female labour force participation

What do we know about the challenges faced by women and girls worldwide, and what can we do about them? Evidence from 18 developing countries helps elucidate this.

The majority of women in Pakistan do not access paid, formal work. They are trapped in low-productivity agriculture and the informal sector by social norms that impose heavy domestic burdens and stigmatise working outside the home. Effective policy m...

Increasing women’s labour force participation and career progression is a key priority for policymakers in developing and developed economies alike. A central question is whether economic development and rising incomes naturally lead to greater femal...

Drawing on the first comparable, country-level evidence base from Argentina, Colombia, Ghana, India, Mexico, and South Africa, the IEA documents significant variation in where and how women exit the academic economics pipeline. The findings suggest t...

Among women in rural Ghana, depression and anxiety reduce take-up for jobs outside the home, but have no effect on productivity or earnings when the same job is offered at home – suggesting that work environment is a key barrier to labour market part...

Expanding paid maternity leave in India from 12 to 26 weeks led employers to cut women's employment by up to 10% and favour men for promotions, while leaving wages unchanged. Women greatly valued longer leaves such that the policy was broadly cost-be...

In Pakistan, encouraging women to apply for jobs immediately after graduation significantly improves their likelihood of working by enabling them to enter the labour market before marriage pressures intensify. Results are driven by the women who misp...

Women’s participation in skills training Pakistan is constrained primarily by social and safety barriers, rather than preferences or the ability to monetise skills. Evidence from interventions that reduce these constraints shows that addressing mobil...