Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

• The Contribution of African Women to Economic Growth and Development : Historical Perspectives and Policy Implications, Part I, The Pre-colonial and Colonial Periods

  Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Fofack, Hippolyte (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04-27)

  Bringing together history and economics, this paper presents a historical and processual understanding of women's economic marginalization in Sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been economically active or productive; it is rather that they have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three major arguments. First, it discusses the historical processes through which the labor of women was increasingly appropriated even in kinship structures in pre-colonial Africa, utilizing the concepts of "rights in persons" and "wealth in people." Reviewing the processes of production and reproduction, it explains why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were women and discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the cultivation of cash crops and European missionary constructions of the individual, marriage, and family from the early decades of the 19th century sequestered female labor and made it invisible in the realm of domestic production. Third, it discusses how colonial policies from the late 19th century reinforced the "capture" of female labor and the codification of patriarchy through the nature and operation of the colonial economy and the instrumentality of customary law. The sequel to this paper focuses on the post-colonial period. It examines the continuing relevance and impact of the historical processes this paper discusses on post-colonial economies, and suggests some policy implications.
• The Contribution of African Women to
 Economic Growth and Development : Historical Perspectives
 and Policy Implications, Part I, The Pre-colonial and Colonial Periods

  Akyeampong, Emmanuel; Fofack, Hippolyte (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-04)

  Bringing together history and economics,
 this paper presents a historical and processual
 understanding of women's economic marginalization in
 Sub-Saharan Africa from the pre-colonial period to the end
 of colonial rule. It is not that women have not been
 economically active or productive; it is rather that they
 have often not been able to claim the proceeds of their
 labor or have it formally accounted for. The paper focuses
 on the pre-colonial and colonial periods and outlines three
 major arguments. First, it discusses the historical
 processes through which the labor of women was increasingly
 appropriated even in kinship structures in pre-colonial
 Africa, utilizing the concepts of "rights in
 persons" and "wealth in people." Reviewing
 the processes of production and reproduction, it explains
 why most slaves in pre-colonial Africa were women and
 discusses how slavery and slave trade intensified the
 exploitation of women. Second, it analyzes how the
 cultivation of cash crops and European missionary
 constructions of the individual, marriage, and family from
 the early decades of the 19th century sequestered female
 labor and made it invisible in the realm of domestic
 production. Third, it discusses how colonial policies from
 the late 19th century reinforced the "capture" of
 female labor and the codification of patriarchy through the
 nature and operation of the colonial economy and the
 instrumentality of customary law. The sequel to this paper
 focuses on the post-colonial period. It examines the
 continuing relevance and impact of the historical processes
 this paper discusses on post-colonial economies, and
 suggests some policy implications.
• Gender, Mobility, and Middle Class in Europe and Central Asia

  Demarchi, Giorgia; Petesch, Patti L. (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11-09)

  New qualitative fieldwork in eight countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) indicates that the dramatic declines in poverty in much of the region over the last decade do not appear to be registering very favorably with men and women on the ground. This paper provides a gender analysis of findings from equal numbers of sex-specific focus groups with employed and jobless individuals. The methodology featured a standardized package of semi-structured data collection tools, which enabled systematic comparative analysis of the datasets from 37 urban and rural communities across eight countries in the region. While lack of jobs and the rising cost of living are central concerns for both women and men across the sample, the qualitative data highlights important gender differences in how men and women are responding to these challenges that quantitative survey approaches appear to miss. Throughout the sample, women are widely reported to be doing everything they can to pull their households out of poverty or to maintain their families in the middle class, while men voice deep frustration with their weak economic opportunities and the need for additional household members to contribute economically. Women’s increased economic participation in the face of men’s hardships with breadwinning - and the stress on gender roles and relations that this entails - are crucial for making sense of frustrations on the ground despite the region’s significant social and economic development.