M&E
Participatory
process
Coverage of Gender Issues in Sectoral Areas in the
Balkan countries
Health, Nutrition and Population
Education
Serbia
Serbia
Montenegro
Montenegro
Macedonia
Macedonia
BiH
BiH
Albania
Albania
0
1
0
2
1
2
Safety Nets, Agriculture, Gov ernance,
Infrastructure, Financial Serv ices and
Hum an Trafficking
Labor Markets
Agriculture
Serbia
Governance
Human trafficking
Serbia
Montenegro
Montenegro
Macedonia
Macedonia
BiH
BiH
Albania
Albania
0
1
2
0
1
Qualitative Rating: 0- No mention of gender, 1 – Brief mention of gender issues, 2 – Gender
issues treated with some elaboration
2
Results of the Review:


Notable feature: differences in average scores
across core elements
General problem (not unique to the treatment
of gender issues): disconnect and absence of
a logical flow from:
diagnosis => public actions =>monitoring

Public actions :


did not correspond to the majority of the problems
identified in diagnosis
often identified without any plans for monitoring
outputs or impacts
39
Western Balkans
– specific challenges:










Conflict legacy in most of the Balkan countries
Political and institutional systems are relatively
new. State-building is still underway.
Human Rights Violations (refugees, internally
displaced persons, Roma)
High Rates of Unemployment, especially of the
young (BiH, Albania, Macedonia)
Grey economy
Inadequate Social Assistance System
Slow Implementation of Reforms
Quality of Education (Albania, Macedonia)
Corruption
Emigration
40
Western Balkans - specific
challenges (2)



Data on poverty remains poor and is
not gender-disaggregated
Poor governance environment
Both, government and civil society
have faced difficulties in meeting the
requirement for a participatory PRSP
41
Trends in Gender Profile of
the Balkan Region


Female employment as a percent of total
number of employed has declined almost
twice over the last decade – BiH, Albania,
Macedonia, Serbia.
Women account for only 35% of the
employed in BiH, which is the lowest
proportion of women in the total labor force
of any country in Southeastern Europe.
42
Trends in Gender Profile of
the Balkan Region


Gender disparities in access to some parts of the labor
market : women are disproportionately represented in
lower paying social sector jobs
Gender discrimination in employment in both private
and public sector (women are the first to be fired
during restructuring, fewer opportunities for promotion,
wage gaps) (BiH)

Low percentage of women in decision-making positions
(BiH – 2.4%, Albania)

Male depopulation (Albania, Macedonia) due to outmigration of male population
43
Trends in Gender Profile of
the Balkan Region




Large gender disparities in access to land,
capital and credits
Maternal mortality decreased over the past
decade but still remains high (Albania – 22
per 100,000 live births)
Gender disparities at all levels of education
enrollment (Albania, Macedonia)
Human trafficking (Albania, BiH)
44
“Country Specific” Trends in the
Balkan Gender Profiles


“Missing young women” in BiH (in the labor market the
age group of females from 19-29 with higher education)
is very low due to out- migration. (The same trend is
increasing in Albania and Macedonia)
About 92,000 young people left BiH between January
1996 and March 2001, and surveys show that 62% of the
young would emigrate if they had the opportunity.
45
“Country Specific” Trends in
the Balkan Gender Profiles


In Albania, maternal mortality rate is the
highest in SEE (22,7 per 100,000 live
births). To compare, in BiH – 5,
Montenegro - 2 per 100,000 live births
Maternal mortality is even 5-6 times
higher in rural areas in Albania than the
national average
46
“Country Specific” Trends in
the Balkan Gender Profiles
Albania has the largest in the Balkans gender gap
in:



enrollment rates (ratio of girls to boys in primary
education – 0.94),
literacy (ratio of literate women to men – 90 in urban
areas, 87 - in rural), and
infant mortality rates (17.4 per 1,000 live births)
47
“Country Specific” Trends in
the Balkan Gender Profiles








In BiH, the most vulnerable categories of women
are:
Women refugees, internally displaced persons
(IDPs)
Single mothers
Elderly women
Roma women
Victims of violence
Uneducated and unemployed women
Women in returnee households (the worst position
of all)
48
Balkan Countries PRSPs:
Gender-Sensitive?


The major problem: gender is not addressed
as a cross-cutting issue in PRSPs (except
BiH), rather the discussion of gender is
isolated to some specific sectors
In most cases, PRSP emphasizes market
economy (paid labor/male dominated) at the
expense of the HH economy (unpaid
labor/female dominated).
49
Balkan Countries PRSPs:
Gender-Sensitive?

Problems with household survey data:
Unitary household model (only BiH and
Albania used LSMS)
 Unawareness of sectoral gender issues
(e.g. transportation, infrastructure, etc.)
 Lack of gender-focused questions


In some cases, the analysis does not take a note of
the factors that cause change in HH structures to
female/male headed HH (except BiH), and their
implications for stability and sustenance of families.
50
Balkan Countries PRSPs:
Gender-Sensitive?

