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Institutions are defined as the set of rules that govern human interactions. When these rules are discriminatory, they may disempower segments of a population in the economic spheres of activity. This study explores whether laws that discriminate against women influence their engagement in the economy. The study adopts a holistic approach, exploring an overall measure of unequal laws also known as legal gender disparities, and relates it to several labor market outcomes for women. Using data for more than 60,000 firms across 104 economies, the study finds that unequal laws not only discourage women's participation in the private sector workforce, but also their likelihood to become top managers and owners of firms. Suggestive evidence indicates that access to finance and corruption are pathways by which legal gender disparities disempower women in the labor market.

Economic Empowerment --- Employment --- Female Workers --- Financial Inclusion --- Gender Inequality

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Local government --- Democratization --- Decolonization --- Black Economic Empowerment (Program : South Africa) --- South Africa. --- South Africa --- Politics and government

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A review of rigorous evaluations of interventions that seek to empower women economically shows that the same class of interventions has significantly different outcomes depending on the client. Capital alone, as a small cash loan or grant, is not sufficient to grow women-owned subsistence-level firms. However, it can work if it is delivered in-kind to more successful women microentrepreneurs, and it should boost the performance of women' larger-sized SMEs. Very poor women need a more intensive package of services than do less poor women to break out of subsistence production and grow their businesses. What works for young women does not necessarily work for adult women. Skills training, job search assistance, internships, and wage subsidies increase the employment levels of adult women but do not raise wages. However, similar interventions increase young women' employability and earnings if social restrictions are not binding. Women who run subsistence-level firms face additional social constraints when compared to similar men, thus explaining the differences in the outcomes of some loans, grants, and training interventions that favor men. Social constraints may also play a role in explaining women' outcome gains that are short-lasting or emerge with a delay. The good news is that many of the additional constraints that women face can be overcome by simple, inexpensive adjustments in program design that lessen family and social pressures. These include providing capital in-kind or transacted through the privacy of a mobile phone and providing secure savings accounts to nudge women to keep the money in the business rather than to divert it to non-business uses.

Banks and Banking Reform --- Economic Empowerment --- Education --- Employment Levels --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Gender --- Gender & Development --- Labor Policies --- Primary Education --- Social Constraints --- Social Protections and Labor --- Women Microentrepreneurs --- Women'S Employability

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This paper presents a Joint Staff Advisory Note on Nigeria’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. Within the framework of Nigeria’s federation, policy coordination between the three tiers of government is critical for achieving poverty reduction objectives. The National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) provides for a considerable increase in public investments, which primarily reflects the government’s desire to address the country’s vast development requirements. NEEDS places considerable emphasis on strengthening public expenditure management to ensure that spending is effective, efficient, and clearly linked to the achievement of objectives of NEEDS.

Macroeconomics --- Social Services and Welfare --- Poverty and Homelessness --- Government Policy --- Provision and Effects of Welfare Program --- Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: General --- Labor Economics: General --- Education: General --- Health: General --- Social welfare & social services --- Poverty & precarity --- Labour --- income economics --- Education --- Health economics --- Poverty reduction strategy --- Poverty --- Poverty reduction --- Labor --- Health --- Labor economics --- Nigeria --- Finance, Public --- National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (Nigeria) --- International Monetary Fund --- International Development Association. --- Income economics

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The youth unemployment rate is exceptionally high in developing countries. Because the quality of education is arguably one of the most important determinants of youth's labor force participation, governments worldwide have responded by creating job training and placement services programs. Despite the rapid expansion of skill-enhancement employment programs across the world and the long history of training program evaluations, debates about the causal impact of training-based labor market policies on employment outcomes still persist. Using a quasi-experimental approach, this report presents the short-run effects of skills training and employment placement services in Nepal. Launched in 2009, the intervention provided skills training and employment placement services for more than 40,000 Nepalese youth over a three-year period, including a specialized adolescent girls' initiative that reached 4,410 women ages 16 to 24. The report finds that after three years of the program, the Employment Fund intervention positively improved employment outcomes. Participation in the Employment Fund training program generated an increase in non-farm employment of 15 to 16 percentage points for an overall gain of about 50 percent. The program also generated an average monthly earnings gain of about 72 percent. The report finds significantly larger employment impacts for women than for men, but younger women ages 16 to 24 experienced the same improvements as older females. These employment estimates are comparable, although somewhat higher, than other recent experimental interventions in developing countries.

Abuse --- Access & Equity in Basic Education --- Adolescent Girls --- Both Sexes --- Capacity Building --- Childbirth --- Children --- Civil Conflict --- Classroom --- Completion Rates --- Contraception --- Control Over Resources --- Curriculum --- Developing Countries --- Development Policy --- Disadvantaged Groups --- Discrimination --- Dropout --- Dropout Rates --- Early Intervention --- Economic Empowerment --- Economic Growth --- Economic Resources --- Economic Status --- Education --- Education for All --- Educational Attainment --- Employment Opportunities --- Enrollment --- Ethnic Groups --- Ex-Combatants --- Exams --- Female Participants --- Female Students --- Fertility --- Fertility Preferences --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Food Insecurity --- Food Security --- Formal Education --- Gender Differences --- Gender Discrimination --- Gender Equality --- Girls --- Groups --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- HIV --- Household Assets --- Household Food Security --- Household Income --- Household Level --- Household Size --- Human Capital --- Important Policy --- Income-Generating Activities --- Indigenous Peoples --- International Labor Organization --- Interventions --- Investment --- Job Opportunities --- Job Training --- Knowledge --- Labor Force --- Labor Market --- Labour Market --- Leadership --- Learning --- Level of Education --- Life Skills --- Literacy --- Livelihood Skills --- Mandates --- Marital Status --- Marriage --- Meat --- Migrants --- Migration --- Ministry of Education --- Minority --- Number of Children --- Older Women --- Outreach Activities --- Participation --- Pensions --- Physical Health --- Pilot Projects --- Policy --- Policy Discussions --- Policy Implications --- Policy Makers --- Policy Research --- Policy Research Working Paper --- Population --- Population Policies --- Practitioners --- Pregnancy --- Primary Education --- Progress --- Public Health --- Quality of Education --- Radio --- Reasoning --- Regular Attendance --- Remittances --- Reproductive Health --- Science --- Self-Confidence --- Service Delivery --- Service Providers --- Sex --- Sexually Active --- Skills --- Skills Development --- Skills Training --- Social Norms --- Social Science --- Sponsors --- Students --- Substance Abuse --- Technical Education --- Technical Skills --- Technical Training --- Training --- Training Opportunities --- Training Programs --- Training Services --- Unemployment --- Values --- Vocational Education --- Vocational Training --- Vulnerability --- Vulnerable Groups --- Women --- Workshops --- Young Men --- Young People --- Young Women --- Youth