Sub-regional Policy Highlights for East, Southern and West Africa

The OECD Development Centre organised a series of policy dialogues throughout 2021 to engage with both grassroots organisations and policy makers on “From Data to Policy Action: Tackling Gender-Based Discrimination in Social Institutions” in East, Southern and West Africa.

The events were organised in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the OECD’s Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and led to the creation of three “Roadmaps for Action”.

Discussions during the policy dialogues fed into the SIGI 2021 Regional Report for Africa and three sub-regional Policy Highlights for each sub-region, accessible here below. In addition, three sub-regional Roadmaps for Action were developed with all attendees to the policy dialogues:

• East Africa (see Roadmap for Action)
• Southern Africa (see Roadmap for Action)
• West Africa (see Roadmap for Action)

These materials are also available directly from the OECD iLibrary page here.

The virtual launch aims to:

• Monitor and identify remaining challenges in addressing discriminatory social institutions – formal and informal laws, norms and practices—which continue to hinder women’s empowerment in Southeast Asia
• Share critical insights on the negative consequences of discriminatory social institutions on several areas that are critical for women’s human development in the region
• Flag concrete examples of innovative approaches to challenge gender norms, promote women’s rights, enhance gender equality and accelerate social transformation.

Stay tuned for key messages from the report!

• Women at the core of the fight against COVID-19 crisis – OECD
• Digital Platform: Tackling coronavirus (COVID‑19) Contributing to a global effort – OECD
• Will the pandemic derail hard-won progress on gender equality?– UN Women
• Addressing the economic fallout of COVID-19: Pathways and policy options for a gender-responsive recovery– UN Women
• COVID-19 and the care economy: Immediate action and structural transformation for a gender-responsive recovery– UN Women
• COVID-19 and violence against women and girls: Addressing the shadow pandemic– UN Women
• Rapid gender assessment surveys on the impacts of COVID-19 – UN Women
• The COVID-19 Outbreak and Gender: Key Advocacy Points from Asia and the Pacific – UN Women
• Violence against women and girls data collection during COVID-19 – UN Women
• The First 100 Days of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Asia and the Pacific: A Gender Lens – UN Women
• COVID-19: How to include marginalized and vulnerable people in risk communication and community engagement – UN Women
• The Impact of COVID-19 on Women – UN Women
• Gender & COVID – WFP
• Gender and COVID-19 – WHO
• COVID-19: A Gender Lens – UNFPA
• UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Guidance Document – UNFPA
• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Modern Contraceptives and Other Medical Supply Needs, Including for COVID-19 Prevention, Protection and Response – UNFPA
• Gender equality and long-term care at home – EIGE
• Global Rapid Gender Analysis for COVID-19 – CARE International
• WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? The Conspicuous Absence of Women in COVID-19 Response Teams and Plans, and Why We Need Them – CARE International
• Gender Implications of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Development and Humanitarian Settings – CARE International
• Gender Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic – World Bank
• WEBINAR: COVID-19 and the Private sector: For unprecedented times extraordinary measures – World Bank
• Childcare in the COVID-19 Era: A Guide for Employers – IFC, World Bank
• Supporting Women Throughout the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Emergency Response and Economic Recovery – World Bank
• Pandemics and Violence Against Women and Children – CGDEV
• Interim Guidance Gender Alert for COVID-19 Outbreak – Inter-Agency Standing Committee
• COVID-19: Going Hungry – Plan International
• Protecting Forcibly Displaces Women and Girls during the COVID-19 Pandemic – UNHCR
• COVID-19 and Women’s Human Rights – Guidance – UNHCR
• Promoting health equity, gender and ethnic equality, and human rights in COVID-­19 responses: Key considerations – PAHO
• Key Considerations for Integrating Gender Equality into Health Emergency and Disaster Response: COVID-19 – PAHO
• Considerations on Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Descendants, and Other Ethnic Groups during the COVID-19 Pandemic – PAHO
• Addressing the gender dimensions of school closures – UNESCO
• COVID-19 response – Re-enrollment: identifying students at risk of dropout and encouraging a return to school, with a focus on girls – UNESCO
• Estimates of the Potential Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sexual and Reproductive Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries – Guttmacher Institute
• Early Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the 2020 Guttmacher Survey of Reproductive Health Experiences – Guttmacher Institute
• The COVID-19 Outbreak: Potential Fallout for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights – Guttmacher Institute
• Gendered Impact of COVID-19 on Employment in the Private Sector in Sri Lanka – IFC
• Girl-driven change: Meeting the needs of adolesent girls during COVID-19 and beyond – CARE
• Adolescent girls’ education and COVID‐19: What is happening in the field? – CARE
• Webinar: Gender-just climate resilience in the COVID-19 response – CARE
• Latin America and the Caribbean rapid gender analysis for COVID-19 – CARE

