This thematic area covers studies that attempt to address the main determinants of female labour force participation and female underemployment in LICs, and the causes of gender gaps in earnings and productivity. Furthermore, these projects develop models that can help us understand barriers and constraints to improved labour market outcomes for women, in relation to: markets, household dynamics, formal institutions (laws and regulations), and informal institutions (social norms and obligations). This thematic area aims at suggesting combinations of policies, practises and institutions that are effective in tackling discrimination and enabling women to engage in more productive sectors with better security and earnings potential.
The project aims to examine the evidence for the “Doing Gender” hypothesis in Ghana. We examine whether greater earnings by Ghanaian women is associated with increased household bargaining power, proxied by the division of housework between a...
The overall objective of this project is to study the position of women in the labour market as well as policies that shape their position in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, two low-income countries in Central Asia. We focus on three core dimensions....
Youth employment and micro, small and medium sized enterprise (MSME) development are often in the public debate. Governments in Africa have introduced a number of programmes to promote employment via these mechanisms, but the understanding of which...
Integrating young adults into the formal labour market is a major challenge facing developing nations, particularly in Africa (World Bank 2007). High levels of unemployment, especially among youth, have led many policymakers to advocate microfinance...
The third Millennium Development Goal is to “Promote gender equality and empower women.” This goal is given some urgency by the fact that significant gender gaps remain, especially in Low-Income countries (LICs). The World Bank’s 2012 World...
In 2005, India’s Parliament passed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a landmark in social protection legislation for the country. The Act moved employment into the domain of legally enforceable rights for a population no...
Fairtrade has spread under the promise that it has the power to lift poor smallholder farmers out of poverty by providing them with technical assistance, credit, and better prices for their crops. Fairtrade is also viewed as a niche market for high...
This project focuses on the labour market entry situation for women in Pakistan. Social norms against women coming into close contact with unrelated men and the discomfort social stigma and threat of possible harassment when they do so, restricts...
