World Bank 2022 Drivers of Gender Inequality in Middle East and North Africa

The World Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has launched a research program on “Drivers of Gender Inequality in Middle East and North Africa.” The program aims to produce a series of academic research papers. The main objective of the program is to build a fresh body of empirical studies on the drivers of gender inequalities and find evidence on what works to close the gender gaps in MENA. This accompanies another research program on “Margins of Adjustments to Labor Market Shocks in MENA.” The widening gender gaps resulting from the COVID pandemic have adversely impacted women’s incomes, employment, educational opportunities, and poverty while increasing unpaid work and care burdens. The program welcomes submissions of research proposals to be sponsored by the program. The Research Program team is thus seeking research proposals on the following broad topics: What Are the Drivers of Female Labor Market Participation? The goal is to understand the underlying factors contributing to women’s low economic participation in the labor markets. This could include unpaid work and care, discriminatory social norms and gender roles, misperceptions, and behavioral change in particular groups, including men, gender pay and asset gaps, education and skills mismatch puzzle, glass ceiling, and glass wall – invisible barriers preventing women from advancing their career and moving into male-dominated fields and jobs – access to and use of digital, and safe public transport.  2. How Important are Measurement Issues for Empirical Indicators of Female and Male Labor Market Outcomes? The extent of women’s economic participation depends on how it is measured and who is doing the measuring. Important research areas could include the definition of work, unpaid work and care, informality, and impacts of measurement errors on female labor force participation (FLFP). A particular focus would be on collecting and disseminating quality gender-disaggregated data, improving household survey designs to capture gender-specific control and ownership of economic and financial resources, and use of unconventional data.       3. How Does Inequality in the Distribution of Economic Resources Affect Labor Market Outcomes? The goal is to understand the relationship between the distribution of asset ownership, access to and control of productive assets, and women’s economic participation in the labor market. This could include intra-household?inequality?of?asset?ownership that may affect decision-making power, property rights, legal and inheritance law, climate change and fragility, and green jobs.