Promoting Women s Economic Opportunities: Challenges and Policy Directions for Developing East Asia and Pacific Tokyo February 14, 2017
Why does gender equality matter for development? Gender equality Is the right thing to do It is an integral part of development And the smart thing to do Underutilizing women s talents and skills means lost productivity and forgone growth Children benefit from better educated and healthier mothers Women s participation in decision making can improve institutions and policies Ensuring that women and men have the same access to economic opportunities is a key domain of gender equality 2
The economic benefits of greater equality in access to economic opportunities Million of people 130 120 110 100 Projected number of people in labor force Greater participation of women in labor force can mitigate the effect of ageing in East Asia and Pacific countries. 90 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050 Baseline Years Women participate at the same rate as men Elderly remain in labor force Permanent migration of 10 percent of labor force (aged 25-35) Source: World Bank, Live Long and Prosper, 2016 3
Women s economic opportunities in East Asia and Pacific: an overview 4
Women are less likely to participate in the labor force than men in EAP Cambodia Lao PDR Vietnam Myanmar Papua New Guinea Thailand China East Asia & Pacific Japan Singapore High Income Countries Mongolia Republic of Korea World Indonesia Philippines Malaysia Pacific island small states Timor-Leste LFP among women is lower than LFP among men in every country in EAP Significant heterogeneities exist Average FLFP in EAP is above the world average 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Male LFP Female LFP Source: WDI 2014 Note: Labor force participation is the percentage of the working age male/female population that is active in the labor market 5
Women earn less than men on average in EAP Gender gap in hourly earnings of wage and salaried workers 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00 Raw gender gap 0.92 0.08 Controlling for education and sector of activity 0.82 0.18 Countries included: KHM, MNG, PHL, PNG, TMP, VNM Female earnings per $1 of male earnings Source: World Bank staff calculations using EAPPOV harmonized database Gender gap The gender gap widens as education and sector are taken into account 6
Women and men work in different sectors Share of men and women in different sectors of employment Education, health and social work Commerce Other services Financial, insurance and real estate Manufacturing Total employment, regardless of sector 37.9 46.7 47.1 54.4 55.1 61 62.1 53.3 52.9 45.6 44.9 39 $23.88 $11.28 $8.93 $19.06 $13.62 $12.25 Public administration Agriculture and fishing 66.5 69.7 33.5 30.3 $13.30 $2.65 Electricity, gas and water 77 23 $15.92 Mining and quarrying 90.1 9.9 $20.59 Transport, storage and communication 91.2 8.8 $28.42 Construction 95.3 4.7 $11.86 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Note: The red line indicates where equal representation of both genders in the sector would be. Male Female Source: World Bank staff calculations using EAPPOV harmonized database 7
What factors contribute to these gender gaps in labor markets in EAP? Differential access to labor/credit/land markets, and networks Social norms on care/market work Biased law/regulations, and limited infrastructure HOUSEHOLDS Differential allocation time/resources HOUSEHOLDS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AGENCY ENDOWMENTS The framework from the WDR 2012 Gender Equality and Development facilitates understanding of factors which contribute to the observed disparities in the labor market in EAP 8
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Japan: Insufficient gender-related workplace protections EAP 26% Global Does the law mandate equal remuneration for work of equal value? 41% 38% 30% Does the law mandate nondiscrimination based on gender in hiring? 4% 8% Is it prohibited for prospective employers to ask about family status? 81% 83% Is dismissal of pregnant workers prohibited? 48% 63% Is there legislation on sexual harassment in employment? 26% 38% Are there civil remedies for sexual harassment in employment? No Yes No Yes Yes No MARKE TS INSTITUTIO EAP lags behind global averages in terms of gender-related workplace protections Source: Women Business and the Law 2016 9
Limited parental benefits Parental benefits are lower than the world average and may hinder women s opportunities in EAP MARKE TS INSTITUTIO 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Japan EAP 52% Global 73% Does the government support or provide childcare services? Yes 85% 95% Does the law mandate paid or unpaid maternity leave? Yes 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 104 98 86 What is the length of paid maternity leave (days)? EAP average Global average Japan Source: Women Business and the Law 2016 10
Social norms dictate that women bear the lion share of childcare responsibilities MARK ETS In many countries in EAP female and male labor force participation rates diverge during childbearing years Source: World Bank staff calculations using EAPPOV harmonized database 11
Childcare responsibilities may result in having lower quality jobs, e.g., unpaid work 100% 90% 80% 8% 16% Employment type by gender 3% 30% MARK ETS 70% 60% 50% 37% 31% Women are more likely to work in household enterprises or as unpaid family workers 40% 30% 20% 10% 39% 35% 0% Male Female Wage and salaried Employer or self-employed Household enterprise worker or unpaid family worker Other Source: World Bank staff calculations using EAPPOV harmonized database 12
Childcare responsibilities may result in having lower quality jobs, e.g., part time work 40 35 30 Part-time employment, by gender MARK ETS 25 20 15 10 Women are more likely to work part time 5 0 Japan Female part-time employment (% female employment) Male part-time employment (% male employment) Korea, Rep. Source: WDI 2014 13
In most EAP countries women are less likely to access formal financial institutions Percent of men and women who has a loan from a formal financial institution to purchase a home, an apartment or land MARKE TS Mongolia Malaysia World Cambodia Thailand EAP China Vietnam Philippines Indonesia Myanmar In most EAP countries, women are less likely to have a loan with a formal financial institution However, much heterogeneity exists: some countries having higher access than the world average, some lower 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% Male Female Source: Global Findex data 2014 In Vietnam and Philippines women are more likely to have a loan than men 14
.. which may negatively affect female entrepreneurship MARKE TS 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% Had business loan from a bank for start-up capital 9% 13% Millions of Rupiah 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 Start-up capital 4.23 13.82 In Indonesia, female owners of micro-enterprises are less likely to have a business loan for start-up capital, and generally have lower startup capital. 0% Female Male 0 Female Male 15
Promising policies to increase women s economic opportunities 16
Improving formal institutions MARKE TS INSTITUTIO Tax policy to encourage both spouses working (e.g., secondary earner contribution, credits for child care) Canada: reduction of tax contribution of secondary earners triggered increase in female labor force participation (Tsounta, 2006) Paternity leave Sweden: 480 days of parental leave with benefits, of which 60 days are reserved for each parent and not transferable South Africa: electrification significantly raises female employment (Dinkelman, 2011) Investing in basic service delivery Papua New Guinea: road maintenance and rehabilitation program improved access to markets and increased women's incomes from market activities (Jusi, Asigau and Laatunen, 2007) 17
Changing informal institutions MARK ETS Mentoring, role models and networks Curriculum revisions Ethiopia: having a male mentor increases the likelihood of going into a male dominated field (Campos et al., 2015) India: bringing a friend to a training increases its effectiveness (Field et al., 2014) Lao PDR: new gender-sensitive primary education curriculum developed (UNICEF, 2009) Dialogue on gender roles Different countries: Promundo carries out trainings with men and women to address gender roles 18
Addressing market failures MARKE TS Skills building and transition to work Subsidized or state-funded childcare provision Liberia: Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women increased employment by 43% (Adoho et al., 2014) Brazil: provision of free childcare increased employment of women who did not work before by 9-17 percent (Paes de Barros, 2011) 19
However, more rigorous evidence is needed Monitoring and evaluation, including impact evaluations, is imperative. The World Bank Group contributes to global knowledge creation on what works to improve women s economic opportunities through its Federation of Gender Innovation Labs, including the one focused on EAP. 20
Thank you! 21