Gender Equality and Development +10 #AccelerateEquality
Understanding Poverty
Topics
Gender
BRIEF
Gender Equality and Development +10 #AccelerateEquality
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Event/Publication
Breaking Barriers: Female Entrepreneurs Who Cross Over to Male-Dominated ...
How can we support female entrepreneurs crossing into male-dominated sectors?
FULL REPORT
Event/Publication
Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement
Are men and women affected differently in times of forced displacement?
FULL REPORT
Overview
Calendar of Events
Themes
The World Bank Group’s year-long
Accelerate Equality
initiative explores the important progress made and lessons learned over the last 10 years in closing gender gaps and promoting girls' and women's empowerment, and drives for transformative change in the future.
It provides an opportunity to showcase successes, learn, and develop ideas and further momentum for the future of gender equality and women’s leadership, while taking stock of remaining challenges and strengthening partnerships in the quest to
#AccelerateEquality
Progress has been made, but is slow
10 years ago, the World Bank Group published the
World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development
(WDR2012). Over the last decade, progress has been achieved in several key areas. Maternal mortality has decreased by around 10 percent, and girls’ enrollment in secondary school has increased by 5 percent. The
Women Business and the Law
index shows that women’s economic rights have improved, and there are now more women than ever before in national parliaments across the globe.
However, progress has been slow in many important domains. Female labor force participation rates fall well below 40 percent in low-income countries. Significant gender wage gaps persist, and, in many countries, women are still clustered into sectors and occupations typically associated with lower profits, absence of work contracts, and lack of protection. The gender digital divide threatens women and girls’ access to quality healthcare, education, jobs, and civic participation. Women continue to be responsible for the bulk of child and elder care in the home, and remain underrepresented as leaders, especially at the highest levels. Globally, violence against women and girls' remains widespread.
It is increasingly clear that gender-unequal social norms prevent women from becoming equal citizens, leaders, and agents of change. Such social norms prevent women from seeking wage employment outside the household, aspiring to jobs in male-dominated occupations and sectors, and avoiding early marriage and childbearing so that they can complete their education.
Mounting debt and the pandemic have made things worse
Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, fiscal pressures were mounting, constraining opportunities to help close gender gaps. The World Bank’s
Global Waves
report notes that before the pandemic, half of all low-income countries were already in debt distress or at a high risk of it. Since the pandemic began, debt levels in low- and middle-income countries have surged, resulting in many countries facing a reduction in priority expenditures, including programs that support girls’ and women’s empowerment.
The COVID-19 crisis has compounded challenges for women and girls', exacerbating barriers to participating in the economy and public life, and intensifying a parallel pandemic of violence against women and girls'.  In Latin America and the Caribbean, women are 44 percent more likely than men to lose their jobs, and an estimated 11 million girls' might not return to school due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption.
UN Women
reports that since the pandemic began, violence against women has intensified.
The available data on adolescent girls’ return to school are concerning. A survey of nearly 4,000 adolescents living in urban settlements and rural counties in
Kenya
found that 16 percent of vulnerable adolescent girls' compared to 8 percent of adolescent boys did not return to school when schools reopened in the country in January 2021.  In Bangladesh, 53 percent of girls' reported spending less time on education than before the COVID-19 lockdown, and 93 percent reported more time spent on household chores and childcare. Among girls' who did not return to school, 27 percent reported pregnancy as the reason for not returning.
Investing in people offers a way forward
Protecting and investing in girls', women, and people of all gender identities will help address these challenges and enable all people to achieve their full potential, building human capital and more inclusive and equitable societies. On average across countries, long-run GDP per capita would be almost
20 percent higher
if gender employment gaps were to be closed. Ensuring all people have access to quality education, health services, and safety nets also makes people and societies more resilient to shocks caused by health emergencies, climate change, or economic crises.
The urgency of the COVID-19 crisis demands bold solutions, but also presents an unprecedented opportunity to build back stronger, so that gains made in closing gender gaps can be sustained even throughout shocks and crises such as the pandemic. Close attention should be paid to the needs of women and girls' and other gender groups facing multiple forms of disadvantage, including poverty, migrant status, ethnicity, race, disability, and location.
Empowering women builds resilience against climate change and displacement/fragility.
The effects of climate change and the corresponding changes in national policies and development strategies will affect economic opportunities for both men and women.
Engaging women is key to development, including climate action.  Women’s leadership and empowerment, in conjunction with girls’ education, family planning, reproductive and sexual health and reduced child marriage, can facilitate the transition to low-carbon economies, help improve resource use, and assist in lowering environmental damage and land fragmentation, as well as increase resilience.
Recent research
has revealed a strong link between fragility, forced displacement, and gender outcomes.  At the end of 2020, there were
over 80 million
forcibly displaced persons worldwide,
doubling
from 40 million in 2010. While men and women are impacted differently by conflict and displacement, there is scope to move beyond considerations of gender-based vulnerability toward empowering women and girls' to contribute to increased community resilience.
