What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? Accomplishments and Lessons Learned from the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab 2016 – 2024 Acknowledgments This report was written by Forest Jarvis and Hillary C. Johnson. It draws from research by Salman Alibhai, Diana Jimena Arango, Aries Arugay, Mayra Buvinic, Binderiya Byambasuren, Massimiliano Cali, Sunita Caminha, Rosa Castro-Zarzur, Diego Catalan Molina, Iffat Chowdhury, Maria Emilia Cucagna, Fannie Delavelle, Samantha De Martino, Ervin Dervisevic, Erika Deserrano, Aufa Doarest, Aletheia Amalia Donald, Seth A. L. Garz, Dimitria Gavalyugova, Markus Goldstein, Paula Lorena Gonzalez Martinez, Jhon Jair Gonzalez Pulgarin, Prudenciano Gordoncillo, Snaebjorn Gunnsteinsson, Daniel Halim, Leonardo Iacovone, Taufik Indrakesuma, Jescinta Isimeme Izevbigie, Forest Jarvis, Erik Caldwell Johnson, Hillary C. Johnson, Naira Kalra, James C. Knowles, Yulia Krylova, Gianmarco Leon, Sundas Liaqat, Maria C. Lo Bue, Aneesh Mannava, Noel Muller, Christopher Napolitano, Cecile Niang, Fred Oswald, Pingann Oung, Akaravuit Pancharoen, Elizaveta Perova, Amber Peterman, Tobias Pfutze, Rachael Pierotti, Daniel Alejandro Pinzon Hernandez, Sarah Anne Reynolds, Gareth Roberts, Eliana Carolina Rubiano- Matulevich, Nabil R. Ryandiansyah, Abhilasha Sahay, Suneha Seehatul, Alexander Spevack, Peter Srouji, Francesco Strobbe, Alana Hinda Teman, Ananya Tiwari, Phuong Thi Minh Tran, José Daniel Trujillo, Kali Trzesniewski, Renos Vakis, Aletheia Kerygma Valenciano, Teresa Verdial, Firman Witolaer, and Yue Wu. The report was copyedited by Mary Fisk. Kendra McHugh and Ben Roberts from Six Half Dozen provided graphic design. The East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab (EAPGIL) was led by Elizaveta Perova from 2016 to 2023 and by Hillary C. Johnson from 2023 to 2024. EAPGIL benefitted from the guidance of Andrew Mason, Aaditya Mattoo, and Sudhir Shetty. The East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab gratefully acknowledges funding from the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE) in partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. UFGE has received generous contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (WPF).  EAPGIL would like to thank all of the research partners, government counterparts, survey firms, and project teams who enabled EAPGIL’s research, as well as both internal and external peer reviewers who provided excellent feedback on planned and completed research projects. Finally, special gratitude goes to all of the participants in the studies reflected in this report who generously provided their time and shared their experiences with the research team. Table of Contents Abbreviations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Introduction From Evidence to Action: The EAPGIL Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Section 1 EAPGIL Accomplishments 2016–24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Section 2 Lessons from EAPGIL Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1. Removing Barriers to Productivity for Female Entrepreneurs and Farmers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2. Social Protection and Women’s Empowerment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 2.3. Childcare and Women’s Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.4. Building and Protecting Women’s Human Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2.5. Measuring Women’s Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Section 3 Priorities for Future EAPGIL Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.1 Gender and Climate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 3.2 Childcare and Eldercare:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3.3 Fostering Women Leaders:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.4 Ending Gender-Based Violence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 3.5 Supporting Women’s Livelihoods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Appendix 1 List of EAPGIL Impact Evaluations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Appendix 2 List of EAPGIL Inferential Research Projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Abbreviations 4Ps Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program ARBs Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries BMGF Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CARP Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program CCTs Conditional Cash Transfers CLEAR Community Livelihood Enhancement and Resilience DAR Department of Agrarian Reform EAP East Asia and Pacific EAPGIL East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab FLFP Female Labor Force Participation GBV Gender-based Violence GIL Gender Innovation Lab GP Global Practice IE Impact Evaluation JfN2 Jobs for Nature 2.0 LMICs Low- and Middle-income Countries MSME Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises NGO Nongovernmental Organization PEKKA Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga PRF Poverty Reduction Fund RCTs Randomized Controlled Trials RMG road maintenance groups RTP3 Third Rural Transport Project SMEs small and medium enterprises SPLIT Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling UFGE Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality UN United Nations UNESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific WPF Wellspring Philanthropic Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund 4 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? Executive Summary What Is EAPGIL? The East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab (EAPGIL) generates What Did EAPGIL Accomplish evidence on what works—and what from 2016 to 2024? does not—to promote gender equality in the East Asia and Pacific region and to translate evidence into better policies and programs. To do this, Completed EAPGIL does the following: 9 Impact Evaluations Conducts Research on Gender Gaps Conducted 25 Inferential Research Studies Designs Innovative on 6 Themes Solutions to Gendered Constraints Published Evaluates Programs • 4 Journal Articles and Policies • 11 Working Papers • 14 Policy Briefs • 10 Reports, and Engages • 9 Public Engagement Pieces Policy Makers Executive Summary • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 5 What Has EAPGIL Learned? Key Lessons Learned Supporting Entrepreneurship • Gender gaps in entrepreneurship depend on business size and are driven by differences in inputs. • Skills training, financial inclusion, and reducing women’s care burden can help close these gaps. • Female entrepreneurs earn more in male- dominated sectors; however, sectoral segregation explains little, if any, of the gender gap in profits. Key Lessons Learned Closing Gender Gaps in Agriculture • Lower input levels contribute to gender gaps in agricultural productivity and prevent female farmers from fully taking advantage of improved infrastructure. • Land reform programs need to involve both beneficiaries and their spouses to bolster women’s agency over land. 6 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Executive Summary Key Lessons Learned Social Protection and Women’s Empowerment • Public works programs are effective in reducing poverty and boosting women’s decision-making authority in households and communities. • Public works programs may not have sustainable impacts, especially for poorer households. • Conditional cash transfers can delay young women’s marriage and childbearing in the long-term, even when participation was brief. • Social protection can mitigate some forms of gender-based violence, although the type of violence matters. • Local knowledge can be harnessed to accurately target social protection programs. Key Lessons Learned Childcare and Women’s Work • Childcare constraints impact women’s choices, including sorting into lower-paid occupations, switching from wage work to entrepreneurship, and migrating through informal channels instead of formal ones. • Access to childcare in low- and middle-income countries boosts women’s labor force participation. • The characteristics of available childcare may affect the types of work that women enter. • Childcare availability boosts the productivity of large manufacturing firms by enabling firms to find more qualified employees and reducing employee turnover. • Childcare availability improves outcomes for other household members, including older siblings. • Women’s work can have positive impacts on children’s outcomes. • Trust and social norms pose challenges to the expansion and take up of childcare services. Executive Summary • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 7 Key Lessons Learned Building and Protecting Human Capital • Adolescent boys’ underperformance in school is linked to lower levels of socioemotional skills. • Fostering peer-to-peer socioemotional learning may reduce stereotype threats that young girls face. • Clean cookstoves improve the health of primary cooks and other household members. • Access to clean cooking technology can also reduce women’s share of household cooking and related tasks by increasing the involvement of other household members. Key Lessons Learned Measuring Agency • Men and women have different interpretations of what it means to be a decision-maker. • Standard measures of who makes decisions are poor predictors of agency, but alternative measures capture agency better. • Alternative methods of measuring gender-based violence— face-to-face direct questioning and audio-assisted computer self-interviews—lead to similar measures of gender-based violence. • It is possible to measure gender-based violence safely through phone surveys using innovative measures. 8 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Executive Summary Introduction From Evidence to Action: The EAPGIL Model EAPGIL’s mission is to generate evidence on what works—and does not—to promote gender equality in East Asia and Pacific and to translate evidence into better policies and programs. EAPGIL adopts a holistic approach, working with partners at every stage of the policy-making process, from setting the policy agenda to designing policies, programs, and interventions, to evaluating whether these programs achieve their goals. Beyond evaluating programs after they have taken place, EAPGIL views rigorous research as a cycle; previous findings can be used to inform future priorities and the design of interventions, which, in turn, can be evaluated to generate more evidence and further refine policies. Figure 1. The EAPGIL Model Research Design Evaluate Engage Analyze existing data to Use evidence to Conduct rigorous Disseminate measure gender gaps, improve program design impact evaluations of findings and support factors associated with and develop innovative programs and policies. operational teams them, and what works solutions to gendered and policymakers to to close them. constraints. incorporate evidence into policy. Introduction • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 9 Box 1. What Is EAPGIL? The East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab evidence-based policies and programs. EAPGIL is (EAPGIL), founded in 2016, is a member of the Federation supported by the World Bank Umbrella Facility for Gender of Gender Innovation Labs. EAPGIL conducts impact Equality (UFGE), in partnership with the Australian evaluations and inferential research to generate Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The UFGE evidence on what works in closing gender gaps in has received generous contributions from Australia, assets, economic opportunities, and agency, as well Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, as how closing these gaps can help achieve other the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, development outcomes. Ultimately, EAPGIL seeks the United Kingdom, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to increase the welfare of women and men in East (BMGF), and the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund (WPF). Asia and Pacific by promoting the uptake of effective, Research EAPGIL uses existing data to measure gender gaps in the region, identify factors associated with these gaps, and set priorities for policy and future research. Since its inception, EAPGIL has had a robust inferential research program, using existing data to answer policy-relevant questions on such topics as entrepreneurship, agriculture, childcare, and occupational sorting. EAPGIL also reviews global evidence to shed light on policy- relevant questions for the region and identify promising solutions to test in the region. EAPGIL has successfully used this evidence to influence policy and spending priorities by the World Bank and national governments, change national laws and policies, and inform the design of interventions and impact evaluations (IEs). Design EAPGIL research is an iterative process, where results from completed work can be used in the design of future interventions. EAPGIL works with selected project teams early in the project development process to use research findings to inform project design. The level of EAPGIL’s involvement varies according to the project’s needs and available evidence; it has included co-leading the design of project components, reviewing project documents, co-leading fieldwork and stakeholder consultations with project partners, and supporting the monitoring of project implementation. The midline results of EAPGIL IEs can also be used to make design adjustments at intermediate stages of projects to ensure maximum impacts on beneficiaries. Evaluate Experimental IEs are central to EAPGIL’s work program. IEs generate rigorous causal evidence on how policies and interventions impact beneficiaries, households, and communities. EAPGIL prioritizes flexibility, adapting the design of each IE to best suit the project it is embedded within. In addition to using quantitative data to rigorously measure the impacts of a program, EAPGIL integrates qualitative data, where possible, to refine the research questions, improve the measurement of key concepts, and better elucidate the mechanisms behind a program’s impact. Box 2 provides additional details on the process of IEs and how they are developed and conducted. 