Expanding access to civil registration and identification systems (ID) and closing gender gaps in possession of IDenables governments to respond effectively with social protection and reach economically marginalized women. It's time for women to have an equal share of power and decision-making at all levels. Putting the two together, on average women in China work almost one entire day a week more than men. But it doesnt need to. InCambodia, the Bank is improving the availability of services that are critical to preventing mortality among women; this includes better access to family planning, reduction of teen pregnancies, and effective screening and treatment for cervical cancer. We aggregated the 15 indicators into a Gender Parity Score, or GPS, ranging from zero (no gender equality) to one (full gender equality). Building forward differently and better will hinge on placing women and girls at the centre of all aspects of response and recovery, including through gender-responsive laws, policies and budgeting. The lack of women in decision-making limits the reach and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergency recovery efforts. A new global analysis of progress on gender equality and womens rights shows women and girls remain disproportionately affected by the socioeconomic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling with disproportionately high job and livelihood losses, education disruptions and increased burdens of unpaid care work. The UFGE is a World Bank Group multi-donor trust fund financing research, impact evaluations and data to help policy makers and practitioners close gender gaps in countries and sectors. In 18 economies, the husband has administrative control over marital assets. Jobs held by women have been lost at a faster rate than jobs held by men, and women-owned and -led micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have also been more severely affected. Nigers high prevalence of child marriage and early childbearing translate into high fertility rate and highest population growth rate in the world. A survey of 45,000 firms in low and middle-income countriesfound that women-led small and microbusinesses were much more likely to increase the use of digital platforms compared to those led by men. These trends are similar across regions. Globally, girls continue to lag substantially behind boys in secondary completion rates, and gender bias in the education system reinforces occupational segregation. In Costa Rica, the Bank worked with the government and theForest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF)toconduct a gender analysisthat led to a roadmap and action plan for increasing womens involvement in REDD+ activities. On employment, our researchhas found that womens jobs globally are 1.8 times as vulnerable to this crisis as mens jobs. While absolute scores on equality in society tend to be higher than those of equality in work for most countries, we found virtually no countries with high equality on social indicators and low equality in employment and labor markets. There is a huge amount to do, particularly given that the automation age and now COVID-19 mean that women face new challenges on top of old ones. Underpinning each of these areas requires a fundamental shift in approach: Also a member of the World Bank Group, theIFCtakes a comprehensive approach toreduce gender inequality, providing investment and advisory services to promote business opportunities for women in the private sector, which accounts for an overwhelming majority of jobs in developing and emerging economies. If they have families, they can aim to raise sons and daughters who are not constrained by gender. Globally, part of the reason is that women are disproportionately represented in industries that are expected to decline the most in 2020 due to COVID-19 (Exhibit 3). In Serbia, the Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship Project is contributing to growth and competitiveness by improving scientific research, innovative entrepreneurship and access to finance. In line with the first DPF, the current program seeks to deepen reforms aimed at boosting the financial resilience of households and micro-, small-, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs). Strengthening the link between knowledge and operations, East Asia and the Pacific GIL reviewed the global evidence on institutional childcare and womens employment and outlined design features of childcare interventions that maximize the gains on womens employment outcomes. In spite of greater awareness of the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents, some key issues have not improved. Goal 16. In the COVID-19 era, many companies are exploring family-friendly policies, including flexible and part-time positions, to support workers experiencing an increased childcare burden, as well as rethinking performance reviews and promotions. This includes addressing barriers to access, affordability, knowledge and skills, safety, and security, as well as making relevant content, products, and services more available to women. The DPF series also supports policy measures to enable the rollout of the countrys social protection program. The World Bank Group works in every major area of development. MGI mapped 15 indicators of gender equality in work (how men and women engage in paid work, how they share unpaid work, and their representation in high-productivity and formal jobs, and in leading positions in the economy) and society (essential services and enablers of economic opportunity like digital and financial inclusion, legal protection and political voice, and physical security and autonomy). We are helping women return to economic activity, including through cash-for-work programs, expanded childcare support, agricultural inputs, and better access to credit and liquidity for women-led firms. Were breaking down some of the findings from the report, and calling for the action needed to accelerate progress. After fully disbursing its IDA commitment in two years, the project was expanded through co-financing