Publication: She Matters: Women in Kazakhstan Corporate Leadership
Loading...
Files in English
101 downloads
Other Files
41 downloads
Published
2021-09
ISSN
Date
2022-08-09
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This report makes a case for greater gender diversity on Kazakhstan corporate boards (including the board of directors and management board). Empirical evidence from around the world shows the importance and value of gender diversity in improving firms’ overall performance, including but not limited to financial performance. Gender diversity among business leaders typically leads to balanced decision-making processes, better monitoring and strategy involvement, and greater attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues to foster sustainability. This report analyzes the relationship between board gender diversity (defined as having at least 30 percent women on the board of directors) and the financial performance of Kazakhstan joint-stock companies (JSCs). For this purpose, a series of financial and gender indicators were collected from the data of the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Depository of Financial Statements and the Register of State Enterprises and Institutions, Legal Entities with the State Participation in the Authorized Capital of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Central Securities Depository, etc. In total, the study includes financial and non-financial information from 788 JSCs between 2017-2019.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“International Finance Corporation. 2021. She Matters: Women in Kazakhstan Corporate Leadership. © International Finance Corporation. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37851 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication IFC Annual Report 2010 : Where Innovation Meets Impact, Volume 1. Main Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)More than 200 million people in the developing world were out of work this year. Over 1 billion are hungry, while millions more are confronting the threat that climate change poses. The United Nations estimates that 884 million people don't have safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation. The population of the developing world will expand by a third over the next four decades, growth that will strain already weak infrastructure. In this environment, International Finance Corporation (IFC) is innovating to create opportunity where it's needed most. IFC committed a record $18 billion in fiscal year 2010, $12.7 billion of which was for own account. We invested in 528 projects, an 18 percent increase from FY09. Advisory Services portfolio comprised 736 active projects valued at more than $850 million, with annual expenditures totaling $268 million. Countries served by the International Development Association, or IDA, accounted for nearly half our investments 255 projects totaling $4.9 billion and more than 60 percent of Advisory Services expenditures. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 19 percent of our investment commitments and 25 percent of Advisory Services expenditures. The invested a record $1.64 billion in clean energy, leveraging $6.8 billion, while climate change related projects grew to 15 percent of the value of our Advisory Services portfolio. The investments in microfinance rose 10 percent to $400 million, expanding microfinance portfolio to $1.2 billion.Publication IFC's Sustainability Framework : From Policy Update to Implementation(Washington, DC, 2013)International Finance Corporation (IFC s) sustainability framework, which articulates our commitment to sustainable development and transparency. The performance standards are a vital part of the framework and address a range of environmental and social risks and opportunities faced by the private sector. This project highlights key environmental and social issues of current and emerging importance, including climate change, business and human rights, supply chain management, and biodiversity and ecosystem services. It discusses implementation challenges in the financial as well as the non-financial sectors, and summarizes some of the lessons learned through IFC s recent review and update of its sustainability framework. This project summarizes some of the key emerging issues in sustainability, and highlights valuable lessons learned from experience in applying sustainability principles. The subsequent sections attempt to capture the results of the review and update process, from the challenges of addressing emerging issues in the performance standards to the practical application of these principles across sectors in diverse circumstances. It focuses on key themes arising from the recently completed consultation process, and then highlights challenges moving forward in implementing sustainability standards.Publication The Business Case for Investing in Women’s Employment in Iraq(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022)In Iraq, women are generally absent from senior management and leadership positions, with an estimated representation of just 1 percent - even lower than the regional average. Women also account for more than half of the financial sector’s workforce, owing in part to government directives to appoint more females within Iraqi banks. In 2018, with International Finance Corporation (IFC) assistance, the Central Bank of Iraq required that every Iraqi bank’s board of directors should include at least one woman. Many private banks in Iraq are currently developing modern banking practices, with several of them prioritizing gender diversity in leadership positions. This company insight explores the experience of one such Iraqi bank, Ashur International Bank for Investment (Ashur Bank), which has been a pioneer for private banks in recruiting and promoting women to management positions. In Ashur Bank’s experience, these policies have improved the company’s performance, driven economic growth and profitability, and improved innovation. The sample size however is not statistically significant and cannot be used to draw definite conclusions but rather provides anecdotal evidence on the topic of this study.Publication Why Banks in Emerging Markets Are Increasingly Providing Non-financial Services to Small and Medium Enterprises(Washington, DC, 2012)Banks in emerging markets are increasingly providing non-financial services to their SME clients, typically consisting of information sharing, training and consultancy. This study, published by IFC in partnership with the Austrian Government, is the first to explore reasons behind this trend, finding that banks' key motivations include attracting and retaining customers, and strengthening portfolio quality. The report consists of an overview followed by case studies of three banks, namely Türk Ekonomi Bankasý (TEB), Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), and ICICI Bank. It is estimated that there are 365 to 445 million formal and informal micro, small, and medium enterprises, with a subset of 25 to 35 million formal SMEs, in the developing world. Of these, 70 percent do not use external financing from financial institutions, although they are in need of it. Approximately 85 percent suffer from credit constraints.Publication Gender Diversity in Ghanaian Boardrooms(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2018-05-01)This publication provides a baseline exploration into gender diversity in the Ghanaian boardroom.It examines gender diversity—across sectors, ownership types, legal status, listing status, and anumber of organizational and board-level characteristics— to provide empirical evidence to guidethe development of organizational and national policy. The study, launched in Accra in October 2016, mainly focused on generating a balanced and objective analysis of the issues surrounding women in the boardroom to ascertain the business case for having females on boards in Ghana. The objectives of the study were to examine the nature of gender diversity in public and private sector boards in Ghana, examine the determinants of board diversity in Ghanaian organizations, examine the relationship between gender diversity and organizational performance in Ghana, and to explore the experiences of women on boards. The first section of this report provides contextand background for the study, beginning with a summary of global trends in gender diversity and,more specifically, an overview of the regulatory and legal framework on gender diversity in Ghana.It also states the purpose of the study and cites significant previous studies. And it describes the research methodology used for this study. The second section presents and discusses the study’s findings, including a look at the firms sampled. It examines the nature of boards and gender diversity in Ghanaian boardrooms and explores gender dynamics within the corporate setting.The final two sections consider the implications of the study’s findings, particularly the challenges, prospects, and experiences of women on boards, followed by a presentation of conclusions and policy recommendations.