Gender

Women, Law, Norms, and Economics in the Middle East and North Africa

Arne Hoel

In last week's op-ed for the Washington Post, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim provided the broader context for the Bank's concern about discrimination in general, and more specifically about anti-gay laws: "Institutionalized discrimination is bad for people and for societies. Widespread discrimination is also bad for economies. There is clear evidence that when societies enact laws that prevent productive people from fully participating in the workforce, economies suffer."

What will it take to inspire women’s leadership in the Pacific Islands?

On gender equality – it is no secret that the Pacific Islands is lagging.

The region is home to some of the world’s highest domestic violence rates. Economic empowerment of women in many countries, particularly in Melanesia, is desperately low. Women lack access to finance, land, jobs and income. In my country, Solomon Islands, there is only one woman in parliament, and there are none in Vanuatu and Federated States of Micronesia – a country which has never yet seen a woman elected.

Mar 7, 2014: This Week in #SouthAsiaDev

We've rounded up 20 tweets, posts, links, and +1's on South Asia-related development news, innovation, and social good that caught our eye this week. Countries included: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. For regular #SouthAsiaDev updates, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Women Take ICT Skills to the Next Level in Sri Lanka

In light of International Women’s Day coming up on March 8th, I would like to share some two inspiring stories of young women that I met in Sri Lanka. They showed incredible entrepreneurialism and innovation in integrating ICT skills in creative teaching and learning at a university.

The first woman that I met was a young Information Communications Technology (ICT) training teacher, Kamani Samarasinghe, from the University of the Visual & Performing Arts. She creatively taught her class (both regular university classes and distance learning classes) through integrating a career development course into an ICT skills development class, holding virtual training sessions connecting with professor Ramesh Sharma from Indira Gandhi National Open University, and leveraging various free open education resources into her training such as YouTube videos and free typing training courses like GoodTyping. She also creates various tutorial materials (how to search, how to use Google Drive, and etc) on Google Doc and share with students.

We Asked World Bank Staffers How They Help Women. Here Are Their Moving and Inspiring Responses

In honor of International Women’s Day, we asked women who work at the World Bank Group one simple question: "How will ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity empower women around the world?" Here’s a sampling from World Bank women around the world.

I saw firsthand how something as simple as a gas connection could transform lives. A mother of five in Colombia told me – with tears in her eyes – how her life, and that of her family, had improved. Her children were healthier with fewer respiratory illnesses. She could cook safely and start her own business selling food outside her house.

– Carmen Nonay, program manager, Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid

If you are a poor woman, you are not allowed to make decisions about your life and the future of your children. You do not even think about such big things under the daily pressure. Ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity will allow women to get access to their basic human rights, transform their communities and contribute to changing the world.
– Maria V. Handal, office manager, Yemen

In many countries in the Middle East and North Africa, women are outpacing men in enrollment at universities. In terms of learning outcomes, girls in the region outperform boys in mathematics. And yet, these investments in human capital remain largely untapped. Women can help boost prosperity in the region if their productive potential is harnessed and barriers to their economic participation are reduced.
– Tara Vishwanath, lead economist

Weekly Wire: The Global Forum

These are some of the views and reports relevant to our readers that caught our attention this week.

Behind a Pattern of Global Unrest, a Middle Class in Revolt
Bloomberg BusinessWeek
For months now, protestors have gathered in the capitals of many developing nations—Turkey, Ukraine, Thailand, Venezuela, Malaysia, and Cambodia, among others—in demonstrations united by some key features. In nearly all these places, protestors are pushing to oust presidents or prime ministers they claim are venal, authoritarian, and unresponsive to popular opinion. Nearly all these governments, no matter how corrupt, brutal, and autocratic, actually won election in relatively free polls. And in nearly all these countries the vast majority of demonstrators hail from cosmopolitan areas: Kiev, Bangkok, Caracas, Istanbul, and other cities. The streets seem to be filled with the very people one might expect to support democracy rather than put more nails in its coffin.

