1st Edition

Women's Economic Empowerment Insights from Africa and South Asia

Edited By Kate Grantham, Gillian Dowie, Arjan de Haan Copyright 2021
290 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

290 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

290 Pages 22 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book investigates the barriers to women’s economic empowerment in the Global South. Drawing on evidence from a wide range of countries, the book outlines important lessons and practical solutions for promoting gender equality. Despite global progress in closing gender gaps in education and health, women’s economic empowerment has lagged behind, with little evidence that economic growth... Read more

Introduction: The Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women Programme

Part I: Conceptualizing the Relationship Between Economic Growth and Gender Equality

1. Gender Equality, Inclusive Growth, and Labour Markets

Naila Kabeer

Part II: Syntheses of Grow-Supported Research on Women’s Economic Empowerment

2. Stalled Progress: Why Labour Markets are Failing Women

James Heintz

3. Macroeconomics and Gender: The Linkages Between Economic Growth and Women’s Economic Empowerment

Sophia Kan And Stephan Klasen

4. Developing Care: The Care Economy and Economic Development

Nancy Folbre

5. Gender, Social Norms, and Women’s Economic Empowerment

Rachel Marcus

Part III: Evidence from Grow-Supported Case Studies in Developing Country Contexts

6. A Mine of One’s Own? Gender Norms and Empowerment in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining

Doris Buss et al.

7. Picturing Change Through Photovoice: Participatory Evaluation of a Day Care Intervention in an Urban Informal Context

Milka Nyariro et al.

8. Paid Work and Unpaid Care Work in India, Nepal, Tanzania, and Rwanda: A Bi-Directional Relationship

Deepta Chopra

9. Women’s Labour Force Participation in Sri Lanka’s North

Ramani Gunatilaka And Ranmini Vithanagama

10. The School-To-Work Transition for Young Females in Sub-Saharan Africa: Comparative Qualitative Evidence from Six Countries

Jane Kabubo-Mariara, Adalbertus Kamanzi, and Andy Mckay

Conclusion: Programming and Policy Lessons and Future Research Priorities for Women’s Economic Empowerment

Gillian Dowie, Arjan De Haan, And Kate Grantham

Biography

Kate Grantham is an international development researcher, educator, and consultant focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues.

Gillian Dowie is a senior programme officer in the Sustainable Inclusive Economies programme at IDRC, currently based in Delhi, India.

Arjan de Haan is a senior programme specialist with IDRC's Sustainable Inclusive Economies programme.

"With research syntheses on topics including labour markets, care, macroeconomic issues, and social norms, along with diverse case studies from many countries, Women’s Economic Empowerment: Insights from Africa and South Asia represents a vital new contribution to our understanding of the relationship between gender inequality and the dynamics of economies in low-resource settings." -- Ruth Levine, CEO, IDinsight, USA

"This edited volume presents cutting-edge research on women’s economic empowerment from diverse settings in the Global South. Through an examination of the gendered continuities, disruptions, and contradictions in the social and economic status of women in developing countries, it demonstrates why structural gender inequalities may persist despite individualised advancement of some women and what can be done about it." -- Bipasha Baruah, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Women’s Issues, Western University, Canada

"Does economic growth promote gender equality? Based on rigorous primary research in 50 countries in the developing world, the answers from this ambitious research program reflect the context-specificity of gender relations and the complex relationships among labour markets, social norms, and care work to identify options for programmes and policy." -- Agnes Quisumbing, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute, USA