Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) / Croissance de l’économie et débouchés économiques des femmes (CEDEF)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10625/56822

Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW)

The Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) program worked with 14 research teams around the world to generate evidence on women’s economic empowerment and to promote the use of research by key decision-makers.

Women are constrained in their economic activities and face significant challenges as they try to accumulate assets and pursue better paid and more productive jobs. Deeply rooted and restrictive social norms and women’s dual roles as caregivers and breadwinners limit their choices and access to opportunities.

For five years, GrOW has generated knowledge to determine the best ways to overcome these obstacles. It has provided evidence to inform social and economic policies that improve poor women’s lives while promoting economic growth. GrOW has helped to enhance the research capacity of young and Southern-based researchers and the program promoted the use of research by decision-makers — and these efforts will continue.

The CA$18 million program launched in 2013 in partnership with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the UK’s Department for International Development.



Croissance de l’économie et débouchés économiques des femmes (CEDEF)

Le programme Croissance de l’économie et débouchés économiques des femmes (CEDEF) a travaillé avec 14 équipes de recherche partout dans le monde dans le but de produire de nouvelles connaissances sur l’émancipation économique des femmes et de promouvoir la recherche auprès des décideurs clés.

Les femmes sont limitées dans leurs activités économiques et font face à des défis importants lorsqu’elles tentent d’accumuler des actifs et d’obtenir des emplois mieux rémunérés et plus productifs. Les normes sociales restrictives et profondément enracinées ainsi que le double rôle assumé par les femmes, soit le rôle de pourvoyeuse de soins et de soutien de famille, limitent leurs choix et leur accès aux débouchés.

Pendant cinq ans, le programme CEDEF a généré des connaissances afin de déterminer les meilleures façons de surmonter ces obstacles. Il a fourni des données probantes pour éclairer les politiques sociales et économiques qui améliorent les conditions de vie des femmes pauvres, tout en favorisant la croissance économique. Le programme CEDEF a contribué à améliorer la capacité de recherche des jeunes chercheurs et des chercheurs dans les pays du Sud, et il a promu l’utilisation de la recherche par les décideurs – et ces efforts se poursuivront.

Le programme de 18 millions de CAD a été lancé en 2013 en partenariat avec la Fondation William et Flora Hewlett et le Department for International Development du Royaume-Uni.


