The economic empowerment of young women: Implications for the Africa Commission Report

1
The economic empowerment of young women
Implications for the Africa Commission Report

• Andrew Morrison
• Lead Economist, Gender and Development
• World Bank
• DANIDA Development Days
• June 9, 2009

2
More control over resources
Access to markets
More human capital
NOW
FUTURE
Source WB 2007 Global Monitoring Report
3
Increased female LFP, productivity and earnings

• Labor markets
• Elimination of occupational segregation would
  lead to output gains ranging from a low of 2 in
  Nordic countries to 6 in high-income East Asia
  (Tzannatos, 2008)
• Land markets
• Insecure property rights for women in Ghana lead
  to the leaving land fallow for shorter periods
  than men the result is output losses amounting
  to 1/3 of output (Goldstein and Udry, 2005)

4
Improved childrens well-being

• Conditional cash transfers
• Transfers from Oportunidades (versus other
  sources of household income) result in higher
  shares of the household budget spent on
  education, childrens clothing and meat
  (Rubalcava et al., 2009)
• Microcredit
• Female microcredit borrowing in Bangladesh has a
  larger impact than male borrowing on childrens
  height-for-age and school enrolment (Pitt and
  Khandker, 1998 Pitt et al., 2003)

5
Incorporating women as economic agents in the
priority challenges for the Africa Commission

• Competitiveness
• Investment finance
• Young entrepreneurs
• Sustainable energy
• Post-primary education

Priority challenges in the Report of the Africa
Commission
6
Competitiveness

• ACR develop a global competitiveness index to
• benchmark all African countries against
  international
• standards in order to spur debate and action
• Complement global competitiveness indicators
  with indicators that capture the business
  environment for women

7
Womens Economic Opportunities Index

• Environment for women-owned businesses quantified
  in 5 areas
• Labor policy and practice
• Credit, property ownership and taxation
• Education and training
• Social customs and attitudes
• General business environment

8
Investment Finance

• ACR Scale up access to financefor SMEs and
  facilitate a better business environment for
  small enterprises (African Guarantee Fund and
  complementary facility for enterprises to improve
  management and technical skills to gain access to
  finance).

9
Recent research on gender and credit in
Sub-Saharan Africa

• Demand for formal credit
• Women and men are equally likely to apply for a
  loan if they need one
• Supply of formal credit
• No evidence that women less likely to obtain a
  loan once they apply and after controlling for
  performance/ risk (credit worthiness from banks
  viewpoint).
• Use of credit
• Access to formal credit is associated with
  larger sales revenue for men but not for women

Source Bardasi, Sabarwal and Terrell, 2009.
10
Men are more efficient in using creditResults
for Sub-Saharan Africa
11
Investment Finance

• ACR Scale up access to financefor SMEs and
  facilitate a better business environment for
  small enterprises (African Guarantee Fund and
  complementary facility for enterprises to improve
  management and technical skills to gain access to
  finance).
• Focus on helping female entrepreneurs make
  better use of credit (i.e., ensure that the
  complementary facility reaches women.
  Business incubators are one promising approach.

12
Young entrepreneurs

• ACR Increase the focus on young entrepreneurs,
  both women and men, as drivers of changethrough
  comprehensive programmes.
• Address the specific needs of young women
  entrepreneurs with life skills training business
  development skills and links to microcredit will
  frequently not be sufficient.

13
Sustainable Energy

• ACR Increase production, distribution and
  productive use of electricity and other forms of
  energy in a cost-effective and climate-friendly
  manner.
• Move beyond household fuel issues (fuel-wood
  collection and cookstoves) to promote women as
  energy service providers. This will be
  especially important in off-grid areas in Africa.

14
Post-primary education

• ACR Enhance investment in secondary education,
  specifically within technical and vocational
  training and skills development for young women
  and menvia an expansion of the Education for All
  Fast Track initiative to include post-primary
  education.
• Ensure that recommendations for expanding
  traditional apprenticeships and community-based
  programs do not trap young women in traditional
  occupations incorporate market signals in
  training.

15
The crisis has first and second round impact on
women and families
Drop in aggregate demand/ exports
Impact 1 Loss of employment
Impact 3 Vulnerable hhd coping strategies
Impact 2 Fall in MFI lending resources
Tightened credit markets
Drop in household income. Increased risk of
poverty
Drop in remittances
Food price shocks
Second round impacts
First round impacts