Publication: What Do We Know About Interventions to Increase Women’s Economic Participation and Empowerment in South Asia: Care Polices and Care Services
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2023-07-25
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2023-07-25
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The Care category covers interventions and mandates that reduce the care burden on women and, consequently, enable them to participate as active economic agents. For the review, care responsibilities are defined as activities that keep women engaged in looking after members of their household. Particularly, the review explores care activities that prevent women of working age from entering the labor force, both at the extensive and intensive margins. Household care activities include childcare, elder care, and care for the sick and disabled. The research for this review accounts for interventions that reduce this burden of care on women and enable them to enter or re-enter the work force. First, this includes childcare services—those provided by the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private and employer-provided, or supported onsite childcare. Second, it accounts for policies or mandates that provide women with care services and childcare mandates. It also includes additional mandates that provide families with tax breaks, vouchers, and subsidy benefits to help with care responsibilities, and it accounts for labor market regulations, such as leave, family-friendly policies, and arrangements. Lastly, the review excludes policies or programs that provide education to school-age children beyond the pre-school level.
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“Zahra, Najaf; Javed, Amna; Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria. 2023. What Do We Know About Interventions to Increase Women’s Economic Participation and Empowerment in South Asia: Care Polices and Care Services. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/40080 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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