In most cases, the discussion on education does
not incorporate analysis of underlying factors
that contribute to non-enrollment, poor
performance, and dropouts of boys and girls:




government withdrawal of resources from the
sectors,
low quality of teaching, prioritization of boys’
education in some countries (Albania, Macedonia),
use of girls labor for domestic purposes, lack of
adequate facilities (BiH),
drop-out of boys for economic assistance to their
families (Albania)
51
Learning by doing:



In the Balkan countries, a process of consultation
amongst government bodies is a new way of
working.
Pre-existing government processes are usually
hierarchical, while horizontal links are weak. The
PRSP process both reveals this weakness and
provides an opportunity to strengthen this link
PRSP formulation led to the creation of a number
of thematic or sectoral working groups (for ex.,
BiH -20; Serbia -7)
52
Bosnia & Herzegovina PRSP

BiH PRSP (2004-2007) - number of
reforms to reduce poverty, including
implementation of the BiH Law on
Gender Equality, which is expected
to lessen the gender effect on
poverty level.
53
BiH PRSP -Special
section on
Gender and Poverty issues
It analyses:

The impact of poverty on men and women

The most vulnerable categories of poor women (single

Gender discrimination at the labor market (females have
higher risk of unemployment – 35% of total employed);

Gender wage gaps;

Implementation of the Gender Equality Law;

Gender Specific Action Plan.
mothers, elderly women, women refugees, Roma women, victims
of violence, uneducated or unemployed women, women in returnee
households, and women in rural areas);
54
BiH PRSP concludes:
o
Poverty cannot be measured purely on
the basis of income indicators : men
and women are affected in different
ways by other aspects of poverty.
55
BiH PRSP
Labor Market:
o
female –headed HH are exposed to higher risks
of falling into the category of the poor than male
- headed HH
o
Women receive lower wages than men for the
same work and they have fewer opportunities
for promotion.
o
Lack of child-care institutions tends to be a
barrier to women’s employment in BiH.
56
Good Practice Examples:
Bosnia & Herzegovina PRSP
Education:
o Gender differences at all levels of education:
primary education is more accessible to boys.
Decision-making:
o Participation of women in the executive authorities is
very low – 2.4%
57
Gender-Related Policies in BiH PRSP
Labor
Market
Education
Prevent
discrimination
in the areas of
labor and
employment
Include gender
component in
the educational
and curriculum
reform
Strengthen
micro-credit
institutions to
stimulate
employment
among women
Support
development
of postgraduate
studies in the
area of gender
Health
Improve
women’s
health by
decreasing
maternal
mortality
rates
Governance
Human
Trafficking
Agriculture
Increase the
percentage of
women MPs
Implement BiH
Action Plan for
Prevention of
Human
Trafficking
Improve the
situation of
women in rural
areas
Enlarge
women’s
participation in
the executive
authorities
Adopt
guidelines on
special
protection of
minors (as part
of the Action
Plan)
Implement
principles of
gender equality
in rural areas
Implement
CEDAW
Employ more
women in the
State Border
Service (DGS)
Support women
in access to
credit and
representation in
rural institutions
58
BiH PRSP: Description of
participatory process


Combination of top-down to bottom-up approach
Inter-sectoral; intra-sectoral and national
participation

BiH Council of Ministers played a leading role

Local authorities played an active role

Civil society: private sector, trade unions,
Parliament, national NGOs, youth, scholars, and
experts .
59
BiH PRSP: M&E


With the assistance of UNDP, BiH PRSP was
able to incorporate the MDGs and indicators
adapted to BiH, into the PRSP monitoring
mechanism.
Thus, indicators monitoring gender
equality, women’s health and women’s
social inclusion were incorporated into the
set of indicators monitoring PRSP
objectives.
60
Policy Matrix Bosnia & Herzegovina PRSP
Labor Market and
Employment
Health
Governance
Policy Action:
strengthening microcredit institutions
Policy action: Promote
safe motherhood and
essential care for the
newborn
Policy action: Provide
appropriate gender
representation of the
civil servants
Indicator: Increase in
women’s employment
in private enterprises
in regions.
Indicators: Lower
maternal mortality,
infant under 5 mortality
rates; increase in
number of mothers using
maternal and post natal
services, number of IDPs
visiting quality services.
Indicator: Increase in
women’s participation
in the executive
authorities and the
number of MPs
61
BiH PRSP


Overall, there is already official recognition in BiH
that poverty affects men and women differently and
the policies have to take into account these
differences.
Great efforts have been made to ensure that gender
issues are reflected in the priorities of the PRSP.
62
Potential Opportunities


Gender-disaggregated data should be addressed as a
priority in order to enhance the development of gender
sensitive PRSPs and MDGs
Unless these specific impacts on the lives of women and
men are analyzed, understood and captured fully by all
poverty interventions, it would be very difficult to tackle
poverty.
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References
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Global Monitoring Report: Confronting the Challenges of
Gender Equality and Fragile States, World Bank, 2007.
Albania: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper—Annual
Progress Report. Ministry of Finance, 2006.
Mid-Term Development Strategy of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (PRSP) 2004-2007. Council of Ministers of
BiH, Government of Federation of BiH, 2004.
Macedonia: Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
Government of the Republic of Macedonia, 2000.
First Progress Report on the Implementation of the
Poverty Reduction Strategy in Serbia, Government of the
Republic of Serbia, 2005.
Montenegro: First Progress Report. Government of the
Republic of Montenegro, Ministry of Labor and Social
Welfare, 2005.
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