Enhancing women's participation in economic development

Abstract

This paper outlines the Bank's policy for enhancing women's participation in sustainable economic development and the underlying rationale and strategies. Because of more limited access to education and other opportunities, women's productivity relative to that of men's remains low in many developing countries. Lack of access to credit for female entrepreneurs limits the profitability and growth of their enterprises. Legal and regulatory barriers to women - which do not apply to men - exacerbate the inefficiencies of inequity. Several effective strategies for reducing the barriers to women's economic participation have emerged from the past two decades of project experience. Strategies for expanding girls' enrollment include reserving places for girls, establishing single-sex schools or classrooms, recruiting more female teachers, and designing school facilities to conform to the cultural standards of the community. Integrated services which combine nutrition, family planning, maternal and child health services, and primary health care tend to be the most effective in reaching women. The principal strategies for increasing women's participation in the formal labor force include removing all financial and legal barriers and providing more job opportunities. In agricultural regions, the main strategy is to help women obtain title to the land they farm. Innovative programs have demonstrated that financial services, mainly credit and savings, can be provided to poor women at competitive cost. The Bank's early programs tended to treat women as a special target group of beneficiaries in projects and programs. The policy framework is now broadening to reflect the ways in which the relations between women and men constrain or advance efforts to boost growth and reduce poverty for all.