This study asks a simple question that has significant implications for gender equality. After decades of increasing female participation in the labor market, advances in the labor legislation and persistent gender wage gaps, what are the effects of motherhood on labor force participation and...

"Women at Work: Challenges for Latin America" presents a series of empirical studies that use household survey data from Latin America to analyze trends in female labor force participation rates, the impact of trade liberalization on women's work, tendencies in gender wage differentials and...

"Women at Work: Challenges for Latin America" presents a series of empirical studies that use household survey data from Latin America to analyze trends in female labor force participation rates, the impact of trade liberalization on women's work, tendencies in gender wage differentials and...

Efforts to improve growth and employment in Latin America and the Caribbean must focus on women. The reason is simple but powerful: women are driving economic growth in the region. This is true at both the economy-wide (macro) and the household (micro) levels.Abstract: Los esfuerzos por mejorar...

Entrepreneurship contributes to a vibrant private sector and can stimulate broader economic growth. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have experienced an important growth of microenterprises led by women, but little is known about the factors that explain this trend. This study,...

This report moves beyond the conventional scope of economics to examine three entrenched structural factors -demography, geography and institutions- that are closely connected to economic and social development. Historical in nature and slow to evolve, these variables are not always in the...

In the continuing debate over how to improve education systems, many people argue that teachers' salaries need to be increased. This paper seeks to establish a reliable method for analyzing the issue using household survey data from Bolivia.

Los documentos que se presentan en este volumen incluyen elementos que podrían servir de base para adaptar los objetivos de desarrollo del milenio a las características específicas de la región. Incluyen también un diagnóstico de avance, sugerencias sobre las prioridades de inversión y...

This paper analyzes the evolution of gender differences in school attendance and attainment in Latin America and the Caribbean, for both adults who left the educational system and children in school. For individuals 21 years old and above the paper uses a cohort analysis of school attainment....

Latin America has the dubious distinction of being the region with the highest level of occupational segregation in the world. In this context, this study poses four important questions. Has occupational segregation by sex decreased in the 1990s? Can we expect occupational segregation to decline...