WORLD BANK MIDDL E EAST AN D N ORTH AF RI CA REGI O N 57518 BRIDGING THE GAP Improving Capabilities and Expanding Opportunities for Women in the Middle East and North Africa Region WORLD BANK MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION OCTOBER 2010 Bridging the Gap Improving Capabilities and Expanding Opportunities for Women in the Middle East and North Africa Region Office of the Chief Economist and MNSED Middle East and North Africa Region The World Bank ©2010 The International bank of Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank 1818H Street, NW Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202 473 1000 Internet www.worldbank.org E-mail feedback@worldbank.org All rights reserved. This volume is a product of the Social and Economic Development Group of the Middle East and North Africa Region of the World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed herein are those of the author (s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the govern- ments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, de- nominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of the World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions The material in this work is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permis- sion may be a violation of applicable law. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally grant permission promptly. For permission to photocopy or reprint any part of this work, please send a request with complete information to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 09123, USA, telephone 978­750­8400, fax 978­750­4470, www.copyright.com. All other queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the Office of the Publisher, World Bank, 1818H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, fax 202­522­2422, e-mail pubrights@ worldbank.org. All photographs: © World Bank/Curt Carnemark; Dana Smillie; Julio Etchart; Scott Wallace. A FREE PUBLICATION Acknowledgements iv Contents Foreword v Acronyms and Abbreviations vii Executive Summary 1 1. Gender Gaps in MENA 2 Gender Disparities in Human Development Indicators Have Narrowed in Recent Times 3 Stark Gender Disparities in Economic and Civic Participation Persist 6 2. Why do Gender Gaps Persist? 10 Low School Completion Rates 10 Low Levels of Economic Participation 11 3. Addressing Gender Gaps: Weighing the Policy Options 16 Education 16 Labor Force Participation and Unemployment 17 4. The World Bank's Strategy for Addressing the Gender Challenge in MENA 20 Recent Analytical Work 20 Gender and the World Bank's Operational Work in MENA 24 Boxes Box 1 Marriage and Labor Force Participation in Egypt: Evidence from Panel Data 14 Box 2 Pros and Cons of Policies to Increase Female Economic Participation 18 Box 3 How Effective are Active Labor Market Policies (ALMPs)? 19 Figures Figure 1 MENA's Progress in Women's Health and Education (average annual growth rates in key indicators) 3 Figure 2 Female Attainments in Human Development in MENA 4 Figure 3 Female to Male Ratio of Enrollment Rates (2008) 5 Figure 4 Completion Rates: Ratio of Females to All (ages 24 and above) 5 Figure 5 Gender Gaps in Political and Economic Participation 6 iii conte nts Figure 6 Female Labor Force Participation Rates (in 2008), Ages 15­64 7 Figure 7 The Gender Gap in Unemployment 7 Figure 8 Wage Distribution in Urban Labor Markets, by Gender (age 15­64) in Egypt 8 Figure 9 Youth, Gender and Unemployment 8 Figure 10 Profile of Employed Women in Egypt (ages 15­64) 11 Figure 11 The Gender Contrast in Job Search Methods 12 Figure 12 Marriage and Labor Force Participation ­ Change in the Probability of Post-marriage Exit from the Labor Market between 1998 and 2006 14 Figure 13 What is an Under-Participation Trap? 15 Figure 14 School Enrollment Rates in Morocco across Different Age Groups 24 Acknowledgements The Middle East and North Africa Region brief on Gender was prepared by Tara Vishwanath with a team comprising Siddharth Sharma, Umar Serajuddin and Nandini Krishnan, under the guidance of Shamshad Akhtar (Vice President, MENA) and Ritva S. Reinikka (Sector Director, Social and Economic Development Group, MENA). Valuable comments and suggestions were provided by Farrukh Iqbal (Acting Chief Economist, MENA and Country Director, MNCSC), MENA's Human Development team (Roberta Gatti, Kimie Tanabe and Diego Angel-Urdinola) iv and Social Development team (Anna Bjerde and Fatou Fall). The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has made strik- Foreword ing progress in reducing gender gaps in human development. The ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education is 0.96, which compares favorably to that in Low and Middle Income Coun- tries worldwide. Women in the MENA region are more likely than men to attend university, maternal mortality is around 200 deaths per 100,000 live births (compared to a world average of 400 deaths), and fertility rates have decreased in the past decade. Despite these remarkable achievements in improving women's educational and health outcomes, significant gender gaps remain in economic and political inclusion. The region as a whole faces a considerable un- employment challenge. Young women, in particular, face very high rates of unemployment (as high as 40 percent in Egypt and Jordan). Significantly, this comes at a time when the MENA region is under- going a demographic transition characterized by a rising share of the young in the population. Improving gender equality is at the core tions. It also outlines the World Bank's of the World Bank's work globally and strategy for improving gender equality in the region. The Bank has launched in the MENA region. Specifically, the the Gender Action Plan (GAP), "Gender region has initiated a concerted work Equality as Smart Economics", a four-year program on gender and economic inclu- action plan to improve women's eco- sion, which includes knowledge prod- nomic opportunities through increasing ucts, pilot projects, and gender-focused female labor force participation and en- lending operations. trepreneurship. This emphasis is partic- ularly relevant in MENA where female In Jordan, as part of President Zoellick's labor force participation rates are only Adolescent Girls Initiative, a policy ex- 25 percent on average. periment on employment of young female graduates is currently under This paper outlines the challenges faced implementation, addressing the critical by women in the region, assesses the progress to date, and suggests policy op- constraints that young female entrants face in the labor market. In Egypt, a v foreword USD 300 million project to foster micro and transfer pilots are now being tested to improve small enterprise growth introduces a new credit dropout rates for girls in primary schools in line for disadvantaged women through post of- these two countries. fice branches in the poorest 1000 villages in the country. An impact evaluation has been initi- Gender equality in the economic arena re- ated to assess the effectiveness of the program. mains a significant development challenge for MENA, and must remain at the forefront of Despite tremendous progress on human de- the Bank's strategy in the region. velopment outcomes in MENA, some gen- der gaps still remain. Females are still more likely to drop out of school than males. This Shamshad Akhtar is an acute problem in low income countries Vice President like Yemen but also in some middle income Middle East and North Africa Region countries such as Morocco. Conditional cash The World Bank vi ALMP Active Labor Market Policies Acronyms and CCT Conditional Cash Transfer EITC ELMPS Earned Income Tax Credit Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey Abbreviations ELMS Egypt Labor Market Survey FMLA Family and Medical Leave Act GAP Gender Action Plan GCC Gulf Corporation Council GDP Gross Domestic Product GEME Gender Equity Model Egypt HPP Health and Population Project ICA Investment Climate Assessment INDH Initiative Nationale pour le Developpement Humain JSA Job Search Assistance LFP Labor Force Participation LMI Low and Middle Income Countries MDG Millennium Development Goal MENA Middle East and North Africa MNCH Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health MSE Micro and Small Enterprise NOW New work Opportunities for Women SCI Schistosomiasis Control Initiative SCP Schistosomiasis Control Program SFD Social Fund for Development SSC Social Security Corporation SYPE Survey of Young Population in Egypt TFP Total Factor Productivity WDI World Development Indicators vii Improving women's access to economic opportunities and their par- Executive ticipation in the civic and political sphere remains a fundamental Summary development challenge for the Middle East and North Africa Re- gion. Although impressive strides have been made region-wide in improving women's educational and health outcomes, low female labor force participation rates of 25 percent on average are not com- mensurate with these achievements. The youth are especially vul- nerable, facing significantly higher rates of unemployment: In Egypt and Jordan, for instance, young males experience unemployment rates above 10 percent; young women face rates of unemployment in excess of 40 percent. This brief summarizes some of the signifi- The brief identifies various policy options cant constraints women in MENA face: and outlines the World Bank's strategy limited labor market mobility, a mis- for supporting governments in achiev- match between skills acquired in school ing gender parity in the region. Rigorous and what is in demand in the labor mar- analytical work, experimental policy pi- ket, and legal or institutional factors relat- lots and lending operations with a strong ed to cultural norms, all of which inhibit gender focus all form part of the Bank's the transition from school to work. strategy towards reducing gender gaps in economic opportunities. 