This paper evaluates the impacts of increasing female representation in Bolivian municipal councils on public policy choices and welfare outcomes. By combining detailed administrative panel data on municipal expenditures and revenues together with electoral data, an innovative regression...

Inequality between men and women in Latin America persists in everything from wages to health care, education, and access to credit. Based on studies for an IDB-sponsored forum in Guadalajara, Mexico, this book examines the respective roles of men and women in development. Prevailing social...

Although Japan is much richer than Latin America and income distribution in Japan generally is much more equitable than in Latin America, the Japanese gender gap is one of the worst in the world, much worse than that of many Latin American countries. Using various data, I have tried in the...

According to conventional wisdom, health and education are important factors for economic and social development: they improve productivity and income distribution, and the poor gain the most. Nonetheless, in many regions of the world not all members of society receive these services equally. To...

This Staff Discussion Note examines the effect of gender-based legal restrictions and other policy choices and demographic characteristics on female labor force participation. Drawing on a large and novel panel data set of gender-related legal restrictions, the study finds that restrictions on...

This paper is a critical assessment of role of Micro Financing in providing empowerment and equality to women in Pakistan. Secondary data was used for getting information from documented materials for the paper. It was founded that the loans accessible by MFIs have major effect on the...