1. Gender Inequality, Economic Development and the Knowledge Economy
Second MENA Knowledge for Development Forum
Marseilles, France
March 15-16, 2004
Gender Inequality, Economic Development and the Knowledge Economy
The World Bank

2. Gender Inequality and Economic Development
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

3. Selection-Distortion and Environment Effects
Gender Inequality in Education
Boys with lower innate abilities get educated
Less Educated Mothers - Less intellectually stimulating environment
Less life-long learning at the household level
Lower quality of students
Lower Quality Labor Force
Gender Inequality in Employment
Lower TFP Growth
Marginal Product of Capital Decreases
Less Investment
Lower Economic Growth
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

4. Environment Effects
Gender inequality in education – less female education at each level of male education
Less-educated mothers provide environments that are less intellectually stimulating
Resulting in a lower quality of students
Equally educated siblings and couples tend to strengthen each other’s educational success and life-long learning
Gender inequality in education tends to result in less life-long learning
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

5. Demographic Transition Effects
Gender Equality in Education
Education attainment of women increases
Lower fertility – less children
Aggregate Savings Increases
Relative size of the working–age population increases
Marginal Product of Capital Increases
Note that the demographic transition effects are relevant to countries that have not undergone the demographic transitions. As such, this necessarily precludes, most if not all, developed countries.
More Investment
Higher per-capita Income
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

6. Better Governance and Institutions
Women’s participation in public office tend to be associated with
Cleaner businesses and government
Less corruption
Better governance and institutions tend to be associated with higher rates of economic growth
Greater women’s rights and more equal participation in public life by women and men are associated which cleaner business and government and better governance. Where the influence of women in public life is greater, the level of corruption is lower. This holds even when comparing countries with the same income, civil liberties, education and legal institutions. These findings lend additional support for having more women in the labor force and in politics, since women can be an effective force for rule of law and good government.
Women in business are less likely to pay bribes to government officials, perhaps because women have higher standards of ethical behavior or greater risk aversion. A study of 350 firms in Georgia concludes that firms owned or managed by men are 10 percent more likely to make unofficial payments to government officials than those owned or managed by women. This results holds regardless of the characteristics of the firm, such as the sector in which it operates and firm size, and the characteristics of the owner or manger, such as education. Without controlling for these factors, firms managed by men are twice as likely to pay bribes.
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

7. Governance and Institutions
Corruption Index
The corruption index uses data from the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) and transforms it:
Corruption index = 10 – (ICRG index –1) x 2
A value of 0 indicates low levels of corruption; a value of 10 indicates high levels. The women’s rights variable is the Women’s Economic and Social Human Rights (WESHR) Indicator developed by Purdue University’s Global Studies Program. A score of 7 is interpreted as gender equality in economic and social rights. The figure controls for per capita GDP in each country.
Original source: World Bank staff estimates; Kaufmann (1998).
Index of women’s economic and social rights
Source: World Bank, 2001
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

8. Gender Inequality in the World
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

9. Gender Inequality in the World
The rights indicator is an average of three indexes of gender equality in rights collected for more than 100 countries by Humana (1992). The individual rights indexes focus on gender equality of political and legal rights, social and economic rights, and rights in marriage and in divorce proceedings. The indexes are constructed using a consistent methodology across countries in which the extent of rights is evaluated (on a scale of 1 to 4) against rights specified in several human rights instruments of the United Nations.
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

10. Gender Inequality in the World
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

11. Gender Inequality in the World
Unequal rights and poor socioeconomic status of women relative to men limit their ability to influence decisions in their communities and at the national level.
Women remain vastly underrepresented in national and local assemblies, accounting for less than 10 percent of the seats in parliament, on average (except in East Asia where the figure is percent).
In no developing region do women hold more than 8 percent of ministerial positions.
Progress has been negligible in most regions since the 1970s.
In Eastern Europe female representation has fallen from about 25 to 7 percent since the beginning of economic and political transition there.
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

12. Gender Inequality and the Knowledge Economy
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

13. Knowledge Economy Framework
Economy in which knowledge is the engine of growth
Four Pillars of the Knowledge Economy
Economic incentive and institutional regime that provides incentives for the efficient use of existing and new knowledge and the flourishing of entrepreneurship
Educated, creative and skilled people
Dynamic information infrastructure
Effective national innovation system
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

