Egypt, Cairo, October 24,25 2015 Gender Equality in the MENA Region

1. Gender equality matters for economic
development and growth: Lessons for
MENA
Stephanie Seguino
University of Vermont
SOAS, University of London
October 2015

2. Enlarged framework in development
economics
 Gender now a key analytical element in
inquiry into economic development;
 Requires a shift in exclusive focus on markets
to how humans provision for selves and
family;
 Considers totality of economic contributions –
market work and unpaid work.

3. Two-way Causality
Gender inequality affects macroeconomy
and vice versa
Gender
Relations/I
nequality
Economic
Growth &
Development

4. Gender equality is
multidimensional
• Capabilities
• Gender gaps in education, health, and nutritional status.
• Opportunities
• Gender differences in access to and control over resources;
• Wages and employment, access to credit, land ownership.
• Empowerment and agency
• Female economic and political representation in deliberative
bodies, e.g., women's share of parliamentary seats, share of
managerial jobs.

5. A statistical regularity: Gender
inequality in material well-being
 Hierarchical gender systems influence the
distribution of material resources and opportunities
(masculinized occupations pay more);
 Economic outcomes (income, wealth, access to
education, etc) differ systematically by gender;
 Norms and stereotypes legitimate unequal
access to the preferred jobs, wealth, and power.
 World Values Survey

6. 0.89
0.98 0.96
0.32
0.60
0.35
0.15
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
Gender Ratios in Well-
Being: MENA Region

7. 0.79
0.89
0.98
0.82
0.76
0.54
0.18
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
Gender Ratios in Well-Being: Africa
Region

8. Macrostructure influences the
degree of gender inequality
 Inequality and conflict over distribution of resources
exacerbated by the nature of the economic system.
 Unequal, unstable systems provoke the emergence
of hierarchies.
 Macrostructure: structure of production;
macroeconomic policies, social safety net, public
expenditure, legal system, financial system, labor
market policies.

9. Other sources of gender
inequality?
 At the household level: Gender norms and
stereotypes that give women primary
responsibility for unpaid caring labor limit female
bargaining power.
 In the cash economy and labor markets: Male
as “breadwinner” in market economies, and
“family head” in agric. economies gives men
best jobs and access to and control over critical
resources.

10. Norms & stereotypes can change
 Strong + effect of women’s share of
employment.
 Structure of economy.
 Women & men’s actual economic roles
influence children’s behavior and attitudes.
 Programs to change men’s norms of
masculinity at micro-level show success.
 Political quotas lead to more acceptance of
women as leaders.

11. MENA World Values Survey:
Men more right to job and University
more important for boys
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Percentagetjatagree
Men more right to job University education more important for boys

12. Unemployment rate and men’s
greater right to job in MENA
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Unemploymentrate,2012
Percent who agree when jobs are scarce, men have more right to job
Yemen
Iraq
Bahrain
Lebanon
Kuwait
Morocco
Algeria
Tunisia
Egypt
Jordan

13. How does gender equality affect
economic growth?
 Gender equality affects economic growth in:
 Short-run: through effects on investment, exports,
imports, and saving;
 Long-run: productivity effects.
 Relationship between gender equality and
growth depends on:
 Structure of economy;
 Gender division of labor;
 Macro-level policies.

14. Gender Inequality as impetus to
export-led growth

15. Gender inequality and growth in SIEs
Gender job segregation with women in export
industries
Low female wages
Lowers unit labor costs on export goods
 Lowers export prices relative to competition
 Stimulates export growth
 Generates foreign exchange and lending
 Provides access to imported technologies and capital goods
 Promotes technological advance
Stimulates economic growth
Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan

16. The production of labor by
means of labor: Care Work

17. But gender inequality has negative effects
on long-run growth, especially on labor
productivity

18. Indirect Effects of Gender
Inequality and Children
 Inadequately nourished mothers -> children suffer in
utero, and once born, from low birth weight, stunted
growth, intellectual impairment.
 Mothers with higher levels of education -> have
healthier children (education of mothers has a much
stronger effect on children's health than does the
education of fathers).
 Greater gender equality in education reduces
fertility rate. This leads to improved outcomes for
children’s well-being: quality vs quantity of children.

19. Nutritional status
• Mothers’ education, health, and income
are key determinants of child nutrition in
developing countries
– Study that observed child malnutrition pattern from 63
countries between 1970 and 1995
– In Brazil, the positive impact on children’s nutritional
indicators of additional income in mother’ hands is 4-8
times larger than the impact of additional income in
fathers’ hands.

20. The Long Run: Gender equality in
capabilities, wages, and employment
Raise women’s bargaining power in the HH
 Reduce fertility
 Reduce dependency ratio
 Increase:
 F labor force participation;
 Investments in children’s health and education, affecting
long-run productivity of labor force.

21. GDP Growth differences between
East Asia – MENA
0.53
1.48
2.71
1.55
0.18
0.29 0.27 0.24
0.75
0.86
0.96
1.06
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Growth difference East Asia - MENA Education Effect Employment Effect

22. Gender equality, growth, and
Islam
 Braunstein (2014) finds no evidence that
Islam is not a good proxy for patriarchal
institutions in explaining growth.
 Seguino (2011) finds that Islam is no more
likely to contribute to gender inequity in
attitudes than other dominant religions.

23. Bandara (2012)
 Closing gap in effective labor (education
and labor force participation):
Could raise output per worker 0.3 – 0.5
percent per year 1970-2010 in SSA
Amounts to loss of $60b per year in SSA
And $255b a year in all of Africa.

24. Gender equality in MENA
 Key is increased access to employment
Stimulates growth and development
 Requires macroeconomic policies to
stimulate full employment and growth.
 And public investment to reduce women’s
care burden.

25. Fiscal Space
 Gender-equitable public spending creates
fiscal space
Physical infrastructure spending crowds in
private spending and reduces care burden
Social infrastructure spending raises
productivity.

26. A Cautionary Tale:
Trends in F/M Employment, 1991-
2010
-0.10
-0.05
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
-0.30 -0.20 -0.10 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30
ChangeinF/MEmploymentRatio
Change in Male Employment Ratio