Where Did Press Freedom Suffer Most in 2013? Online.
PBS Media Shift
This month the Committee to Protect Journalists released its annual analysis of Attacks on the Press, including a “Risk List” of the places where press freedom suffered most in 2013. As you might expect, conflict areas filled much of the list — Syria, Egypt, Turkey — but the place on the top of the list was not a country. It was cyberspace. In the past, the list has focused on highlighting nations where freedom of the press are under attack, but this year CPJ wrote, “We chose to add the supranational platform of cyberspace to the list because of the profound erosion of freedom on the Internet a critical sphere for journalists worldwide.” Including cyberspace is a recognition that, at least in terms of press freedom and freedom of expression, the web is not virtual reality, it is reality.

Sharing Experiences and Insights to Enhance Gender Equality in Sub-Saharan Africa

On February 27, a high-level regional workshop kicked off in Lomé, Togo, with the participation of Ministers of gender affairs and officials from 11 economies from West and Central Africa focusing on the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2014: Removing Restrictions to Enhance Gender Equality report. A welcome dinner prior to the official opening of the event revealed the dynamic nature of gender affairs Ministers – all women – and the common realities and issues facing their nations. Most were meeting for the first time in a unique experience that enabled sharing stories and views about laws, cultural norms and traditional roles within the family in prelude to the official discussions.

The opening remarks at the workshop reflected well the importance of gender equality for the region. In welcoming the event, Mr. Hervé Assah, the World Bank's Country Manager for Togo, noted that “underinvesting in the human capital of women is a real obstacle to reducing poverty and considerably limits the prospects for economic and social development.” Those concerns were echoed by the Minister of Social Action and Women and Literacy Promotion in Togo, Mrs. Dédé Ahoéfa Ekoué, who highlighted the importance of women’s participation in society and the economy, both in Togo and worldwide. The tone was thus set for this two-day event, which aimed at both highlighting recent reforms enacted by countries in the region and promoting the sharing of experiences, challenges and good practices among the participants in promoting women’s economic inclusion.

There is certainly much to highlight and share over these two days and beyond. Over the past two years, several Sub-Saharan African economies passed reforms promoting gender parity and encouraging women’s economic participation. For example, Togo reformed its Family Code in 2012, now allowing both spouses to choose the family domicile and object to each other’s careers if deemed not to be the family’s interests. Côte d’Ivoire equalized the same rights for women and men, and also eliminated provisions granting tax benefits only to men for being the head of household. Furthermore, Mali enacted a law allowing both spouses to pursue their business and professional activities and a succession law equalizing inheritance between husbands and wives. While the pace of reform has been accelerating in the region, it is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, Sub-Saharan Africa is the region that has reformed the most over the past 50 years: Restrictions on women’s property rights and their ability to make legal decisions were reduced by more than half from 1960 to 2010.

Among Almond Blossoms and Olive Groves on the Abraham Path: How Hiking in Palestine Creates Jobs for Women and Youth

Among Almond Blossoms and Olive Groves on the Abraham Path

Among the olive groves, almond blossoms, lush grass, and views of small towns nestled on hilltops and in valleys, World Bank colleagues and I hiked a trail in northern Palestine. Ducking into cool, dark, ancient aqueducts used by civilizations centuries ago, we paused for tea brewed by our local guide in a kettle over an open flame. A homemade meal by a local family topped off our trek.

Development: Made in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the world’s highest female entrepreneurial activity, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Women’s Report. Approximately 27% of African women are engaged in some form of entrepreneurial venture. Among these women is Kate Mahugu, cofounder of Shopsoko.com.

Women Visible

As we approach International Women’s Day on March 8^th, I was moved to write about the visibility of women. Women visible – or not – conjure up many images. Think about it.

Women in business.

We’ve heard about women not being sufficiently represented on the boards of major corporations. According to new polls of Fortune 500 companies reported by Anne Fisher on CNN, the numbers of women in leadership haven’t shifted much: “Women's share of corporate board seats, at 16.6%, hasn't grown at all since 2004. The percentage of female executive officers at Fortune 500 companies is even smaller -- 14.3% -- and has remained flat for three straight years…” Why’s that? It’s linked to women’s visibility: "Being visible and making your accomplishments known is essential to getting the kinds of experience that can move you up into senior management, but some corporate cultures penalize women for that.”

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