DFID on the economic empowerment of women and girls: a policy response

1. DFID on the economic empowerment of women and girls: a policy response IDRC/DFID Expert meeting on women’s economic empowerment, labour markets, entrepreneurship and inclusive growth: towards a research agenda Lindi Hlanze Economic Adviser 26-27 January 2012

2. DFID’s definition of economic empowerment: Economic empowerment is a process that increases people’s access to and control over economic resources and opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive assets (from which one can generate an income), skills development and market information.

3. Why economic empowerment? • Economic empowerment matters for women and girls – contributing to their broader empowerment, agency and voice, and to better welfare outcomes for them, their households and their wider communities. • It also matters for economic growth – for example, through its impacts on firm performance, agricultural productivity and generation of tax revenues. • There are multiple barriers to accessing resources and opportunities - discriminatory cultural and social norms, de facto implementation of formal or customary laws and regulations, unequal access to resources, knowledge, information, networks and markets, informality and workplace discrimination and exploitation.

4. Economic empowerment of women and girls • DFID Business Plan 2011-15: “Recognise the role of women in development and promote gender equality” • One of 6 Ministerial priorities, critical to MDGs • DFID Strategic Vision for Women and Girls • Delay first pregnancy and support safe childbirth; • Get economic assets directly to girls and women; • Get girls through secondary school; and • Prevent violence against girls and women. ‘Women account for 50% of informal employment globally’ World Development Report 2012

5. Get economic assets directly to girls and women Access to and control of: • Financial assets (cash, savings, insurance, remittances etc) • Physical assets (land, property, livestock, productive technologies etc) Human, social & natural capital critical & complementary Targets: • Improved access to finance for 18 million women • Secure access to land for 4.5 million

6. Example interventions:

7. Examples of policy-relevant evidence • Systematic reviews of the evidence base e.g. providing girls and young women access to economic assets, in low, middle income and fragile states. • Independent evaluations of DFID and other programs e.g. the impact of improved access to water on women’s welfare – how do they spend the time saved? • Challenge funds e.g. Responsible and Accountable Garments (RAGS) • Market-tested evidence • Case study reviews of M4P programmes without a gender lens • Evidence-based toolkits e.g. DFID’s Financial Inclusion toolkit and the World Bank’s Gender Dimensions of Investment Climate Reform • Business Diagnostics and Dynamics (BUDDY): World Bank tool which identifies the sources of growth and job creation (data reliant)

8. Women and work: some reactions • Need to focus on demand for, more than supply of, labour. • Reality around informed choice – what should the timeframe be for this aspiration? • Pace of change given social norms? How can we bring about quick but sustainable change? • How can we address the care economy? Is measurement and awareness raising enough to bring about change? • Is growth of the informal sector an inevitable and permanent trend?

9. Some policy challenges: Process • How can researchers engage policy-makers from the outset? • How can research findings be best packaged and communicated for policy-makers? • Graded by quality • Policy briefs • Relative value for money of potential interventions (cost versus outcome) • What types of evidence (including data) are most accessible and useful? • sex and age-disaggregated data • ownership versus use of productive assets Women account for 60% of the world’s working poor but own less than 10% of the world’s property. ILO and Commission for Legal Empowerment of the Poor

10. Some policy challenges: Content • Can we take a life-cycle/age-segmented approach to research on women’s economic empowerment? • WDR: “Investing in girls is smart. It is central to boosting development, breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty, and allowing girls, and then women – 50% of the world’s population – to lead better, fairer and more productive lives.” • Which sectors should we target? Where can we have the most impact and engage women in higher value activity? • How can we ensure that getting economic assets to women and girls does no harm? • What time and labour saving technologies could most benefit women and girls? • How can we most effectively engage men and boys in this agenda?

11. Thank you! Lindi Hlanze Economic Adviser (economic empowerment of women and girls) l-hlanze@dfid.gov.uk