World Bank Group
Gender Action Plan
Gender Equality as Smart Economics
Lucia Fort
The World Bank
August 9, 2007
Overall objectives of the Gender
Action Plan
Promote women’s economic advancement
through interventions at:
Policy level
Make markets
work for women
Agency level
Empower women to
compete in markets
Framework
Policy
Level
Agency
Level
Product Markets
Include female-owned
businesses and farms in
supply chains
Form women’s business,
purchasing, and transport
associations
Financial Markets
Offer commercial credit
lines and financial services
for women
Support self-help groups and
savings associations
Land Markets
Promote joint titling to land Ensure women’s participation
to enable women to access in land adjudication and
loans
registration processes
Labor Markets
Certify good gender
practices in firms
Provide labor intermediation
services to young women
Infrastructure Increases Access to all 4 Markets
Four Action Areas
Action 1: Engender
Operations &
Technical
Assistance in
Economic Sectors
Action 2: Implement
Results-Based
Initiatives (RBIs)
.
Core Objective
Empower women to
compete in:
•Product markets
•Financial markets
•Land markets
•Labor markets
. Action 4:
Undertake a
Targeted
Communications
Campaign
Action 3: Improve
Research &
Statistics
Expected Results

Action 1. Increase in attention to and action on gender issues in the
Bank Group’s work.

Action 2. Improvements in policies and programs that enhance
women’s access to economic resources and their participation in
markets.

Action 3. A growing body of knowledge and increased research
capacity in countries on the links between gender, poverty reduction,
and growth, and use of that information to inform policies and
programs.

Action 4. Harmonization of donor support for the economic
empowerment of women and a growing focus in client countries on
supporting women’s economic activities
Characteristics of Results-Based
Initiatives (RBIs)

Emphasis on women’s economic empowerment

Emphasis on capacity building and skills development

Emphasis on piloting new and scaling up proven interventions

Emphasis on measurable results, impact evaluation

Pool together the best expertise on implementation and technical
assistance for partnership

Can be stand-alone or part of a Bank lending/grants
Examples of RBIs with Direct Impact on
Women’s Economic Participation
o Agricultural production and services for rural women: to increase access
to production and processing resources, employment and income
opportunities.
o Financial and business services: to strengthen and expand women’s
enterprises.
o Labor intermediation services and traineeship programs: to ease women's
transition between school and work with private sector providers.
o Public employment guarantee programs: to expand women’s access and
commitment to the labor market.
o Innovative childcare programs in private sector firms: to improve women’s
productivity by reducing their child care responsibilities.
Examples of RBIs with Indirect impact
on women’s economic advancement
o Legal training: to improve women’s awareness of available legal
protections and enhance their ability to use the laws and legal
services for protection and income generation.
o Community-based awareness and training programs: to
facilitate formation of farmers’ cooperative, teach women technical
and scientific skills to manage their businesses.
o Legal, policy and regulatory reforms (family protection,
revisions of inheritance laws, repeal of prohibitions for women): to
revise gender discriminatory laws and labor codes and to enable
women to own assets independently of husbands.
o Going beyond microfinance: to reduce women's constraints to
access formal financial services through the private banking
system.
Performance Indicators

Increased percentage of operations in agriculture, transport, energy,
water and private sector development with highly satisfactory
gender content

Increased percentage of en-gendered analytical work, e.g., ICAs,
GGAs

Increased understanding about the determinants of women’s
economic empowerment

Increase in use of research results in formulating country
assistance strategies

Improvements in quality and availability of sex-disaggregated labor
force and employment data
List of Possible Focus Countries
Low Income
*Afghanistan
*Cambodia
*Ethiopia
*Ghana
*Honduras
*Kenya
*Lao PDR
*Malawi
*Mauritania
*Mongolia
*Mozambique
*Niger
*Papua New Guinea
*Senegal
*Tajikistan
*Tanzania
*Timor-Leste
*Uganda
*Vietnam
*Yemen
Fragile States
*Liberia
*Sierra Leone
*Sudan
Middle Income
*Armenia
*Chile
*China
*Egypt
*Guatemala
*Indonesia
*Morocco
*Nicaragua
*Peru
*Philippines
*Uruguay