Transformative change toward gender equality, requires a concerted effort. This involves further investments, further changes in law and policies, further interventions to shift social and gender norms, and further audacity to change power relations between men and women.
Building on the evidence and the momentum, now is the time to accelerate action towards gender equality –
#AccelerateEquality
Calendar of Events and Products for 2022
Past Events:
DECEMBER
14-Dec
COP 27: Women and girls are key to effective climate change
13-Dec
Unlock Women's Economic Power with Legal IDs
12-Dec
Boys' education as part of the Global Boyhood Initiative
8-Dec
Policy makers working with communities to end gender-based violence - conversations with changemakers
6-8 Dec
Third WePOWER Conference in Bangkok: Just transition and achieving gender equity in infrastructure and green jobs of the future: Challenges and solutions
7-Dec
From Safety to Empowerment: Pathways for Improved Mobility for Women in South Asia
6-Dec
How Governments Can Address Gender-Based Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean in a Post-COVID World
NOVEMBER
30-Nov
Roundtable Discussion. Towards Safer Migration: Countering Human Trafficking in an Integrated South Asia
29-Nov
Enterprising Women: Toward equal business opportunity in Southeast Asia
17-Nov
Women and online learning report in emerging markets: findings for Mexico
(in spanish)*
15-17 Nov
IEA-UNDP-WBG Conference
14-Nov
COP27 gender event
OCTOBER
27-Oct
Indonesia Women in Leadership Series: Childcare event
27-Oct
Diagnosing Gender Norms in Financial Inclusions - What are we learning
20-Oct
How Child Support Policy Can Help Alleviate Poverty
13-Oct
Empowering women to unleash green, resilient, and inclusive development: Should development policy be feminist?
SEPTEMBER
23-Sep
SVRI Forum Event: "From theory to practice in the implementation of GBV prevention programs in Latin America"
14-Sep
What Works for Women: Unpacking Women’s Economic Empowerment Barriers and Opportunities
14-Sep
Integrated systems for managing cases of gender-based violence: Experiences from Latin America* (Sistemas integrados de gestión de casos de violencia de género) This event will be held in Spanish with simultaneous English translation
AUGUST
31-Aug
Enabling Women's Entrepreneurship through Smart Legislative and Policy Reforms (EAP)
JULY
21-Jul
New Approaches to Closing Finance & Data Gaps for Women-led Businesses
13-Jul
Who benefits from public spending? The role of public finance in accelerating gender equality
JUNE
29-Jun
How Are Women’s Livelihoods and Financial Needs Changing in a Digitizing Economy?
22-Jun
Equality of Opportunity for Sexual and Gender Minorities in South Africa
15-Jun
Gender-Smart tools for Agriculture
9-Jun
From Insights to Function: Designing for Women's Financial Inclusion
8-Jun
Green Dividends of Inclusive Mobility
8-Jun
Gender Inclusion in Emergency and Post-Disaster Recovery Program
6-Jun
GBV Learning Series #1: Building Global Shared Research Agenda on Violence Against Women
2-Jun
UFGE Session 3:
"Let her Grow: Promoting Women's Economic Empowerment in Rural Areas and Their Engagement in Higher Values Activities"
MAY
25-May
Women's Group in South Asia: Landscape, Impact, and the Future
24-May
UFGE Session 2:
"Let her Grow: Policy and programmatic interventions to increase women’s land-ownership and security: What does UFGE research tell us about works and what”
23-May
Gender Data for Decision Making
19-May
Gearing up to Deliver on the IDA Commitment on Women’s Productive Economic Inclusion
18-May
UFGE Session 1:
“Let her Grow: Addressing the productivity gap in agriculture: barriers and promising interventions”
12-May
SARCE Conference | Social Norms & Gender Equality
11-May
SARCE Conference | Social Norms & Gender Equality
10-May
Closing gaps, Increasing Opportunities. Launch of a diagnostic report on Women's Economic Empowerment in Nigeria (recording not available)
3-May
Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Disaster Risk Management Programs
APRIL
22-Apr
Spring meetings event:
Reclaim the Gains: Don’t let COVID-19 turn back progress on the health of women, children and adolescents
21-Apr
Tackling the Root Causes of Women’s Financial Exclusion
7-Apr
Fostering Women’s Leadership and Gender-Transformative Change in Locally Led Climate Action: The Case of the Dedicated Grant Mechanism
6-Apr
Gender, Livelihoods, and Forced Displacement: Compounding Barriers to Work and Opportunities to Compounding Barriers: Access to Economic Opportunities, Gender and Forced Displacement
MARCH
29-Mar
From Data to Design – Translating Statistics into Project Results
29-Mar
Gender Norms and Forced Displacement: Unpacking New Evidence from Colombia and Jordan
28-Mar
Equal Aqua Forum | Forum
24-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT:
Female Empowerment and resilience through Legal reform
23-Mar
Parliamentary Dialogue Series: Accelerating legal equality for women’s economic inclusion
22-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT:
Gender Data Gaps in Building Women’s and Girls’ Resilience?