Data:

• COVID-19 sex-disaggregated data tracker – Global Health 50/50
• US Gender/Sex COVID-19 Data Tracker – Harvard GenderSci Lab
• Women Count Data Hub:Live tracker of COVID-19 cases around the world – UN Women

This page is editable by all Wikigender community members, who are welcomed to share resources that address COVID-19 with a gender-related angle.

This study, it is hoped, will encourage Governments and other concerned parties to redouble their commitment to the vision of the Beijing Declaration. It provides a sound foundation on which to build future development and gender equality strategies.

Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review

Supporting working parents: Pregnancy and return to work National Review is a national review of discrimination related to pregnancy, parental leave and on return to work after parental leave – a critical area of unpaid caring work. The full report can be found on the Australian Human Rights Commission web site.

In 2013, the Australian Government asked the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, on behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission, to undertake a National Review into discrimination related to pregnancy, parental leave and return to work after parental leave. The aims of the National Review were to:

• provide national benchmark data and analysis on the prevalence, nature and consequences of discrimination at work related to pregnancy, parental leave, or on return to work after parental leave
• engage stakeholders (including government, industry and employer groups, unions and workers) to understand perspectives and experiences, and consider the prevalence data and its implications
• identify leading practices and strategies for employers supporting pregnant employees and men and women returning from parental leave
• provide recommendations for future actions to address the forms of discrimination identified through the project.

Methodology

In conducting the National Review, the Commission collected quantitative data through a National Prevalence Survey. This survey provided the first representative data on the experiences of pregnancy/return to work discrimination by working mothers. It has also provided data on the experiences of discrimination of fathers and partners who have taken time off to care for their child.
In terms of qualitative data, the Commission undertook a wide-ranging consultation and submission process with stakeholders (including individuals affected by discrimination, unions and community organisations, employers and business and industry peaks) in the capital cities of every state and territory across Australia, as well as in some regional areas.

Findings

Both the quantitative and qualitative data demonstrate that discrimination towards pregnant employees and working parents remains a widespread and systemic issue which inhibits the full and equal participation of working parents, and in particular, women, in the labour force.

In addition to the negative impacts of discrimination on individual women and men, the National Review found that discrimination has a tangible impact on women’s workforce participation. The National Prevalence Survey revealed 32% of all mothers who were discriminated against during pregnancy, parental leave or on return to work went to look for another job or resigned. Such discrimination, particularly where it results in job loss or the withdrawal from the workforce, can have significant long-term effects.
Discrimination places an economic impost on employers, industries and individual organisations and on the Australian economy, particularly to the extent that it contributes to women’s under-participation or withdrawal from the workforce.

It has been estimated that increasing women’s workforce participation in Australia by 6% could increase the national GDP by $25 billion.Grattan Institute, Game-changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia (2012), p 39. Increased participation of women and greater gender diversity at senior levels in an organisation has tangible benefits in terms of better efficiency, performance and innovation, as well as increased access to the female talent pool and improvements to organisational reputation.

The National Review also identified the structural barriers that women and men face. These include the limited availability, affordability and accessibility of early childhood education and care services, as well as the underlying stereotypes and assumptions about childbearing, parenting and the roles of women and men in the home and in the workplace.
Workplace cultures that are informed by the existence of pervasive harmful stereotypes about ‘the pregnant employee’, ‘the employee with family or caring responsibilities’, ‘the flexible worker’ and stereotypes about the ‘ideal worker’ contribute to this discrimination.