10 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Introduction Engage EAPGIL IEs and inferential research generate causal evidence on a wide variety of policies and interventions and provide concrete policy recommendations on how to promote gender equality in the region. To ensure that evidence translates into impact, EAPGIL adopts a two-fold engagement strategy. First, results are disseminated widely through events, blog posts, and newsletters. Second, EAPGIL works closely with relevant operational teams, governments, and other partners to provide tailored support in using the findings to inform the design of future initiatives. Box 2. How Does EAPGIL Conduct Impact Evaluations? Since 2016, EAPGIL has completed nine IEs in six To formalize the agreed upon design, EAPGIL drafts EAP countries. No two IEs re designed alike; each a concept note that describes the research questions IE focuses on a different intervention with different and the design of the IE. EAPGIL seeks advice through research questions, implementing partners, locations, a peer review process to strengthen the design, and constraints. However, the most rigorous design inviting experts in related fields to comment on the possible is used in each context, and EAPGIL focuses document. In addition, project stakeholders are on answering the questions that are the highest requested to review the document to ensure the final priorities for implementing partners, governments, IE design captures the essential elements discussed task teams, and beneficiaries alike. This box describes during consultations and workshops and to formalize the steps of the IIE process and how research the agreement on the proposed evaluation design. is tailored to country and project contexts. 2. Randomization 1. Design Almost all EAPGIL IEs are randomized The first step of any IE is working controlled trials (RCTs); beneficiaries are with implementing partners and randomly assigned either to a treatment stakeholders to determine how it group that receives an intervention will be conducted. EAPGIL conducts or to a control group that does not. The form that this extensive consultations with partners to determine randomization takes varies based on the nature of whether an IE is feasible, what the ideal method of the intervention and the needs of the beneficiaries randomization will be, what the highest-priority research and the implementing partner. Randomization can questions are, and how an IE can contribute to global be at the individual level or at a higher-level cluster, knowledge. A key step is ensuring buy-in from all such as a village, school, or land title. In many cases, partners for an IE, which usually includes orientation multiple treatment arms, where different groups receive on how to conduct IEs and how they can be useful in different forms of an intervention, are randomized. This development initiatives. Partners are also involved in approach allows practitioners to compare different the co-creation of the IE design to the extent feasible; ways of delivering an intervention and evaluate which at a minimum, they help define the research questions is more effective in achieving the targeted outcomes. and validate the proposed design. Whenever possible, When a “pure” control group is not possible, timing EAPGIL conducts stakeholder consultations in the field may be randomized such that some beneficiaries to better understand how an intervention might impact receive an intervention before others. Alternatively, it is beneficiaries and how to measure these impacts. possible to assign some individuals to one intervention and others to another intervention to compare the relative effectiveness of different interventions. Introduction • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 11 3. Data Collection 5. Dissemination Collecting data on the outcomes of Findings of IEs are disseminated widely beneficiaries is an essential element to a broad group of stakeholders and of IEs. Most IEs include a baseline practitioners. Findings are detailed survey that is conducted before an in academic papers submitted to intervention begins and an endline survey that is peer-reviewed journals, non-technical policy briefs conducted after the intervention. When possible, a targeted to policy makers, and endline reports that midline survey, done either during or shortly after share comprehensive findings in a timely manner. All an intervention, is conducted to measure short-term publications are circulated broadly through newsletters impacts and deliver timely results to partners. Data and websites; findings are often accompanied by collection is done by firms based in the countries blog posts to reach broader audiences. To ensure where IEs take place, using trained local enumerators. findings animate discussions among academics and to EAPGIL leads the design of survey questionnaires, improve technical rigor of the work, EAPGIL presents participates in survey piloting and enumerator training, IE findings at academic conferences. EAPGIL also and supervises data collection and data quality. conducts in-country workshops with key stakeholders to present the findings and discuss how the findings 4. Analysis can inform country-specific development agendas. During and after every IE, EAPGIL In addition, EAPGIL presents the findings in webinars conducts rigorous quantitative and other learning events to reach a broader range of analysis to determine how the policy makers and practitioners across the region. intervention affected outcomes for beneficiaries. In many cases, the quantitative analysis will be supplemented with qualitative work carried out with beneficiaries and other stakeholders to better understand the mechanisms by which the impacts occurred, or the ways in which an intervention was carried out on the ground. An endline report is prepared after every IE, and the results are written as research papers, policy briefs, and other documents. 12 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Introduction A collaborative process EAPGIL expands its impact on development spending and policy by collaborating with a wide variety of partners. EAPGIL has partnered with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, universities, and private companies to conduct IEs; most are embedded within a larger World Bank operation. Close collaboration with operational teams ensures that results will influence current and future operations; partners in academia mean that EAPGIL’s work fits within—and contributes to—economic theory. This collaborative approach also means providing capacity-building to partners on topics such as IE design and implementation and using evidence to design policy. EAPGIL has collaborated with numerous other units at the World Bank, including the Urban, Resilience, and Land Global Practice (GP); the Social Sustainability and Inclusion GP; the Poverty and Equity GP; the Energy and Extractives GP; the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation GP; the Macroeconomics, Trade, and Investment GP; the Social Protection and Jobs GP; the Development Economics Vice Presidency; the Gender Group; and the other regional Gender Innovation Labs. External partners have included UN Women, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Abdul Lateef Jameel Poverty Action Lab, Innovations for Poverty Action, and the Center for Global Development, as well as numerous universities worldwide. EAPGIL’s work is shaped by and, in turn, informs the World Bank Group’s strategic gender priorities. The themes of EAPGIL’s first round of IEs were aligned with the key themes and knowledge gaps highlighted in the 2016–23 World Bank Group Gender Strategy and with the East Asia and Pacific Regional Gender Action Plan. In preparation for the development of the 2024–30 World Bank Group Gender Strategy, EAPGIL contributed to the GIL Federation’s Causal Evidence Series,1 which informed the strategic priorities identified in the new strategy. Moving forward, EAPGIL’s work continues to be aligned with strategic priorities. EAPGIL is currently generating evidence on themes aligned with the new gender strategy and will expand to cover additional topics that are central to the strategy, such as gender and climate and social norms. Moreover, EAPGIL’s approach of using data to inform development policies and programs, testing innovative solutions that can be scaled, providing capacity building for partners to enable evidence-based policy making, and partnering to increase impact corresponds with key aspects of the implementation plan for the new World Bank Group Gender Strategy. 1 The Gender Innovation Lab Federation Evidence Series includes 9 policy notes drafted by Daniel Halim, Diego Ubfal, and Rigzom Wangchuk in 2023. The full series of briefs are available here. Introduction • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 13 14 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? Section 1 EAPGIL Accomplishments 2016–24 Since its inception in 2016, EAPGIL has worked in a total of nine countries, carrying out IEs and inferential research. EAPGIL has completed a total of nine IEs and has one ongoing and three pipeline IEs. EAPGIL IEs are selected based on their fit with priority areas; contribution to global knowledge goods; and relevance for project teams, implementation partners, and policy makers. EAPGIL has led IEs on various topics aligned with global and regional priorities, including entrepreneurship, land reform, education, social protection, and childcare. Appendix 1 lists all EAPGIL IEs, including completed and ongoing projects and IEs in development. Beyond impact evaluation, EAPGIL’s inferential research has shed light on important and policy-relevant gender gaps in the region, helping to set policy priorities inside and outside the World Bank Group. EAPGIL’s inferential research portfolio includes flagship reports on high-priority topics, as well as global collaborations with other GILs and work with other World Bank teams and external partners. EAPGIL also publishes guidance for other researchers and practitioners on measurement and other practical matters. A complete list of EAPGIL inferential research is in Appendix 2. Section 1 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 15 As of April 2024, EAPGIL has produced 4 journal articles, 11 working papers,2 14 policy briefs, 10 reports, and 9 public engagement pieces.3 Research produced by EAPGIL, which has been published in academic journals and been cited hundreds of times, has had an important impact on the academic literature. EAPGIL economists also provide peer review and guidance to other researchers and World Bank operational teams to ensure that knowledge and evidence shape development policy, operations, and academic research. EAPGIL uptake activities focus on ensuring that findings are translated into action: shaping government policy, World Bank operations, and other development initiatives. Since 2016, EAPGIL work has influenced approximately US$916 million in development spending; every dollar spent on EAPGIL resulted in US$115 worth of influence. EAPGIL work has also resulted in important policy changes. For example, findings on occupational segregation in Vietnam helped inform reforms to the labor code that removed restrictions on the occupations in which women can work. In Cambodia, EAPGIL work has led to an increased policy focus on the provision of childcare and the formulation of an implementation sub-decree to detail and regulate the national approach to childcare provision. In Indonesia, EAPGIL findings have led to an active policy dialogue on childcare. 