Research Report Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Review of Evidence on Enablers and Barriers
H. Elizabeth Peters, Nan Marie Astone, Ammar A. Malik, Fenohasina Rakotondrazaka Maret, Caroline Heller
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Besides human rights protection and social welfare improvement, fostering female participation in the economy can stimulate growth with human capital accumulation and enhance the competitiveness of businesses. But women face many barriers to participating in the labor market, particularly in high productivity sectors, due to limited investments in education, time burdens from care responsibilities, legal prohibitions to land ownership, and sexual harassment and violence. We find evidence that improving access to infrastructure and public services, reforms in inheritance laws, family friendly workplace policies, and reduction in levels of violence can significantly improve women’s economic empowerment.
Research Areas Economic mobility and inequality Global issues Neighborhoods, cities, and metros
Tags Infrastructure Transportation Race, gender, class, and ethnicity Inequality and mobility International development and governance