1 Chapter 1 Gender Gaps in MENA Reducing gender disparities in economic opportunities is one of the foremost development challenges faced by the economies of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. MENA's achieve- ment in improving women's health and education outcomes in recent Impressive achievements decades is impressive. Although gender gaps in school completion in improving women's rates still exist in some MENA countries, most countries are well on health and education, their way to achieving gender parity in key human development in- but women lag behind in dicators. In contrast, the region continues to fall well short on indica- economic participation. tors of women's economic participation and political empowerment. Women are severely underrepresented in politics and in civic life. The region exhibits some of the lowest rates of female labor force participation in the world. Women face greater challenges than men in accessing employment opportunities and in their school-to-work transition, experiencing significantly higher unemployment rates than men. Female entrepreneurship opportunities too continue to remain remarkably limited. These gender gaps in economic partici- pation and labor market opportunities have now emerged as the key priority areas for the region. Constraints on women's economic participation imply a failure at realizing the full potential of a valuable human resource. MENA has invested heavily in women's education, and the results are visible. However, while education is of great intrinsic value in itself, high unemployment among educated women and large gender wage gaps point to an untapped pool of educated women who are willing to work but are unable to find suitable jobs. In fact, all women, irrespective of their education, would be better able to find more fulfilling and productive uses of their time if labor mar- kets served them well. Moreover, an improved job market outlook would increase women's incentive to invest in their human capital in ways that are economically relevant. Thus, addressing constraints on women's labor market opportunities will 2 G ender GAPs I n M enA cHAPter 1 contribute to economic growth by raising in- fIGure 1 MenA's Progress in women's Health and vestment in human capital and improving the education (average annual growth rates in key indicators) efficiency of its allocation. 1.3 Improving women's labor market opportuni- 1.1 ties has other benefits as well. Amartya Sen 0.9 has long argued that education and participa- 0.7 tion in paid work are important determinants 0.5 of female voice and agency in a society's 0.3 decision making processes. Indeed, there is 0.1 some evidence that the income gained from ­0.1 participating in the labor market enhances Female Literacy Rate Ratio of female to male Life expectancy at primary enrollment birth,female women's bargaining and decision making Middle East & North Africa East Asia & Pacific South Asia powers. Latin America & Caribbean Europe & Central Asia Sub-Saharan Africa While women's economic participation is Source: World Bank Central Database and Edstats (2010) the major focus of gender related work in MENA, this is not to suggest that no signifi- cant policy challenges remain in other areas. MENA ranks first by a good margin in the Narrowing the gender gap in school comple- growth rate of women's literacy, and is a close tion rates continues to be a major concern: second to South Asia in the rate of improve- despite tremendous progress in narrowing ment in female life expectancy. The region did gender gaps in school enrollment, females well in closing the gender gap in education, as are still more likely to drop out of school than evidenced by the high rate of growth in the males in almost all MENA countries. Improv- ratio of female to male primary enrolment. ing educational quality--or more specifically, reducing the mismatch between what women Today, as a result of such advances, the re- learn in school and what the job market re- gion compares well with other developing Rapid progress quires--is another focus area for gender work countries in these areas. MENA's maternal on many fronts in MENA. mortality rate is less than half the Low and Middle Income Countries (LMI) average, and female life expectancy is nearly 4 years Gender Disparities in Human longer than the LMI average (Figure 2). And Development Indicators Have Narrowed although MENA's female literacy rate is still in Recent Times below the LMI average, the region is at par with the LMI average in measures for gender Average annual growth rates of key indicators gaps in education. For instance, the ratio of such as the female literacy rate and life expec- female to male primary enrolment in MENA tancy show that MENA's progress in improv- is 97 percent, slightly higher than the LMI ing women's health and education outcomes ratio of 96 percent. Moreover, women in the in the last two decades exceeded that of most MENA region are more likely than men to other developing regions (Figure 1). In fact, attend university. 3 cHAPte r 1 Ge n de r GAPs I n MenA fIGure 2 female Attainments in Human development in MenA Female life expectancy at birth Ratio of female to male secondary enrollment Ratio of female to male primary enrollment MENA LMI Ratio of young literate females to males (ages15-24) Female Literacy rate 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Source: World Bank Central Database and Edstats (2010) Despite this progress, gender gaps in educa- lenge. Survey data indicates that girls continue tion still exist in some MENA countries. Fig- to drop out from school at high rates in some ure 3 presents the ratio of female and male MENA countries. For instance, a World Bank educational enrollment rates across MENA administered household survey in Morocco con- countries. In most countries, female enroll- ducted in 2009­10 reveals that the decline in ment rates now equal or exceed male enroll- school attendance with rising age is more marked ment rates, particularly in tertiary education. among girls. According to the survey, while 91 This is not to say that gender gaps in school percent of 11 year old girls are in school, this enrollment have vanished altogether. Indeed, share is only 65 percent among 14 year old girls. even for primary schooling, the female to male enrollment rate ratio remains below 100 per- In most of the MENA region, girls are still less cent in countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, likely than boys to complete school. Education- Morocco and Syria. There are also marked al statistics published by the World Bank reveal gender gaps in secondary and tertiary school that in 2004, female primary dropout rates ex- enrollment in Morocco and Yemen. ceeded those of males in Iraq, Morocco, Oman, Yemen and the West Bank and Gaza. Figure While gender gaps in enrollment are limited to 4 shows that female primary and secondary a few countries, narrowing the gender gap in school completion rates are markedly below school completion remains a region-wide chal- the population average in several countries.1 4 1 Note that the completion rate is defined as a percentage of those who are of school completion age. For example, the female secondary completion rate is the percentage of females of secondary school completion age who have completed secondary G ender GAPs I n M enA cHAPter 1 fIGure 3 female to Male ratio of enrollment rates (2008) 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 . an ia .E it in a .o n on ya co . isia za .R ep .R. eri wa rda rab I. R U.A hra Lib Ga roc Om an ,R ,A nA Tun Alg Ku Jo Leb iA Ba Mo en & n, ypt ria ud Ira Yem B. Eg Sy Sa st We Primary Secondary Tertiary Source: World Bank Central Database and Edstats fIGure 4 completion rates: ratio of females to All (ages 24 and above) 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 ya .E in ia it tar n . R.o co isia a . q ep .R .R. eri Ira wa rda rab U.A hra Lib ro c Qa ,R nA ,A Tun Alg , I. Ku Jo iA Ba Mo en ypt n ria ud Ira Yem Eg Sy Sa Primary Secondary Tertiary Source: Barro and Lee (2010) school. Thus, the completion rate depends on both the enrollment rate and on the rate at which those who were enrolled fin- ished school. 5 cHAPte r 1 Ge n de r GAPs I n MenA Moreover, the higher the level of education, fIGure 5 Gender Gaps in Political and economic the larger in general is the gender gap in com- Participation pletion rates. Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates 60 are all countries in which the gender gap in 51.7 50 completion is the highest for tertiary educa- tion. Thus, gender differences in educational 40 choices and/or opportunities appear as salient 30 25.8 in higher education as they are in schooling. 