2 The number of working papers represented here includes only those that have not yet been published in peer-reviewed journals. Including prior versions of journal articles, EAPGIL has published 15 working papers. 3 EAPGIL’s public engagement pieces include 7 blogs, 1 documentary film, and 1 photojournalism book. 16 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 1 Section 2 Lessons from EAPGIL Research EAPGIL contributes to the evidence base on what works to address different thematic challenges, aligned with previous and current priorities for World Bank engagement on gender. This section synthesizes key findings on themes covered and how these lessons can be applied moving forward. 2.1. Removing Barriers to Productivity for Female Entrepreneurs and Farmers Approximately one-half of women are engaged in self-employment in the East Asia and Pacific region and between one-fifth and one-fourth of women are employed in agriculture.4 Nevertheless, previous evidence shows gendered patterns in entrepreneurship; women in business are concentrated in smaller firms, and female farmers face barriers to productivity.5 The World Bank Regional Gender Action Plan for East Asia and Pacific from 2018 through 2024 highlighted the need for more evidence on how to reduce inequalities in entrepreneurship and agriculture, quantify productivity gaps, understand the drivers of these gaps, and identify ways to close these gaps. As a result, EAPGIL has dedicated a significant portion of its work program since 2016 to this theme. 4 World Development Indicators, data from 2016 through 2022. 5 World Bank. 2012. Toward Gender Equality in East Asia and the Pacific: A Companion to the World Development Report. World Bank: Washington, DC Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 17 Gender gaps in entrepreneurship depend on business size and are driven by differences in inputs EAPGIL’s regional report, Enterprising Women: Toward Equal Business Opportunity in Southeast Asia, synthesizes original analyses and existing evidence to quantify gender gaps in entrepreneurship and their drivers in five Southeast Asian countries.6 Although women run about one-half of microenterprises in Southeast Asia, their microenterprises have lower profits and sales than male-run businesses (Figure 2). In contrast, women are much less likely than men to own small and medium enterprises (SMEs); however, gender gaps in business performance are less salient among SMEs. Gender gaps in microenterprise performance and SME ownership are explained by differences in entrepreneurial inputs, including time, entrepreneurial skills, hired labor, and capital. Input gaps are, in turn, shaped by gendered preferences and constraints that arise due to legal distortions, market failures, and gender norms. Similarly, EAPGIL’s recent report on female entrepreneurs in Indonesia finds that gaps in profits in revenues are largely due to business characteristics: female-owned firms have fewer paid employees and lower use of credit, and they are more likely to rely on unpaid workers and savings.7 EAPGIL’s qualitative work with female entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia found that they viewed traditional gender norms as a major obstacle in these areas, making it harder to be approved for loans or to hire and maintain employees.8 These differences have economic costs: closing gender gaps in entrepreneurship in the Indonesian manufacturing sector would result in economic benefits of approximately 6.5 trillion IDR.9 Figure 2. Gender Gaps Exist in Microbusiness Performance in Southeast Asia Percentage difference in business performance between male and female microentrepreneurs Raw gender gap in performance Gap after including only sector controls Gap after including all controls 0% -1.6% -5% -10% -9.9% -9.6% % women earn less than men -11.4% -11.4% -12.2% -15% -20% -17.4% -20.1% -25% -24.3% -30% -27.8% -35% -34.2% -35.2% -35.1% -40% -40.4% -40.5% -45% Cambodia Indonesia Lao PDR Timor - Leste Vietnam Significant at 1% Significant at 5% Not statistically Significant 6 World Bank. 2022. Enterprising Women: Toward Equal Business Opportunity in Southeast Asia. © Washington, DC. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 7 World Bank. 2023. Opening Opportunities: The Economic Cost of Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurship in Indonesia. © Washington, DC: World Bank. License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO. 8 Oung, Pingann and Hillary C. Johnson. 2022. Against the Challenges: Stories of Female Entrepreneurs in Cambodia and Vietnam. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.  9 World Bank. 2023. Opening Opportunities: The Economic Cost of Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurship in Indonesia. © Washington, DC: World Bank. License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO. 18 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 Skills training, financial inclusion, and reducing women’s domestic care burden can be effective interventions to close gender gaps EAPGIL’s work on entrepreneurship sheds light on the challenges that female entrepreneurs face but suggests a way forward. A review of global evidence in EAPGIL’s regional report finds that reducing gender gaps in profits will require short-term measures to close gender gaps in inputs, as well as policies that tackle underlying inequalities such as gender norms and women’s unequal care burden (Box 3). EAPGIL has evaluated the impact of such policies: an impact evaluation of a financial inclusion and skills training intervention in Indonesia found that it was effective in boosting the profits of female entrepreneurs, with associated increases in the use of goo business practices and women’s decision-making power.10 A forthcoming working paper shows that public credit schemes can enable first-time borrowers to access commercial credit for their micro and small businesses; however, special attention needs to be paid to ensure that borrowers without collateral, including women, can access the program.11 Meanwhile, a collaborative report produced by EAPGIL and other Gender Innovation Labs finds that female entrepreneurs tend to work in lower-productivity sectors; this finding suggests that helping them to cross over into male-dominated sectors may be a promising way to boost profits.12 Although the report shows that female entrepreneurs in male-dominated sectors earn more than female entrepreneurs in female- concentrated sectors in all countries except Cambodia, further evidence shows that sector explains very little, if any, of the gender gap in profits in the region.13 As such, more effort should be paid to addressing gender gaps in inputs and the factors driving these gaps in Southeast Asia than enabling women to switch sectors. 10 Buvinic, M., H.C. Johnson, E. Perova, F. Witoelar. 2020. “Can Boosting Savings and Skills Support Female Business Owners in Indonesia?: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Washington, DC : World Bank Group. 11 Alibhai, S., H.C. Johnson, C. T. Niang, F. Strobbe. Forthcoming. “Can Public Credit Schemes Improve Access to Finance for Small Businesses? Evidence from Indonesia.” 12 World Bank. 2022. Breaking Barriers: Female Entrepreneurs Who Cross Over to Male-Dominated Sectors. © World Bank, Washington, DC. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 13 World Bank. 2022. Enterprising Women: Toward Equal Business Opportunity in Southeast Asia. © Washington, DC. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 19 Box 3. Four Promising Policy Interventions to Support Female Entrepreneurs in East Asia and Pacific Gender gaps in entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia are large and the challenges facing female entrepreneurs are daunting, but EAPGIL’s regional report suggests four evidence-based policy options to address them. The most effective approaches to support women in entrepreneurship are likely to those that take a multipronged approach that combines multiple interventions to tackle both immediate obstacles and root causes. A detailed explanation of these policy options and the evidence behind them can be found in the report.i Enhancing women’s skills Supporting hiring The gender gap in profits in and managing of workers Southeast Asia is associated with Female entrepreneurs in Southeast gender differences in both basic and Asia are less likely to use paid workers business-specific skills. Evidence, or report difficulties related to gender including EAPGIL impact evaluations, suggests that norms and stereotypes. Evidence suggests that business training programs that provide training informational interventions to help identify qualified on financial literacy and include psychological workers and improve knowledge of labor laws and approaches to shift attitudes can be effective. management practices, as well as interventions to Mentorship and peer-to-peer learning interventions provide direct subsidies to paid workers, can be useful. can help entrepreneurs to build networks and learn from the experiences of other women. Alleviating time constraints due to domestic work Improving access to capital Women’s unequal burden of domestic Female entrepreneurs in the region work has been shown to constrain are less likely to use loans and business location and women’s time financing to start or maintain for entrepreneurial activities. Promising interventions business, in part due to difficulties include improving access to affordable childcare, in obtaining formal credit. Promising interventions supporting access to improved household infrastructure include using alternative qualification measures to such as in-house water, and engaging men to shift overcome collateral constraints, subsidized loans intrahousehold allocation of domestic work. and blended finance, and business plan competitions for female owners of small or medium enterprises. i World Bank. 2022. Enterprising Women: Toward Equal Business Opportunity in Southeast Asia. © Washington, DC. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 20 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 Lower access to inputs and unclear land tenure are barriers to productivity for female farmers Although the agricultural sector still represents an important share of female employment in East Asia and Pacific, female farmers often experience lower productivity than men. EAPGIL work in Timor-Leste finds that female farmers produce 15 percent less per hectare than male farmers; this gap is driven by lower access to agricultural inputs and labor, lower literacy rates, lower cash crop production, and exclusion from extension services and farmer’s groups (Figure 3).14 Similarly, in Vietnam, an EAPGIL IE of rural road improvement found that female farmers are unable to take full advantage of infrastructure due to their lower levels of household labor and lower access to capital.15 In the Philippines, an EAPGIL IE found that land reform interventions can result in lower agricultural decision-making power for women; this is most likely because female spouses of male beneficiaries are often not included in the reform process, despite being legal co-owners of titles (Box 4).16 These impacts are more severe in areas with access to extension services, a finding that suggests female farmers may be excluded. Taken together, EAPGIL work in the region drives home the need for deliberately targeting female farmers through extension services and capacity-building activities, recognizing that gender-blind policies may still have gender-specific impacts. Figure 3. Female Farmers in Timor-Leste Have Lower Agricultural Productivity due to Lower Inputs and Access to Resources % of gender gap explained Sale of Crops Literacy 9% 15% Cash Crop Production 15% Household Size Farming 20% Groups 9% Agricultural Implements 20% Hired Labor 4% 14 Gavalyugova, D., S. Caminha, T. Verdial, E. Perova. 