from Japan, Italy, Canada, and the European Investment Bank. Furthermore, women comprise 70% of the global health and social care workforce, however, they only hold around 25% of decision-making posts. Many are also experiencing decreased access to services, including crisis centers, shelters, legal aid, and protection services. Companies can also use their supply chains and procurement practices to support women-owned businesses and hold suppliers accountable to diversity and inclusion targets. The needs of urban poor women must be prioritized. Peace, justice and strong institutions. Gender equality in society and gender equality in work are correlated based on MGIs analysis of 125 countries. Companies in the top quartile of ethnic and cultural diversity were 36 percent more likely to outperform on profitability. Many adolescents initiate sexual activity later than adolescents in the past. For every 100 men hired or promoted to manager, there are only 72 womenand only 58 black women. Women have suffered steeper job losses than men, along with increased unpaid care burdens at home. Improving human endowments health, education, and social protection. The World Bank Group takes as its starting point that no country, community, or economy can achieve its potential or meet the challenges of the 21st century without the full and equal participation of women and men, girls and boys. The WBG is supporting 49 countries through both financing and technical assistance in strengthening their civil registration (CR) and identification (ID) systems. Womens food insecurity levels were 10 per cent higher than mens in 2020, compared with 6 per cent higher in 2019. TheSecond Laying the Foundation for Inclusive Development Policy Financing (DPF)in Niger supported policy reforms supporting abandoning child marriage, allowing access to family planning assistance to married adolescent girls without parental or husbands mandatory accompaniment, and allowing girls to remain in school in the event of pregnancy or marriage. Over the past decade, South Asia and Europe and Central Asia have seen the most improvement in maternal mortality than other regions theyve decreased their rates by 31% and 23% respectively. But still only a little over a third of graduates in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field are female. That would be roughly equivalent to the GDP of the United States and China. In 2018, nearly 2.3 billion people lived in water-stressed countries. MozambiquesDigital Governance and Economy Projectis promoting access to legal identity for women and girls in practical ways, for example by facilitating ID registration (including birth certificates for girls) when women give birth in health facilities. Reports of violence against women and girls, a shadow pandemic to COVID-19, are increasing in many parts of the world. COVID-19 has added a new lens on the WBGs work in gender. Gender Innovation Labs (GILs) inAfrica,East Asia and the Pacific,Latin America and the Caribbean, theMiddle East and North Africa, andSouth Asia, generate public goods to promote gender equality. In Angola, the BanksGirls Empowerment and Learning for All Projectis working to address a large and rapidly growing population of out-of-school children and youth, particularly girls a situation further exacerbated by COVID-19. Womens voices are often missing in water management processes. Conversely, many economies in the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia regulate childcare services provided by the private sector or by employers only. In South Sudan, nearly half (47%) of displaced women have experienced IPV in the past year a number nearly double the national estimate of 27% and quadruple the global average of about 12%. TheSri Lanka COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Projectis supporting the governments test, track, isolate, and treat strategy to control the pandemic by providing a steady supply of essential medical necessities, testing kits and personal protective equipment (PPE), supporting contact tracing efforts, and maintaining 32 quarantine centers. Women and men alike need to develop (1) the skills that will be in demand; (2) the flexibility and mobility needed to negotiate labor-market transitions successfully; and (3) the access to and knowledge of technology necessary to work with automated systems, including participating in its creation. We-Fi expects to leveragean additional $3.5 billion from public and private funds. The combination of school closures, increased GBV during the pandemic, and disruption of health services may also increase adolescent pregnancy. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; have the opportunity to complete all levels of education; acquire the knowledge and skills to compete in the labor market; learn the socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities and the world. Even before the pandemic, women in low- and middle-income countries were 8% less likely than men to own a mobile phone. Even among individuals who earn the majority of their households income, 43 percent of women who are primary household income earners continue to do all or most of the household work, compared with only 12 percent of men. The global gender gap in food security has risen dramatically during the pandemic, with more women and girls going hungry. Data from surveys conducted in late October 2020 show that 18% of female and 10% of male business leaders spent six or more hours on domestic tasks. Countries withmore gender egalitarian legal regimesgenerally have higher levels of property ownership by women. Improving employment opportunities for women involves not only public policies, programs, and investments, but also engaging the private sector. Growing automation adoption adds to the challenges that women face in the workplace. We have an opportunity now to fix the systems, practices, and funding to build a more inclusive recovery. It also includes addressing gender-based violence (GBV) and its causes, which requires system-wide approaches, and incorporating GBV into health