Publication: Employing Women : A Boon for a Chemical Plant in India
Loading...
Date
2011-09
ISSN
Published
2011-09
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Meghmani Organics Limited (MOL) is a chemical group located in the state of Gujarat in India. Its main products are specialty chemicals, including pigments, pesticides, and other intermediates. Prior to International Finance Corporation's (IFC's) investment, MOL had four manufacturing facilities in Gujarat, India, with about 2,000 employees. In 2008, IFC invested in MOL to build Meghmani FineChem Limited (MFL), a green field chlor-alkali plant, in Dahej, a port city in Gujarat. This smart lesson provides a snapshot of the changes that took place in MFL following IFC's recommendation for the company to employ women.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Jiang, Larry. 2011. Employing Women : A Boon for a Chemical Plant in India. IFC Smart Lessons Brief. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10434 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Publication Taking Advantage of a Window of Opportunity(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017-02)Rwanda’s government and private sector took a bold step towards achieving a critical reform agenda with the design and implementationof a single window for international trade system. This implementation marked the first successful collaboration among Rwanda’s numerous agencies that over see the country’s cross-border trade. Addressing the demands of a diverse group of stakeholders was certainly daunting, but effective stakeholder engagement and change management efforts have produced results that are exerting a major impact on the efficiency of goods into and transiting Rwanda. Driving the Single Window project was an aspiration for greater collaboration at the level of government-to-government, business-to business and government-to-business. Rwanda’s membership in the East African Community, which is a Single Customs Territory was another critical factor. By addressing national needs and incorporating a regional focus and outreach in the management of cargo, the Rwanda Electronic Single Window has achieved success.Publication Taking the First Step to Facilitate Trade in Sudan(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017-02)The Republic of Sudan’s seaports used to be known for congestion resulting from the slow processing of imported goods. In response, the government created an ad hoc National Committee on trade facilitation to help streamline the processing of goods coming in and to facilitate trade. This smart lesson describes the steps taken in setting up the National Committee on Trade Facilitation and the challenges involved.Publication Working with Tajikistan to Develop its First National Commodity Nomenclature of Foreign Economic Activities(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017-02)One of the most important instruments of trade facilitation is the commodity nomenclature, which provides a definition of all goods subject to foreign trade. The correct classification of goods forms the basis for determining the appropriate value of a good and for determining the customs duties imposed on a good on import or export. Customs statistics on foreign trade are derived from it, and those statistics in turn serve as a tool for the determination and implementation of customs policy. Commodity nomenclature is used not only at the national level, but also by the World Trade Organization, the World Customs Organization, the United Nations, and other international entities. Importers and exporters or investors in other countries visit customs nomenclature websites thousands of times a day to see the types and levels of customs duties and other charges and trade policy measures that particular countries apply. Trade policy regulations, rules of origin, and trade statistics in almost all of the developed and developing countries are designed and compiled on the basis of customs nomenclatures. This SmartLesson discusses how the Central Asia Trade Logistics Project worked with the Customs Administration of the Republic of Tajikistan on the development of its first national commodity nomenclature.Publication Walking the Last Mile(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017-02)Albania’s authorized economic operators (AEO) program is not yet operational, even though the country has adopted the necessary European Union (EU) legal and regulatory frameworks. This smart lesson outlines shortcomings in the adoption of AEO provisions under the European community customs code (CCC) as well as the obstacles the national government has faced putting in place the complementary reform measures necessary to ensure practical effectiveness. Lessons learned from the Albanian experience may be instructive for other countries in the central European free trade agreement region as they look to operationalize their AEO programs without diverting from AEO guidelines as set out in the EU acquis.Publication PortNet in Morocco(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2017-01)In 2008, Morocco’s National Ports Agency launched a project to create a national single-window platform for Morocco’s foreign tr ade. The process was long and difficult, and its success is owing in large part to the leadership and focus demonstrated by PORTNET S.A., the company created in 2012 to be in charge of the project. This SmartLesson describes the steps PORTNET took to forge a strategic alliance between public and private stakeholders in Morocco to achieve a common, mutually beneficial aim: streamline Morocco’s foreign trade procedures and improve its business climate.