2018. Women Farmers in Timor-Leste : Bridging the Productivity Gap. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 15 Mannava, A., E. Perova, P.T.M. Tran. 2020. Who Benefits from Better Roads and Why Mixed Methods Analysis of the Gender-Disaggregated Impacts of a Rural Roads Project in Vietnam. Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS 9216 Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 16 Castro-Zarzur, R., P. Gordoncillo, S. Gunnsteinsson, F. Jarvis, H.C. Johnson, E. Perova, P. Srouji. 2020. Land rights in transition: Preliminary experimental evidence on how changes in formal tenure affect agricultural outcomes, perceptions, and decision-making in the Philippines. Washington, DC : World Bank Group. Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 21 Box 4. How Can Land Reform Programs in the Philippines Improve Tenure Security for Male and Female Farmers? An EAPGIL IE co-led with Innovations for Poverty their investments in the land and were more likely to Action, the University of Maryland, and the University lease it out after the subdivision survey (Figure B4.1). of the Philippines Los Baños examined the impact The wives of male beneficiaries also saw decreased of a land parcelization program carried out by the agricultural decision-making power. However, almost all Philippines Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR). of the beneficiaries surveyed stated that they preferred Farmers who had previously received collective individual titles over collective titles. Qualitative work titles through the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform carried out later with land reform beneficiaries found Program (CARP) had their parcels subdivided that these impacts were likely transitory and related and were provided with individual titles. to the very long process of subdivision and unclear communication with farmers, who were unsure of their At an intermediate stage of the process, after tenurial status before receiving the title documents. agricultural lands were surveyed for subdivision but Gender-related impacts may be because the spouses of before title documents were distributed, the IE found that beneficiaries are often not included in the subdivision the process decreased farmers’ tenure security, trust process, despite being legal co-owners of the land. in government, and subjective well-being. In addition, female agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs) lowered Figure B4.1. An Intermediate Stage of Land Reform Reduced Women’s Tenure Security Effects of subdivision survey on selected plot-level outcomes by gender 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 Plot leased out ARB is tilling parcel Plan to invest in a Plan to invest in Plan to increase bam or granary new crops tilled area of parcel Male ARBs Female ARBs Note: Dark bars represent statistically significant treatment effects. The World Bank’s Support to Parcelization of Lands for beneficiaries will also be fully included in the process Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project is working to expedite and informed of their spousal rights, and their names and simplify the process to ensure that farmers can fully will be included in legal title documents. EAPGIL take advantage of their individual land rights. The World is also working with the DAR and the Land Global Bank and the DAR are improving the communication Practice to carry out another IE of the SPLIT Project strategy around parcelization, ensuring that farmers to measure how it changes outcomes for farmers are fully informed of their rights to the land and the and their households and ensure that the improved nature of the subdivision process. The spouses of processes lead to the desired impacts on beneficiaries. 22 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 2.2. Social Protection and Women’s Empowerment Social protection programs—including conditional cash transfers, public works programs, and social insurance programs—are a widely used tool to reduce poverty and inequality around the globe. Rigorous research has consistently found that these programs have positive impacts on poverty reduction and other crucial outcomes such as schooling, health, and gender equality. However, there is a need for further evidence on how they can be improved to ensure that the impacts are sustainable and gender-equal, as well as on how key aspects such as targeting can be improved. Box 5. How Can Public Works Projects Improve Targeting and Have More Sustainable Impacts? EAPGIL’s IE of road maintenance groups carried New World Bank initiatives in Lao PDR are continuing out under the Laos Poverty Reduction Fund found to emphasize participation in public works programs, that they had overall positive impacts on women’s because EAPGIL evidence indicates that these programs economic empowerment, increasing their incomes are effective in increasing incomes and women’s and decision-making power. However, the study also empowerment. However, as the IE found that impacts showed that the impacts of the program were much differ by the type of household, the World Bank and stronger and likely more sustainable for women from the Lao PDR Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are households that were relatively less poor. Households changing how they target villages for poverty reduction that were above the median of RMG participants saw initiatives in the Community Livelihood Enhancement much stronger increases in earnings, diversified their and Resilience (CLEAR) Project. Recognizing that one incomes more, and invested more in their children’s size does not necessarily fit all beneficiaries, the project education. Women in these households also saw targets the poorest villages for higher investment in larger increases in their decision-making power in the basic infrastructure such as road improvement and households and the community. Although all households drinking water access. It targets the less poor (but still participating in RMGs were much poorer than the vulnerable) villages for income diversifying activities and average household in their village, it may be that those access to savings and credit, because EAPGIL’s results in the most extreme poverty may not be able to fully indicate that this group may be more likely to take full reap the benefits of participating in public works. advantage of additional income, seek more sustainable livelihoods, and make longer-term investments. Public works programs are effective in reducing poverty but may not create sustainable impacts In Lao PDR, EAPGIL collaborated with the Laos Poverty Reduction Fund on an IE of a public works program, in which eligible women in rural villages were randomly admitted into road maintenance groups (RMGs). Women in the groups received payment for carrying out activities such as clearing vegetation from roads and making repairs to road surfaces. EAPGIL’s research demonstrated that the RMGs were effective in reducing poverty and increasing consumption in the short term and that they led to increases in women’s decision-making power in households and communities (Figure 4). However, these impacts were unlikely to be sustainable, because the increased income did not translate into long-term investments such as savings or children’s education. Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 23 The impacts were also stronger for relatively better-off (but still poor) households.17 As a result, ongoing World Bank projects in Lao PDR are working to combine public works programs with other livelihood support programs and to customize the approach, depending on village poverty levels, to improve targeting (Box 5). Figure 4. Participating in Road Maintenance Groups Increased Women’s Decision-Making Power in the Household Measures of participation in household decision-making (ITT) 90 80 70 60 50 Percent 40 30 20 10 0 Is final DM Frac. of decisions Final DM on Frac. of decisions she Believes she Frac. of decisions is a DM decision she cares about is DM should be DM believes should cares about be DM RMG Control Conditional cash transfers can have long-term impacts, even when participation is brief The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Philippines’ flagship cash transfer program, has been in operation since 2008, providing a unique opportunity to measure its long-term impacts. An EAPGIL IE found that participation in the earliest phase of the program had impacts even 11 years later. Brief participation resulted in delays in marriage and childbearing for female beneficiaries.18 However, the study did not find evidence of long-term impacts on income, employment, or other women’s empowerment measures, suggesting that brief exposure is not sufficient to shift these outcomes. Social protection programs can mitigate gender-based violence, although the type of violence matters Global evidence suggests that social protection can empower women by increasing their control of household income and improving girls’ health and education outcomes; however, the relationship with gender-based violence is unclear. Increased agency can lead to decreased GBV, but some studies have found that it can also create a backlash and increase violence against women and girls. In Lao PDR, EAPGIL’s IE of road maintenance groups found that participation did not affect exposure to GBV, in contrast to studies from other contexts that found that public works programs could increase GBV risk.19 The road maintenance groups also increased several measures of women’s empowerment. In the Philippines, 17 World Bank. 2020. Impact Evaluation of Laos Road Maintenance Groups Program. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 18 Dervisevic, E., E. Perova, A. Sahay. 2021. Long-Term Impacts of Short Exposure to Conditional Cash Transfers in Adolescence : Evidence from the Philippines. Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS 9617, Impact Evaluation series Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 19 World Bank. 2020. Impact Evaluation of Laos Road Maintenance Groups Program. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 24 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 EAPGIL found that participation in cash transfer programs led to reductions in women’s exposure to emotional violence, although not in other types of violence such as physical or sexual violence.20 The reduction in exposure to emotional domestic violence is driven by an increase in household well-being, women’s empowerment, and bargaining; survivors are more likely to demonstrate help-seeking behavior. Local knowledge is important for accurate targeting of social protection Ensuring that social protection programs reach their intended beneficiaries is often difficult in the face of incomplete data and difficult-to-reach geographical areas. In Lao PDR, EAPGIL compared the estimations of village leaders with a comprehensive proxy means test of beneficiary households. The study showed that village leaders were generally able to correctly identify the poorest households in communities with as much accuracy as the means test, suggesting that relying on local knowledge can be an efficient method of targeting.21 Similarly, in Cambodia, EAPGIL research shows that a community-based targeting mechanism for land distribution was very effective in identifying poorer beneficiaries, in part because of its transparent selection process and flexibility in allowing communities to define criteria and rankings in ways best suited to local contexts.22 2.3. Childcare and Women’s Work Recent years have seen a renewed focus on the importance of childcare services for improving outcomes for both parents and children. High-quality, affordable childcare has the potential to boost women’s incomes, increase family welfare and employment, improve early childhood development, and facilitate productivity and growth overall. Recognizing this potential, the International Development Association has made the commitment to support low- and middle-income countries in expanding access to childcare services, and the World Bank’s Invest in Childcare Initiative is catalyzing at least US$180 million in new funding for research and action to increase the access to and quality of childcare services. EAPGIL has been at the forefront of research on the impacts and potential of childcare since its inception, and EAPGIL findings have helped to steer policy and investment in multiple countries in East Asia and Pacific. Women’s unequal burden of domestic and care work affects their economic prospects and decisions Across the world and in the region, women face a disproportionate time burden of domestic work, particularly childcare and eldercare. Research by EAPGIL has shed light on the impacts that this care burden can have on the economy. EAPGIL research from Vietnam found that women sort into lower-paid occupations in part due to non-monetary considerations such as shorter hours or paid leave; their choices are likely due to an unequal distribution of domestic and care work.23 In Indonesia, women with childcare responsibilities are also more likely to choose informal migration, possibly due to the time constraints associated with formal procedures.24 EAPGIL has also showed how domestic and care work affects women’s entrepreneurship, shaping the choice to become an entrepreneur, affecting women’s profits, and influencing the support women receive from their families for their business endeavors. EAPGIL’s report on female entrepreneurship in Indonesia demonstrates 20 Sahay, A., Dervišević, E., & Perova, E. 2023. Conditional cash transfers and violence against women–Does the type of violence matter? Social Science & Medicine, 333, 116136. 