Gender

The research program focuses on evidence-based research to better understand the determinants and consequences of gender disparities in access to public services, finance, human development outcomes, and decision-making at the household level, and to examine successful approaches in reducing these disparities. Gender disparities in basic human rights, resources, economic opportunities, and political voice are pervasive around the world.  Often, these disparities are linked to poverty. The Global Monitoring Report (2007) highlights gender equality and empowerment of women and the special problems of fragile states, where extreme poverty is increasingly concentrated.The chapter on empowering women explores the starkly different access to assets and opportunities among men and women around the world. Summary/Fact Sheet

Articles & Briefs The Preference for Sons Does Not Always Decrease with Development Research Brief 2009   Strengthening Education    Featured Article  2007     China’s “Missing Girls”: Son Preference or Hepatitis B Infections?  Research Brief 2007   Youth and Citizenship  Research Brief 2007    Discordant Couples and HIV/AIDS Transmission in Five African Countries    Research Brief 2006

Active Projects

• Fertility, reproductive health, and socioeconomic outcomes
• Gender, poverty, and demography

Related Resources

• Inexcusable Absence (from the Center for Global Development)
• Engendering Development

• Culture
• Education
• Effects of HIV/AIDS
• Gender, ethnicity, and race
• Health
• Household economy

  Culture

• Development, Modernization, and Son Preference in Fertility Decisions. Deon Filmer, Jed Friedman and Norbert Schady. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 4716. September 2008.
• Can Biological Factors like Hepatitis B Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China?: A Review of the Evidence, Monica Das Gupta, The World Bank Research Observer 23(2): 201-217, 2008. Earlier version published as WPS 4502 “Does Hepatitis B infection or son preference explain the bulk of gender imbalance in China?: A review of the evidence”, Jan 2008
• Watta Satta: Bride Exchange and Women's Welfare in Rural Pakistan, Ghazala Mansuri and  Hanan G. Jacoby. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (Revised) 4126 (PDF file ), 2008.
• China’s “Missing Girls"—Son Preference or Hepatitis B Infections?, Monica Das Gupta, World Bank DECRG Research Brief April 2, 2007.
• Bangladesh Gender Assessment: celebrating the victories, addressing the challenges, Washington DC: The World Bank, Maitreyi Das, Sajeda Amin, Monica Das Gupta, Kiersten Johnson, Abul Hossain, Faaria Islam, Shirin Jahangeer, Simeen Mahmud, Wafaas Ofosu Amaah, Jennifer Solotaroff, and Yaniv Stopinsky, 2007.
• Cultural versus Biological Factors in Explaining Asia’s ‘Missing Women’: Response to Oster, Monica Das Gupta, Population and Development Review 32(2): 328-332, (June 2006).
• Superstition, Family Planning, and Human Development, Quy-Toan Do and Duc Phung. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4001, 2006.
• The Economics of Consanguineous Marriages, Quy-Toan Do, Sriya Iyer, and Shareen Joshi. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4085, 2006.
• The Determinants of Gender Equity in India: Examining Dyson and Moore’s Thesis with New Data,Lupin Rahman and Vijayendra Rao. Population and Development Review 30(2): 239–268, 2004.
• Why is Son Preference so Persistent in East and South Asia?: A Cross-Country Study of China, India and the Republic of Korea,Monica Das Gupta, Jiang Zhenghua, Xie Zhenming, Li Bohua, Woojin Chung, and Bae Hwa-Ok Journal of Development Studies, 40(2): 153-187, 2003.
• Lifeboat Versus Corporate Ethic: Social and Demographic Implications of Stem and Joint Families,” Monica Das Gupta, Social Science and Medicine 49(2): 173-184, 1999.

