Publication: Not Just More, but Better: Fostering Quality of Employment for Women
Loading...
Date
2017-01
ISSN
Published
2017-01
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Despite progress on women’s labor force participation in the past few decades, there remain persistent gender gaps across multiple dimensions of job quality. Women generally earn less than men. Gaps are particularly acute in the Middle East and North Africa but also persist in high income Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Women tend to be concentrated in less productive jobs, run enterprises in less productive sectors, and are more likely to do part-time and temporary jobs with fewer avenues for advancement, than men. Women are particularly concentrated into the more invisible activities, such as domestic labor and unpaid work or work in the informal sector in jobs that lack security and are not covered by labor laws. In other words, there are persistent gender gaps not only in labor force participation rates or the quantity of jobs, but perhaps more importantly, in the quality or types of jobs that men and women do. Having access to quality jobs which are stable, decent, secure, and productive is even more important from a gender perspective because women are more likely than men to be over represented in low paying, part time, informal, and low productivity jobs. This paper explores the multiple dimensions of women’s access to good quality jobs, factors contributing to gender gaps, and possible solutions or actions that have worked in different countries.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Datta, Namita; Kotikula, Aphichoke. 2017. Not Just More, but Better: Fostering Quality of Employment for Women. Jobs Working Paper;No. 1. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26274 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 Voices to Choices(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019)This book analyzes advances in women's economic engagement and empowerment in rural and urban Bangladesh. It concludes that despite notable improvement, women's economic choices and control remain limited. Female labor force participation rose 10 percentage points between 2003 and 2016, and the gender wage gap shrank; societal attitudes toward women's land ownership are evolving; and women's financial inclusion and entrepreneurship rates are improving. Women's labor force participation still is less than half that of men, however. Women are confined to a narrower range of occupations—in mostly informal sector jobs—and are still less likely to own land than men. The financial gender gap remains stubbornly large. Women from ethnic and religious minorities face 'double' discrimination on several of these fronts. Stakeholders need to address foundational societal and market barriers, such as sexual and other forms of harassment, mobility constraints, high transactional costs, and lack of formal childcare, while developing accurate gender–disaggregated data to track progress. Despite achieving Millennium Development Goal Target 1 to halve poverty between 1990 and 2015, Bangladesh remains one of the world's poorer countries. Improvements in engaging and empowering women economically—particularly disadvantaged women—is a clear next step in growing the Bangladeshi economy and maintaining progress in poverty reduction and inclusive development. This book provides recommendations and good practices on how to do so.Publication Addressing Employment Obstacles for Young Syrian Refugee Women(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-11)This Jobs Note is a result of collaboration between S4YE-Jobs Group and Rand Corporation (an S4YE partner) . It builds on research covering the three countries with the highest concentration of Syrian refugees displaced since 2011: Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon. It is intended to inform policymakers and practitioners on the barriers that Syrian refugees, especially women, face in securing work to earn a livelihood. This Note highlights practical solutions that have been designed and implemented by the World Bank and other S4YE partners including ReBootKamp, Education for Employment-Tunisia, Youth Business International, and the International Labour Organization. While not specific addressing internally-displaced persons (IDPs) within Syria, this Note could serve as a blueprint for examining and addressing many of the same barriers women face in Syria.Publication What Works for Working Women?(World Bank, Dhaka, 2019-10)This paper explores the factors that constrain women in slums and low-income neighborhoods in Dhaka from engaging in the labor market and supplying their labor to wage earning or self-employment. It uses unique individual-level data on labor market participation, time-use, norms, and skills, both cognitive and noncognitive. The data reconfirms well-known patterns associated with FLFP: that is, it is higher in low-income neighborhoods and among women with little education, and younger unmarried women. The paper also highlights the correlation between soft skills and type of work. The paper also quantifies the important correlation between the need for childcare, as well as safety in public spaces and in the workplace.Publication Female Labor Force Participation in Pakistan(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-02)Pakistan's development road map "Vision 2025" sets an ambitious target of an increase in female labor force participation (FLFP) from its current level of 25 percent to 45 percent by 2025. Women's labor force participation is rising across the country; however, significant challenges remain. This Note explores the dynamics of FLFP via analysis of the Enterprise Survey 2013, two rounds of the Labor Skills Survey (2013 and 2015), and multiple rounds of the Labor Force Survey. Results summarized here provide a picture of trends in FLFP in Pakistan since 1992, identify reasons for low FLFP and highlight key knowledge gaps. This Note, a collaborative product of the Pakistan Gender and Social Inclusion Platform and Social Protection and Jobs teams, is structured to complement the forthcoming Pakistan Jobs Diagnostic. It is also a precursor to an upcoming study, Women in the Workforce, that will collect primary qualitative and quantitative data on urban women's labor force participation in urban Punjab, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta.Publication Women’s Employment and Safety Perceptions(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08)This brief uses the 2018 Dhaka Low-Income Area Gender, Inclusion, and Poverty (DIGNITY) survey to assess the gender gap in safety perceptions and analyze the correlation between women’s safety perception and their labor market outcomes. The analysis shows that women are significantly less likely than men to feel safe in the low-income neighborhoods of Dhaka. While the percentage of women who reported feeling safe increased with age, living standard, and the availability of streetlights, the percentage of women who reported feeling safe decreased with education and concern of eviction. The analysis further shows that this gender gap in safety perception disproportionately hurt women’s labor market outcomes. Women who feel safe are much more likely to be economically active, work outside their neighborhoods, and explore economic opportunities.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication World Development Report 1987(New York: Oxford University Press, 1987)This report, consisting of two parts, is the tenth in the annual series assessing development issues. Part I reviews recent trends in the world economy and their implications for the future prospects of developing countries. It stresses that better economic performance is possible in both industrial and developing countries, provided the commitment to economic policy reforms is maintained and reinforced. In regard to the external debt issues, the report argues for strengthened cooperation among industrial countries in the sphere of macroeconomic policy to promote smooth adjustment to the imbalances caused by external payments (in developing countries). Part II reviews and evaluates the varied experience with government policies in support of industrialization. Emphasis is placed on policies which affect both the efficiency and sustainability of industrial transformation, especially in the sphere of foreign trade. The report finds that developing countries which followed policies that promoted the integration of their industrial sector into the international economy through trade have fared better than those which insulated themselves from international competition.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.