18.5 20 17.3 11.5 9.5 10 8.8 6 Stark Gender Disparities in Economic 0 and Civic Participation Persist LMI MENA LMI MENA MENA SA LAC ECA Proportion of Labor Female Unemployment Seats held by participation The MENA region's progress in women's Women in rate, female national (% female health and education has not translated into parliaments population ages advancement in their civic and economic 15+) participation. Women are severely under- Source: World Bank Central Database represented in politics, holding only about 9 percent of the seats in parliament (Figure 5). The low rates The region's female labor force participa- Bank and Gaza. The GCC countries tend to of female tion rate of 26 percent is well below the LMI have higher rates of female participation (Sau- labor force rate of 51 percent (and this regional average di Arabia being an exception). Interestingly, is even lower if the GCC countries--Bahrain, there is no clear relationship between female participation Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the education and economic participation across are not U.A.E--are taken out). Indeed, this rate is the MENA countries. For example Jordan, Leba- commensurate lowest among developing regions: East Asia non and Tunisia are all countries which were (68.2 percent), Sub-Saharan Africa (61.5 per- well on their way to achieving gender parity with Human cent), Latin American and Caribbean (52.4 in school enrolment as early as 1990, but are Development percent), and South Asia (35.8 percent). High yet to see female labor force participation rates achievements unemployment is another indicator of the la- above 30 percent. bor market challenges faced by women in the region; MENA's female unemployment rate of Among those participating in the labor force, 18.5 percent is markedly higher than that of women face greater challenges than men in other developing regions. accessing employment opportunities. In most MENA countries, women experience signifi- Low levels of workforce participation are wide- cantly higher unemployment rates than men spread within the region; as shown in Figure 6; (Figure 7). This also suggests that low levels of most MENA countries have female workforce women's labor force participation are driven participation rates below 30 percent. Not sur- in part by discouragement (or the fear of dis- prisingly, the lowest rates of participation are couragement) in finding jobs. 6 in conflict areas such as Iraq and the West G ender GAPs I n M enA cHAPter 1 fIGure 6 female Labor force Participation rates (in 2008), Ages 15­64 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 q za . ia an in .E it . .o on n ya isia co a lta ep .R tar .R. eri Ira wa rda rab I. R hra U.A Ga Lib roc Ma Om an ,R nA ,A Tun Qa Alg Ku Jo Leb iA Ba Mo & en n, ypt ria ud Ira Yem B. Eg Sy Sa st We Source: WDI 2010 fIGure 7 the Gender Gap in unemployment 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 a n .o . za p. .E it ia in co isia n .R q .R. tar eri o rda wa rab I. R Re U.A hra Ira Ga roc an nA ,A Tun Qa Alg Ku Jo Leb iA Ba , Mo & en n, ypt ria ud Ira Yem B. Eg Sy Sa st We Female Male Source: WDI, 2010 Further, working women in MENA--and espe- The World Bank's Enterprise Surveys reveal cially those in the informal sector--earn lower that women's entrepreneurship in MENA wages than their male counterparts. Figure 8 remains low compared to other regions. The illustrates this using the case of Egypt gender- percentage of firms with female participation disaggregated wage distributions obtained us- ing household survey data. in ownership is 20 percent in MENA, as com- pared to 33 percent in East Asia and Pacific, 7 cHAPte r 1 Ge n de r GAPs I n MenA fIGure 8 wage distribution in urban Labor Markets, by Gender (age 15­64) in egypt Distribution of Hourly Wages Distribution of Hourly Wages 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.6 Density Density 0.4 0.4 0.2 0.2 0 0 ­2 0 2 4 6 ­2 0 2 4 Log hourly wages Log hourly wages male female Source: Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2006 39 percent in Latin America and Caribbean, The data suggest that even highly educated and 29 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sur- young women face labor market problems. To vey-based evidence suggests that while there give an illustration, between 1998 and 2006, are no significant differences in the types of the percentage of young Egyptian women pos- firms owned by women and men, women face Young women a more hostile business environment. In one are especially notable finding, for example, female-owned vulnerable firms in Egypt report needing 86 weeks on fIGure 9 Youth, Gender and unemployment average to resolve a conflict through the le- gal system, compared to 54 weeks for male- 45 owned firms. 40 35 30 Being young and female in MENA is a dou- 25 ble burden2. For example, as shown in Figure 20 9, while unemployment rates among young 15 males in Egypt and Jordan are already wor- 10 5 ryingly high (above 10 percent), those among 0 young women are stratospheric.3 Significantly, Egypt Jordan Egypt Jordan this comes at a time when the MENA region Youth (15­29 years) All (15­64 years) is undergoing a demographic transition char- Male Female acterized by a rising share of the young in the population. Source: Egypt Labor Market Panel Surveys (2006) and Jordanian EUS, 2007 2 ILO Global Employment Trends for Youth, August 2010-http://www.ilo.org/empelm/what/pubs/lang--en/docName--WC- 8 MS_143349/index.htm 3 Sources: Egypt Labor Market Panel Surveys (2006) and Jordanian EUS, 2007. G ender GAPs I n M enA cHAPter 1 sessing a university degree rose from 6 to 12. for 82 percent of unemployed women (com- Strikingly, the female labor force participation pared to only 12 percent for men in 2007).5 In rate in this age group remained near-stagnant, Jordan, 26.5 percent of women versus 9.1 per- while their rate of unemployment increased cent of men with a bachelor's degree or above from 19 to 27 percent.4 In West Bank and are unemployed.6 Gaza, women with tertiary education account 4 Egypt Labor Market Panel Surveys, 1998 and 2006 5 6 World Bank Central Database (August 2009) World Bank Central Database (August 2009) 9 Chapter 2 Why do Gender Gaps Persist? Low School Completion Rates Social and cultural factors remain pertinent to understanding gender gaps in areas such as schooling. But the MENA region's impressive achievement in reducing gender gaps in enrollment suggest that as far as getting girls to school is concerned, such barriers have been largely overcome. The challenge lies in creating conditions that aid and encourage them to complete school. Education policies Both school-specific and household-specific factors play roles in reducing the comple- should be sensitive to tion rates of girls, relative to boys, and many apply at all levels of schooling. One of the main school specific reasons for low completion is low quality of schooling. cultural constraints and Educational supply-side factors such as poor school facilities, inadequate teacher aim to improve the quality training and the lack of female teachers appear to have a disproportionate effect on of and the returns to girls' completion rates. Similarly, the availability of safe and reliable transportation to education schools is especially important for girls' attendance given their mobility constraints in MENA countries. Responsibility for household chores could be a major household-specific constraint on the continued school attendance of girls. At higher levels of education, early mar- riage and childbearing could also play a role, with social norms favoring women to choose domestic duties over schooling. Returns to schooling are also an impor- tant determinant of the demand for schooling. If economic opportunities for women are limited, this would lower the returns to schooling, which in turn could reduce women's completion rates. Hence, addressing the constraints to women's economic participation should also be a key part of the strategy to addressing gender gaps in school completion. Another important concern that arises in the context of women's education is the possible mismatch between what they learn in school and what is demanded by the workplace. This problem is common to both young women and men, but is consid- ered to be more severe among women. For example, women tend to cluster in certain subjects that are considered more `gender appropriate' but that may be less rewarding in the job market. Social norms likely play a large role in this. We discuss this issue in 10 the context of women's economic participation. wHY do G ender GAPs PersIst? cHAPter 2 Low Levels of Economic Participation understanding of these constraints is progress- Limited labor ing, but is still far from complete. market mobility, At the outset, let us recognize that low levels of participation could reflect voluntary choice Cultural and social norms are often held to be skills mismatch, among women to not work. But there is reason paramount determinants of women's econom- and institutional to believe that many women in MENA desire ic participation in MENA. For example, soci- and cultural to work. This suggests that among those not etal beliefs in the predominance of women's participating, there are those who are discour- factors all play domestic role, `codes of modesty' that enforce aged workers or somehow `constrained' when mobility restrictions on women, men's role as a role making this choice. For instance, a World the main wage earner in the household are all Bank survey of community college graduates mentioned in this context. Institutional and in Jordan reveals that in their final year of edu- legal factors, often borne out of traditional so- cation, 90% of the female survey responders cial norms are believed to negatively impact expressed interest in joining the labor force women's work opportunities as well. upon graduating. The reality of Jordan's la- bor market is a lot more dismal: Female labor We acknowledge that to the extent that the participation has been fluctuating around 12% phenomenon of low female labor force partici- over the last 15 years, and the unemployment pation is rooted in culture, there are limits to rate of females under the age of 30 is 40%, with the role of policy. But while cultural factors are few signs of improvement. If these data are widely regarded as inhibiting women's choices any indication, women seeking jobs seem to to work, this phenomenon is not unique to quit the labor force due to discouraging signals MENA countries. Social norms against wom- from the labor market. Our evidence-based en working outside the home have prevailed in all cultures at some point in time. Even the fIGure 10 Profile of employed women in egypt (ages 15­64) 3.5 6.1 0.9 11.3 20.1 0.8 1.2 0.5 14.4 12.7 58.1 56 3.2 0.1 4.7 6.4 Agriculture & Fishing Mining, Manufacturing and Electric Construction Wholesale, Hotels & Restaurants Transportation, storage & communication Financial & business activities Public Service (government) Other Economic Activities Source: ELMPS 2006 and ELMS 1998 11 cHAPte r 2 wHY do G e n de r GAPs Pe rsIst? United States and Europe are not exceptions Women's mobility seems to be restricted along to this. Culture itself can evolve along with many dimensions. For example, they are often other changing economic, social and techno- limited to working close to home or in loca- logical realities, many of which can actually be tions well-connected by safe public transport. influenced by policy. The challenge is to iden- In a 2009 youth survey from Egypt, as many tify those constraints to women's work which as 31 percent of young women (aged 15­29) can be influenced by policy. We discuss these report that they face the risk of sexual harass- below. ment on the street. Young women are also significantly more likely to report other risks To begin with, women in MENA countries like theft, crowding and pushing on their com- appear to have very limited labor market mute. Young women also report walking as `mobility', since their employment is often their main means of transport (22 percent). concentrated in a remarkably narrow group of occupations. Figure 10 shows, as an example, Another labor market mobility constraint on how women in Egypt work in a limited set of women, it appears, is that they are not able to jobs. In urban areas, a remarkable 56 percent employ the same range of job search methods of all female employment is concentrated in as men. Survey evidence from Egypt suggests, the government sector (in contrast, only 19 for instance, that female job seekers are far less percent of male employment is in this sector). likely than their male counterparts to visit or Likewise, 58 percent of rural women are em- make phone calls to prospective employers, or ployed in agriculture and fishing, and a further use informal networks of friends or relatives in 20 percent in the government sector. seeking jobs (Figure 11). fIGure 11 the Gender contrast in Job search Methods Have you used a mobile phone in job hunting? Have you used a regular phone in job hunting? Inquired at workd location Did you register at any govt./labor office? Contacted employer Asked friends or relatives for help Inquired at work location Entered government job lottery competition 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Females Males 12 Source: Survey of Young People in Egypt, 2009 wHY do G ender GAPs PersIst? cHAPter 2 Lack of a suitable work environment for fe- maternity leave. Further, some countries have male employees could be another mobility established additional restrictions on mater- constraint for female job seekers. There is an- nity leave provisions. For example, in Egypt, a ecdotal evidence that poor `job quality' is very woman worker may not obtain maternity leave salient to working women. Women worry more than twice throughout her period of em- about the lack of respect or decent treatment, ployment. In Libya, a female employee should the fear of sexual harassment and long work- have completed at least six months' continuous ing hours, which can restrict them to working service with the same employer in order to be in a smaller set of `appropriate' or highly femi- entitled to maternity leave. nized firms. Whether mandated maternity leave and simi- Besides mobility restrictions, legal or insti- lar provisions alone can make work compat- tutional factors, which are related to social ible with family life is a complex policy issue norms, can also be a major influence on the that even Western countries continue to de- work prospects of women. Examples are regu- bate. Legislations that are "ex-ante" envis- lations that restrict the type and hours of work aged to help women in the workplace can also women can engage in, or in the extreme, re- have the unintended consequence of reducing quire women to have explicit permission from women's hiring prospects. For instance, man- their husbands or fathers to be able to work. datory benefit requirements such as provision of maternity leave or strict childcare require- Lack of maternity and child care support for ments can reduce employer incentives to hire working women is another major explana- women by raising their cost. It is unusual for tion for women not working or dropping out salary cost of the maternity leave to be fully of the labor force, especially after marriage. paid for by the government (though there are Legislations providing for maternity benefits to exceptions such as Morocco and Algeria), and female employees are ubiquitous worldwide, even if that were the case, firms still need to and MENA is no exception. To name a few, find temporary replacements for female em- Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Yemen all ployees on maternity leave which imposes ad- mandate two months or more of paid maternity ditional costs to the firm. leave to female employees. But in many MENA countries; the normal duration of maternity A skills mismatch wherein women do not leave is shorter than the international norm, graduate in fields where most employment being the shortest in Tunisia (30 days) and in opportunities exist (particularly in the private Bahrain (45 days). It is often the case that sep- sector) could also go towards explaining low arate laws govern particular groups of female female employment. It could be that women workers; civil servants and public employees in MENA cluster into very different fields of are typically covered by separate and usually specialization from men; indeed, youth survey more generous provisions. For instance, in Tu- data from Egypt reveals that women are signif- nisia, while the usual maternity leave is 30 days, icantly less likely to have specialized in fields female civil servants are entitled to 60 days of such as business, economics and engineering.9 7 World Bank. 2010. "Narrowing the Gap: Improving Labor Market Opportunities for Women in Egypt." Report No. 54698-EG. 13 cHAPte r 2 wHY do G e n de r GAPs Pe rsIst? Box 1 Marriage and Labor force Participation in egypt: evidence from Panel data A recent World Bank study (2010)1 using panel data on Egypt demonstrates a clear decline in women's labor force participation following marriage. Regression results indicate that on average, relative to women whose marital status was unchanged between 1998 and 2006, those who got married between 1998 and 2006 were significantly more likely (by about 14 percentage points) to have left the labor force by 2006. A very interesting finding of the study relates to the fIGure 12 Marriage and Labor force Participation ­ difference in post-marriage exit between public and change in the Probability of Post-marriage exit from the private sector jobs: the association between marriage Labor Market between 1998 and 2006 and labor force exit is far weaker in the government (public) sector. Figure 12 describes the main result in 60 54 a graph.2 According to the study, a woman aged 20 and 50 working in a government job in 1998 would have a 16 40 percent chance of exiting the labor force by 2006 if she did not get married in the interim, and a 22 percent 30 26 chance of exiting if she did get married. If she were 22 20 16 employed in a formal private firm in 1998, then these rates would have been 26 and 54 percent, respectively. 10 In other words, the `effect' of marriage was to raise the 0 exit rate of a government employee by 6 percent points Did Not Get Got Married Did Not Get Got Married and that of a private employee by 28 percent points. Married between1998 Married between 1998 between 1998 and 2006 between 1998 and 2006 Similarly, the study finds that the effect of marriage on and 2006 and 2006 exit among informal sector employees is significantly higher than among government employees. In Public Sector in 1998 In Private Sector in 1998 Source: ELMPS 2006 and ELMS 1998 1 World Bank. 2010. "Narrowing the Gap: Improving Labor Market Opportunities for Women in Egypt." Report No. 54698-EG. 2 For illustration the figure shows what the regressions imply in the hypothetical case of women aged 20 years in 1998. To some extent, such gender differences in lack of skills is a reflection of some other con- educational specialization are a matter of pref- straint faced by women. Another possibility is erence. But they could also reflect constraints that women avoid some fields of study because on educational choice and opportunities. For they believe that regardless of having the right instance, the data from Egypt also suggest that specialization, they will find it difficult to get men are better placed to acquire job relevant jobs that reward such skills. skills outside of the formal educational system. Young women are less likely than young men In the MENA region, both men and women to report that their job requires a special skill. have traditionally preferred government jobs Of those whose jobs require a special skill, due to the relative security and benefits it women are much less likely to have acquired provides over the private sector. But as em- 14 that skill outside of formal education, or the phasized in a large body of research, the prefer- wHY do G ender GAPs PersIst? cHAPter 2 ence for government jobs is particularly strong ticipation among less educated urban women, among women due to social norms that deem who work in the informal sector where sala- government jobs as more `appropriate', and ries are low, working conditions are poor and due to the greater flexibility and benefits (e.g., maternity and child-care benefits are absent. paid maternity leave) that they offer.8 Given the Poorly educated women in urban areas may trend towards a shrinking of the public sector be facing what has been referred to as an "un- in MENA countries, this preference for pub- der-participation trap". This is illustrated in lic sector jobs could be acting as another con- Figure 13: low wages and low returns to educa- straint on women's employment opportunities. tion may cause families to under-invest in the education of girls because they think they have Finally, policy-makers in MENA also face the little chance to participate in the formal labor challenge of especially low labor force par- market when they grow up. fIGure 13 what is an under-Participation trap? Existence of · Low levels Segmented · Low wages Low a low-wage, Informal of employment labor · Low returns to Labor low-productivity jobs · Low levels of markets education Supply sector participation Individuals Under invest in education 8See, for instance, Assaad, Ragui and Fatma El-Hamidi. 