21 Dervisevic, E., Garz, S. A. L., Mannava, A., & Perova, E. 2020. In Light of What They Know: How Do Village Heads Make Targeting Decisions for Workfare Programs?.Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS 9465 Washington, DC: World Bank Group. 22 Teman, A. 2019. Can Community-based Targeting Effectively Select Poorer Beneficiaries for a Large-scale Program?: Insights from the LASED Project. East Asia and Pacific Gender Policy Brief No. 6 Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group 23 Chowdhury, I., Johnson, H. C., Mannava, A., & Perova, E. 2019. Gender gap in earnings in Vietnam. Journal of Southeast Asian Economies, 36(3), 400-423. 24 Jarvis, F., D. Halim, and E. Perova. 2019. Why Do Indonesian Men and Women Choose Undocumented Migration? Exploring Gender Differences in Labor Migration Patterns. East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab Policy Brief No 7 Washington D.C.: World Bank Group Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 25 a decline in women’s wage work and an increase in their entrepreneurship after the birth of their first child (Figure 5).25 Nevertheless, childcare responsibilities also impose key constraints on entrepreneurship, such as restricting the number of hours women can dedicate to their business and the locations from which they can operate. EAPGIL’s evidence from other countries in the region shows that women who primarily identify as housewives have lower profits than female entrepreneurs who are more focused on their businesses; operating a business from a residential location is often a strategy for combining entrepreneurship with domestic responsibilities and contributes to the gender gap in microbusiness profits.26 Moreover, EAPGIL’s qualitative work in Cambodia and Vietnam revealed how women’s roles in childcare and household management shape their strategic business decisions, limit their ability to network and spend time on their businesses, and restrict the support they receive from their families for their business endeavors.27 Figure 5. Women Switch Out of Wage Work and into Entrepreneurship after the Birth of Their First Child Panel A. Event study of first childbirth on Panel B. Event study of first childbirth on female entrepreneurship in Indonesia women’s wage employment in Indonesia .4 .4 Selection into entrepreneurship .3 .2 .2 Wage work 0 .1 -.2 0 -.1 -.4 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Years from first childbirth Years from first childbirth First childbirth Note: 95% confidence interval is plotted by short-dash lines. 25 World Bank. 2023. Opening Opportunities: The Economic Cost of Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurship in Indonesia. © Washington, DC: World Bank. License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO. 26 World Bank. 2022. Enterprising Women: Toward Equal Business Opportunity in Southeast Asia. © Washington, DC. License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 27 Oung, Pingann and Hillary C. Johnson. 2022. Against the Challenges: Stories of Female Entrepreneurs in Cambodia and Vietnam. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group.  26 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 Childcare can improve women’s economic participation and the economy as a whole Research from high-income countries has consistently found that the expansion of childcare services and early childhood education leads to increases in female labor force participation (FLFP). EAPGIL reviewed available literature from low- and middle-income countries and found that childcare services outside of the home almost always have a positive impact on maternal work in these contexts.28 In addition, EAPGIL produced one of the first causal estimates of the impact of childcare on women’s work in the region, showing that an additional public preschool per 1,000 children in a district increases the workforce participation of mothers with young children by 9.1 percent in Indonesia (Figure 6).29 Nevertheless, likely due to the short operating hours of preschools, most of this increase came from increases in mother’s unpaid labor in agricultural work or household businesses; the results suggest that the characteristics of care services are critical to maximize the impacts on women’s income-earning opportunities. Figure 6. Childcare Availability Increases Women’s Workforce Participation Impact of an additional preschool per 1,000 children on eligible mothers' employment Panel A. Workforce participation Panel B. Unpaid family work Additional preschool effect (p.p.): Additional preschool effect (p.p.): 4.8 3.6 Average (%): Average (%): 52.5 12.6 Average (%) Additional preschool effect (p.p.) Source: Halim, Johnson, and Perova (2021) p.p. = percentage point EAPGIL has found that childcare, in addition to improving mothers’ workforce participation, also impacts other household members and even large manufacturing firms. A forthcoming EAPGIL study shows that preschool availability improved health and education outcomes for older siblings, suggesting it can lessen the care burden of other household members. Moreover, EAPGIL explored the novel research question of how childcare affects businesses. The study shows that preschool expansion in Indonesia increased firm productivity; an additional preschool per 1,000 children increased the total factor productivity of large manufacturing plants by 11 percent for plants with an average number of female workers.30 The increase in productivity likely stems from reductions in employee turnover and the ability of firms to find employees that better suit their needs. 28 Halim, D., Perova, E., & Reynolds, S. 2023. Childcare and mothers’ labor market outcomes in lower-and middle-income countries. The World Bank Research Observer, 38(1), 73-114. 29 Halim, D., Johnson, H. C., & Perova, E. 2022. Preschool availability and women’s employment: evidence from Indonesia. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 71(1), 39-61. 30 Cali, M., Johnson, H. C., Perova, E., & Ryandiansyah, N. R. 2022. Caring for Children and Firms?: The Impact of Preschool Expansion on Firm Productivity. Policy Research Working Paper No. 10193. World Bank, Washington, D.C. Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 27 Trust and social norms can pose challenges to the expansion of childcare services Despite the benefits of childcare for mothers, children, households, and the economy, care services are not widely available in many countries in the region. Social norms and gender roles likely play a role in this in light of widespread beliefs that women’s work outside of the household can be harmful for children. However, an EAPGIL review of global evidence notes that most rigorous studies find either null or positive impacts of maternal work on children’s outcomes.31 Similarly, forthcoming EAPGIL work from Indonesia finds that maternal employment significantly improves education and health outcomes for children.32 Nevertheless, childcare interventions need to be tailored to the local context, including social norms and demand for services. Forthcoming work from an EAPGIL impact evaluation in Cambodia finds that demand for high-quality childcare centers can be low even when households are offered full discounts, because most parents reporting a lack of trust in childcare and satisfaction with current options. 2.4. Building and Protecting Women’s Human Capital Developing human capital, including knowledge, skills, and health is essential to enable people to fully realize their potential. Nevertheless, gender norms and stereotypes affect the educational choices that boys and girls make, which, in turn, impact their future earning potential. In addition, women face increased health risks related to their reproductive and domestic roles in the household. EAPGIL has explored interventions that can help youth build their human capital and address gendered risks to living a healthy life. Socioemotional skills programs are promising but not a panacea Socioemotional skills are associated with educational attainment, academic results, and labor market outcomes, and school-delivered interventions can effectively shift skills and outcomes. Nevertheless, evidence from low- and middle-income countries is limited; the evidence that does exist is mixed. EAPGIL demonstrated that some constructs, including growth mindset—the belief that intelligence is malleable and one can learn through effort—translate conceptually to the Indonesian context.33 EAPGIL also showed that adolescent boys have lower levels of socioemotional skills than girls in Indonesia, which likely contributes to boys’ relative underperformance in school.34 EAPGIL tested a school-based intervention to promote growth mindset and self-management and found that it improved the classroom learning environment and shifted teachers’ beliefs; however, these changes did not translate into improved academic outcomes for students in the short-run. EAPGIL also developed and tested an innovative set of complementary tools for teachers to integrate into their daily classroom activities to foster peer-to-peer socioemotional learning and a more supportive classroom environment. The innovative add-on intervention had additional impacts on girls; it improved their performance on a task measuring resilience and challenge-seeking, increased the number of study strategies they use, and boosted aspirations for a vocational education (Figure 7).35 Fostering exchanges among peers about aspirations, barriers, and strategies to overcome them may have enabled young girls to depart from normative expectations 31 Lo Bue, M. C., Perova, E., & Reynolds, S. 2023. Maternal Work and Children’s Development. Examining 20 Years of Evidence. Policy Research Working Paper No. 10305, World Bank, Washington, D.C. 32 Dervisevic, E., Lo Bue, M. C., & Perova, E. 2021. Maternal employment and children’s outcomes: Evidence from Indonesia (No. 2021/186). WIDER Working Paper. 33 Napolitano, C., Molina, D. C., Johnson, H. C., Oswald, F., Hernandez, D. A. P., Tiwari, A., ... & Trzesniewski, K. 2021. Are growth mindset, mastery orientation, and grit promising for promoting achievement in the Global South? Psychometric evaluations among Indonesian adolescents. 34 Muller, N., & Perova, E. 2018. Why do Indonesian Adolescent Boys Have Poorer Schooling Outcomes than Girls? East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab Policy Brief No. 5 World Bank; Washington, D.C. 35 Johnson, H., Hernandez, D. P., Trzesniewski, K., Indrakesuma, T., Vakis, R., Perova, E., Muller, N., De Martino, S. & Molina, D. C. 2020. Can teaching growth mindset and self-management at school shift student outcomes and teacher mindsets. Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial in Indonesia. The World Bank; Washington, D.C. 28 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 about vocational training or reduce stereotype threat—reduced focus and performance coming from a fear of confirming negative stereotypes about an individual’s group—during the measurement task. Figure 7. Classroom Activities to Promote Socioemotional Learning Improve Girls’ Mastery Behaviors in Indonesia % change in mastery behaviors of adolescents after socioemotional program, by gender 12 10 8 Percent 6 4 2 0 -2 Girls Boys Simple curriculum Additional tools and activities Notes: Results shown are in comparison to a control group that did not receive the intervention. The measure is from a behavior-based tool that captures persistence, resilience, challenge-seeking, and effort. Dark bars show statistically significant differences with the control group. Clean cooking technology can improve women’s health Over 3 million people die prematurely each year due to diseases caused by household air pollution, and dirty fuels are a key source of household air pollution.36 In many parts of the world, women and girls do the majority of the cooking, which puts them at risk of exposure to air pollution from cooking with dirty fuels. Although clean cookstoves have potential to reduce exposure to household air pollution, previous research has produced mixed evidence on the effectiveness of clean cookstoves in household settings. In Lao PDR, EAPGIL tested the effectiveness of a cleaner type of stove than the ones used in most studies and found that forced draft gasifier cookstoves improved the health of primary cooks within six months of using the stoves. The study also found improvements in the subjective measures of health for other household members. In addition, other household members became more involved in cooking with the clean stoves (Figure 8), thereby reducing the share of cooking done by the primary cook.37 36 World Health Organization 2022 37 Byambasuren, B., H.C. Johnson, A. Pancharoen, T. Pfutze. Forthcoming. Can Clean Cooking Technology Improve Outcomes for Households in Lao PDR? Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 29 Figure 8. Clean Cookstoves Increase the Likelihood That Other Household Members Contribute to Cooking and Related Activities Share of primary cooks that receive help from other family members 90 80 70 60 50 Percent 40 30 20 10 0 Help cooking Help washing dishes Help cleaning kitchen Help any cooking related activities % Control group % Treatment group Note: The graph shows the intention to treat effects. Dark bars denote statistically significant differences between treatment and control groups 2.5. Measuring Women’s Agency Many gender-related outcomes are difficult to measure, but understanding them­ —and how they interact with development policy—is crucial. Whenever possible, EAPGIL embeds measurement experiments and innovations in broader research projects to more accurately capture these outcomes. The developed tools are made available to other researchers and practitioners, and lessons learned are shared in relevant communities of practice. What aspects of decision-making are important for women’s agency? An essential part of promoting gender equality and improving women’s outcomes is expanding the set of choices that are available to them and their ability to act on those choices—in other words, increasing women’s agency. Women’s decision-making power is a key element in this; indeed, in Indonesia38 and Lao PDR,39 EAPGIL finds that interventions that increase household income or business profits do so in part by increasing women’s decision-making power. In contrast, EAPGIL’s study that showed a decline in tenure security and well-being for farmers in the Philippines at an intermediate stage of a land tenure intervention also found decreases in women’s decision-making power.40 To better understand these outcomes, EAPGIL has done extensive research to understand how to measure women’s decision-making power and agency through a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Using data from the Philippines, EAPGIL finds that men and women may have different interpretations of what it means to be a decision-maker, leading spouses to give different reports of who makes decisions.41 A 38 Buvinic, M., H.C. Johnson, E. Perova, F. Witoelar. 2020. “Can Boosting Savings and Skills Support Female Business Owners in Indonesia?: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial.” Washington, DC : World Bank Group. 39 World Bank. 2020. Impact Evaluation of Laos Road Maintenance Groups Program. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. 40 Castro-Zarzur, R., P. Gordoncillo, S. Gunnsteinsson, F. Jarvis, H.C. Johnson, E. Perova, P. Srouji. 2020. Land rights in transition: Preliminary experimental evidence on how changes in formal tenure affect agricultural outcomes, perceptions, and decision-making in the Philippines. Washington, DC : World Bank Group. 41 Liaqat, S., Donald, A., Jarvis, F., Perova, E., & Johnson, H. C. 2021. Lost in Interpretation: Why Spouses Disagree on Who Makes Decisions. Policy Research Working Paper No. 9883. World Bank; Washington, D.C. 30 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 forthcoming study shows that commonly used variables of decision-making are poor predictors of agency; however, alternative variables, such as the ability to make one’s own personal decisions if desired, fare much better.42 These findings and sample survey modules have been made available in a policy brief that has been used by other World Bank teams and practitioners in other organizations (Box 6).43 Box 6. Five Tips to Better Capture Women’s Agency through Decision-Making Measures • Understand the local context before collecting • Ask about involvement in the or interpreting decision-making data. decision-making process. • Do not ask ONLY about who makes decisions. • Ask if respondents could make decisions, if desired. • Ask who makes the final decision. How can gender-based violence be accurately and safely measured? Understanding what works to prevent GBV means developing the tools to measure exposure to violence without risking the safety of respondents or enumerators. EAPGIL has been at the forefront of research into methods of GBV measurement, embedding it into several IEs and other projects. In the Philippines, EAPGIL experimentally compared commonly used methods of GBV measurement and found no difference between face-to-face direct questioning and audio-assisted computer self-interviews, suggesting that both methods perform equally well.44 The need for safe and effective measurement tools was particularly strong during the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns and massive economic and social disruptions both increased the risk of GBV and made its measurement more challenging. In response to this, EAPGIL quickly developed a set of innovative tools to measure GBV through phone surveys without jeopardizing the safety of respondents. EAPGIL piloted and used these measures in phone surveys in Indonesia, Lao PDR, and the Philippines. These surveys provided timely evidence on how the pandemic increased exposure to GBV (Figure 9)—and what factors exacerbated or mitigated these risks.45 The new methodology and recommendations for its use were published as a public resource and subsequently used by other practitioners, including UN Women.46 42 Arugay, A., Donald, A., Jarvis, F., Johnson, H.C., & Valenciano, A. Forthcoming. When Does Decision-Making Reflect Agency? Evidence from the Rural Philippines. 43 Jarvis. F., Johnson, H.C., & Perova, E. 2021. How to Better Capture Women’s Agency Through Decision-making Measures: Five Tips from Research in the Philippines. East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab Policy Brief 44 Sahay, A., Dervišević, E., & Perova, E. 2023. Conditional cash transfers and violence against women–Does the type of violence matter? Social Science & Medicine, 333, 116136. 45 Halim, D., Can, E., & Perova, E. 2020. What Factors Exacerbate and Mitigate the Risk of Gender-Based Violence During COVID-19? Insights From a Phone Survey in Indonesia. East Asia and Pacific Gender Innovation Lab Policy Brief. World Bank; Washington, D.C. 46 Perova, E., & Jarvis, F. 2020. Can We Capture Exposure To Gender-Based Violence Through Phone Surveys During A Pandemic? Measurement Note. World Bank; Washington, D.C. Section 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 31 Figure 9. The COVID-19 Pandemic Increased Perceived Risks of Violence in Indonesia Violence in the 43 community against intimate partner 83 Violence in the 50 community against children 68 Harassment in 28 the community 65 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Share of Respondents (%) Common or very common in the community Worsened due to COVID 32 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 2 Section 3 Priorities for Future EAPGIL Research EAPGIL’s collaboration and expertise continue to be in high demand, as evidenced by the diverse selection of new and ongoing IEs. New initiatives are selected based on engagement with project teams, interest of implementing partners, and alignment of the project with EAPGIL’s priority areas of interest and the WBG gender strategy. 3.1. Gender and Climate Global evidence suggests that women’s leadership in climate action is associated with better environmental outcomes; in the private sector, gender diversity in corporate leadership improves firm sustainability and climate-friendly policies. Women’s greater vulnerability to climate change and associated shocks such as natural hazards and food security is also well established. However, major evidence gaps remain, particularly related to the role of women in a just climate transition. Moving forward, EAPGIL inferential work and IEs will strive to fill these evidence gaps. In Fiji and the Philippines, EAPGIL is exploring interventions to increase women’s decision-making power over land and natural resources, including green public works, capacity-building, and land reform. Inferential work will concentrate on filling evidence gaps on the gender aspects of climate adaptation, including the gender-disaggregated impacts of green economic transitions and an updated review of evidence on how women’s leadership in communities and governments affects environmental decision-making. Section 3 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 33 Box 7. Gender and Climate: Priority Areas for Evidence and Action • Can green jobs facilitate women’s • How do women’s leadership and engagement in the labor market? political representation impact • What are the gender-specific impacts of environmental decision-making? decarbonization on labor market outcomes? • What works to increase women’s agency and decision- making power over land and natural resources? 3.2. Childcare and Eldercare EAPGIL has been a leader in generating rigorous evidence on the impacts of childcare and women’s work on household outcomes and early childhood development. EAPGIL continues to convert this evidence into concrete action and policy, as well as expand inferential work to cover gender and economic dimensions of eldercare in the region. In Indonesia, EAPGIL is designing a new IE that will shed light on effective childcare modalities that meet the needs of both mothers and children and assess the need for complementary interventions to maximize the impacts of childcare. In Cambodia, EAPGIL and the international NGO Equimundo recently collaborated to design an intervention that targets fathers in an effort to change gender norms related to domestic work, particularly parenting and childcare; these collaborators are exploring options for an IE of this intervention. EAPGIL and the Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) GP are also collaborating on inferential research on the needs and economic implications of eldercare in Indonesia, an important element of the care economy that has received relatively little study or policy focus in low- and middle-income countries. Box 8. Childcare and Eldercare: Priority Areas for Evidence and Action • How can childcare interventions be designed to • What is the role of eldercare services maximize the benefits for both mothers and children? in the economy, and how can eldercare • Are complementary interventions needed to be made more gender-inclusive? enable women to fully take advantage of childcare • How can fathers be encouraged to be more services to boost their economic participation? involved in childcare and domestic work? • Can early childhood education be leveraged to shift gender norms for children and parents? 