Many employers also shared the difficulty they encountered in understanding their legal obligations – from the multiplicity of legislation with which they must comply, through to challenges in implementing their obligations. This was particularly evident in relation to accommodating the specific needs of pregnant employees, managing return to work for parents after parental leave (such as managing flexible work), and shifting ingrained stereotypes and attitudes that can impede the successful implementation of policy for, and management of, working parents.

Recommendations

Although the existing legal framework is reasonably comprehensive, better protection against discrimination could be provided by strengthening it in a number of areas. However, the strategy with the highest impact in reducing discrimination in this area is to address the gap that currently exists between the law and its proper implementation within organisations.
Several complementary strategies and actions are necessary to address this gap. These include ensuring employers and employees gain an increased understanding of the legislative framework, improving the clarity and dissemination of information, conducting effective training, changing workplace cultures to remove harmful stereotypes, practices and behaviours, and monitoring the implementation of policies. With strong leadership within organisations, reforms that shape more supportive and successful workplaces can occur.

Many workplaces in Australia recognise both the importance of supporting working parents and the cost of discrimination to their organisations. The National Review met with and heard from workplaces that were implementing leading practices and strategies. They agreed that removing discrimination is a business imperative.

The principal finding of the National Review is that pregnancy/return to work discrimination is pervasive and has a cost for everyone – the person affected, their family, their workplace, on employers and on the national economy. Its existence is limiting the participation of women in paid work and the productivity of organisations and the national economy. Addressing workplace discrimination in this area is therefore not only a human rights imperative, but also a business priority.

See also

• Online Discussion: Unpaid care in the post-2015 agenda (20-24 October 2014)

References

External links

• Australian Human Rights Commission, Supporting Working Parents: Pregnancy and Return to Work National Review (https://www.humanrights.gov.au/supporting-working-parents-pregnancy-and-return-work-national-review-0).

More information:
http://oecd.org/dev/poverty/wwwoecdorgdevgendercsw58.htm

• Retaining a standalone goal on gender equality and women’s empowerment; and
• Integrating gender-specific targets and indicators into all other relevant development goals.

Which policy areas?

Increased investments in the following five policy areas will have catalytic effects on the lives of women and girls, and help to achieve gender equality, women’s empowerment and development objectives well beyond 2015.

1. Keep girls in school to complete a quality secondary education
2. Improve reproductive health, including access to family planning
3. Increase women’s control over and ownership of assets
4. Support women’s leadership and influence
5. Stop violence against women and girls

See also

• Gender Stories#Women and the post-2015 agenda: Unfinished Business of the Millennium Development Goalss and the post-2015 framework
• Network on Gender Equality/GENDERNET

External links

• Unfinished Business – Women And Girls Front And Centre Beyond 2015 (OECD Policy Brief, May 2013)
• Gender equality and development, OECD Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD-DAC)

Download the full report.

About

The international community acknowledged the importance of sanitation by including targets in the Millennium Development Goals. Yet with the 2015 deadline fast approaching we are still far from addressing this global crisis.
United Nations Member States this year unanimously adopted a resolution to designate 19 November as World Toilet Day as a means to raise awareness about this very concrete and pressing issue. By highlighting the direct impact of poor sanitation on people throughout the world, World Toilet Day can help generate action to make sanitation for all a global development priority.

The UN High Level Panel report, published in May 2013, outlined a vision for the post-2015 development agenda. The UN Global Compact – the world’s largest corporate citizenship initiative – fed into this report through a series of 43 consultations incorporating the views of over 1,700 of the world’s leading companies.

The report

Following the 2012 Toilets for Health paper, this year there was collaboration with international NGO WaterAid and with the UN hosted organisation the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), two of the world’s leading organisations working in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector. This paper is a joint contribution to raise awareness of the impacts of poor sanitation on women across the world and a call for a concerted effort on a different scale from all levels of government, business and civil society.

As we near the end of 2013 there are still 2.5 billion people, or over one third of the world’s population, without access to
adequate sanitation. Basic sanitation is now recognised as a fundamental human right, the deprivation of which affects the
social, physical and economic well-being of societies world-wide.

Poor sanitation has significant impacts on the safety, well-being and educational prospects of women. Girls’ lack of access to a clean, safe toilet, especially during menstruation, perpetuates risk, shame and fear. This has long-term impacts on women’s health, education, livelihoods and safety but it also impacts the economy, as failing to provide for the sanitation needs of women ultimately risks excluding half of the potential workforce.