2009. "Women in the Egyptian Labor Market: An Analysis of Develop- ment from 1998 to 2006," in Egypt Labor Market Revisited, Edited by Ragui Assaad. The American University in Cairo Press. 15 Chapter 3 Addressing Gender Gaps: Weighing the Policy Options Education MENA countries are diverse, with their education systems being in different stages of o T meet a diverse set of development. The countries thus exhibit a diverse set of educational challenges. A chal- inter-related challenges, lenge facing low income countries like Yemen and Djibouti, and also middle income policies must focus on countries like Morocco, is the high dropout rates from school at early ages among both demand and supply girls. Since the reasons for higher dropout among girls are both school and household- specific, policy approaches to target this have to be versatile. On the supply side, a side constraints basic set of policies could concentrate on increasing the availability of schools, and providing more teachers and textbooks. As the role of both economic constraints and social perceptions can influence demand for girls' education, incentives to influence de- mand for education can also be considered. A prominent example of such incentives- based approaches is Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs, to provide financial incentives to households to retain girls in school. CCTs have in fact been introduced in a few MENA countries, especially among the rural poor. In the face of restrictive social norms, programs that address privacy concerns of girls could be another useful demand-side intervention. Providing transportation facilities or subsidies to girls to be able to access school more easily, having more female teachers in schools, the physical provision of boundary walls and girls' bathrooms in schools are all potentially useful in this regard. Among girls from poorer households, flexible school hours for girls can help make school attendance compatible with household duties. Improving the quality of education is another critical policy lever in increasing the re- turns to education and hence the attractiveness of schooling. Low education quality-- in the form of poor learning conditions, overcrowded classrooms, inadequate teach- ing skills, etc.--can frequently result in poor outcomes such as high repetition and drop-out rates, and low levels of achievement. Low quality of higher education also adversely impacts employment potential. Indeed, poor quality of education with low relevance to market needs is often thought to be a cause of high youth unemployment in MENA, particularly among females. Therefore, policy interventions focused on offering women opportunities to acquire technical/vo- cational training that is more relevant to the workplace are also worth consideration. Labor Force Participation and Unemployment 16 Although the reasons for women's low labor force participation in MENA are far from being comprehensively understood, some broad patterns do emerge from the ana- AddressI nG G e n de r GAPs: we IG H I nG tH e PoLIcY oPtIons cHAPte r 3 lytical work conducted so far. Women cannot not just in raising labor force participation but Policies must take advantage of the economy's dynamism also in reducing unemployment among women. be designed to the same extent as men because they are A prominent example of such active labor mar- constrained in where and how they can look ket policies is job search assistance. To the ex- to address for jobs, and in what fields they specialize in tent that skills mismatch is another constraint on multiple when in school. Persistent gender wage gaps in women's mobility across jobs, appropriately de- constraints the private sector also point to the significance signed skills training can also help. Thirdly, pol- of such limits to the labor market mobility of icies that incentivize firms to hire women (such and tailored to women. Women's participation in private sec- as wage subsidies) are also worth considering. each country tor is also constrained by an incompatibility context between such employment and marital roles, Finally, given the constraints that women face with government jobs being markedly more in getting private sector jobs, it is important to successful in drawing women back after mar- look beyond wage employment, and give spe- riage. cial attention to improving women's opportu- nities for self-employment through improved In light of these constraints, several policy op- access to entrepreneurial training and finance. tions suggest themselves. Firstly, to make it This may be particularly relevant in rural areas easier for women to maintain the balance be- throughout MENA, where there are few firms tween work and family life, countries could and most women work in household enterpris- consider reforming maternity leave and child- es. Enhancing women's participation in entre- care subsidy policies, or allowing for part time preneurship is essential for improving national and flexible work. Secondly, transport policies welfare, because establishment of businesses have a key role to play in addressing the spatial not only generates income for women's fami- dimension of immobility. lies, but also creates jobs for men and women alike. By offering flexibility and by working Beyond this, there are a host of active labor around mobility constraints, it can also make market policies (ALMPs) that can address other it far easier for women to achieve compatibility dimensions of this issue. By targeting labor mar- between work and marital life. ket mobility constraints which make it difficult for women to find jobs, ALMPs can be useful While access to finance is reported as a major constraint by both male and female entrepre- neurs, evidence from firm surveys suggests that women face even more hurdles than men in this area. For instance, women running firms are twice more likely than their male coun- terparts to complain about stringent collateral requirements. Given the evidence that most business loan application rejections in Egypt are based on lack of acceptable collateral, this could be a major constraint for female entre- preneurs. Further, female-owned businesses are more likely than male-owned ones to find loan procedures cumbersome. They are also 17 cHAPte r 3 AddressI nG G e n der GAPs: weIGHI nG tH e PoLIcY oPtIons Box 2 Pros and cons of Policies to Increase female economic Participation Maternal Leave Policies Maternity leave and childcare policies are universally accepted as being essential to the well-being of working women. Despite the fact that such policies exist in most countries, the length of post-birth leave allowed and the level of pecuniary benefits vary significantly across countries. The reason for these differences is that although such policies make it easier for women with children to work, they also force employers to share in the cost of their female employees' childcare, thereby reducing their incentives to hire women. Maternity benefits are therefore controversial. On one hand, maternity leave is expected to have a positive supply side effect on women's workforce participation. Moreover, to the extent that it causes women to become more durably attached to the labor force and hence increase their investment in firm-specific human capital, it could raise female productivity and wages. On the other hand, mandated maternity leave imposes two types of costs on employers. The first is caused by the interruption of women's employment during leave, when employers have to temporarily adjust to the loss of a worker. The second is the monetary benefits the employer has to pay workers away on paid maternity leave. To offset these costs, employers might reduce the wages they offer to eligible women by the expected cost of the mandate. In situations where employers are unable to adjust wages (for example, due to equal pay legislation), they may instead substitute male workers for female workers. Childcare Subsidies and (Tax-based) Incentives The cost of hiring child care for the time spent at work can be a substantial barrier for young mothers entering the labor force. Although there is some evidence that subsidized child care provision can enable women to continue their employment after childbirth, there are also examples suggesting that affordable child care by itself may not translate into higher female labor force participation. The European approach to childcare is centered on providing access to subsidized daycare, through publicly run or publicly- subsidized daycare centers, and child-minders whose provision is subsidized through public funds. Child care subsidy programs have also existed in the US, where childcare providers are overwhelmingly in the private sector, and there is evidence that these child care subsidies encourage female labor supply. In contrast to Europe, the US approach has not just relied on child-care subsidies, but also on tax incentives to make work more attractive for parents, particularly mothers. Thus, the US experience recommends incentives based schemes for promoting work among women with children. Incentives-based schemes have the advantage of being self-targeting, and of avoiding mandates that could be counterproductive. Nonetheless, it is possible that their effect on behavior is unexpected and undesirable, especially when