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Investing in Women’s Employment : Good for Business, Good for Development(Washington, DC, 2013-10)Economic growth is more robust and sustainable when women and men alike participate fully in the labor market. Better jobs for women, employment that leads to higher wages and greater decision-making, also have a positive influence on the ways households spend money on children s nutrition, health, and education. Meanwhile, companies that invest in women s employment gain an important competitive advantage. Yet despite the persuasive evidence that gender equality has a transformative effect on productivity and growth, women s full economic and productive potential remains unrealized in many parts of the world. Globally, while women s education levels have increased and educated women now earn more than their uneducated peers, gender gaps in labor-market participation and wage levels persist. Women continue to be underrepresented in formal and higher value-added employment. This report, investing in women s employment: good for Business, good for development, is the first result of the WINvest initiative. It draws on members experiences and encourages business to tap and manage female talent in emerging and developing markets.Publication Egyptian Women Workers and Entrepreneurs : Maximizing Opportunities in the Economic Sphere(World Bank, 2010)Women are a powerful force for sustainable economic growth. A growing body of microeconomic empirical evidence and emerging macroeconomic analysis shows that gender inequality limits economic growth in developing economies. Research also shows that considerable potential for economic growth could be realized if countries support women's full economic participation. Increases in women's income tend to correlate with greater expenditure on family welfare and children, because women often spend a greater share of their income on their children's nutrition, health care, and education. From an economic perspective, removing gender biases and maintaining a level playing field reduces possible market distortions or malfunctioning. Moreover, promoting women's participation in business may bolster women's overall participation in the labor market, because women-owned businesses are more likely to employ other women. This report analyzes the main reasons for this disparity in the Arab Republic of Egypt and proposes solutions to level the playing field and enable women's full economic contributions. The Investment Climate Survey (ICS) of 1,156 enterprises from the manufacturing sector was carried out in October 2008, using the World Bank standard methodology. The recall questionnaire of 566 enterprises was conducted in October 2008. The gender workers module was conducted in August 2005. It sampled about 15 full-time workers from each firm covered by the ICS recall survey. About 70 percent of the ICS sample is made up of small and medium firms, about 85 percent of which are owned by individuals or families. Large firms employing more than 150 workers account for about 30 percent of the sample. In about 35 percent of the sample, a woman is a main shareholder; in 15 percent of these firms, women own the majority of the firm.Publication Social Insurance Reform in Jordan : Awareness and Perceptions of Employment Opportunities for Women(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06)The new social insurance law introduced by the Jordanian government in 2010 was created in part to improve the likelihood of women s employment through non- and gender specific changes. This study, which comprised individual interviews and focus groups with Jordanian women and men, employers and opinion leaders, was designed to elicit an understanding of their awareness and knowledge of the new law, designed to increase women s employment - primarily the maternity insurance provision. Those affected by the law remained largely uninformed. Many employers communicated that they did not perceive it as cost neutral for their firms. Participants who were aware of the law, viewed the changes positively and believed with the right circumstances, the law could increase female employment.Publication Women in Vanuatu : Analyzing Challenges to Economic Participation(World Bank, 2009)Women's contributions to poverty reduction, economic growth, and private sector development are increasingly recognized globally. A growing amount of research demonstrates the link between women's empowerment and societal well-being. Yet research also indicates that woman's economic contributions continue to lag behind their achievements in health and education, and a variety of barriers still prevent women in many parts of the world from fully contributing to the economy. Women in Vanuatu: analyzing challenges to economic participation is a step toward filling this gap, spurred by the growing recognition in Vanuatu and the broader pacific region of the need to better address gender inequalities. The publication presents a comprehensive analysis of institutional, legal, and regulatory barriers to women's full economic participation in Vanuatu and proposes measures to address these to ensure a level playing field for both women and men. This work has been a collaborative effort between Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the World Bank's Gender Group, in partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS). A number of the study's recommendations, which emerged from consultations with representatives of the government, the private sector, and civil society in Vanuatu, are being addressed in World Bank Group regional programming going forward.Publication India : Women, Work and Employment(Washington, DC, 2014-02-26)Since economic liberalization in the early 1990s, India has experienced high economic growth and made considerable progress in gender equality in areas such as primary education. However, it fared poorly on gender-parity in labor force participation (LFP). During the period between 1993-94 and 2011-12, female labor force participation rate (LFPR) remained consistently low as compared to male participation. More alarming is the fact that female participation rate declined steadily during the same period, particularly in rural areas. The low level along with declining trend in rural female LFP poses a serious threat of 'missing gender' in the labor force. Although economic growth added jobs for both men and women in India till 2005, Indian women lost jobs in the next seven years, while men continued to gain, thereby widening the gender gap. The actual figures in 2012 suggest that approximately 35 to 40 million women are 'missing' from the labor force, had female LFP grown at the same rate as it had between 1999 and 2005.1 This represents a troubling trend considering the potential of these women to contribute to the country's productivity. To better understand the existing situation, this report investigates gender and female labor force dynamics by drawing mostly on data from five rounds of the National Sample Survey, India, between 1993-94 and 2011-12. Key findings from the study are grouped below in three sections. First section describes the dynamics of female LFP looking at its evolution in previous two decades. The next section presents the drivers of low level of female participation and its declining trend. The last section proposes possible areas of action.