Gaddis, Isis

Person:
Gaddis, Isis

Gender Cross Cutting Solution Area, The World Bank

Author Name Variants

Gaddis, Isis, Gaddis, I.

Fields of Specialization

Poverty and inequality, Gender, Labor economics, Public service delivery

Departments

Gender Cross Cutting Solution Area, The World Bank

Last updated:November 28, 2025

Biography

Isis Gaddis is a senior economist with the World Bank’s Gender Group. She previously served as a poverty economist for Tanzania, based in Dar es Salaam. Isis coauthored the 2016 World Bank Africa Region flagship report Poverty in a Rising Africa and was a member of the core team of the Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle. Her main research interest is empirical microeconomics, with a focus on the measurement and analysis of poverty and inequality, gender, labor, and public service delivery. She holds a PhD in economics from the University of Gӧttingen, where she was a member of the development economics research group from 2006 to 2012.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/10986/38906

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Publication Search Results

Now showing1 - 10 of 29

MENAAP Economic Update, October 2025: Jobs and Women: Untapped Talent, Unrealized Growth
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-10-07) Gatti, Roberta; Özden, Çağlar; Torres, Jesica; Baghdadi, Leila; Sergenti, Ernest John; Islam, Asif M.; Gaddis, Isis; Mele, Gianluca; Chun, Sumin; Parro, Francisco; Mousa, Mennatallah Emam; Ramirez, Angel; Newsome, Richard; Suvanov, Ilias
Growth prospects in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MENAAP) are improving, in line with global trends, but conflict, fragility, and displacement remain persistent challenges. Regional GDP is projected to grow by 2.8% in 2025 and 3.3% in 2026, up from 2.3% in 2024, driven by stronger-than-expected performance in Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Developing Oil Importers. The latest MENAAP Economic Update, "Jobs and Women: Untapped Talent, Unrealized Growth", argues that job creation and fully leveraging the region's workforce are essential to raising living standards. In this context, the low levels of female labor force participation in the region remain a major obstacle. The report analyzes the barriers—from household dynamics and social norms to legal frameworks and a sluggish private sector—that limit women’s economic participation and makes a compelling case for expanding their role in MENAAP labor markets.
Building Entrepreneurial Mind-Sets: Evidence from a Large-Scale Educational Intervention in India
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-30) Amaral, Sofia; Bhalothia, Aakash; Chaurey, Ritam; Gaddis, Isis; Khanna, Gaurav; Malik, Samreen; Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop; Prakash, Nishith; Rakesh, Raghav
India faces high youth disengagement and a persistent gender gap in entrepreneurship. To address these challenges, the state of Andhra Pradesh piloted the Entrepreneurial Mindset Development Program (EMDP), a 50-hour school-based curriculum delivered to Grade 9 students. The intention of the government was to improve the employability of the youth and educate students to learn to get along and get ahead in life - as described by implementing partners. Results from a large-scale randomized evaluation show that the program strengthened students’ agency, improved financial literacy and academic outcomes—especially for girls—and fostered more gender-equitable classroom dynamics. Female students also demonstrated higher-quality entrepreneurial pitches and greater investor interest. The program has low implementation costs and therefore it offers a scalable pathway to equip young people—particularly young women—with the skills and confidence needed to pursue education, employment, and enterprise.
The Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 on Adolescents’ School Attendance in Sub-Saharan Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-06-28) Kis, Anna B.; Boxho, Claire; Gaddis, Isis; Koussoube, Estelle; Rouanet, Léa; Rouanet, Léa
As the COVID-19 pandemic led to a historic and widespread shutdown of schools across the world, including in Sub-Saharan Africa, there were general concerns that girls would be disproportionately affected. This study analyzes the effects of the pandemic on the school attendance of adolescent girls and boys in six African countries. The study uses individual-level data on children’s school attendance collected as part of high-frequency phone surveys. Contrary to expectations, the study reveals that there is no evidence to suggest that gender gaps widened during the pandemic. If anything, gender gaps appear to have narrowed in some countries. Further in-depth analysis shows that while being a descendent of the household head, having parents with at least primary education, and above-median household wealth were associated with a higher probability of school attendance among adolescents before the pandemic, these factors lost their salience in explaining school attendance in the aftermath of the pandemic. These results suggest that some traditionally protective forces were eroded during the COVID-19 crisis.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women-Led Businesses
