Publication: Investing in Opportunities for All: Croatia Country Gender Assessment
Loading...
Date
2019-05
ISSN
Published
2019-05
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The Croatia Country Gender Assessment reviewed the state of equality between women and men in Croatia in endowments, economic opportunities, and voice and agency. Overall, the country has made progress on including gender equality both institutionally and legally into its policy agenda. Certain indicators of gender equality remain strong, such as equitable primary and secondaryschool enrollment for boys and girls. A closer look reveals areas that need to be improved, such as equality in the labor market, women's entrepreneurship and role in politics and business, the situation of Roma women, rural and urban disparities, care work distribution between men and women, and the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people.The most significant gap is in access to economic opportunities, with a large number of women, youth, retirees, and minorities excluded from the labor market. Sustainable and effective solutions for this complex issue lie in a whole of government effort covering education andskills development, including retraining and lifelong learning; equity in healthcare; provision of care services to enable women to enter the labor market; and inclusive entrepreneurship. The findings are in line with some of the issues raised in the Croatia Systematic Country Diagnostic of the World Bank; this assessment unpacks these issues in more detail and identifies additional areas for attention. The World Bank could use its engagement with the Government of Croatia to advocate for these issues, and to look for entry points in its current portfolio and pipeline. To this end, a Gender Roadmap has been developed under the Country Partnership Framework (2019-2024) that will focus on how some of the gender gaps could be reduced through the Bank's current and future engagements, and progress tracked periodically. It shows a commitment by the Bank to follow up on the findings and the recommendations arising from this assessment. The conclusions have been arrived at using mixed methods, supplementing quantitative sources with qualitative tools. The assessment is also innovative in highlighting the intersectionality of overlapping disadvantages arising from social and spatial exclusion. It does this by bringing in voices of the youth, elderly women, Roma, and LGBTI from Slavonia (one of the least-developed parts of the country), and Zagreb (the most developed). For instance, the cumulative disadvantages for an elderly rural woman in less-developed Slavonia is not the same as that for a woman of similar age in the capital Zagreb.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank Group. 2019. Investing in Opportunities for All: Croatia Country Gender Assessment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31937 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Montenegro Gender Diagnostic(Washington, DC, 2013-06)In 2011, women and girls represented 50.6 percent of the total Montenegrin population (620,029 persons). Different aspects of gender inequality vary by region and ethnicity. The present World Bank country partnership strategy in Montenegro is based on two pillars that include supporting Montenegro s accession to the European Union (EU) through boosting institutions and competitiveness. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of gender inequality in Montenegro. Using a number of data sources, gender differences in various outcomes are analyzed with the intention of highlighting gender inequalities in human wellbeing. Results are used to prioritize possible avenues for future research to better understand such inequalities and or suggest areas that require more focus from policymakers. This report operates under the premise that gender equality is both an issue of human rights and of critical economic consequence. In line with the world development report (WDR) 2012, the nomenclature of gender gaps in endowments, access to economic opportunities, and agency will be used to elaborate upon these arguments and their relevance to Montenegro. The findings of this diagnostic suggest that there are gender gaps in Montenegro, particularly in: (i) agency, although available data in this area is limited; (ii) access to economic opportunities; and (iii) human capital among some population subgroups. The structure of the report is as follows: section one gives introduction. Section two addresses gender disparities in endowments, including education, health, and assets. Section three presents disparities in economic opportunities in the forms of labor force participation, unemployment, employment and wages, and entrepreneurship. Section four focuses on agency and its implications for gender equality. Section five discusses relationships across issues and suggests areas for further research.Publication Low Female Labor Force Participation in Sri Lanka : Contributory Factors, Challenges and Policy Implications(Washington, DC, 2013-01)Even though Sri Lanka is a fore-runner in many human development dimensions and aspects of gender equality amongst the South Asian countries, it is similar to other South Asian countries when it comes to women's participation in economic activities. Female labor force participation has not changed much in recent decades and remained stagnant at a rate around 30 to 35 percent of working age women. This rate is much lower than one would expect given the educational attainment of the female population in Sri Lanka. In order to encourage increased women s participation in economic activities, the first condition is to understand what is keeping them out of the scene. This paper analyzes the underlying reasons behind low participation rates of women in economic activities. It also investigates the employment outcomes, occupational choice, rates of