Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women?
Around the world, women face persistent barriers in seeking to enter the labor force, attain leadership positions, and launch businesses. Gender inequality not only prevents women from achieving their full potential and gaining economic independenc...
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/970491562785360610/Women-at-Work-How-Can-Investment-Incentives-Be-Used-to-Enhance-Economic-Opportunities-for-Women http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32055 |
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okr-10986-320552022-09-20T00:14:07Z Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? Kronfol, Hania Nichols, Alison Tran, Trang Thu INVESTMENT INCENTIVES INVESTMENT POLICY SUBSIDIES GOVERNMENT GRANTS GENDER EQUALITY GENDER EQUITY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY Around the world, women face persistent barriers in seeking to enter the labor force, attain leadership positions, and launch businesses. Gender inequality not only prevents women from achieving their full potential and gaining economic independence, but also inhibits the growth of national economies. In a context of growing global competition for private investment, policymakers face the timely challenge of ensuring that women are not left behind in the development agenda. This working paper identifies and analyzes investment incentives that governments can provide to businesses with the aim of promoting gender equality. Barriers to gender equality in the workplace include supply-side barriers that make it difficult for women to find jobs or investment financing, and demand-side barriers that make it more costly for firms or investors to hire or fund women. The paper discusses three main types of investment incentives that governments may use to address these barriers: (i) subsidies and grants, (ii) tax incentives, and (iii) public procurement incentives. Because incentives run the risk of creating market inefficiencies and leading to redundant outcomes, their use should be carefully conceived and implemented. The effectiveness of these instruments will depend on the underlying constraints to gender equality, the targeted policy goals, implementation features, and the broader enabling environment. Relevant studies and experiences from several countries are used to explore when and how governments might use investment incentives to promote gender equality. 2019-07-11T15:58:19Z 2019-07-11T15:58:19Z 2019-07 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/970491562785360610/Women-at-Work-How-Can-Investment-Incentives-Be-Used-to-Enhance-Economic-Opportunities-for-Women http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32055 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8935 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
INVESTMENT INCENTIVES INVESTMENT POLICY SUBSIDIES GOVERNMENT GRANTS GENDER EQUALITY GENDER EQUITY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY |
| spellingShingle |
INVESTMENT INCENTIVES INVESTMENT POLICY SUBSIDIES GOVERNMENT GRANTS GENDER EQUALITY GENDER EQUITY FEMALE LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY Kronfol, Hania Nichols, Alison Tran, Trang Thu Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8935 |
| description |
Around the world, women face persistent
barriers in seeking to enter the labor force, attain
leadership positions, and launch businesses. Gender
inequality not only prevents women from achieving their full
potential and gaining economic independence, but also
inhibits the growth of national economies. In a context of
growing global competition for private investment,
policymakers face the timely challenge of ensuring that
women are not left behind in the development agenda. This
working paper identifies and analyzes investment incentives
that governments can provide to businesses with the aim of
promoting gender equality. Barriers to gender equality in
the workplace include supply-side barriers that make it
difficult for women to find jobs or investment financing,
and demand-side barriers that make it more costly for firms
or investors to hire or fund women. The paper discusses
three main types of investment incentives that governments
may use to address these barriers: (i) subsidies and grants,
(ii) tax incentives, and (iii) public procurement
incentives. Because incentives run the risk of creating
market inefficiencies and leading to redundant outcomes,
their use should be carefully conceived and implemented. The
effectiveness of these instruments will depend on the
underlying constraints to gender equality, the targeted
policy goals, implementation features, and the broader
enabling environment. Relevant studies and experiences from
several countries are used to explore when and how
governments might use investment incentives to promote
gender equality. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Kronfol, Hania Nichols, Alison Tran, Trang Thu |
| author_facet |
Kronfol, Hania Nichols, Alison Tran, Trang Thu |
| author_sort |
Kronfol, Hania |
| title |
Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? |
| title_short |
Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? |
| title_full |
Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? |
| title_fullStr |
Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Women at Work : How Can Investment Incentives Be Used to Enhance Economic Opportunities for Women? |
| title_sort |
women at work : how can investment incentives be used to enhance economic opportunities for women? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2019 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/970491562785360610/Women-at-Work-How-Can-Investment-Incentives-Be-Used-to-Enhance-Economic-Opportunities-for-Women http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32055 |
| _version_ |
1764475694356627456 |