Outline

1. The global sanitation crisis and why we can’t wait
2. Why poor sanitation is a women’s issue
3. Girls, sanitation and education – toilets spell success
4. Menstrual hygiene issues
5. A crisis far too big to solve alone
6. Conclusions and recommendations

See also

World Toilet Day
Toilets for Health

References

http://worldtoiletday.org/

External links

http://worldtoiletday.org/
http://worldtoilet.org/

Table of Contents

• 1 About
• 2 See also
• 3 Read the blogs
• 4 View the infographics
• 5 References

About

Each year, around 350,000 women die globally as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. Yet despite a 10-year insurgency, persistent political upheaval, and some of the world’s most challenging terrain for the delivery of healthcare, Nepal has managed to halve the number of women dying during childbirth in less than two decades. In the first Development Progress case study from this second project phase, researchers reveal that a virtuous cycle of political commitment, financial resources and household change has helped Nepal become one of the few countries on track to meet Millennium Development Goal 5 on maternal health by 2015.

See also

Download the report

Read the blogs

• Jakob Engel, lead author: A paradigm shift for maternal health in Nepal
• Devi Prasad Prasai, co-author: Birthing centres: a step towards MDG 5 on maternal mortality
• Sanju Bhattarai, co-author: The location lottery: maternal death or maternal health in Nepal

View the infographics

• Nepal’s story: Improving maternal health
• Financing better maternal health in Nepal

References

• Download the report for all references

Table of Contents

• 1 Removing barriers to Economic Inclusion
  • 1.1 List of Countries
  • 1.2 Team Members
  • 1.3 See also
  • 1.4 References
  • 1.5 External links

Removing barriers to Economic Inclusion

Did you know that in Togo a woman’s husband can prevent her from getting a job by informing her employers of his opposition and in Chile husbands have the exclusive right to administer marital property, which includes assets and earnings earned by the wife unless she can prove their independent origin?

These and other barriers stacked up against women’s labor force participation and entrepreneurship around the world are cataloged in the newly released 2012 Women, Business and the Law Report, Removing barriers to economic inclusion, published by the World Bank Group.

Women, Business and the Law focuses on setting out, in an objective fashion, legal differentiations on the basis of gender in 141 economies around the world, covering 6 topics: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, building credit, and going to court. The data are readily available on the website, where users can browse by topic or by country and are also provided with links to primary legal resources used in the research. A section on reforms also points out which countries have moved closer to gender equality, or enhanced opportunities for women through legal reform over the course of the past year and a half. For example Kenya , a leading reformer, instilled equal inheritance rights for men and women in its new constitution. Estonia passed a new Employment Contracts Act which prohibits the dismissal of pregnant women, and guarantees a return to the same position after maternity or paternity leave.

This resource has strong potential to be used as a tool for advocacy by civil society organizations aiming to empower women because it provides references relative to other countries, and statutory texts from which sample language can be taken. The findings are also primed for use in economic research to determine correlations between legal regimes and economic and social outcomes. In addition, because reforms are highlighted and the information will be updated every two years, the resource will be valuable in tracking how WBL indicators correspond with provisions in the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). For example, Article 11.1c of CEDAW provides for the free choice of profession and employment which corresponds to questions in Women Business and the Law such as: can women work in the same industries as men? And can a woman get a job or pursue a trade or profession in the same way as a man? Another example is Article 9 of CEDAW which provides for equal rights with respect to nationality. Women Business and the Law tracks the ability of women to convey citizenship to their children and to non-national spouses.

The Women Business and the Law team welcomes feedback and corrections to its report and can be contacted through the website.The World Bank website

List of Countries

Team Members

Nayda L. Almodóvar-Reteguis
Nayda L. Almodóvar-Reteguis joined the Women, Business and the Law project in 2010. Her work involves historical legal research focused on the evolution of labor and family law reforms, and analyzing issues on women’s entrepreneurship and the business environment. Her previous experience includes serving as Deputy Advisor for the Governor of Puerto Rico, presiding over the Board of Appeals of the Department of Family Affairs of Puerto Rico and working as an attorney focusing her private practice in Family and Inheritance Law. Nayda holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico, a Juris Doctor from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, and an LL.M. from The George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C. She is fluent in Spanish.

