Human Development 2 36 Macroeconomics 197 +,\ONAL e December 2001 Findings reports on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. It is published periocdically by the Knowledge and Leaming Center on behalf of the Region. The views expressed in Findings are VV WOR L D BA N K | those of the author/s and should not be attributed to the World Bank Group. Gender and Growth: a°N ID9 Africa's Missed Potential n the study Can Africa Claim the the informal sector in particular. 21st Century? (World Bank 2000), But women in Africa have less ac- we argued that Africa has enor- cess to productive assets, includ- U ) mous unexploited potential. It has ing land, and to such complemen- hidden growth reserves in its tary factors of production as credit, people, especially its women, who fertilizer, and education. Women now provide more than half the farmers receive only 1 percent of region's labor but lack equal access total credits to agriculture. Women to education and factors of produc- are less likely to control the prod- ~~~ ~~tion. We concluded that gender uct of their labor than men, reduc- equality can be a potent force for ac- ing their incentives to pursue pro- celerated poverty reduction in Africa. ductive, income-earning opportuni- There is increased recognition of ties, despite the increasing evi- the relevance of gender for devel- dence that income earned by opment work in Africa. In this re- women is more likely to be used gion, we addressed the linkages productively for family needs: food, between gender, growth, and pov- clothing, health, and education. erty in the 1998 Poverty Status African women work far longer Report prepared for the Strategic hours than men. On average, their Partnership with Africa (SPA) workdays may be 50 percent longer, (Blackden and Bhanu 1999). This and their work is closely integrated helped to frame the gender debate with household production sys- in terms of economic growth and tems. Indeed, the boundary be- productivity, that is important in tween economic and household terms of development effectiveness, activity is less well drawn in Africa and not just in terms of social than in other regions. In addition equity-although equity consider- to their prominence in agriculture, ations are important, too. women bear the brunt of domestic tasks: processing food crops, pro- Men and women in African viding water and firewood, and car- economies ing for the elderly anLd the sick, this latter activity assuming much A distinguishing characteristic ofgreater significance in the face of Sub-Saharan African economies is the HIV/AIDS panclemic. The time that both men and women play and effortrequiredforthese tasks, substantial economices. Mh in the almost totalabsence of even _ of African economies is in the rudimentary domestic technology, hands of women-agriculture and is staggering. Surveys of rural travel and transport patterns in tion lead to conflict and to sub-op- assets and services. In addition, villages in Burkina Faso, Uganda, timal labor allocation at the house- patterns of capital formation tend and Zambia have found that Afri- hold level; and differences in labor to be biased against investments, can women move, on average, usu- (and other factor) productivity limit such as wells and fuel-efficient ally via headloading, 26 metric ton- economic efficiency and output. stoves, which have the potential to kilometers a year (especially water These gender-based differences af- unlock more female time for high- and fuel wood), compared with less fect supply response, resource al- productivity activities and education. than 7 metric ton-kilometers for location within the household, and Public policy has a key role to play men. This, combined with women's labor productivity. They have im- in promoting gender-inclusive contribution to agriculture, has led plications for the flexibility, respon- growth and poverty reduction. Key to estimates that women contrib- siveness, and dynamism of African policy measures to promote gender- ute about 2/3 of the total rural economies, and directly limit inclusiveeconomicgrowthinAfrica transport effort. growth (see box). These differences include the following: are too important to ignore, and Gender inequality limits growth their impacts too severe, especially Promoting the increasedparticipa- given Africa's chronic food insecu- tion of poor men and women in eco- Country case studies throughout rity and vulnerability. nomic decision-making Africa-and emerging macroeco- One promising approach, related to nomic analysis-consistently show Gender-inclusive growth economic management and prior- that gender-based inequality acts cconomis the ment of as a constraint to growth and pov- Africa is losing out on the produc- ity-setting, is the development of erty reduction. They point to pat- tive potential of more than half its gender budget initiatives." South terns of disadvantage women face, effective workforce. Measures to in- Africa has gone far in pioneering compared with men, in accessing crease gender equality in Africa, in this work. Gender budgets exam- the basic assets and resources addition to their social and distri- ine the efficiency and equity impli- needed to participate fully in real- butional implications, have consid- cations of budget allocations and izing SSA's growth potential. Gen- erable potential to accelerate the policies and programs that lie der differences in access to assets growth and poverty reduction. More behind them. This would encour- limit the options of women farm- needs to be done to ensure gender age public spending priorities to ers; differences in labor remunera- equality in access to productive focus on investment