Introducing GEEST: An innovative tool that links women to jobs through geographic insights

This blog post is part of a special series titled "Spatial Insights into the Gender Employment Gap", powered by the World Bank's Geospatial Operations Support Team. Read the series' first installment here.


Across all regions of the world, women’s labor force participation trails that of men, and the global gender gap in employment has been nearly stagnant for the past three decades.

In recent years, the use of spatial data has shone a light on the unique development challenges and opportunities women face, particularly when it comes to job markets. Think about it: the place you call home, your daily routes, and your neighborhood's layout deeply influence your day-to-day life, including your work life. This is especially true for women, whose movements and choices are intricately tied to their surroundings. For instance, the distance to the nearest daycare or grocery store could profoundly shape a woman's daily life.

But here's the catch: even though our surroundings play such a pivotal role, the analytical tools we currently use to measure women's access to job markets often miss the mark. They tend to overlook crucial spatial data, leaving us with an incomplete picture of the hurdles women face.

The upcoming World Bank 2024-2030 Gender Strategy prioritizes expanding and enabling economic opportunities and calls for innovation to drive change. New ways to utilize geospatial data for gender analysis offer excellent opportunities to understand population context and can serve as helpful targeting tool to identify intended beneficiary population.
 

Introducing the Gender Enabling Environments Spatial Tool (GEEST)

Based on a new methodology to spatially evaluate women's access to employment opportunities, the Gender Enabling Environments Spatial Tool (GEEST) emerged. This innovative tool represents a significant stride in contextualizing and enhancing our understanding of gender dynamics in the spatial realm.

Scroll through our slides by clicking or tapping the arrows below to find out more about an example for innovative use of spatial data for gendered analysis: