LESS THAN T Wo Dollars a Day:
Creating Economic Opportunity for Women and Men
Living in Extreme Poverty in Developing Countries
SPONSORED BY:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................... 1
THE INFORMAL ECONOMY
& ITS CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPMENT.......................... 2
THE POWER OF WOMEN’S COLLECTIVES.. ....................... 2
GOALS & METHODOLOGY. ....................................... 4
THE DEMOGRAPHIC CONTEXT............................... 5
AGING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
FOR WOMEN’S OPPORTUNITY. . .......................................... 5
THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF THOSE
LIVING IN POVERTY............................................................... 5
INFORMAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY....................................... 6
WHAT THE LITERATURE SAYS . ................................. 9
MARKET ACCESS LITERATURE............................................. 9
PROPERTY AND ASSETS LITERATURE.. ............................... 10
INFORMAL ECONOMY LITERATURE................................... 10
FINDINGS FROM FOCUS GROUPS
IN HAITI & GHANA ..................................................... 12
INFORMAL ECONOMY INFRASTRUCTURE........................ 12
REGULATION AND STATE PROTECTION........................... 13
ORGANIZING AND LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT............ 13
FINDINGS FROM INTERVIEWS
WITH EXPERT INFORMANTS..................................... 15
THE GAPS IN DATA & RESEARCH ............................ 16
POLICY AGENDAS ON
THE INFORMAL ECONOMY....................................... 17
MOVING FORWARD: RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR STAKEHOLDERS. ................................................. 20
FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS:.................................................... 20
FOR DONORS (PRIVATE AND PUBLIC):.. ............................ 20
FOR PRACTITIONERS:........................................................... 21
FOR RESEARCHERS:.. ............................................................. 21
FOR ADVOCATES:.................................................................. 21
A LISTING OF RESEARCH REPORTS
& STUDIES REFERENCED........................................... 22
MARKET ACCESS.................................................................... 23
PROPERTY RIGHTS.. ............................................................... 23
INFORMAL ECONOMY.. ......................................................... 23
LESS THAN T Wo Dollars a Day:
Creating Economic Opportunity for Women and Men
Living in Extreme Poverty in Developing Countries
BY RITU SHARMA AND ELISE YOUNG | 2014
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 2013 and early 2014, Women Thrive Worldwide
conducted research on three major, overlapping areas that
are important to the economic advancement of people
living on less than $2USD a day: market access, property
rights, and the informal economy. Our goal was to inform
a new multi-year policy initiative on women’s economic
opportunity that Women Thrive will launch in fall 2014.
social protections, and the growing “informalization” of
formal sector wage labor.
If the broader issues of the informal economy are
not addressed, the sustainability of market access and
property rights interventions may be limited, and most
importantly, the ability of people living in extreme
poverty to have decent livelihoods will be stunted.
This report provides the summary of that research
and key recommendations for stakeholders working to
advance women’s economic opportunities.
We also found women’s economic collectives to be
critically important for reaching the very poorest women
in communities.
The research methodology included a review of relevant
demographic trends; literature scans on the three topics;
focus groups with grassroots organizations and women
and men living in poverty in Haiti and Ghana; and
interviews with practitioners, policy makers, advocates,
scholars, and donors worldwide.
“IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A SYSTEMIC
CHANGE FOR THE BOTTOM QUINTILE OF
WOMEN, YOU NEED TO TAKE A HOLISTIC
Our overriding finding is that, while market access and
property rights are critical for the economic advancement
of women in poverty, the development community and
donors must also carefully consider several factors of the
overall informal economy—such as the lack of reliable
contracts for employees and producers, the absence of
APPROACH. WHAT WORKS FOR BUSINESS
WOMEN DOES NOT NECESSARILY WORK
FOR THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID.”
– GLOBAL NORTH RESEARCHER
PHOTO: Claude Renault
1
Definitions for the Informal Economy
Informal sector refers to the production and employment that takes place in unincorporated, small, or
unregistered enterprises
Informal employment refers to employment without legal and social protection—both inside and outside the
informal sector
Informal economy refers to all units, activities, and workers so defined and the output from them. Together, they
form the broad base of the workforce and economy, both nationally and globally.
Source: Chen 2012, WIEGO Working Paper # 1
inclusive enough for those at the base of the pyramid,
they are unlikely to reduce overall poverty.
THE INFORMAL ECONOMY & ITS
CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPMENT
The informal economy is massive and diverse. It ranges
from enterprises of elite populations that are evading
taxation to subsistence level producers that lack rights
and protection. In addition, segmentation of production
through outsourcing and sub-contracting has widened
the gap between producers and buyers. Both women and
men in developing countries engage in a great variety of
economic activities, have diverse skill sets, and experience
different conditions in the work that they perform. In
addition, great fluidity and mobility exist between the
informal and formal economies, with many linkages
between the two.
THE POWER OF WOMEN’S COLLECTIVES
Working with women who face numerous overlapping
barriers such as illiteracy, ethnic marginalization, violence,
and immobility can be a difficult process. Grassroots
organizations, women’s collectives, and women’s chapters
within larger groups offer creative solutions for mitigating
some of these challenges, reducing the risks, and engaging
low-income women in value chains.
Focus group participants in Haiti and Ghana, for
example, gave recommendations on how to aid
women’s participation in the informal economy, which
has received less attention in the body of existing
literature. Common recommendations fell into four
general categories: the need for more informal economy
infrastructure, better regulation of commerce, state
protection for informal workers and producers, and
far greater attention to women’s collective action and
leadership development.