the capacity to ensure correct targeting and usage is limited. Flexible Work Arrangements Flexible work hours are often viewed as a means to facilitate integration of non-working women into the labor market by making it less costly for them to combine work with family responsibilities. But even though flexibility appears to be a win-win proposition, it seems that there are natural limits (perhaps technological or managerial) to the feasibility of flexible work. Evidence from developed countries indicate that generally speaking, individuals working in managerial, professional, technical and secretarial jobs enjoy a greater level of flexibility than, say, machine or vehicle operators. Yet another concern is that part-time or flexibly scheduled jobs might be low-quality jobs. The challenge therefore is to design an environment that supports firms and employees in reaching mutually beneficial arrangements on 18 hours and flexibility, while preventing flexibility from being made an excuse for low quality work. AddressI nG G e n de r GAPs: we IG H I nG tH e PoLIcY oPtIons cHAPte r 3 Box 3 How effective are Active Labor Market Policies (ALMPs)? The effectiveness of active labor market policies has been a matter of vigorous debate over the past half century, and there have been numerous impact evaluation studies of individual ALMPs, mostly in the US and Europe. While some research concludes that ALMPs have at best had small positive impacts, later review studies give a more positive overall picture. Their message on the relative effectiveness of different types of ALMPs is still mixed. Job search assistance programs have generally favorable impacts, especially in the short run. Training programs can show mixed results; the estimated impacts are zero or even negative in a few cases, but in sum, they are found to have a modest likelihood of improving post-program employment rates. Evidence on the effectiveness of wage subsidies in raising the employment of the subsidized groups is generally positive, although not uniformly so. Analytical work on wage subsidies suggests, however, that their net impact and cost effectiveness may be questionable. This is because such programs can have undesirable effects that may sometimes be difficult to account for. If labor markets are already working well, then subsidies are going to distort labor allocation. Furthermore, wage subsidies can have displacement effects (jobs created by one program are at the expense of other jobs), deadweight effect (subsidizing hiring that would have occurred in the absence of the program), and substitution effects (jobs created for a certain category of workers replace jobs for other categories). In MENA, firms, donors, and many government agencies have increasingly begun to consider ALMPs (mainly training programs) as a policy option to address labor market problems such as skills mismatch and information asymmetries. Nevertheless, there is little systematic analysis on their effectiveness and most programs (and investments) remain largely un-assessed. To address this gap, a recent World Bank Study focuses on non-public provision of ALMPs in Arab Mediterranean countries (public delivery of ALMPs will be discussed and assessed in a forthcoming report).1 This stocktaking indicates that most programs are not designed to accommodate the needs of female participants. Many programs are conducted during working hours and/or require full time participation, and it may be difficult for a young woman with children to participate in programs with such strict schedule requirements. Also, there are cultural restrictions requiring female teachers and classes for women only (although, in practice, the majority of programs are co-ed). In addition, because of insufficient job opportunities for both men and women, there is a belief that encouraging women to increase labor force participation will inevitably lead to more unemployment for men, who are traditionally considered to be the main bread-winners of the family. There is a need for increased program targeting, as well as flexible schedules (classes during nights/weekends and offering of different schedule alternatives), combined with child care opportunities. 1 The World Bank, 2010, "Reforming Nongovernmental Provision of Active Labor Market Programs in MENA". MNA Knowledge and Learning Fast Brief Number 68. less likely to approach formal banks for cred- not yet clear-cut, especially in the context of it, and they face higher rejection rates. Thus, the MENA region. Further analysis on the fea- policies to promote access to finance to SME's sibility and appropriateness of such schemes is should also consider a gender-specific design. therefore much needed. Their costs and ben- efits need to be carefully weighted, and imple- It should be stressed that all of the policy op- mentation should be thought through bearing tions presented above have their pros and cons, particular attention to the specific characteris- and that the evidence for each intervention is tics of MENA countries. 19 Chapter 4 The World Bank's Strategy for Addressing the Gender Challenge in MENA Analytical work to Improving gender equality is at the core of the World Bank's strat- generate new evidence, egy in the developing world. Emphasis on gender issues substan- understand constraints, tially increased with the Fourth World Conference on Women in and elevate dialogue Beijing in 1995. In 2007, the World Bank launched a Gender Action combined with gender- Plan (GAP), "Gender Equality as Smart Economics", a four-year ac- focused lending operations tion plan to improve women's economic opportunity through em- ployment and entrepreneurship. The World Bank's MENA gender strategy is consistent with this overall objective and emphasis on gen- erating economic opportunities for women. There are two principle elements to the strategy. Firstly, given our limited under- standing of what policies are effective in removing constraints to women's economic participation, there is need for solid analytical work to elevate debate and dialogue with client countries on this important topic. Therefore, generating new evidence on what works through rigorous empirical analysis--both quantitative and qualitative-- is a critical element of the MENA region's gender strategy. Further, learning through carefully designed evaluations of policy pilots is a rapidly emerging area for the World Bank's analytical work on gender in MENA. A pilot provides important analytical insights and is also of great operational significance. Secondly, many of the World Bank's lending operations in the MENA region have a clear gender focus. This focus cuts across all themes, including education, rural growth, finance and private sector development. Recent Analytical Work Gender Studies In recent years, the World Bank has contributed to the knowledge base on how to ad- 20 dress gender gaps in MENA through a number of analytical pieces. Most of these have t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A c H A P t e r 4 focused on identifying constraints on women's the key determinants of women's decision to Bridging the economic opportunities, whether in jobs or work in Egypt. The report also examines poli- knowledge gap: self-employment. These studies have used a cies to improve labor market mobility among range of methodological approaches, analyzing Egyptian women. Such findings will be useful Identifying the both qualitative and quantitative data. to policy discussions and Bank operations in constraints Egypt as well as other MENA countries, espe- to women's Data availability and access is a big challenge cially because studies using detailed household economic in MENA countries. So in some cases, the survey data are very infrequent in the MENA Bank has implemented its own survey. For region. participation example, the recently completed Morocco through Household and Youth Survey 2009­2010 will A recently completed policy note on Female- analytical work provide a unique opportunity to initiate ana- Headed Households and Women's Develop- lytic work on gender and economic and social ment in Medina (part of the Cities Institutional inclusion. This representative household sur- Strengthening Program in the Kingdom of Sau- vey is designed to examine issues relating to di Arabia) examines challenges faced by wom- employment and, more broadly, the vulner- en and female-headed households regarding abilities of youth and women. Similarly, in the access to economic opportunities and resourc- context of the Multi-Year Technical Coopera- es. The study provides evidence-based advice tion Program on Labor Markets between the to the Municipality of Medina on approaches to Government of Lebanon and the World Bank, support women's economic and social develop- a "matched' employer-employee survey will ment, for example, identifying concrete policies collect current and retrospective, gender disag- to improve women's access to public services. gregated data on the quality of jobs and earn- ings. Unlike most worker surveys, this effort Some World Bank studies on gender have will cover both formal and informal workers. used firm and worker level survey data. For instance, a 2009 study analyzes why entre- Where the Bank has had access to data, sound preneurship opportunities are limited for analytical work has been possible. A recent Egyptian women, and why so few women are example is the Egypt Gender Report of 2010, employed in firms.10 The study identifies the which has an in-depth analysis and policy key challenges in this respect to be negative discussion on removing constraints to wom- perceptions of female employees by employ- en's labor force participation in Egypt, draw- ers, and women's lack of appropriate skills and ing from a household panel survey, a youth access to finance. A recent study on Lebanon survey and a firm level Investment Climate also uses survey data from formal sector firms Assessment (ICA) survey.9 One important and workers to investigate whether there are contribution of this study has been to provide significant differences between the perceptions new evidence suggesting that compatibility and labor market experiences of male and fe- between post-marriage life and work is one of male entrepreneurs and workers.11 It finds that 9 The World Bank, 2010, "Narrowing the Gap: Improving Labor Market Opportunities for Women in Egypt". 