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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 20 of 97
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    Examen des données probantes relatives à la crise mondiale des services de garde d’enfants et de la voie à suivre pour la reprise et la résilience après la covid-19
    (2021) Grantham, Kate; Rouhani, Leva; Gupta, Neelanjana; Melesse, Martha; Dhar, Diva; Mehta, Soumya Kapoor; Bhalla, Saachi; Nandi, Subhalakshmi; Kingra, Kanika Jha
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    Evidence review of the global childcare crisis and the road for post-covid-19 recovery and resilience
    (2021) Grantham, Kate; Rouhani, Leva; Gupta, Neelanjana; Melesse, Martha; Dhar, Diva; Mehta, Soumya Kapoor; Kingra, Kanika Jha
    The inequalities women face are not new, but the pandemic has exacerbated and laid them bare. This brief calls for action in three areas: 1) Governments must ramp up investment in gender-responsive public services 2) Governments must increase public and private financing for the child care sector and enhance income support for both centre-based and domestic childcare workers 3) Effective policy will include promoting dialogue with childcare workers and strengthening their rights. The evidence and analysis include some national programmes which have been implemented during the pandemic (July 2020- February 2021).
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    Evidence review of the global childcare crisis and the road for post-covid-19 recovery and resilience : recovering from COVID-19 : the case for investing in childcare
    (2021) Grantham, Kate
    A recent review of evidence points to ways the pandemic has deepened the childcare crisis and widened gender gaps. New analysis by Oxfam (2020) finds that 84% of the International Monetary Fund’s COVID-19 loans encourage, and in some cases require, poor countries to adopt austerity measures which could disproportionately disadvantage the poor and women, whose unpaid care work must compensate for the shortfall in access to social services. The solutions presented are informed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) “5Rs of care”: recognise, reduce, and redistribute unpaid care work and increase the rewards and representation of paid care workers.
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    Women’s economic empowerment : insights from Africa and South Asia
    (Routledge, 2021-03-05) Kate Grantham; Gillian Dowie; Arjan de Haan
    This book examines women’s economic empowerment in a range of developing country contexts, investigating the societal structures and norms which keep women from achieving economic equality. Despite global progress in closing gender gaps in education and health, women’s economic empowerment has lagged behind, with little evidence that economic growth promotes gender equality. IDRC’s Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) programme was set up to provide policy lessons, insights, and concrete solutions that could lead to advances in gender equality, particularly on the role of institutions and macroeconomic growth, barriers to labour market access for women, and the impact of women’s care responsibilities. This book showcases rigorous and multidisciplinary research emerging from this ground-breaking program, covering topics such as school-to-work transition, child marriage, unpaid domestic work and childcare, labour market segregation, and the power of social and cultural norms that prevent women from fully participating in better paid sectors of the economy. With a range of rich case studies from Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Nepal, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, and Uganda, this book is perfect for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working on women’s economic empowerment and gender equality in the Global South. The editors Kate Grantham is an international development researcher, educator, and consultant focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. Gillian Dowie is a senior program officer in the Sustainable Inclusive Economies program at IDRC, currently based in New Delhi, India. Arjan de Haan is a senior program specialist with IDRC’s Sustainable Inclusive Economies program.
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    Women’s economic empowerment in East Africa : a regional overview
    (2020-12) IDRC
    Gender labour market segregation is deeply entrenched across East Africa, with women overrepresented in the informal economy, often pursuing opportunities in agriculture or trade out of financial distress or their need for flexibility to juggle family demands. Formally employed women are more likely to be in clerical support or service and sales roles. Labour segregation has seen women’s economic opportunities disproportionately curtailed by COVID-19. Training initiatives that empower women in household bargaining or encourage men to recognize women’s paid or unpaid work have proven effective in the few settings where it has been studied.
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    Mapping the policy landscape for women’s economic empowerment in Tanzania
    (2020-12) IDRC
    Part of the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) East Africa initiative, the policy brief recommends establishing a community of practice, hosting an annual research gathering, and establishing an online research hub to share learning, strengthen the uptake of evidence, and enhance coordination between stakeholders. Women in Tanzania have among the highest birth rates in the world and almost two in five girls marry before their 18th birthday, reducing their chances of higher education. While poverty has diminished in recent years, 45.1% of rural female-headed households were poor (2014/2015).
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    Mapping the policy landscape for women’s economic empowerment in Ethiopia
    (2020-12) IDRC
    Women remain disadvantaged by underdevelopment in the health sector, by the unequal distribution of unpaid care work, and by disparities in educational attainment and economic opportunities. As roughly 40% of workers in agriculture, which accounts for 35.8% of Ethiopia’s GDP, over half of all women receive no payment, and those who are paid earn less than men. The mapping process found that action research with policy makers can play a crucial role by emphasizing increased poverty related to unpaid care work, job market segregation, the lack of adequate social protection and child care, gender-based violence, and gender discrimination as social norms.
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    Mapping the policy landscape for women’s economic empowerment in Uganda
    (2020-12) IDRC
    To address persistent constraints to women’s advancement in Uganda, a research program to build a strong database on Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) and to evaluate the effectiveness of relevant policies, would help to inform future policies. Policy and legal reforms have largely focused on improving employment prospects in the formal sector, yet women are concentrated in informal and unpaid employment, and further held back by the burden of domestic care. This brief captures the main findings of a scoping paper that highlights policies, plans, and initiatives related to Women’s Economic Empowerment. The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a serious impact on labour market participation.
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    Mapping the policy landscape for women’s economic empowerment in Kenya
    (2020-12) IDRC
    Even as it nears middle-income country status, evidence indicates Kenya’s poverty is feminized and women are marginalized. This policy brief captures findings of a scoping paper that maps the policy landscape for Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), with a focus on policies and programs related to workforce gender segregation, women’s collective action and agency, and unpaid care work. Along with COVID-19, Kenya endured concurrent natural disasters in 2020 including plagues of locusts, drought, floods and destruction of key infrastructure. Rural women who subsist on agriculture have been on the frontlines of these calamities. Women are concentrated in agriculture, making up 75% of the labour force on smallholder farms.
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    Mapping the policy landscape for women’s economic empowerment in Rwanda
    (2020-12) IDRC
    The paper documents in-country knowledge, innovations, and potential solutions to empower women, focusing on Unpaid Care Work (UCW), gender segregation in the labour market, and women’s collective action. This policy brief outlines women’s status in Rwanda, including key national policies concerning women. Among the programs addressing UCW are the UN Joint Programme on Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment (JPRWEE) and ActionAid Rwanda’s POWER program. JPRWEE addresses the UCW burden by promoting energy saving technologies such as water harvesting tanks, greenhouses, compost management, and small-scale irrigation. As family providers and caregivers, women and girls are among the most vulnerable to impacts of COVID-19.
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    Policy mapping : women’s economic empowerment in Rwanda
    (2020-12) Kaitesi Katabarwa, Judith
    This detailed mapping paper provides context on women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in Rwanda and assesses existing gaps in research, with specific focus on three priority themes: unpaid care work (UCW), gender segregation in labour markets, and women’s collective action. Women continue to lag behind in terms of employment opportunities and have low involvement in entrepreneurship, business development, and cooperatives due to unpaid care work, and lack of specific skills and capacities. The impacts on WEE domains are limited by the small and scattered nature of most programs and projects. The paper identifies a number of policy entry points.
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    Women’s economic empowerment in East Africa: an analysis of the literature and data
    (2020-12) Euromonitor International
    Strengthening women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in East Africa is critical for national economic growth, human rights, and progress toward the globally adopted Sustainable Development Goals. To gain deeper insights into WEE and understand the gaps in evidence, Euromonitor International explored existing literature and data on the causes and impacts of employment segregation in five countries of East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. It also examined the role of unpaid care work as a barrier to WEE, and the potential for women’s collectives to expand their opportunities.
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    Policy mapping: women's economic empowerment in Ethiopia
    (2020-12) Includovate
    This scoping paper highlights policies, plans, and initiatives related to women’s economic empowerment in Ethiopia. It identifies entry points where further research may strengthen policies, and stakeholders who may champion some of the work going forward. The authors, who have expert knowledge of the policy landscape, conducted a rapid assessment through a systematic review of literature.