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-04)Grounded in new evidence from satellite data, “Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future” presents the first global assessment of freshwater reserves over the past two decades. The findings expose an alarming trend of “continental drying,” a persistent long-term decline in freshwater availability across vast landmasses. Not only are droughts and deluges becoming more unpredictable, but the total amount of freshwater available for use has also significantly declined. Continental drying, driven by global warming, worsening droughts, and unsustainable water and land use, is a silent but accelerating crisis—largely unknown to the public—that reshapes the global water narrative. Continental drying raises profound risks. This report reveals new empirical evidence showing how freshwater depletion leads to major job losses, reduced incomes, wildfires, and biodiversity threats. In the long term, the combined effects of drying and warming could push societies toward a tipping point where damage accelerates rapidly and adaptation becomes increasingly difficult. Against the backdrop of continental drying, global water consumption rose by 25 percent between 2000 and 2019, with about a third of this increase occurring in regions already experiencing drying. Compounding the pressure, a substantial share of water use in drying regions remains inefficient. Continental Drying identifies hot spots where rising demand and declining supply converge and explores where and how water savings can be realized. This report recommends a three-pronged approach to address the crisis: managing demand, augmenting water supply, and improving water allocation. Five cross-cutting levers—strengthening institutions, reforming water tariffs and repurposing subsidies, adopting water accounting, leveraging data and technological innovations, and valuing water in trade—are essential for effective implementation and to attract private investment to finance the approach. Beyond water, addressing trade barriers, investing in education and skills development, and improving access to markets and financial services are critical for strengthening job and livelihood resilience amid a continental drying crisis.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Tajikistan Country Gender Assessment(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11-30)Tajikistan has a lot to show in terms of creating an enabling policy framework for gender equity, yet large gendered challenges remain. The global COVID-19 outbreak is impacting economies around the world, including Tajikistan, in an unprecedented manner and aggravates existing gender challenges. This report is presenting achievements made and challenges still to be addressed in view of gender-equity in Tajikistan, based on a desk study covering using most recent material from Tajikistan national sources, the World Bank, development partners and others. It is oriented towards key strategic objectives of the World Bank Group (WBG) Gender Strategy for the period of FY17-FY23 with relevance for the Tajikistan context.Publication Gender Discrimination in Hiring(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-09)This paper studies gender discrimination in hiring through an experiment that randomly assigned fictitious resumes to job advertisements in Uzbekistan. The experiment focused on positions commonly advertised in the local context, such as accountants, office managers, information technology specialists, welders, call center operators, and drivers in the capital city. With the single exception of the applicant’s gender (signaled by the person’s name), the resumes were identical within each job category. The study finds strong evidence of prevalent and economically significant gender discrimination in response rates. Despite identical qualifications, we find that in female-dominated professions, women were 185 percent more likely to get a callback than men, and in male-dominated professions, men were 79 percent more likely to get a callback than women. The findings suggest strong gender discrimination in hiring practices in Uzbekistan.Publication Uzbekistan - Country Gender Assessment 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-06-05)Addressing gender gaps is critical to the success of Uzbekistan’s inclusive transformation. Uzbekistan’s national income would be about 29 percent higher if women were to participate in equal measure to men. If working women were simply to catch up to the wages earned by men, the increased income would pull more than 700,000 people out of poverty. What prevents Uzbekistan from realizing such massive potential This Country Gender Assessment identifies strengths and examines the remaining barriers to greater equality within Uzbekistan’s ongoing social and economic transformation. It consolidates existing analytical work by the government, the World Bank, development partners, academia, and others. Ultimately, it proposes a set of high-priority goals essential to closing the gap between Uzbekistan’s current performance and its potential for more inclusive prosperity. The enduring challenge of gender inequality holds Uzbekistan back from its development potential. Comparing to global benchmarks identifies many of the strengths and weaknesses in Uzbekistan’s recent performance with regards to gender equality. In the 2022 global Gender Development Index, which measures gaps in human development achievements across health, knowledge, and living standards, Uzbekistan is ranked 106 out of 189 countries. Since monitoring began, life expectancy is the only component of the index for which women have ranked higher than men. Legal impediments to equality measured by the Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) index in 2023 revealed that Uzbekistan, with a score of just 70.6, ranked at the bottom of the list of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) countries, especially with respect to legislation addressing gender-based violence (GBV), equality in the workplace, equal pay, parenthood, and pensions. It should be noted however that recent legislation promises to raise the country’s future performance on the WBL measure in 2024, especially with respect to GBV and workplace protections introduced in the country’s new labor code. Despite challenges, Uzbekistan performs relatively well in several critical dimensions, above all with respect to equal access to basic health and education services, as is highlighted in the country’s strong performance in the global Gender Inequality Index. Collectively, these comparisons suggest that while Uzbekistan has a strong tradition investing in human capital for both men and women, an urgent agenda to foster a more inclusive society remains incomplete. But success promises to generate a virtuous circle of gender equity and economic growth.