and education responses, promoting economic security to help protect against some forms of violence, and providing services for survivors of GBV. According to recent research covering 48 countries, the difference in the rate of work stoppage is 7 percentage points higher for women than for men. In the past five years, progress has been marginal. Women entrepreneurs are key to the economic recovery but have been extremely hard hit during the COVID-19 crisis. Access to good quality, affordable childcare and reliable and safe transportation can improve labor market and other outcomes for women and men. We provide a wide array of financial products and technical assistance, and we help countries share and apply innovative knowledge and solutions to the challenges they face. Studies consistently reinforce that girls who face multiple sources of disadvantage such as income level, location, disability, and/or ethno-linguistic background are farthest behind. In addition, working women are more likely than their male colleagues to have a working spouse: 81 percent of women are part of a dual-career couple and have two careers to balance, while only 56 percent of men are part of a dual-career couple. Adolescents are the only age group in which HIV-related deaths are not decreasing and from the limited data available, their levels of other sexually transmitted infections are high and growing. Investments include scaling up digital ID and digitalizing cash transfer and other financial services, as well as bundling provision of mobile phones/technology access. We-Fi has allocated $49 million during the COVID-19 crisis for WSME recovery programs and deployed another $55 Million in the early spring of 2022, with a particular focus on urgent issues around finance, data, and technology gaps. They are low labor-force participation in quality jobs (in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa), low maternal and reproductive health (in sub-Saharan Africa), unequal education levels (in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa), financial and digital exclusion (in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa), and girl-child vulnerability (in China and South Asia). To learn more about cookies, click here. In these impact zones, economic growth alone is insufficient to guarantee progress; sustained and proactive interventions will be needed. In Bangladesh, the Emergency Multi-Sector Rohingya Crisis Response Project is financing the establishment of gender-friendly spaces to serve as a safe space for women and adolescent girls, and to provide some immediate GBV response services. Guarantee decent work for all, introduce labour laws/reforms, removing legal barriers for married women entering the workforce, support access to affordable/quality childcare. The research finds that 87 percent of North American companies today report gender diversity is a top priority, compared with 74 percent in 2015, but this reported priority still needs to translate into more decisive action. Improving Digitization through Government-to-Person Payments (G2Px). Women continue to be responsible for the bulk of child and elder care in the home. The public provision of childcare is regulated in nearly all economies in the OECD high-income region and Europe and Central Asia. One in three women globally, including in developed countries like the United States, has experienced violence from an intimate partner at some time in her life. Women of color are especially underrepresented in the North American workforce and face the steepest drop-offs. Many governments and NGOs have developed fruitful partnerships with companies to scale new solutions quickly. Goal 12. In Colombia and Liberia, women who experienced forced displacement or proximity to a conflict death were between 40-55% more likely to experience violence in their lifetime. In some countries like India, women do almost ten times as much unpaid care work as men. Over 150 million women and girls could emerge from poverty by 2030 if governments implement a comprehensive strategy to improve access to education and family planning, achieve equal wages and extend social transfers. Projects are being designed to help female famers gain access to climate-smart production techniques and resources geared toward them, such as training, agricultural inputs, marketing support and financing. According to data collected before the pandemic, maternal mortality was on the decline globally, decreasing to211 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2017, from 342 in 2000. In contrast, in some geographies, economic growth could help advance gender inequality in five regional impact zones where certain aspects of gender inequality are most prominent. As it stands today, only one indicator under the global goal for gender equality (SDG5) is close to target: proportion of seats held by women in local government. Compared to cash, digital financial services offer several potential benefits to women, including greater financial control and lower transaction costs. Womens health services, poorly funded even before the pandemic, faced major disruptions, undermining womens sexual and reproductive health. They are more likely to participate in the formal labor market and earn higher incomes. There are just 9 years left to achieve the Global Goals by 2030, and gender equality cuts across all 17 of them. In many contexts, menstruation is still seen as a taboo topic. disruptions in key health services, including reproductive, adolescent, and maternal health; greater exposure to contagion and mental health stress as women are overrepresented in the health sector and are more likely to be caregivers; jobs held by women have been lost at a faster rate than jobs held by men, and women-owned and -led micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are also more severely affected; increased domestic work and care responsibilities; inadequate social safety nets, including for those who are informally employed, where women are over-represented; gender gaps in access to and use of digital technologies; and.