14. Gender Inequality in MENA
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

15. ICT and Gender Inequality
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

16. ICT: Economic Opportunity for MENA women
New sector. No legacy from the past
Women are by nature good at information aggregation; creation and dissemination
Allows unemployed graduates to find a new niche in local creation in their field of expertise
Allows work to be virtual. Can combine workforce in one location (childcare) or women can work in politically correct locations with the right tools,
Infrastructure, and training
Allows life long learning and re-skilling from home

17. ICT Entrepreneur Profile
Great networker, Extrovert
Dealer and wheeler
Pushy/Aggressive ; marketeer
Well connected to industry / practitioners
Access to Finance and VC
Travel; Partnerships, Participation in exhibits, events and conferences
Enjoys Freedom of Expression

18. ICT and Gender Inequality
Channels via which ICT can improve gender in equality
Influencing public opinion on gender equality
Web sites; news; networks; associations on line
Increasing women’s education
Via access to public information on relevant topics without having to go through traditional channels
Allowing more economic opportunities for women
10 PERCENT OF OECD LABOR FORCE is employed in ICT SECTOR (directly and indirectly)
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19. ICT and Gender Inequality
Influencing Public Opinion on Gender Equality
ICT increases flow of knowledge and information
Increases exposures of customs, norms and practices from other cultures and societies
Raises the awareness and informs the constituency of gender inequality issues, on injustices or flagrant system failures
Increases pressure on policymakers to include gender as an important component of their social and economic policies, and women as an important segment of their constituency
Radio Rabia Balki in Mazar-E Sharif, Afghanistan, where more than 80% of the women are illiterate, airs recorded essays and features on gender inequality issues and successful efforts to overcome challenges. After listening to this program, some conservative family heads in the region, which had previously refused to let their daughters attend school, changed their minds.
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

20. ICT and Gender Inequality
Increasing Women’s Education
Lack of schooling coupled with gender biases that dictate domestic roles for women tend to perpetuate gender disparities
ICT allow women to obtain and update their skills for equal participation in the knowledge economy
Increasing access through distance learning
Broadening the availability of quality educational materials
Efficiency and Effectiveness of Educational Administration
Increasing Access through Distance Learning
ICT can provide various channels to bring educational options to those who have historically been excluded, including populations in rural areas without schools, women facing social barriers that limit their access to education, students with disabilities or with specific vocational training needs. For example, radio and TV are popular educational media in many developing countries. Today, we have more sophisticated technologies, such as video conferencing and the Internet, that offer advanced tow-way interactive delivery modes and can be combined with traditional technologies to meet the educational needs of various communities. In addition, ICT also enables timely transmission of information and knowledge, which is crucial in this information age.
Broadening the Availability of Quality Educational Materials
Network technologies have the potential to increase the availability of quality educational materials. Their interactivity and global reach allow for customized sharing of knowledge, materials and databases quickly and cheaply, independent of the physical movement and geographic distances of individuals.
Efficiency and Effectiveness of Educational Administration
ICT provides support not only for classroom activities but for administrative activities as well. Through ICT training programs, school principals and administrators learn how ICT can help improve the process of quality of administrative activities through management software and computer networks, including human resource management, student registration, and monitoring of student enrollment and achievement.
Knowledge for Development Program 2004

21. ICT and Gender Inequality
Increasing Economic Opportunities for Women
ICTs allow women to telecommute and hence they are able to work and interact with men without face-to-face contact and even without being in the same place
ICTs allow micro and small enterprises (MSE), which are dominated by women, to compete and to partner in the marketplace
ICT allows women to save time and start valuing their own time
ICT saves on transportation time and hazards
Women have been limited from participation in many forms of economic life. In some cultures, women are expected to stay at home and are not permitted to have face-to-face contact with men other then close family, or to travel. For such cultures, ICT may open economic opportunities for women since telephone and the Internet allow them to interact with men without face-to-face contact, and even without being in the same place
Women increasingly dominate the micro and small enterprises (MSE) sector in many developing countries. Women in business need ICT for connectivity, communications, computing, and commerce. New ICT-enabled business and businesses servicing the ICT sector are particularly fruitful areas for women entrepreneurs. A number of e-business ventures, including examples from Cambodia, India, and Peru, illustrate how self-employed women working in the formal sector can exploit economic opportunities offered by e-commerce. Chambers of commerce and other business service providers too can be very helpful in delivering ICT-related services to women entrepreneurs.
Tortas Peru is a women-owned enterprise that uses the Internet to reach a wider market, selling cakes and desserts through their website, mainly targeting the 2 million Peruvians living outside the country, who send orders by . With just 3 hours of instruction, the housewife-members of the network learn to use , find the website, and interact with clients through public computer booths.
Knowledge for Development Program 2004