17-Mar
Measuring Urban Female Labor Force Participation and Sexual Harassment- Emerging Evidence from Quetta (Baluchistan)
17-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT:
A virtuous cycle: How clean cooking projects can empower women and help close gender gaps
17-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT:
The Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement: New Evidence to Guide Policy
Presentation
17-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT: To Measure is to Know and Act: New Data For Better COVID-Response Solutions for Women Entrepreneurs (Recording link not available)
15-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT:
Empower to Adapt - Building Women and Girls’ Resilience through Social Protection
14-Mar
CSW SIDE EVENT:
Building Private Sector Resiliency to Market Disruption, with a Focus on West African Traders
10-Mar
Empowering women and girls for Ethiopia’s sustainable development
9-Mar
Seminar on the World Bank's contribution to gender reforms in Benin (in person - Cotonou Benin)
9-Mar
Impactful women: examining opportunities and constraints for women in mining organizations worldwide
8-Mar
Fragility Forum event: Building the Evidence Base on Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement
8-Mar
How Exchanges Can Advance Gender Equality - Report Launch
8-Mar
MIGA Gender Leadership Awards
| (WBLive event)
3-Mar
Gender Smart Investing: Private Sector Approaches to advance Gender Equality
1-Mar
Women, Business and the Law global report launch
| (WBLive event)
FEBRUARY
17-Feb
Gender and Multidimensional Poverty in Forced Displacement: Measuring What Matters webinar
| (Webinar)
14-Feb
Setting the Tone for Legal Equality - How the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) Gender Reforms Sparked a Regional Movement (Recording link not available)
11-Feb
International Day of Women and Girls in Science
| (International Day)
10-Feb
Breaking Barriers: Female Entrepreneurs Who Cross Over to Male-Dominated Sectors
| (World Bank Live event)
JANUARY
27-Jan
Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement
| (World Bank Live event)
25-Jan
Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Asia (WEESA) Community of Practice
| (Webinar)
13-Jan
Gender Equality and Development +10: Looking Back to Spring Forward
| (World Bank Live Event)
RELATED
16 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women
International Women's Day 2023 —Accelerating Equality and Empowerment
International Women's Day 2022 —Accelerate Equality: Experience the Impact When you Break the Bias
RESOURCES
Gender Strategy (2024-30)
Gender Data Portal
Country Gender Landscapes
BLOGS
Could digital cash transfers help tackle gender-based violence?
What do we know about gender gaps in paid family leave?
Reducing non-partner gender-based violence with conditional cash transfers in the Philippines
People and planet together: Why women and girls are at the heart of climate action
Empower HER to address food and nutrition security in Africa
Expanding access to childcare helps women, children, and economies
The importance of Somali women in leadership for sustainable development and peace
Voices of women entrepreneurs in a changing Somalia
Want to keep internally displaced people in Somalia out of poverty? Increase women’s economic opportunities
What does climate change mean for indigenous women and their livelihoods in Nepal?
How data can accelerate equality
Working on gender equality - one house at a time
Examining the scale of gender discrimination in hiring practices in Uzbekistan
Do childcare subsidies and employment services increase women’s employment in Egypt?
Reflections on Women and Leadership
Mapping the path to accelerate gender equality
What about the boys? Addressing educational underachievement of boys and men during and beyond the COVID pandemic
We need more girls and women in science. What are three ways in which we can support them?
Three ways to tackle gender data gaps – and 12 countries embracing the challenge
Gender Equality and Development +10: Looking back to spring forward
BRIEF
Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement (GDFD) Research Program
EVENTS
Gender Equality and Development +10: Looking Back to Spring Forward
Gender Dimensions of Forced Displacement
PUBLICATION
Impactful Women : Examining Opportunities and Constraints for Women in Mining Organizations Worldwide
Breaking Barriers: Female Entrepreneurs Who Cross Over to Male-Dominated Sectors
MULTIMEDIA
VIDEO
Mar 17, 2022
#AccelerateEquality on My Mind Interview Series
Interview with Oscar Calvo-Gonzalez, Director of the Human Development and Economic Management Department, Independent Evaluation Group (IEGHE)
MULTIMEDIA
click
VIDEO
Interview with Maurizio Bussolo, Lead Economist, SARCE
click
VIDEO
Interview with Roberta Gatti
click
VIDEO
Interview with Soukeyna Kane, Director, Fragility, Conflict and Violence Group
click
VIDEO
Interview with Sameh Wahba, Global Director, GPURL
click
VIDEO
Interview with Aarthy Arunasalam
click
VIDEO
Interview with Henriette Kolb
click
VIDEO
Gender Equality at a Crossroads
click
VIDEO
Gender Equality at a Crossroads