10 11 The World Bank, 2009. "Egyptian Women Workers and Entrepreneurs: Maximizing Opportunities in the Work Sphere". The World Bank, 2009. "Gender-Based Differences among Entrepreneurs and Workers in Lebanon". 21 c H A P t e r 4 t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A Limited spatial mobility appears to be a par- ticularly strong barrier to women's pursuit for economic participation in MENA. A recent analytical piece builds on two case studies from the West Bank and Yemen to understand better how transport infrastructure and ser- vices are meeting women's transport needs, and more specifically, how they are facilitating or constraining women's access to resources, markets, training, information, and employ- ment.13 The study also identifies priority areas for governments' actions to improve women's mobility. Policy Pilots Experimental policy pilots straddling both an- female entrepreneurs provide greater employ- alytical and operational work are fast becom- ment opportunities to other females and better ing a valuable instrument in the World Bank's Experimental treatment to workers, being especially sensi- strategy to promote gender equity in MENA. policy pilots: tive to the needs of female employees. Female These pilots have the potential to provide irre- Generating entrepreneurs are also more concerned about futable evidence on what works. Below we list financial and regulatory constraints. The study some interesting ongoing pilot interventions in hard evidence identifies several policy recommendations to the MENA region. on what works support female entrepreneurship, such as in- creasing access to finance, simplifying business Jordan: New work Opportunities for regulatory processes, promoting flexible work Women (NOW). This pilot initiative aims to arrangements, and lowering transport costs. improve the employment prospects of recent female graduates from eight community col- Another recent World Bank study examines leges in Jordan. Young women, in particular, how women cope with economic distress and face considerably higher barriers to employ- look for employment in the conflict-afflicted ment and find it difficult to gain experience economies of the West Bank and Gaza.12 Here, in the labor market. The program experimen- women's survival strategies have been diverse, tally tests the effectiveness of policies aimed and include searching for formal jobs, delaying at increasing female labor force participation exit from the public sector, home production amongst 900 fresh community college gradu- of essentials, selling or bartering food coupons, ates from the August 2010 cohort. The first borrowing from neighbors, volunteering, and component of the pilot is a job voucher given engaging in a range of informal activities. to 600 young women, selected from the pool 12The World Bank, 2010. "Checkpoints and Barriers: Gender Dimensions of Economic Collapse". 22 13The World Bank, 2010. "Gender and Transport in the Middle East and North Africa Region: Case studies from the West Bank and Yemen". t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A c H A P t e r 4 of eligible graduates through a lottery. These Turning Theses Into Enterprises in Tu- vouchers, of which the first 450 will be hon- nisia. With a low number of new salaried jobs ored, provides a short-term subsidy to firms being created, Tunisia faces a problem com- and an opportunity to overcome stereotypes mon to MENA countries. In the backdrop of through directly observing young women increased unemployment among youth, par- working for them. The second component of ticularly among females, the Bank has part- Jordan NOW focuses on employability skills nered with the Ministries of Labor and Higher and provides 600 young women chosen by a Education in Tunisia to foster entrepreneurial lottery with free training on interpersonal and opportunities among the youth. The "Turn- other basic job skills that employers identify as ing Theses into Enterprises" program offers constraints. The assignment of similar young coaching to students interested in developing female graduates to each component through a business plan in their final year in univer- a lottery allows for a rigorous evaluation of sity. These business plans enter a competition the effectiveness of the pilot interventions. where the fifty best plans are awarded a mon- Because 225 young women will receive both etary reward and receive further coaching to the voucher and the training, the evaluation help start up a project. Although this program of the pilot will also be able to measure the does not target women specifically, it is pos- joint effectiveness of these two components in sible to measure whether such projects have improving labor market outcomes. The imple- different impacts on men and women, and a mentation of both interventions is currently gender-disaggregated impact evaluation of underway, and a baseline survey was collected this program has indeed been designed by the in July 2010. With the follow-up survey next Bank. year, the lessons from this pilot will provide rigorous evidence to inform expansion. Conditional Cash Transfers for Educa- tion in Morocco. The World Bank is pro- Gender Equity Model Egypt (GEME). viding technical support to a pilot Conditional This program seeks to improve women's eco- Cash Transfer (CCT) program launched by the nomic participation by trying to make work Moroccan government to improve dropout conditions in private firms more gender- rates from primary school. Despite improve- friendly. Participating firms undergo a cer- ments in school enrollment, many Moroc- tification program that audits their existing can schools struggle with high dropout rates. policies towards female employment, and pro- Preliminary data from a recently concluded vides extensive training to become more fe- household survey in Morocco indicates that male friendly. At the end of this program, firms enrollment levels begin steadily declining af- passing an audit receive a Gender Equity Seal. ter the age of 11, roughly corresponding to the This is very much an incipient project which so time many finish primary school. This decline far has been targeted at large firms with high is far sharper for girls than for boys, especially quality human resource systems. However, to in rural areas. Keeping this in mind, this pi- date, even in such firms it has suffered from lot experiment specifically addresses many low uptake. Consequently, broadening it to gender issues in its design. For example, tak- small and medium enterprises would require ing into account higher dropout rates among the program to undergo serious modifications. girls, transfers are a bit higher for girls than 23 c H A P t e r 4 t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A Improving Health Status of Women and fIGure 14 school enrollment rates in Morocco across different age groups Children The Ministry of Public Health and Population 100 in Yemen has set addressing the high rates of 80 child and maternal mortality as its highest pri- ority. This includes addressing disease-specific 60 health needs such as the high prevalence of 40 schistosomiasis and malaria. In light of these immediate priorities and pressing health 20 needs, the Bank has responded by supporting 0 two projects: (i) the Schistosomiasis Control 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Project (SCP) to decrease the high prevalence Male Female and intensity of infection of schistosomiasis in partnership with WHO and Schistosomiasis Source: Morocco Household and Youth Survey (2009­2010) Control Initiative (SCI); and (ii) the Yemen Health and Population Project (HPP) to con- for boys. Further, in order to determine if the tribute to the acceleration of the achievement effectiveness of the transfers depends on the of MDG 4 & 5 (reduction in childhood mortal- gender of the beneficiary (the child's mother ity and improvement of maternal health). or father), in half of the schools transfers are given to mothers and in others they are given The HPP supports key initiatives targeted at to fathers. This program is being monitored improving access to and utilization of mater- and will be evaluated, with the potential of re- nal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) servic- design and scaling up in the course of project es in selected governorates with poor MNCH Gender as implementation. indicators. It also supports the implementation a cross- of a population-based program that delivers cutting focus: a basic package of MNCH services targeting Gender and the World Bank's Operational women and children in rural/urban slums dis- Improving Work in MENA tricts, where most of the population live. This human is implemented through an enhanced model development Gender has been a priority area for the World of outreach services. This expanded access to outcomes and Banks' recent and ongoing operational work under-served areas is expected to contribute to in MENA. This gender focus has cut across address some of the major constraints to the increasing themes, including health, education and on achievement of MDGs 4 and 5. economic economic opportunities. Further, while many opportunities projects have an explicit gender theme, there Improving Women's Educational Outcomes are also many that are not confined to women Projects developed by the Bank have followed for women in but still have considerable potential for