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.