returns, and skills set of economically active women in comparison with men to identify and understand the gaps. The findings have been used to suggest potential policies and programs that can help remove some of those barriers and encourage and enable women to become more economically active in the labor market.Publication Moldova : Gender Disparities in Endowments and Access to Economic Opportunities(Washington, DC, 2014-03-30)This assessment provides a broad picture of gender disparities in Moldova in agency, education, health, and access to economic opportunities. The gender gap in education is small, yet it is greatest at higher levels of education. Moldova's health indicators are significantly underperforming compared to other Europe and Central Asia (ECA) countries, and male mortality is of greatest concern. Violence against women is one of the most frequent forms of human rights violations and is widely accepted by both women and men. Male and female labor force participation rates are low, and the gender gap is small. Moldova has one of the highest rates of human trafficking among neighboring countries and is primarily a source country. This paper is structured as follows: chapter one discusses factors which may shape the process of how men and women use their endowments and utilize economic opportunities. Chapter two covers human development disaggregated by gender, focusing on education and health. Chapter three examines the gender gap in employment and opportunities, and its implications for the labor market, particularly, entrepreneurship, and career advancement for women. Chapter four makes selected policy recommendations.Publication Tajikistan Country Gender Assessment(Washington, DC, 2013-06-13)The aim of this report is to provide a broad overview of the current state of gender equality in Tajikistan. While the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region traditionally surpassed many other regions in terms of gender equality, this advantage has been eroding in recent decades. Particularly in Tajikistan, concerns have been raised that men and women have unequally born the consequences of economic, political, and social transitions after independence in 1991. The report examines several dimensions of gender equality both quantitatively and qualitatively. Tajikistan has set up a legal framework that enshrines principles of equality and non-discrimination, but better implementation results require continued efforts. Prevailing social norms and patriarchal systems of decision-making limit women s ability to make effective choices be it at home or at work. The paper is structured along the following lines. The first section introduces the idea of agency that will remain an important issue throughout the report. This is followed by an analysis of disparities in human capital endowment, including health and education. Gender gaps in the Tajik labor market and entrepreneurial activities of men and women are discussed in the fourth and fifth section. The final section concludes with some policy recommendations that might be beneficial for discussions among policy-makers, civil society actors, and development partners.Publication Bhutan Gender Policy Note(Washington, DC, 2013-10-10)Bhutan has undergone a major socio-economic transformation over the past few decades. Today, as a middle-income country guided by the unique development philosophy of Gross National Happiness, it continues to develop rapidly and become more integrated into the global economy. Coinciding with its development, Bhutan has also made considerable strides in closing gaps in gender equality. The analysis of the Gender Policy Note (GPN) focuses on specific issues related to economic empowerment. It analyzes patterns related to specific aspects of the economic empowerment of both men and women by applying the analytical framework of the 2012 World Development Report on Gender and Development to the Bhutan context. For the areas of focus, the report examines overall indicators on gender and identifies areas where gender gaps persist: agricultural land holding and inheritance practices, and gender gaps in labor markets and job quality. In Bhutan, most women acquire land ownership through inheritance, particularly in matrilineal communities. Unlike in other countries, the matrilineal inheritance practice offers economic opportunities for Bhutanese women and contributes to their relatively equal status with men. In addition, land holding through inheritance can also affect economic choices, particularly the decision to remain in one's village. Bhutan has made tremendous progress in female labor force participation, but the quality of jobs for women is still an issue. Although women's participation in the labor force has increased, it has not translated into improvements in employment quality. The Labor Force Survey shows that Bhutanese women work in lower quality jobs than men-women who earn income from work outside the home; their earnings are only 75 percent of men's earnings. The report recommends policy interventions in five main areas: first, it promotes equal ownership and agency over land. The policy appears to be working well in most areas of the country, and families are moving toward equal inheritance. Second, women's economic endowment could be augmented to increase labor productivity and earnings. Third, child care, along with vocational and life-skills training tailored for girls could women's access to good jobs. Fourth, social norms that lead to gender inequality could be addressed by promoting a greater role for men as fathers and caregivers and men's participation in housework. Finally, the report recognizes the need to conduct further research to better understand the gender gap in happiness.