• Getting Girls into School: Evidence from a Scholarship Program in Cambodia. Deon Filmer and Norbert Schady. Economic Development and Cultural Change. 56(3): 581-617, 2008.
• Inequalities in Education: Effects of Gender, Poverty, Orphanhood, and Disability. In Mercy Tembon and Lucia Fort eds. Girls’ Education in the 21st Century: Gender Equality, Empowerment, and Economic Growth., Deon Filmer. Washington DC: World Bank. 2008.
• Armed Conflict and Schooling: Evidence from the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Richard Akresh and Damien de Walque. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4606, 2008.
• If You Build It, Will They Come? School Availability and School Enrollment in 21 Poor Countries. Deon Filmer. Journal of Development Studies. 43(5): 901–928. 2007.
• Schooling, Poverty, and Disadvantage in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic,”Elizabeth M. King, and Dominique van de Walle. In  Exclusion, Gender and Education: Case Studies from the Developing World, eds. M. Lewis and M. Lockheed. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development, 2007.
• Getting Girls into School: Evidence from a Scholarship Program in Cambodia,Deon Filmer and Norbert Schady. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3910, 2006.(Forthcoming in Economic Development and Cultural Change.)
• Parental Education and Children's Schooling Outcomes: Is the Effect Nature, Nurture, or Both? Evidence from Recomposed Families in Rwanda, Damien de Walque. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3483, 2005.
• Gender and Wealth Disparities in Schooling: Evidence from 44 Countries, Deon Filmer. International Journal of Educational Research 43(6): 351-369, 2005.
• If You Build It, Will They Come? School Availability and School Enrollment in 21 Poor Countries, Deon Filmer. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3340, 2004. (Forthcoming in Journal of Development Studies.)

Effects of HIV/AIDS

• Mortality and Economic Growth in the Age of HIV/AIDS, Kathleen Beegle, Joachim De Weerdt, and Stefan Dercon.  Economic Development and Cultural Change (forthcoming). Explores impact of deaths (including whether female or male) on household income/poverty.
• Potential Applications of Conditional Cash Transfers for Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, Carol Medlin and Damien de Walque. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4673, 2008.
• The Economic Impact of AIDS Treatment: Labor Supply in Western Kenya, Harsha Thirumurthy, Joshua Graff Zivin Markus Goldstein, The Journal of Human Resources 43(3):
  511-552, 2008.
• The Determinants of HIV Infection and Related Sexual Behaviors: Evidence from Lesotho, Lucia Corno and Damien de Walque. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4421, 2007.
• Adult Mortality and Children’s Transition into Marriage, Kathleen Beegle and Sofya Krutikova. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4139, 2007. Looks at the impact of orphanhood on early marriage for boys/girls.
• Inequalities in Children’s Schooling: AIDS, Orphanhood, Poverty, and Gender, Martha Ainsworth and Deon Filmer World Development 34(6): 1099-1128, 2006.
• Aids Treatment and Intrahousehold Resource Allocations: Children's Nutrition and Schooling in Kenya, Joshua S. Graff Zivin, Harsha Thirumurthy, and Markus Goldstein, Cambridge, MA, NBER Working Paper Series No.12689, November 2006.
• Orphanhood and the Long-Run Impact on Children, Kathleen Beegle, Joachim De Weerdt, and Stefan Dercon. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 88 (5): 1266-1272, 2006. Looks at the School/health impact of deaths/orphanhood on boys/girls.
• Discordant Couples: HIV Infection among Couples in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania, Damien de Walque ." World Bank Policy Research Working Paper  3956, 2006 .
• Who gets AIDS and How? The Determinants of HIV Infection and Sexual Behaviors in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania, Damien de Walque  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper  3844, 2006 .
• How Does the Impact of an HIV/AIDS Information Campaign Vary with Educational Attainment ? Evidence from Rural Uganda, Damien de Walque. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper  3289, 2004.  

Gender, ethnicity, and race

• Smart Economics, Mayra Buvinic and Elizabeth M. King. Financial Development  44(2, June), 2007.
• Market Returns, Transfers and Demand for Schooling in Malaysia, 1976–89,Kathryn H.Anderson, Elizabeth M. King, and Yan Wang.  The Journal of Development Studies 39 (3, February): 1–28, 2003.
• Testing for Pay and Promotion Bias in an International Organization, Deon P. Filmer, Elizabeth M. King, and Dominique van de Walle. International Journal of Manpower 26 (5): 404-12, 2005. (Based on WPS 1912).
• State Policies and Women’s Agency in China, the Republic of Korea and India 1950-2000: Lessons from Contrasting Experiences, Sunhwa  Lee,  Patricia Uberoi, Danning Wang, Lihong Wang, and Xiaodan Zhang. In Culture and Public Action: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy, Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton (editors). Stanford-California: Stanford University Press, 2004. 