34 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 3 3.3. Fostering Women Leaders Gender equality and women’s welfare are stated policy goals of governments and multilateral development organizations worldwide, and women are the beneficiaries of countless interventions and policies. However, women’s leadership in governments and voice in local and national decision-making remain low. Evidence is accumulating that increasing women’s voice and agency in households, communities, and governments leads to better outcomes in a wide variety of domains, from environmental policy and natural resource management to conflict resolution. Evidence gaps remain on what policies work to increase women’s leadership and participation in community decision-making. EAPGIL is working to strengthen the evidence base on women’s leadership through further rigorous research. In Indonesia, EAPGIL is exploring how women’s groups can be effective in facilitating change in rural communities by evaluating initiatives by women’s groups to improve childcare services and expand the coverage of social protection and legal identity. In Fiji, EAPGIL is evaluating how providing resources to women’s groups for green public works programs affects women’s participation in community decision-making, as well as community social norms. EAPGIL also intends to carry out inferential work on the effects of increasing women’s political participation and leadership on policy outcomes in the EAP region. Box 9. Fostering women leaders: Priorities for evidence and action • How can women’s groups influence • What does global evidence indicate about increasing decision-making within communities? women’s political representation and participation? • What works to shift norms, gender roles, and decision- making within communities and households? 3.4. Ending Gender-Based Violence Ending GBV in all its forms is a key outcome in the 2024–30 WBG Gender Strategy, and EAPGIL is continuing to build evidence on what works to achieve it. Building on global evidence, as well as EAPGIL’s prior research in Southeast Asia, EAPGIL is supporting a social protection project in Tonga to identify ways to mitigate GBV for young women during the school-to-work transition. EAPGIL is also exploring how interventions can target both men and women, as well as boys and girls, to shift norms related to gender roles and GBV. Box 10. Ending GBV: Priorities for evidence and action • What are the most effective ways of engaging • Can safe spaces and reporting mechanisms men and boys to shift gender norms, reduce GBV and improve enforcement? particularly in areas with high rates of GBV? • How can infrastructure, public works, and social • What is the role of digital transfers and other protection programs reduce the risk of GBV? technology in reducing the risk of GBV? Section 3 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 35 3.5. Supporting Women’s Livelihoods EAPGIL work has generated robust evidence on the barriers facing women in entrepreneurship, agriculture, and the labor market as a whole. Moving forward, EAPGIL will continue to generate evidence on what works to support women’s livelihoods. In the Philippines, EAPGIL is working with the Department of Agrarian Reform to design and carry out an IE of the SPLIT Project, which is scaling up the parcelization of collective land titles and mainstreaming outreach to female beneficiaries (Box 4). In Fiji, EAPGIL is collaborating on the design of capacity- building interventions that target women’s groups interested in carrying out entrepreneurship activities that may boost their income and community decision-making power. In Indonesia, EAPGIL is exploring how livelihood support interventions targeted to the mothers of young children can increase economic participation and women’s economic empowerment. In addition, EAPGIL is testing programs that can facilitate the school-to-work transition and entry into entrepreneurship in Tonga, where women’s labor force participation is low. Other priorities for future research include the potential of digital technologies to close gender gaps in entrepreneurship and financial inclusion, as well as what can be done to ensure a gender-inclusive digitization of finance and commerce. Box 11. Supporting women’s livelihoods: Priorities for evidence and action • How can digital technology be harnessed to support • What works to boost economic participation and female entrepreneurs and financial inclusion? improve livelihoods for mothers and young women? • How can public works be translated into • How can gender-equal land rights and access economic inclusion for women? to capital for female farmers be secured? 36 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Section 3 Appendix 1 List of EAPGIL Impact Evaluations Promoting Agent Banking through Supply and Demand Incentives This Impact Evaluation (IE) explores ways to promote financial inclusion for female entrepreneurs in Indonesia. The IE tests the impact of promoting mobile savings products to female entrepreneurs and asks whether supply- side interventions can work in isolation or whether they have a greater impact when paired with a demand-side intervention. The supply-side interventions provided incentives to branchless banking agents who work for the local partner bank. Agents were randomly allocated to groups receiving either high or low incentives for each new client they recruited to use the product. The demand-side intervention consisted of financial literacy training for a randomly selected subset of female entrepreneurs in both the high incentive and low incentive villages. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Indonesia • Entrepreneurship • Policy note with findings • Financial Inclusion from baseline survey • Financial Education • Policy brief with findings • Skills Training from midline survey • IE endline report • IE endline policy note Appendix 1 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 37 Youth Aspirations and Career Choices in Indonesia Evidence indicates that men and women sort into different fields of study, sectors of work, and occupations. This sorting along gender lines contributes to the gender wage gap in some countries and can lead to inefficiencies if individuals choose their career paths based on social norms rather than ability. This IE aims to understand the relationship between socioemotional skills, aspirations and educational and career choices of middle school students in Indonesia. The sample includes 2,100 public secondary schools on the islands of Java and Sumatera. Specifically, the IE measures the impacts of a set of modules targeting the development of socioemotional skills and aspirations in ninth-grade students. The IE also tests whether the impacts of a student curriculum can be enhanced, when paired with a set of activities and tools teachers can use in daily interactions with students to shift the classroom environment and better promote socioemotional skill development. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Indonesia • Education • IE baseline policy brief • Socioemotional Skills • IE endline report Road Maintenance Groups in Laos This IE is set in the context of an intervention being delivered by the Lao Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF) that offers road maintenance jobs to rural women. These rural roads offer a key source of connectivity to these rural communities and were either created or rehabilitated recently by the PRF. However, the roads require continuous maintenance. In an intervention that is new for the country, PRF is offering the jobs to carry out routine maintenance to women in these communities. By studying the impact of this program, this IE generates evidence on the effects of workfare programs targeting poor rural women, who are particularly disadvantaged; opportunities to supplement on-farm income with wage work or entrepreneurial income are limited by a lack of access to markets for labor, capital, or outputs. The study also includes additional research on the effectiveness of village heads in targeting the potential beneficiaries of social services. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Lao PDR • Social Assistance • Baseline survey report • Public Works • IE endline report • Infrastructure • Working paper on impacts on GBV • Gender-based Violence 38 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Appendix 1 Laos Clean Cookstoves Initiative The Laos Clean Cookstoves Initiative aims to provides clean burning cookstoves at a highly subsidized price to households in semi-urban Laos that currently use charcoal burning stoves. Although there is a significant amount of literature on the impacts of cookstoves, there is no consensus on the effects of these stoves in household settings. The cookstoves offered under this project are more efficient than the cookstoves studied in the existing literature, and importantly, they do not use wood-burning fuels like the older stoves. This evaluation will shed light on whether these factors are enough to overcome the shortcomings of cookstoves studied so far in the literature, and more broadly, how access to modern cooking technology impacts women’s time use, health, and household consumption patterns. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Lao PDR • Clean Cooking • Publication forthcoming • Public Health • Time Use Philippines Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) The IE of the Comprehensive Agricultural Reform Program in the Philippines explores the impacts of improving land tenure security by converting collective land titles into individual land titles. It tests the impacts of an intermediate stage in the land reform process on agricultural investments, productivity, and tenure security. The IE explores gender-disaggregated impacts of land reform and how changes in land tenure may shift intrahousehold bargaining and decision-making on land. It also contributes to the literature on decision-making and its measurements by administering a spousal survey in which spouses provides detailed information on their perceptions of how agricultural decisions are made within the households. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Philippines • Land Reform • IE endline report • Land Titling • Policy brief detailing quantitative • Agriculture and qualitative findings • Decision-making Appendix 1 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 39 Philippines Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) This IE studies the effects of the 4P program, a core pillar of the government’s social protection strategy in the Philippines that seeks to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through improved health, nutrition, and education of children. The program provides cash incentives to households on the condition that they invest in the health and education of their children, as well as avail of maternal health services. Studying this intervention can provide important lessons on whether benefitting from CCTs during transition to adolescence leads to long-term empowerment and better educational and labor market outcomes, and whether CCTs increase agency and empowerment among the mothers who are transfer recipients. The IE will also contribute to knowledge by studying how the measurement of gender-based violence (GBV) can be improved. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Philippines • Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) • Working paper on long-term impacts of • Social Assistance short exposure to CCTs in adolescence • Gender-based Violence • Journal article on impacts on GBV • Blog Rural Road Improvement in Vietnam Evidence suggests that improvements to transport infrastructure lead to economic development. However, it is less clear how and why the benefits of better transport differ between genders. This non-experimental IE explores the effects of the Third Rural Transport Project (RTP3) in Vietnam, which carried out extensive road improvements, including road rehabilitation and maintenance activities. The IE uses both quantitative and qualitative data to explore how RTP3 impacted the livelihoods of male- and female-headed households in the affected communities. