Business Environment Reform and Gender, Technical paper

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2016, DCED – 97 pages

This study on business environment reform and gender highlights gaps in the evidence basis. It provides support to donors in formulating and implementing gender-sensitive business environment reform programmes in developing countries, which contribute to a more conducive business environment that works for women as well as men. It addresses the following questions:

  • What are the factors in the business environment that have a direct and specific impact on women-owned and managed enterprises and the employment of women?
  • What are the related lessons learned from previous and existing programmes on identifying, measuring and managing gender in business environment reform programmes?

Main takeaways:

  • The greatest quantity of evidence concerns actual reforms or impacts related to childcare provision followed by substantial evidence on the positive impacts of the administration of joint land titles and women’s engagement in business associations.
  • The literature review found that any gender-sensitive business environment reform may require addressing more than the direct business environment factors that impact women’s employment and their enterprise. Equally important will be addressing socio-cultural binding constraints on women, which impact a women’s ability to engage in employment and entrepreneurship with implications for WEE and sustainable economic growth.

Latest Research and Evidence on PSD – Special Feature: Women’s Economic Empowerment – DCED (2019)

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2019, DCED – 5 pages

This update brings together key findings from recent original studies on constraints and solutions to WEE, as well as the social and economic benefits of WEE.

Main takeaways:

  • There are persistent gender gaps in the economic empowerment of women and men in the agricultural sector, across different countries.
  • Economic transformation offers new opportunities for entrepreneurship, wage labour and social

empowerment, but women often benefit less from these than men.

  • In the area of agricultural productivity and climate-smart agriculture, successful country-specific solutions to WEE have focused on addressing the most binding constraints, or enhancing women’s participation in markets that they are already active in.
  • Some regulatory reforms and agricultural value chain interventions are found to have social empowerment benefits, and these benefits often seem to increase over time.
  • There is however also new evidence that economic development programmes have not always been effective in addressing binding constraints for women.
  • Recent research is inconclusive on the relationship between WEE and partner violence, but programmes can probably do more to reduce the risk of harm.
  • Most studies highlight the importance of context-specific research to inform programme design and results in measurement.