Women's Economic Empowerment

This page offers information on how to implement private sector development (PSD) programmes in gender-sensitive ways, and to promote women’s economic empowerment (WEE) – which is now recognised as one of the major driving forces of global economic growth and well-being.

Contents

At a glance: Short reads on Women’s Economic Empowerment

DCED Synthesis Note: Women’s Economic Empowerment – What do we know?, March 2019.
DCED Research & Evidence update on Women’s Economic Empowerment, September 2017. It finds that:

1. 1. There are persistent gender gaps in the economic empowerment of women and men in the agricultural sector, across different countries.
  2. Economic transformation offers new opportunities for entrepreneurship, wage labour and social empowerment, but women often benefit less from these than men.
  3. In the agricultural sector, successful solutions to WEE have often focused on addressing the most binding constraints (e.g. land rights), or enhancing women’s participation in markets that they are already active in (e.g. through women’s groups).
  4. Some regulatory reforms and agricultural value chain interventions (e.g. sustainability standards) are found to have social empowerment benefits, and these benefits often seem to increase over time.
  5. There is however also new evidence that economic development programmes have not always been effective in addressing binding constraints for women.
  6. Recent research is inconclusive on the relationship between WEE and partner violence, but programmes can probably do more to reduce the risk of doing harm.

DCED publications

DCED members have formed a Women’s Economic Empowerment Working Group (WEE WG) to share experiences and develop guidelines on effective practice. The theme has also been addressed by the DCED Business Environment and Results Measurement Working Groups. All DCED publications on WEE are listed below.

On the Move: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Contexts of Migration and Forced Displacement, DCED, 2019. This scoping study documents the state of practice of WEE in the context of migration and forced displacement, identifies relevant gaps in current knowledge and recommends potential PSD initiatives in the field.
- Policy brief: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Contexts of Migration and Forced Displacement, DCED, 2019: Brief summarising the above document, particularly addressing the need and opportunity for gender-responsive economic programming in migration and displacement settings.
How to Integrate Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment into PSD Programmes, DCED, 2017: This is the ‘go-to’ document for proven guidance on integrating gender and WEE into the project cycle of PSD programmes: design, implementation, results measurement. It categorises three levels of ambition: basic, intermediate and advanced:
- How to integrate gender & women’s economic empowerment into private sector development: An accompanying guide for policy-makers, DCED, 2018. This short report gives a concise overview of the above document, focusing particularly on how policy-makers can integrate WEE into each part of the policy cycle.
Gender-Sensitive Business Environment Reform: Why does it matter? – A policy guide, DCED, 2017. Gives an introductory overview of the importance and ‘how to’ of gender-sensitive business environment reform.
Case Studies (2017): Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion through Gender-Sensitive BER and Gender-Sensitive BER and Informality
Business Environment Reform and Gender, Technical paper, DCED, 2016. A thorough review of how business environment factors affect women and how donor programmes can address them.
Market Systems Development: How to put Gender and WEE into practice in M4P, Helen Bradbury, DCED, 2016: Very practical summary of the systems and tools ALCP Georgia is using to integrate gender and WEE into its M4P approach.
Results Measurement: Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment in PSD: Guidelines for Practitioners, DCED, 2014. Explains how to integrate WEE dimensions into the good practice elements of the DCED Standard for Results Measurement. Includes two case studies.

Key Overview Documents

1. - Empowering women entrepreneurs in developing countries: Why current programs fall short. Eyerusalem Siba, Brookings, 2019. Reviews current evidence for the effectiveness of WEE interventions for female entrepreneurs.
  - Women’s Economic Empowerment and Inclusive Growth: Labour Markets and Enterprise Development, GrOW Research Series, 2017. This literature review summarises key information on the concept of women’s economic empowerment and some of the empirical literature on labour market barriers for WEE.
  - Enhancing the productivity of women-owned enterprises: The evidence on what works, IDRC, 2016. This paper summarises evidence on what types of private sector development interventions have helped in increasing productivity of women-owned enterprises, including regulatory reform, training and building market linkages.
  - Revisiting what works: Women, Economic Empowerment and Smart Design, Center for Global Development, 2016: Based on a review of evidence, this report ranks different types of WEE interventions as proven, promising, high potential or unproven.
  - Effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Interventions for Women Entrepreneurs, ILO, 2014. This issue brief reviews robust evidence on the effectiveness of entrepeneurship interventions for women entrepreneurs.
  - Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment: What Works?, World Bank 2014. This paper reviews evaluations of programmes that sought to empower women economically.

Making the economic and business case for WEE

Constraints and Opportunities for WEE in different sectors and countries

1. - USAID Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality (W3) Dashboard, 2018: Interactive tool compiling country-specific data on women’s economic, social, and political inclusion
  - Driving toward equality: women, ride-hailing, and the sharing economy, IFC, 2018.
  - Women’s pathways to the digital sector: Stories of Challenges and Opportunities. GIZ, 2017.
  - Gender analysis of labour market outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa: Recent Evidence from Cameroon and Mali, UN Women, 2017.
  - Gender Roles and Opportunities for Women in Urban Environments, GSDRC, January 2016.
  - Women working worldwide: A situational analysis of women migrant workers, UN Women, 2016.
  - Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in Cambodia, ADB, 2015 (focuses on women’s participation in economic transformation).
  - The cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, World Bank, 2015.
  - Will women in low-income countries get lost in transformation? ODI, 2016
  - Women’s Economic Empowerment in a Changing Agricultural and Rural Context, Evidence on Demand, 2015.

Integrating gender and WEE in different PSD approaches

WEE and the Business Environment

WEE and Market Systems Development

WEE and Business Development Services

Preventing and responding to gender-based violence

Note that the DCED’s research update on WEE (2017) includes some original studies on the links between women’s economic empowerment and increase or decrease of partner violence.

Women’s Economic Empowerment