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Making Procurement Work Better – An Evaluation of the World Bank’s Procurement System(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-06)This evaluation assesses the results, successes, and challenges of the World Bank 2016 procurement reform. Procurements acquire the works, goods, and services necessary to achieve the World Bank’s project development outcomes. The World Bank’s procurement processes must ensure that clients get the best value for every development dollar. In 2016, the World Bank reformed its procurement system for Investment Project Financing and launched a new procurement framework aimed at enhancing the Bank’s development effectiveness through better procurement. The reform sought to reduce procurement bottlenecks impeding project performance and modernize procurement systems. It emphasized cutting edge international good practice principles and was intended to be accompanied by procurement capacity strengthening to help client countries. This evaluation offers three recommendations to scale up reform implementation and enhance portfolio and project performance: (i) Improve change management support for the reform’s implementation. (ii) Strategically strengthen country-level procurement capacity. (iii) Consistently manage the full spectrum of procurement risks to maximize project success.Publication World Development Report 2021(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-03-24)Today’s unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic and social value in applications far beyond those originally anticipated. But many barriers stand in the way, ranging from misaligned incentives and incompatible data systems to a fundamental lack of trust. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. To address this tension between the helpful and harmful potential of data, this Report calls for a new social contract that enables the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, ensures equitable access to that value, and fosters trust that data will not be misused in harmful ways. This Report begins by assessing how better use and reuse of data can enhance the design of public policies, programs, and service delivery, as well as improve market efficiency and job creation through private sector growth. Because better data governance is key to realizing this value, the Report then looks at how infrastructure policy, data regulation, economic policies, and institutional capabilities enable the sharing of data for their economic and social benefits, while safeguarding against harmful outcomes. The Report concludes by pulling together the pieces and offering an aspirational vision of an integrated national data system that would deliver on the promise of producing high-quality data and making them accessible in a way that promotes their safe use and reuse. By examining these opportunities and challenges, the Report shows how data can benefit the lives of all people, but particularly poor people in low- and middle-income countries.Publication World Development Report 2020(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)Global value chains (GVCs) powered the surge of international trade after 1990 and now account for almost half of all trade. This shift enabled an unprecedented economic convergence: poor countries grew rapidly and began to catch up with richer countries. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, however, the growth of trade has been sluggish and the expansion of GVCs has stalled. Meanwhile, serious threats have emerged to the model of trade-led growth. New technologies could draw production closer to the consumer and reduce the demand for labor. And conflicts among large countries could lead to a retrenchment or a segmentation of GVCs. This book examines whether there is still a path to development through GVCs and trade. It concludes that technological change is, at this stage, more a boon than a curse. GVCs can continue to boost growth, create better jobs, and reduce poverty provided that developing countries implement deeper reforms to promote GVC participation; industrial countries pursue open, predictable policies; and all countries revive multilateral cooperation.Publication World Development Report 2012(World Bank, 2012)The main message of this year's World development report: gender equality and development is that these patterns of progress and persistence in gender equality matter, both for development outcomes and policy making. They matter because gender equality is a core development objective in its own right. But greater gender equality is also smart economics, enhancing productivity and improving other development outcomes, including prospects for the next generation and for the quality of societal policies and institutions. Economic development is not enough to shrink all gender disparities-corrective policies that focus on persisting gender gaps are essential. This report points to four priority areas for policy going forward. First, reducing gender gaps in human capital-specifically those that address female mortality and education. Second, closing gender gaps in access to economic opportunities, earnings, and productivity. Third, shrinking gender differences in voice and agency within society. Fourth, limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations. These are all areas where higher incomes by themselves do little to reduce gender gaps, but focused policies can have a real impact. Gender equality is at the heart of development. It's the right development objective, and it's smart economic policy. The World development report 2012 can help both countries and international partners think through and integrate a focus on gender equality into development policy making and programming.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.