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Breaking the Conflict Trap : Civil War and Development Policy(Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford University Press, 2003)Most wars are now civil wars. Even though international wars attract enormous global attention, they have become infrequent and brief. Civil wars usually attract less attention, but they have become increasingly common and typically go on for years. This report argues that civil war is now an important issue for development. War retards development, but conversely, development retards war. This double causation gives rise to virtuous and vicious circles. Where development succeeds, countries become progressively safer from violent conflict, making subsequent development easier. Where development fails, countries are at high risk of becoming caught in a conflict trap in which war wrecks the economy and increases the risk of further war. The global incidence of civil war is high because the international community has done little to avert it. Inertia is rooted in two beliefs: that we can safely 'let them fight it out among themselves' and that 'nothing can be done' because civil war is driven by ancestral ethnic and religious hatreds. The purpose of this report is to challenge these beliefs.Publication Governance Matters IV : Governance Indicators for 1996-2004(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-06)The authors present the latest update of their aggregate governance indicators, together with new analysis of several issues related to the use of these measures. The governance indicators measure the following six dimensions of governance: (1) voice and accountability; (2) political instability and violence; (3) government effectiveness; (4) regulatory quality; (5) rule of law, and (6) control of corruption. They cover 209 countries and territories for 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004. They are based on several hundred individual variables measuring perceptions of governance, drawn from 37 separate data sources constructed by 31 organizations. The authors present estimates of the six dimensions of governance for each period, as well as margins of error capturing the range of likely values for each country. These margins of error are not unique to perceptions-based measures of governance, but are an important feature of all efforts to measure governance, including objective indicators. In fact, the authors give examples of how individual objective measures provide an incomplete picture of even the quite particular dimensions of governance that they are intended to measure. The authors also analyze in detail changes over time in their estimates of governance; provide a framework for assessing the statistical significance of changes in governance; and suggest a simple rule of thumb for identifying statistically significant changes in country governance over time. The ability to identify significant changes in governance over time is much higher for aggregate indicators than for any individual indicator. While the authors find that the quality of governance in a number of countries has changed significantly (in both directions), they also provide evidence suggesting that there are no trends, for better or worse, in global averages of governance. Finally, they interpret the strong observed correlation between income and governance, and argue against recent efforts to apply a discount to governance performance in low-income countries.Publication Design Thinking for Social Innovation(2010-07)Designers have traditionally focused on enchancing the look and functionality of products.Publication Governance Matters VIII : Aggregate and Individual Governance Indicators 1996–2008(2009-06-01)This paper reports on the 2009 update of the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) research project, covering 212 countries and territories and measuring six dimensions of governance between 1996 and 2008: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence/Terrorism, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law, and Control of Corruption. These aggregate indicators are based on hundreds of specific and disaggregated individual variables measuring various dimensions of governance, taken from 35 data sources provided by 33 different organizations. The data reflect the views on governance of public sector, private sector and NGO experts, as well as thousands of citizen and firm survey respondents worldwide. The authors also explicitly report the margins of error accompanying each country estimate. These reflect the inherent difficulties in measuring governance using any kind of data. They find that even after taking margins of error into account, the WGI permit meaningful cross-country comparisons as well as monitoring progress over time. The aggregate indicators, together with the disaggregated underlying indicators, are available at www.govindicators.org.Publication Government Matters III : Governance Indicators for 1996-2002(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-08)The authors present estimates of six dimensions of governance covering 199 countries and territories for four time periods: 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. These indicators are based on several hundred individual variables measuring perceptions of governance, drawn from 25 separate data sources constructed by 18 different organizations. The authors assign these individual measures of governance to categories capturing key dimensions of governance and use an unobserved components model to construct six aggregate governance indicators in each of the four periods. They present the point estimates of the dimensions of governance as well as the margins of errors for each country for the four periods. The governance indicators reported here are an update and expansion of previous research work on indicators initiated in 1998 (Kaufmann, Kraay, and Zoido-Lobat 1999a,b and 2002). The authors also address various methodological issues, including the interpretation and use of the data given the estimated margins of errors.