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Vietnam • Infrastructure • Working paper on endline findings • Agriculture • Policy brief with findings • Blog Community-Based Childcare Centers for Garment Factory Workers Cambodia has relatively high female labor force participation compared to other Southeast Asian countries, but childcare options for employed women remain limited. High quality, affordable childcare has the potential to reduce women’s domestic care burden, as well as improve early childhood development outcomes. This IE studies childcare centers built in garment factory worker communities that provide subsidized childcare for children ages 0 to 3 years. It examines households’ willingness to pay for childcare services, social norms related to childcare and women’s work, and whether financial and social norms-related incentives can boost the take-up of childcare. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Cambodia • Childcare • Publication forthcoming 40 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Introduction Mobile Clinics for Social Inclusion in Indonesia The women’s NGO Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga (PEKKA) received support from the World Bank and USAID to provide mobile clinics in rural communities in Indonesia. PEKKA works with village and district governments to provide assistance to households in registering for social assistance programs, obtaining legal identity documents, and receiving legal support. The IE measures the clinics’ impacts on the distribution and targeting of social assistance, the attitudes and knowledge of village government officials, and the long-term impacts of receiving legal identity documents. Status Country Themes Related Publications Completed Indonesia • Social Protection • Publication forthcoming • Legal Identity Support to Parcelization of Lands for Individual Titling (SPLIT) Project The SPLIT Project aims to scale up the parcelization program of the Philippines Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), simplifying and expediting the process for surveying collectively owned lands and providing beneficiaries with individual title documents. EAPGIL and the DAR are collaborating on an IE of the SPLIT Project, exploring how it impacts farmers’ land tenure, agricultural investment, agricultural output, and decision-making. Status Country Themes Related Publications In progress Philippines • Land Reform • Agriculture Fiji Jobs for Nature 2.0 The Jobs for Nature 2.0 (JfN2) program provides cash and training to community groups in rural areas of Fiji to carry out green public works programs such as tree planting, riverbed restoration, and solid waste management. The IE will evaluate the impact of JfN2 and a complementary capacity-building intervention on household income, economic participation, gender norms, and women’s leadership in communities. Status Country Themes Related Publications Pre-concept Fiji • Social Protection Note • Public Works • Women’s Leadership • Green Jobs Introduction • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 41 Innovations in Childcare for Social Inclusion in Indonesia This IE will evaluate a project being carried out by PEKKA to support community-led childcare centers in rural areas of Indonesia. These centers will provide low-cost, quality care for young children and develop an innovative, gender-sensitive curriculum. A complementary intervention will provide capacity building and livelihood support for the mothers of enrolled children. The IE will measure how the intervention impacts early childhood development, women’s economic participation, and social norms in enrolled households. The IE will also assess whether access to childcare is sufficient to boost women’s economic outcomes, or whether complementary livelihood support is needed to fully reap the economic benefits of childcare. Status Country Themes Related Publications Pre-concept Indonesia • Childcare Note • Women’s Livelihoods • Women’s Leadership • Social Norms Tonga Pathways to Employment The Tonga Pathways to Employment Program aims to support poor and vulnerable youth who enter the labor market through interventions that support access to wage jobs and entry into entrepreneurship. The exact research questions the IE will cover are being determined. Status Country Themes Related Publications Pre-concept Tonga • Social Protection Note • Youth Employment • Gender-based Violence 42 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Introduction Appendix 2 List of EAPGIL Inferential Research Projects Female Entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia Questions Answered Related Publications In a regional report, EAPGIL used existing data to quantify gender gaps in • Report business ownership and performance and identify factors associated with • Publication page including recording these gaps. The report included a review of global evidence of interventions of report launch and translations that may address the observed gender gaps in entrepreneurship. EAPGIL collaborated with a qualitative researcher and documentary • Documentary film filmmaker to conduct qualitative interviews with entrepreneurs in Cambodia • Photojournalism book and Vietnam. The interviews delved deeper into the challenges that female entrepreneurs face and provided more context and nuance to the findings presented in the regional report on entrepreneurship. The women’s stories were shared through a photojournalism book and a documentary film. Building on the regional report on female entrepreneurship, EAPGIL did a • Report deep dive to understand gender gaps in entrepreneurship in Indonesia and measure their economic cost. The study conducted quantitative analysis using existing data and conducted qualitative data collection and a policy review. EAPGIL collaborated with the Africa and Latin American and Caribbean • Report Gender Innovation Labs on a global report exploring sectoral segregation • Recording of report launch in entrepreneurship. The study explores how entering male dominated sectors may enable women to earn greater profits and elucidates the factors associated with crossing into a male-dominated sector. Appendix 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 43 Questions Answered Related Publications EAPGIL co-led a study on the People’s Business Credit program in Indonesia • Publication forthcoming with the Finance Competitiveness and Innovation Global Practice. The study explored the extent to which public financing schemes enable new borrowers to enter the formal financial sector and whether subsidized credit can serve as a stepping stone to the financial inclusion of micro and small businesses. EAPGIL collaborated with the Finance, Competitiveness, and Innovation Global • Publication forthcoming Practice and the Indonesian business incubator Kumpul to conduct a case study of a program to help women’s micro, small, and medium enterprises enter the digital realm, find new markets, and grow their businesses. Boosting Women’s Earnings and Employment Opportunities Questions Answered Related Publications Using existing data, EAPGIL measured the gender wage gap in Vietnam and • Journal article found that occupational sorting contributes to this wage gap. The study • Policy brief in English explored the reasons why women sort into lower-paying occupations. • Policy brief in Vietnamese Using existing data, EAPGIL measured the gender gap in agricultural • Report in English productivity in Timor-Leste and identified the factors that explain • Report in Tetum the lower productivity of plots managed by female farmers. • Brief in English • Brief in Tetum EAPGIL conducted novel data collection and analysis on migration in Indonesia. • Working paper The study identifies the most common predictors of migration for both men • Policy brief and women and explores how migration patterns differ for men and women. • Blog Childcare Questions Answered Related Publications Using existing data, EAPGIL explored how women’s work patterns in Indonesia • Policy brief in English shift after the birth of their first child and how the presence of grandparents • Policy brief in Bahasa Indonesia in the household, who may provide informal childcare support, changes the • Blog relationship between giving birth and women’s employment choices. Using existing data, EAPGIL measured the causal impact of • Journal article preschool availability on mothers’ labor force participation in • Policy brief Indonesia and the type of work they in which engage. • Blog 44 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Appendix 2 Questions Answered Related Publications Using existing data, EAPGIL measured the impact of preschool availability • Working paper on the productivity of large manufacturing firms in Indonesia and explored the channels through which preschools boost productivity. Using existing data, EAPGIL captured the impact of • Publication forthcoming preschools on siblings and fathers in Indonesia. Using existing data, EAPGIL carried out original analysis to understand • Working paper the impact of women’s work on children’s outcomes in Indonesia. EAPGIL conducted a review of evidence of the impacts of childcare • Journal article on women’s work in low- and middle-income countries. EAPGIL reviewed the literature on the impacts of • Working paper women’s work on children’s well-being. Gendered Dimensions of Human Capital Outcomes Questions Answered Related Publications Using novel data, EAPGIL compared gender differences in the • Policy brief schooling outcomes of middle-school students in Indonesia and explored how gender differences in socioemotional skills, mindsets, and beliefs may help explain boys’ underperformance in school. Using novel data, EAPGIL explored how adolescents’ aspirations and • Working paper expectations for their educational attainment correlate with their current schooling outcomes and how aspirations, expectations, and their relationship to educational outcomes are different for girls and boys. EAPGIL conducted a review of evidence of interventions that may • Publication forthcoming address the gender gap in life expectancy in Mongolia. Appendix 2 • What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? 45 Targeting of Social Assistance Programs Questions Answered Related Publications Using unique data from Lao PDR, EAPGIL explore how local leaders make • Working paper targeting decisions for social protection programs. The study compared how targeting by village heads differs from using a proxy means test, a common alternative targeting mechanism. It also explored the factors that village heads take into consideration in making their targeting decisions. Using project administrative data from Cambodia, EAPGIL examined the • Policy brief effectiveness of community-based targeting in reaching poor beneficiaries and identified the keys to the project’s successful targeting. Measurement Questions Answered Related Publications EAPGIL used unique quantitative and qualitative data to examine intra- • Working paper household decision-making in the Philippines and make recommendations on • Policy brief ways to improve measures of decision-making. This mixed-methods research • Blog explored reasons spouses commonly disagree on who makes decisions and compared how different aspects of decision-making relate to women’s agency. EAPGIL used unique data collected in the Philippines to compare • Publication forthcoming different methods of capturing data on gender-based violence. EAPGIL developed, piloted, and rolled out innovative measures • Measurement note to proxy exposure to gender-based violence using phone surveys • Policy brief without jeopardizing the safety of the respondents. • Blog EAPGIL also used these data to understand trends in GBV during the pandemic, including factors that exacerbate and mitigate the risk of GBV. EAPGIL examined the psychometric properties of important socioemotional • Working paper skills including grit, growth mindset, and mastery orientation using cross-cultural data. The analysis explored whether these psychological concepts resonate across contexts, the reliability of the measures, and the extent to which the measures can be used to compare the levels of socioemotional skills across boys and girls within a country, as well as to compare levels across countries. 46 What Have We Learned from EAPGIL Research? • Appendix 2 For more information, please visit EAPGIL’s website: www.worldbank.org/eapgil.