MENA Women in the Economy Rabat, December 8-9, 2005

1. MENA Women in the EconomyRabat, December 8-9, 2005 Nadereh Chamlou Senior Advisor to the Chief Economist Economic and Sector Work The Middle East and North Africa Region

2. Definitions • Millennium Development Goal #3: • Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, measured by: • Educational attainment • Formal labor force participation • Political representation • Difference between Sex and Gender • Gender Equality: • Equal access to opportunity • Equal voice • Equal treatment under the law

3. Why is Gender important? • Low growth has led to low employment generation – particularly among the young • Significant evidence that gender inequity and inequality impacts growth • Gender inequality is the most pervasive type of inequality which cuts across all other categories of inequality – impacts development most deeply

4. The MENA Paradox:

5. …increasingly, talent pool equal among sexes

6. Extensive investment in social indicators…because of shortfall in empowerment indicators

7. Women’s formal labor force participation lowest among all regions

8. Ratio of Actual to Predicted Female Participation in MENA and Selected Countries and Regions, 1980 and 2000 Actual: predicted ratio Note: AFR4 = Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal. EAP4 = Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand; EAC2 = Hungary and Poland and LAC4 = Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Bahrain and Kuwait estimates are based on total female participation in the labor force (which includes foreign workers) Source: World Bank staff estimates Women remain an untapped resource

9. Female Education and Labor Force Participation in MENA and EAP, 1970-2000 Percent Note: In East Asia and the Pacific (EAP), secondary enrollment is for 1999 rather than 2000 Source: ILO 1996; World Bank 2003d, 2003j Characteristics of women in the labor market

10. Female Unemployment Rates by Educational Level in MENA Countries, Various Years Characteristics of women in the labor market

11. Why? Differential Treatment under the Law • Unequal rights and powers in the private sphere • Unequal access to public sphere as interaction with state may be mediated through a male kin: • Centrality of the family • Concept of male breadwinner • Concept of equity rather equality – defined roles • Code of modesty - “Protection” of women’s honor

12. Gender-based Legal Framework in MENA • CEDAW (passed by all but Iran, albeit with reservations – mainly in areas relating to inheritance, family law) • Constitution (guarantees equal rights for all citizens) • However, ordinary legislation is discriminatory: • Personal Status Code based on Sharia (marriage, divorce, custody, inheritance) • Civil Status Code based on Western Legal Models (labor, nationality, pensions, etc)

13. Example of Differential Treatment Labor laws and regulations: • Limitations on hours and type of work so as to protect women • Mobility laws restricting women’s travel within and outside the country • Social benefits denominated in terms of number of female employees (such as on-sight child-care) • Permission of husband to work or freedom of movement  These increase the implicit and explicit cost of women employees

14. The Effect of Differential Sex-based Treatment under the LawExample:Implicit cost can function like a sex-based minimum wage A minimum wage is imposed for men. This divides the labor market into two segments. Employment in the Covered Market with decline --- employment in the Uncovered Market will rise (assuming that men and women are perfect substitutes.) Upward sloping female labor supply curve raises wages – to minimum wage level. Results in decline in employment and the use of other factors of production, such as capital and energy. Increase, causing a leftward shift of the demand curve for male labor (form D0 to D1). Total employment declines. Source: The Economics of Gender (Joyce Jacobson)

15. Female labor force participation and higher overall employment Empirical evidence does not support the claim that women’s increased labor force participation increases unemployment

16. Consequences of women’s low economic participation to family and economy • Cost to the economy • For a subset of countries, GDP could have been 2.6% instead of 1.9% with greater female participation in labor force. • Translates into billions of dollars of lost opportunity and development for the region. • Cost to the family • Egypt 25%, Jordan 20%, Morocco 17% • Women’s work is increasingly the ticket between poverty and middle class • It is also an important source of income for expenditures on better education and health of next generation

17. Why gender issues are important for MENA now? • Need to create 100 million jobs – economies have to be more market oriented • Well functioning markets depend on a level playing field for all players • Women constitute a large proportion of the work force – essential for competitiveness • Women entrepreneurs – essential contributors to innovation and investment • Gender based discrimination -- invisible brain drain • Information technology changes meaning of geography, networks, production methods – push for more knowledge content which opens up new opportunities for new players

18. Agenda for Workshop • Focus on Women’s Economic Rights and Opportunities • consistent with religion, tradition, human needs • Three entry points: • Public Policy • Employment • Entrepreneurship

19. Conclusion • Gender is no for the sake of women but for welfare of society • MENA countries will undergo vast reforms --focus on economic rights to remove discrimination • It is important to ensure the engender reform agenda: • Create level playing field for all • What is the magnitude of the problem and how does it affect the effects that existing, or persistent, gender inequalities will have on the outcomes and the success of economic policies; and • the specific actions that are needed to mitigate gender based barriers—the level of resources that are needed and who is best placed to act on them, be it the government, NGOs, and the civil society.