Yasmin Bin-Humam
Yasmin Bin-Humam joined the Enterprise Analysis Unit in 2010 after doing legal research for CGAP’s Financial Inclusion Regulation Center. She is currently working on the Women, Business and the Law project and conducting research into the historical evolution of labor and family law reform in countries around the world. Her prior work experience spans the public, private and non-governmental sectors. Yasmin holds JD and MSFS degrees from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University.

Sarah Iqbal
Sarah Iqbal is a Program Officer with the World Bank Group’s Global Indicators and Analysis Department, where she focuses on building gender and business environment indicators. She joined the World Bank Group in 2008, where she worked with the Doing Business Project before switching to the Women, Business and the Law project. The Women, Business and the Law report and dataset examine how the legal and regulatory environment affect women’s ability to get jobs and start businesses. Ms. Iqbal also provides guidance on the interaction of the law and women’s economic activities in areas such as access to finance. She is a member of the California Bar, and prior to joining the World Bank Group she practiced civil litigation and criminal defense law. Her primary interests lie in the realm of law and development and comparative law. Ms. Iqbal holds a BA in English and History from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a JD concentrating in International Law from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She speaks Hindi and Urdu.

Khrystyna Kushnir
Khrystyna Kushnir joined the Women, Business and the Law team in August 2010. Prior, she worked on the global database on micro, small and medium size enterprises within the Enterprise Analysis Unit. Ms. Kushnir worked as a Research Assistant for Central and Eastern Europe at the Heritage Foundation, where she updated the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom. Ms. Kushnir also worked, as a Research Analyst, for the Japanese consultancy Washington CORE on Russian and Asian markets. Ms. Kushnir holds MA in International Economic Relations from the American University and is a Fulbright scholar.

Thibault Meilland
Thibault Meilland is a gender analyst for Enterprise Surveys. He previously worked for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE PA) in Copenhagen, and for TNS-Media Intelligence in Paris. Mr. Meilland holds a M.A. in Comparative Politics from Sciences Po (IEP de Paris), and a M.A. in International Economics and Conflict Management from Johns Hopkins University (SAIS).

Rita Ramalho
Rita Ramalho is the Program Manager of the Enterprise Analysis of the World Bank Group. This unit produces the Women, Business and the Law report and the Enterprise Surveys. Women, Business and the Law presents indicators based on laws and regulations affecting women’s prospects as entrepreneurs and employees, in part drawing on laws contained in the Gender Law Library. Both resources can inform research and policy discussions on how to improve women’s economic opportunities and outcomes. Enterprise Surveys provide the world’s most comprehensive company-level data in emerging markets and developing economies. Enterprise surveys data are available on 120,000+ firms in 125 countries. Data are used to create indicators that benchmark the quality of the business and investment climate across countries form both female and male entrepreneurs. Ms. Ramalho holds a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her previous research focuses on the impact of regulation on economic variables such as growth, where she found that better business regulations can lead to more growth. Currently she is researching the impact of regulations of female labor force participation, tax policy and entrepreneurship, labor regulations, and the size of informal sector. She speaks Portuguese and is conversant in Spanish.

Paula Tavares
Paula Tavares joined the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law team in 2010 after working on the Investment Climate Department’s Health in Africa Initiative. Ms. Tavares currently focuses on conducting research and analysis of the legal and regulatory framework affecting women’s economic capacity and entrepreneurship. Her prior legal experience includes working with government multilateral trade agreements, private sector initiatives and non-governmental organizations. Ms. Tavares is a Brazilian lawyer and holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center with a concentration in trade and development and a specialization in International Relations from the University of Brasilia, Brazil. She is a member of the Brazilian Bar and speaks Portuguese, Spanish and French.

See also

• Women, Business and the Law 2012 report: Methodology
• Women, Business and the Law 2010 report
• Women, Business and the Law 2010 report: Methodology
• Women, Business and the Law 2010 report#List of countries

References

External links

• http://wbl.worldbank.org/

• http://enterprisesurveys.org/