Will Females in Low Income Countries Get Lost in Transformation? Louise Fox University of California, Berkeley

Transcription

1 Will Females in Low Income Countries Get Lost in Transformation? Louise Fox University of California, Berkeley

2 Gender and Economic Transformation Economic Transformation movement of resources to high productivity activities, both within and between sectors key policy goal for sustained growth Will the distribution of winners and losers have a gender bias? Literature on gender inequality and growth, and growth and gender inequality. Also a literature on gender and trade, and more broadly gender and globalization What about economic transformation? Our question: How might transformation affect opportunities of poor and middle class women in low income countries?

3 Framework Main Female Roles: In market work (as labor force participants) In care economy (household work) As children/adolescents As individuals, consumers, and citizens Consider various ET outcomes, possible effect on females, and direction of net impact on females opportunities Both sector switching and within sector productivity enhancements Use theoretical and empirical literature to develop hypothesized effects.

4 ET outcome Expansion of employment in tradable products and services Table 1: Market work Outcomes: conditions of employment and hourly earnings Possible effects on females Increase in tradable light manufacturing employment may favor females Increase in food processing employment does not favor females Increase in tradable services generally does not favor females because of skill gap, but will favor educated females Expansion of employment in non-tradables Construction sector has low female participation Publicly supplied services tend to employ females; privately supplied services in enterprises tend not to employ women, but women are active in informal services Increase in nonagricultural sector productivity If skill driven it will widen male-female earnings gap If competition driven it could lower male-female wage gap at lower skill levels Increase in agricultural sector productivity Men tend to be more active in export/commercial agriculture so more likely to benefit Expected direction of net impact on females opportunities in earnings, hours worked, possibly in job security Possible spillover effects on FLFP throughout the economy Unclear. Will women earn higher incomes in informal services/ Unclear Productivity enhancing interventions such as extension services, inputs provision, contract growing schemes, tend to exclude women Economy wide increase in wage labor demand Increase in FLFPR owing to increased demand for female Negative or neutral. Probably widens gender earnings gap unless complementary policies are undertaken to include females.

5 Table 2: Care economy and children Care economy outcomes: time use (housework and leisure) ET outcome Possible effects on females Expected direction of net impact on females opportunities Availability, affordability of labor saving products and appliances More efficient care economy, more time for leisure or market work Lower fertility owing to higher LFPR, higher earnings health effects, reduces burden of child care More market work without reduced care economy work Increased time poverty Negative, but depends on response of household; income effect may lead to the purchase of more services

6 Increased incomes Children/adolescent outcomes: human capital development household More nutrition, more health and education, more connectivity and stimulation, less trauma, etc. Increased female cash earnings Increased spending on children (of both genders) Increased returns to female market work Higher parent s demand for female education Lower demand for early marriage, later childbirth lower TFR (produces better health for females) More market work by females leaves less time for care economy work Reduced health outcomes (fewer medical visits for preventative and curative care owing to time poverty) Negative (strength unclear) More care responsibilities shifted to female children/adolescents, reducing

7 Table 3: Individuals (as consumers, citizens, adults) Outcomes: Power, agency, mental health, purchasing power, participation in civic affairs ET outcome Possible effects on females Expected direction of net impact on females opportunities Manufactured goods become cheaper as do not need to be imported Price of female personal and household goods goes down Possibly positive Increased demand for female labor More choices of activities Increased female cash earnings May increase self-confidence, power and agency within household and community May increase civic participation

8 Policy implications 1. Continue standard development policy recommendations to reduce gender gap: Education, including high demand skills Quality health services including reducing wait times and weekend hours for working mothers Water and sanitation (reducing homework burden) Safe mobility options Ensure female property rights, human rights 2. Additional areas for emphasis Agriculture address factors contributing to productivity gap Worker health in factories (management issue?) Female entrepreneurship/access to finance

9 In sum Transformative growth has huge upside potential for females One element of this is urbanization, which tends to release traditional norms, bring females more options and more services Encourage families to migrate? One element is females increased value in labor market Will this create coalitions for human rights legislation? But failure to do the things which governments ought to be doing anyway creates serious potential risks for females and their children Empowerment matters for adolescent females Mentorship to encourage females to consider new areas of work Build employability skills Power/agency skills

10 More research Most research is on S. Asia; not much on Africa or Asia What can we learn from SSA economies starting to transform - Kenya? Ghana? Cameroon? What can we learn from Indonesia or Malaysia? From Brazil or Mexico? If Bloom et. al. are right, and management matters for better jobs, how does management change? How to get women better service from public sector? How to reduce GBV so women can take advantage of opportunities?