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10) Torres, Jesica; Maduko, Franklin; Gaddis, Isis; Iacovone, Leonardo; Beegle, Kathleen
The COVID-19 pandemic has struck businesses across the globe with unprecedented impacts. The world economy has been hit hard and firms have experienced a myriad of challenges, but these challenges have been heterogeneous across firms. This paper examines one important dimension of this heterogeneity: the differential effect of the pandemic on women-led and men-led businesses. The paper exploits a unique sample of close to 40,000 mainly formal businesses from 49 countries covering the months between April and September 2020. The findings show that women-led micro-businesses, women-led businesses in the hospitality industry, and women-led businesses in countries more severely affected by the COVID-19 shock were disproportionately hit compared with businesses led by men. At the same time, women-led micro-firms were markedly more likely to report increasing the use of digital platforms, but less likely to invest in software, equipment, or digital solutions. Finally, the findings also show that women-led businesses were less likely to have received some form of public support although they have been hit harder in some domains. In a crisis of the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, evidence tracing the impact of the shock in a timely fashion is desperately needed to help inform the design of policy interventions. This real-time glimpse into women-led businesses fills this need for robust and policy-relevant evidence, and due to the large country coverage of the data, it is possible to identify patterns that extend beyond any one country, region, or sector, but at the cost of some granularity for testing more complex economic theories.
Women’s Legal Rights and Gender Gaps in Property Ownership in Developing Countries
(Wiley, 2022-06-08) Lahoti, Rahul; Gaddis, Isis; Swaminathan, Hema
Women's property ownership matters for their well-being and agency, broader economic prosperity, and children's development. However, until recently, a lack of data has constrained further exploration of gender differences in property ownership in the developing world. Using data from 41 developing countries, this paper contributes to the literature by investigating gender gaps in the incidence of property ownership among couples and the factors associated with these gaps, focusing on the role of legal systems. We find that in almost all countries, husbands are more likely to own property than wives. Across countries in our sample, husbands are, on average, 2.7 times more like than wives to own property alone and 1.4 times more likely to own property alone or jointly. Within countries, gender gaps in the incidence of property ownership are most pronounced for disadvantaged groups, that is, the rural population and the poorest quintile. These gender gaps reflect a variety of factors, including discriminatory laws with respect to inheritance, property ownership, marital regimes, and laws that protect from workplace discrimination. Countries with more gender egalitarian legal regimes have higher levels of property ownership by married women, especially housing, suggesting that legal reforms are a potential mechanism to increase women's property ownership.
The Distribution of Effort: Physical Activity, Gender Roles, and Bargaining Power in an Agrarian Setting
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2023-01-03) Friedman, Jed; Gaddis, Isis; Kilic, Talip; Martuscelli, Antonio; Palacios-Lopez, Amparo; Zezza, Alberto
Physical effort is a primary component in models of economic behavior. However, applications that measure effort are historically scarce. This paper assesses the differences in physical activity between men and women through wearable accelerometers and uses these activity measures as a proxy for physical effort. Crucially, the accelerometer-generated data measures the level of physical activity associated with each activity or task recorded in the data. In this rural setting, women exert marginally higher levels of physical effort. However, differences in effort between men and women among married partners are strongly associated with differences in bargaining power, with larger husband-wife effort gaps alongside differences in age, individual land ownership, and an overall empowerment index. Physical activity can exhibit an unequal distribution between men and women suggesting that gender disadvantage, at least within couples, extends to the domain of physical effort.
Women's Legal Rights and Gender Gaps in Property Ownership in Developing Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10) Lahoti, Rahul; Gaddis, Isis; Swaminathan, Hema