in rural infra- structure and labor-saving tech- Findings Findings would also be of interest to: Name Institution Address Letters, comments, and requests for publications not Address available at the World Bank Bookstore should be addressed to: Editor, Findings Operational Quality and Knowledge Services Africa Region, The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Room J-5-055 Washington, D.C. 20433 e-mail: pmohan@worldbank.org nologies, as indicated below. Gender and Growth: Missed Potential Investment in gender-inclusive Burkina Faso: Shifting existing resources between men's and women's plots growth within the same household could increase output by 10-20 percent. Agricultural growth strategies, es- Kenya: Giving women farmers the same level of agricultural inputs and education as men could increase yields obtained by women by more than 20 percent. pecially policy, research, extension, Tanzania: Reducing time burdens of women could increase household cash and technology development, need incomes for smallholder coffee and banana growers by 10 percent, labor produc- to support the livelihood strategies tivity by 15 percent and capital productivity by 44 percent. of smallholder households. The key Zambia: If women enjoyed the same overall degree of capital investment in agri- cultural outputs, including land, as their male counterparts, output could increase policy priority is to break through by up to 15 percent. the asset poverty of women farm- Macroeconomy: Gender inequality in education and employment is estimated to ers. Agricultural institutions need have reduced SSA's per capita growth during 1960-62 by 0.8 percentage points to treat women farmers as priority per year. clients, and develop outreach sys- Source: Various studies, cited in Blackden and Bhanu 1999. tems to them. The right mix of as- sets, including land, labor, technol- ogy, and financial services, is criti- to reflect the different needs of men cal to ensure that women can fully and women, to improve women's agricultural income-generating ac- contribute to Africa's growth and access to transport services (in- tivities. These include health clin- development. Policy needs to focus cluding intermediate means of ics, for which travel time can be on the food crop sector where there transport), commensurate with reduced, and travel from peri-ur- is an urgent need for more women- their load-carrying responsibilities. ban locations to work in services focused integrated packages. This Improvements in rural infrastruc- and construction in the urban in- would give a different dimension to ture can raise the incomes of the formal sector. what agricultural technologies are poor, particularly women, through In parallel, it is critical to invest developed, what crops/tasks are several mechanisms: a) Reducing in girls' education, to ensure gen- prioritized, what extension mes- the time spent collecting water and der-inclusive land policy and leg- sages are created and delivered and fuel wood. The time freed can be islation, and to build women's skills by whom, what research priorities used for leisure or for productive and capabilities aimed at enabling are pursued, and, most impor- purposes such as education or ag- their greater participation in house- tantly, how all of these will be done ricultural activities. There is evi- hold, community, and national de- in ways that really reach Africa's dence that a significant portion of cision-making, where investment women farmers. time saved is used productively. b) priorities and resource allocations Increasing crop production. Agricul- are defined. At present, only one Investment in the household tural output can benefit, particu- in four rural girls attends primary economy and in raising labor larly where bulky, low-value crops school, let alone completes it. productivity are involved. For example, trucks Efforts could include giving much can be hired to move bulk harvests, Making gender issues visible in data higher priority in national poverty fertilizer can be moved to villages and analysis reduction strategies to investments and stored in local facilities, and Statistics and indicators on the which reduce the acute time bur- hired farm labor can move more situation of women and men in all dens on African women. This could readily to the fields. c) improving spheres of society are an important be done through providing clean, marketing opportunities. Isolated tool in promoting gender-inclusive accessible water and fuel wood, and rural communities have great dif- growth. Gender statistics have an prioritizing labor-saving technol- ficulty marketing their crops. Crops essential role in eliminating stereo- ogy, to reduce the time burden of can be moved in bulk by trucks, types, in formulating policies, and domestic work. Time savings in but also in smaller quantities by in monitoring progress. Key tasks these activities will benefit women cart or bicycle if adequate roads or are the systematic sex-disaggrega- most. Transport interventions need paths are available. d) Expanding tion of data, including economic access to social services and non- production data, integration of in- tra-household and gender modules in statistical surveys and poverty analysis, expanded use of gender budget initiatives, greater use of country-focused time budget sur- veys, and the inclusion of the household economy and home- based work in national accounts. Alan Gelb is chief economist, Af- rica Region, The World Bank. For more complete references, please consult the original article in Devel- opment Outreach, Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 2001, World Bank Institute. www. worldbank. org/devoutreach