• Can Biological Factors like Hepatitis B Explain the Bulk of Gender Imbalance in China?: A Review of the Evidence, Monica Das Gupta. World Bank Research Observer (forthcoming). 
• Overcoming Women’s Constraints to Accessing Health Services in Pakistan: The Potential of Media and Field Outreach Programs, MonicaDas Gupta, Ghazala Mansuri, Nistha Sinha, and Tara Vishwanath.  In Gender and Access in South Asia, eds., Sonalde Desai and Simeen Mahmud (forthcoming).
• The Decline of Son Preference in South Korea: The Roles of Development and Public Policy,Woojin Chung and Monica Das Gupta.Population and Development Review. 33(4): 757-783 (December 2007).
• Migration, School Attainment and Child Labor: Evidence from Rural Pakistan, Ghazala Mansuri.  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3945, 2006.
• Migration, Sex Bias, and Child Growth in Rural Pakistan, Ghazala Mansuri. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3946, 2006.
• Improving Health Outcomes for Women and Children, Chapter 4 of Tara Vishwanath (ed.) Pakistan Country Gender Assessment. Bridging the Gender Gap: Opportunities and Challenges, Monica Das Gupta and Nistha Sinha. Washington DC: The World Bank, South Asia Region, Environment and Social Development Sector Unit, Report No.32244-PAK, pages 62-85, 2005.
• Explaining Asia’s ‘Missing Women’: A New Look at the Data, Monica Das Gupta.  Population and Development Review, 31(3): 529-535, 2005.
• The Long-Term Legacy of the Khmer Rouge Period in Cambodia, Damien de Walque. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3446, 2004.
• Education, Information, and Smoking Decisions: Evidence from Smoking Histories, 1940-2000,  Damien de Walque.  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3362, 2004.
• Dimensions of Women's Autonomy and the Influence on Maternal Health Care Utilization in a North Indian City, ShelahBloom, David Wypij, and Monica Das Gupta. Demography, 38(1): 67-78, 2001.
• Gender Disparity in South Asia: Comparisons Between and Within Countries, Deon Filmer, Elizabeth M. King, Lant Pritchett.  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 1867, 1998.
• Gender Bias in China, South Korea and India 1920-1990: The Effects of War, Famine and Fertility Decline,” Monica Das Gupta and Li Shuzhuo  Development and Change 30(3): 619-652, 1999. (Special Issue on Gendered Poverty and Wellbeing (ed. Shahra Razavi)).
• Fertility and Son Preference in Korea, Ulla Larsen, Woojin Chung, and Monica Das Gupta. 1998.  Population Studies 52(3): 317-325, 1998.

 Household economy

• Race, Immigration, and the U.S. Labor Market: Contrasting the Outcomes of Foreign Born and Native Blacks, Damien de Walque, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4737, 2008.
• The Profits of Power: Land Rights and Agricultural Investment in Ghana, Markus Goldstein, Christopher Udry, Journal of Political Economy  116(6): 981-1022, Dec. 2008.
• Are Women More Credit Constrained? Experimental Evidence on Gender and Microenterprise Returns, Suresh de Mel, David McKenzie, Christopher Woodruff,  World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 4746, October 2008.
• Helping Women Respond to the Global Food Price Crisis, Agnes Quisumbing, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, and Lucy Bassett with contributions by Michael Usnick, Lauren Pandolfelli, Cheryl Morden, and Harold Alderman, IFPRI Policy Brief 7, October 2008.
• Addressing Unequal Economic Opportunities: A Case Study of Land Tenure in Ghana, Markus Goldstein and Christopher Udry. Development Outreach, WBI. September 2005.

Selected Policy Research Working Papers on Gender
(Please use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view  PDF files)
The following policy research working papers are drawn from the World Bank's institutional archives. Each link opens a page with an abstract of the document and several download options.