Women's property ownership matters for their well-being and agency; it can also advance economic prosperity and promote the human development of future generations. Yet, until recently, lack of data has constrained researchers from gaining a comprehensive overview of gender differences in property ownership in the developing world. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 41 developing countries, this paper seeks to fill this gap, by investigating the extent of gender gaps in the incidence of property ownership (land and housing) and the factors associated with these gaps, focusing on the role of legal systems. The study finds that there is substantial variation in gender gaps across countries, but in almost all countries men are more likely to own property than women. Within countries, gender gaps are most pronounced for groups that are already disadvantaged, that is, the rural population and the poorest quintile. The disadvantage in property ownership experienced by women reflects a variety of factors, including discriminatory norms and laws on inheritance, property ownership, marital regimes, and protection from workplace discrimination. Countries with more gender egalitarian legal regimes generally have higher levels of property ownership by women, especially housing. These results suggest that reforms to establish a more gender-equitable legislative framework could be an important mechanism to increase women's property ownership.
Employment and Own-Use Production in Household Surveys: A Practical Guide for Measuring Labor
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08) Durazo, Josefine; Costa, Valentina; Palacios-Lopez, Amparo; Gaddis, Isis
Labor statistics provide essential information for macroeconomic planning and policy formulation on employment creation, vocational training, income generation, and poverty reduction. A clear understanding and accurate comparability of labor indicators are therefore crucial for promoting efficient policies across countries and require the consistent application of international standards in collecting employment data in multi-topic household surveys. This Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) guidebook provides informed advice to statisticians and survey practitioners on the accurate measurement of employment and work in accordance with standards of the 19th International conference of labor statisticians (ICLS) and in the context of multi-topic household surveys.
Gender and COVID-19: What Have We Learnt, One Year Later?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) De Paz Nieves, Carmen; Gaddis, Isis; Muller, Miriam
One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper takes stock of new data and analysis to provide an up-to date picture of how women and men have been affected differently in terms of endowments, economic conditions, and agency. With regards to health outcomes, men have suffered a disproportionate burden of COVID-19 mortality, and more men than women were diagnosed with COVID-19. On the other hand, the disruptions in service provision have worsened reproductive health outcomes in several countries. In terms of education, data is scarce but there is no evidence for the hypothesis that families redirected scarce resources to prioritize education of boys over girls. However, girls report having taken on the additional care burden to a larger extent than boys, with potential impacts on their learning time. In terms of labor market consequences, women were more likely than men to stop working and have borne the brunt of the increase in the demand for care work. Businesses with female top managers have also experienced disproportionately more negative impacts. Finally, with respect to voice and agency, the risk of violence has increased for women and girls, especially intimate partner violence. In addition, women have been under-represented in decision-making on COVID-19 and, in some contexts, disadvantaged in access to critical information. The paper concludes with highlighting the importance of collecting sex-disaggregated data to understand the gender-differentiated impacts of the pandemic.
How Did the COVID-19 Crisis Affect Different Types of Workers in the Developing World?
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08) Kugler, Maurice; Viollaz, Mariana; Duque, Daniel; Gaddis, Isis; Newhouse, David; Palacios-Lopez, Amparo; Weber, Michael
The COVID-19 pandemic is the worst global macroeconomic shock since the Great Depression. This brief reports which groups of workers have been hit hardest by the economic fallout of COVID-19 in developing countries. Larger shares of female, young, less educated, and urban workers stopped working, with gender differences being particularly pronounced. Gender gaps in work stoppage stemmed mainly from differences within sectors rather than differential employment patterns across sectors. Among those that remained employed, changes in sector of employment and employment type were similar for all groups except for age, where young workers saw a slightly larger decline in industrial employment. Employment increased between April and October, with larger gains for the groups with larger initial job losses, but for most groups these gains fell far short of pre pandemic employment levels. Finally, evidence from five countries suggests that phone surveys give a generally accurate picture of group disparities in employment rates following the onset of the crisis and are proving to be a valuable tool for monitoring differential impacts of the crisis on workers