While MENA has made strides in improving women and girls’ health, much more needs to be done. Understanding the impact of conflict on women and girls is critical for designing both preventive…

Fadia Saadah, Sameera Al Tuwaijri |

Despite efforts to promote gender equality in the workforce, biases, social norms, and individual preferences can hinder optimal movement across sectors.

Carlos Góes, Gladys Lopez-Acevedo, Raymond Robertson |

Gender equality and fair treatment of women and girls is a moral imperative, but global data analytics, evidence and experience clearly demonstrate that including women also fosters economic…

Christopher Stephens |

Women of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have outperformed many other regions in terms of life expectancy, infant mortality, and tertiary education. Their performance in education has, in…

Ferid Belhaj, Paul Noumba Um, Muneeza Mehmood Alam |

This blog presents the results of a randomized controlled trial conducted in Tunisia of a program that aimed to address not only women’s financial and human capital constraints but also some of…

Jules Gazeaud, Nausheen Khan, Eric Mvukiyehe, Olivier Sterck |

The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the largest global shocks in recent history, but it did not increase extreme poverty in Africa as it was feared it would. The reason may be a combination of things…

Kibrom A. Abay, Nishant Yonzan, Sikandra Kurdi, Kibrom Tafere |

This blog is a biweekly feature highlighting recent working papers from around the World Bank Group that were published in the World Bank’s Policy Research Working Paper Series. This entry…

Marcelo Buitron, Policy Research Working Paper team |

The energy sector remains a male-dominated field across the world, and this is no different in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Women in MENA already have a generally low participation…

Husam Beides, Elisabeth Maier |

As we commemorate the #16 Days of Activism campaign for yet another year, it is clear that no time should be lost in taking comprehensive and concrete action against the many forms of Gender-Based…

Ferid Belhaj, Ayat Soliman, Mirjam Kalle |

According to two rounds of a pulse survey, 74% of countries reported disruptions to communicable disease treatment, 73% reported disruptions to immunization, and 38% reported disruptions to non-…

Denizhan Duran, Rekha Menon |