ad- diverse approaches to tackle the challenges in MENA dressing gender disparities through differential education in MENA countries. One part of the impacts on women. Below we provide some Bank's operations has focused on providing fi- recent examples of MENA's operational work nancial incentives to encourage girls to remain 24 which relates to gender issues. in school. Such demand side interventions t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A c H A P t e r 4 have often taken the form of Conditional Cash ing school facilities, enhancing the quality of Transfers (CCTs). At the same time, several teaching and the curriculum, and having fe- Bank projects involve supply side interven- male teaching assistant in schools to encour- tions aiming to improve the quality of edu- age parents to send girls. A transport subsidy cation that students receive. For example, in was also given to the schools for both girls and Morocco the Bank is providing financial sup- boys. In addition, a conditional cash transfer port to improve the capacity to assess student scheme was initiated for girls in grades four achievement, provide cost-effective teacher through nine. Since the scheme is designed to training and teacher support services, and im- reduce drop-out of girls from school and en- plement school innovation programs. courage enrollment, any girl who is enrolled in school or who re-enrolls in school in grades In response to Yemen's large gender gap in four through nine is eligible to receive a cash secondary school enrollment, which is all the transfer. To encourage better learning among more pronounced in rural areas, the Bank ini- beneficiaries, an achievement bonus is given tiated the Secondary Education Development and to well performing students in grades six and Girls Access Program. The project aims to im- nine. The CCT was introduced as a pilot in prove gender equity in secondary education eight schools February 2007 and scaled up to attainments, besides enhancing the quality 282 schools in 2008. Since its launch, approxi- of secondary education. The project focuses mately 30,000 girls in Yemen have received on supply side interventions such as improv- the cash transfers. 25 c H A P t e r 4 t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A the strong correlation between low education and self-employment among MENA's women, such programs are receiving a lot of attention in the region. The Bank has a major initiative to promote mi- cro and small enterprise (MSE) development in Egypt, where MSEs account for about 99 percent of all enterprises and at least 40 per- cent of employment. Lack of access to finance is believed to constrain the growth of these enterprises, with women entrepreneurs fac- ing particularly acute challenges. In response to this situation, the World Bank is providing a financial intermediary loan of $300 million to the Government of Egypt to foster MSE growth. In addition to the more traditional microfinance lending operations, the project The agricultural sector--in particular, following a introduces a number of innovative delivery Community Driven Development (CDD) approach-- mechanisms and products to expand access to finance in rural Egypt. One important compo- is another important focus area in the Bank's strategy nent of this is to use post office branches as out- to increase employment opportunities for women. lets through which microenterprise loans can be offered. A new credit product line has also Improving Women's Economic Opportunities been introduced for disadvantaged women in Several World Bank projects in MENA seek to the poorest 1,000 villages in Egypt. Moreover, improve labor markets outcomes for women a randomized impact evaluation--the first such by supporting programs that help them find initiative for a government run microfinance jobs, or those that generate opportunities for program in the world--has been designed to entrepreneurship or self-employment. The understand the effectiveness of this program. Bank has also engaged in policy dialogue with The lessons learned will inform both the de- governments to institute gender-specific re- sign of future loan products to be offered, and forms in labor market regulations. the decision on whether to scale up the post office lending model. Encouraging women to start their businesses and become employers rather than job seekers Another example comes from Egypt: a sub- has become a policy priority at a global level, component of the Bank's East Delta Agricultural and has been recognized as such throughout Services Project includes training in income gen- the MENA region. Across the world, attempts eration activities for village women and men are being made at encouraging women's en- in areas such as rabbit breeding, handicrafts, trepreneurship through improving access to production of dairy products, etc. In Yemen, 26 entrepreneurial training and finance. Given three agricultural/rural development projects t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A c H A P t e r 4 have marked gender components. The Yemen dan. In particular, the Bank has suggested sub- The Bank's Agro-biodiversity and Adaptation Project has a stantial changes to rules governing maternity efforts to strong focus on gender and promoting the role benefit provision. Under the current system, of female farmers, helping promote income- the labor code includes a benefit of 10 weeks improve the generating activities for female farmers while of maternity leave which is paid by the em- employment tapping their local knowledge. It also seeks ployer. This cost could be discouraging em- prospects of to make women powerful players in helping ployers from hiring women. The World Bank women also better manage natural resources and preserv- proposes that a maternity benefits contribution ing agro-biodiversity. The Rain Fed Agriculture be paid by all employers and employees to the include helping & Livestock Program promotes rural women in Social Security Corporation (SSC). This mea- in reforms of livestock development, which is mainly a fe- sure is expected to increase incentives to hire labor market male activity and represents about a fifth of women, since it will finance the benefit with a farm production in Yemen. The Yemen Fish- payroll tax on all (and not just female) work- related eries Resource and Conservation Project includes ers. In addition to the above activity, following regulations capacity building of women's groups that are a request by the Government of Lebanon, the associated with fishing as a major focus. In Bank is reviewing the existing labor codes with Jordan, the Conservation of Medicinal and Herbal the aim of improving the labor market regula- Plants Project seeks to strengthen women's in- tory framework. This review will pay special volvement in the conservation of medicinal attention to those elements in the existing la- and herbal plants through training, awareness bor code, such as maternity benefits, maternity building and microfinance. leave policy, safety measures, leave, hiring/fir- ing policies which affect female participation The Bank also has several initiatives to gen- in the labor force. erate self-employment opportunities in urban areas. For example, the Djibouti Urban Poverty Some of the Bank's projects go beyond em- Reduction Project targets women for participa- ployment generation in their gender focus, tion in community development activities, and covering a broader range of development promotes the development of Women's Asso- initiatives. Yemen's Social Fund for Develop- ciations for employment generation. The pro- ment (SFD), for example, covers areas such gram provides vocational training and support as education, health, water and environment, to handicraft production. Yemen's Integrated agriculture, village access roads (rural feeder Urban Development Project includes a compo- roads), micro and small enterprise (MSE) de- nent to help women access microfinance and velopment, social protection and workfare skills training. programs. The SFD plays a vital role in im- proving living standards in rural areas by pro- The Bank's efforts to improve the employment viding funds to needy communities so that prospects of women also include helping in re- access to social services can improve. Half of forms of labor market related regulations. For SFD's beneficiaries are female and about 12 example, based on analytical work and policy percent of SFD-affected households are led by dialogue with the Government of Jordan, the a woman (compared with 7.2 percent national Bank has recommended modifications to the average of households headed by women). proposed Social Insurance Reform Law in Jor- The number of active borrowers taking micro 27 c H A P t e r 4 t H e w o r L d B A n K ' s s t r At e G Y f o r A d d r e s s I n G t H e G e n d e r c H A L L e n G e I n M e n A loans from the SFD has reached more than activities and capacity building. Inclusion of 40,000, and 80 percent of them are women. women as key beneficiaries and decision mak- ers has been part of the design of the INDH The National Initiative for Human Development program from the start. Similarly, in the Village (INDH) in Morocco is designed as a CDD pro- and Neighborhood Development Project in the West gram which relies on a participatory approach Bank and Gaza, which provides block grants through which citizens of targeted rural com- to communities to finance local level develop- munes and urban neighborhoods express and ment programs, rules have been put in place to prioritize their needs in terms of basic infra- ensure women's full participation in the com- structure, social services, income generating munity level decision making. 28 WORLD BANK MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA REGION Bridging the Gap: Improving Capabilities and Expanding Opportunities for Women in the Middle East and North Africa Region