Presentation at the PREM Learning Event by Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, MNA, The World Bank

1. GAD Board Meeting March 22, 2010 Presentation at the PREM Learning Event by Nadereh Chamlou, Senior Advisor, MNA, The World Bank

2. Ratio of actual to predicted FLFP Ratio of actual to potential FLFP Countries above the line over-utilize female capacity relative to actual FLFP Countries below the line underutilize investments in female capacity relative to actual FLFP • Predicted or potential FLFP rates are: • based on the characteristics of each country’s female population (fertility rate, education, population age profile) • calculated using panel regression analysis for 71 countries and three points in time 1980, 2000, 2005.

3. Commonly held beliefs • If women do not work outside, they work inside the home and are informal – hence economically active one way or the other • If women have skills they participate in the labor market – educate and train them and they’ll join • It’s childcare that is holding back women’s work outside…more maternity leave and more child care can fix the problem.

4. In this presentation, we explore three factors • Do women work disproportionately informally? • What are the factors affecting women’s work inside and outside the home? • Do social norms play a role in women’s access to economic opportunity?

5. Main Messages The perception is that if women don’t work in formal jobs, they are economically active from home or in the informal sector. Not so. Home-based and informality far less prevalent than expected – no substitute for formal opportunities. Not enough opportunities for the women in the middle, either by education, age or by social class. Job creation efforts too much focused on the micro/poor/uneducated or the skilled/educated/young. Middle class married women with secondary education are the forgotten middle. A major barrier to women’s work inside or outside the home are social norms and conservative attitudes. A high share of men are still opposed to women’s work. Being married is a higher barrier to women’s work than child and elderly care.

6. A. Approach based on : • Pilot conducted in Tehran, showing high incidence of home-based work, and entrepreneurship. • Lessons learnt from pilot used in design of survey in 3 MENA capitals. • Data collected concurrently in 3 capitals representative of regional diversity & endowment. B. Survey and Data • Sampling: two-stages cluster stratified sampling method • Data collected: household and individual characteristics, employment, home-based activities, social norms and attitudes • Use of capital cities as control for various country specific factors, as capitals enjoy similar positions within their respective countries, access to resources and sophistication.

7. Regression Results

8. In Amman and Cairo, the poor women work less • In Sana’a the richer women work less

9. Except for Sana’a, male – female education levels are roughly similar , in “low to high” education. • Women more represented with “no education” • FLFP much higher with high education – across the board • Unusually low participation rates of women with completed secondary education across all three countries. • Low participation rate of women with low or no education, even though presumably among the poor.

10. Does Home-Based Work Provide an Option to Women’s Economic Empowerment? • Unlike pilot in Tehran, incidence of home-based is smaller than expected. This debunks the myth that women are massively engaged in home-based. This indicates that they may face similar barriers in working even from home • However, still 1 in 6 women in Amman, 1 in 5 in Cairo is likely to be home-based, self-employed or an entrepreneur. With dearth of opportunities to work in public or private sectors, this is an option that needs to expand.

11. Characteristics of Home-Based Workers

12. Characteristics of working outside, H-B, and OLF female workers & Informality of male and female workers 12

14. Amman Cairo possible harassment in outside jobs * possible harassment in outside jobs spouse/husband's wish * spouse/husband's wish better conditions of employment * better conditions of employment transportation problems * transportation problems * care of other family members * care of other family taking care of children * taking care of children * flexible time distribution flexible time distribution lower cost of operations * lower cost of operations 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % of total H - B % of total H - B female male female male * differences are statistically significant * differences are statistically significant Sana'a possible harassment in outside jobs * spouse/husband's wish better conditions of employment * transportation problems care of other family members * taking care of children flexible time distribution lower cost of operations 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % of total H - B female male * differences are statistically significant Factors influencing women’s home-based work differ by country. Male female differences also very different from country to country. Men engage in home-based for different reasons.

15. Still considerable objection to women working outside • Women’s attitudes considerably more positive. Only 1 out of 5 to 9 women having some objections to women working outside, with Cairo being, surprisingly, the highest. • But, men’s attitudes toward women working outside considerably more negative, 1 out of 3 men still against the idea of women working outside. • Women’s views against working outside is mostly tied to work/life balance. • But, men’s objection toward women’s work outside more driven by social norms and concerns of being in dangerof facing sexual harassment.

16. Attitudes toward women working outside affects women’s ability and decision to work outside. • Labor force participation in households positively exposed to women’s work outside is a multiple of households opposed.

17. Main factors affecting female labor force participation (FLFP) • 1) More opportunities for medium/low educated women. Across countries, women with completed high and elementary schooling work, but not in MENA, despite the fact that girls score higher than boys in standardized tests. Hence, lack of skills is not a reason for low FLFP when compared to other countries and to men of similar education level. Most job creation schemes focus on the well educated who already participate at a high rate. 2) More efforts to bring married women to the work force. Child or elderly care impact women less than marriage itself. Thus, legal and institutions within marriage (e.g. husband’s permission to work, family laws) may be a binding factor. 3) More emphasis on changing social norms and conservative attitudes vis-à-vis women’s work, i.e. men’s attitude and objection. Younger men across most income and education groups are more conservative than their parents, despite more schooling. Gender-stereotyping in schools may still persist and needs to be removed.