Similarly, the dominant discourse and programming on
women’s economic opportunity does not make sufficient
distinctions between populations of women. Highly
educated, well-connected women in elite circles are
conceptually grouped together with illiterate, marginalized
women at the base of the economic pyramid.
Many donor efforts aimed at sparking economic
opportunities for people in developing countries have
encountered challenges in reaching those living in
extreme poverty, even when poverty reduction is a
stated goal. Participant selection processes, particularly
for corporate philanthropy around women’s economic
opportunity, can skew toward middle- and upper-income
people. Women with relatively higher-incomes, more
education, and fewer social barriers present lower risk
and can get faster, more impressive returns on donor
investments. Yet, if economic growth initiatives are not
“THE EXTENT TO WHICH GROWTH
REDUCES POVERTY DEPENDS ON
THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE POOR
PARTICIPATE IN THE GROWTH PROCESS
AND SHARE IN ITS PROCEEDS.”
– UK DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID)
2
Women in the focus groups highlighted the vital role that
collectives play in managing care responsibilities for both
children and the elderly, accessing capital from loans to
land, and finding creative ways to process and market
their products when loans do not come through. Some
mixed farmer groups of men and women voiced how
gender sensitivity trainings opened their collective eyes
and how joint male-female leadership was creating new
possibilities for accessing resources.
But collectives, particularly for women, have so far
proven to be a gap for researchers, policy makers, and
practitioners alike.
Given the increasing focus on expanding economic
opportunities for women living in poverty, it is a critical
time to examine the barriers most affecting women’s
contributions to their families’, communities’, and
nations’ economic well-being.
3
GOALS & METHODOLOGY
Through this research, Women Thrive sought to gain an
understanding of:
Women Thrive’s methodology included four activities,
some of which overlapped in timing and reinforced
one another:
Recent research on women’s market access, property
and assets, and the informal economy;
A review of relevant demographic trends;
What economic opportunity issues are major
priorities for organizations in developing countries
and the grassroots people they serve;
Literature scans in each focus area examining a total
of 17 studies within the last 10 years, most within
the last five years;
The levels of engagement of various stakeholders
and their place in the policy making spaces around
economic opportunity for women and men at the
base of the pyramid; and
Field focus groups with over 200 grassroots women
and men in Haiti and Ghana; and
Informant interviews with 40 experts from both
developed and developing countries and who are
working on women’s economic opportunity
Potential entry points for future research and
policy advocacy.
4
THE DEMOGRAPHIC CONTEXT
While many organizations seek to expand women’s
economic opportunities in general, Women Thrive’s
mission is to improve the lives of women and families
who live on less than $2 a day. Understanding the global
demographic trends affecting this population is critical to
an advocacy agenda that is both impactful and durable.
The following trends are important contextual factors.
the well-being of migrant women workers and
the dissolution of family structures due to outmigration will become increasingly important and
difficult issues. Problems surrounding the quality of
care for children and family violence are worthy of
policy focus, given these trends.
Governments, particularly those of developing
countries, have inadequate means to forecast
demographic changes, plan for them, and deliver
necessary institutions and services to manage
transitions. If not strengthened, other non-state actors
such as international NGOs and multi-national
corporations will need to increasingly fill the gaps in
governance (National Intelligence Council, 2013). The
implications of large-scale structural changes in labor
demand are serious. For policy advocacy, it points
toward a multi-dimensional approach that targets nonstate actors in addition to governments.
AGING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR
WOMEN’S OPPORTUNITY
A significant portion of developed nations’
populations will age out of the work force over the
next 20 years, and they will be supported by a much
smaller group of workers. Demand for all types of
labor will increase in developed nations (National
Intelligence Council, 2013).
The labor surpluses in low-income countries combined
with the labor deficits in high-income countries
will significantly increase global migration by 2030
(National Intelligence Council, 2013).
THE GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF THOSE
LIVING IN POVERTY
The need for elder care in high-income countries
will create viable new economic opportunities for
individuals with low skills, particularly women,
which can be positive. However, the risks to
Three-quarters of the world’s extreme poor (those
living on less than $1.25 per day) are in middleincome countries (MICs), with India and China
PHOTO: Claude Renault
5
still making up the majority share. However, other
MICs contributions to poverty are increasing.
(Institute for Development Studies, 2010).
social protection, formal employment arrangements,
organized businesses, and regulations make
agriculture a major part of the informal sector.
The lower middle-income countries (LMICs) as a
group would need to spend about 5.5 percent of their
combined GDP to eliminate poverty below the $2 a
day threshold. This implies that domestic resources
could be used for poverty reduction, but outside aid
will still be important (Institute for Development
Studies, 2012). This suggests that donors should
continue to target reducing poverty in LMICs, and
certainly for the lowest income countries.
Related to the urbanization trend, millions of people
are moving out of the agricultural informal economy
into the urban informal economy (ILO, 2004).
In the non-agricultural economy, informal
employment outstrips formal employment. Figure
1 below shows that in South Asia and Sub-Saharan
Africa, informal employment makes up 82 percent
and 66 percent (respectively) of non-agricultural
employment. In East/Southeast Asia and Latin
America, it exceeds 50 percent.
By 2030, urban dwellers will reach almost 5
billion, with urban growth mostly in Africa and
Asia (UNFPA, 2007). Demographers view the
urbanization trend as “unstoppable.” Most of the
new growth will be in smaller towns and cities and
in the shape of informal settlements with a growing
urban informal economy.
“IF YOU ARE IN THE INFORMAL
ECONOMY, YOU AREN’T NECESSARILY
POOR. BUT IF YOU’RE POOR, YOU ARE
IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY.”
INFORMAL ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
– GLOBAL SOUTH ADVOCATE
Countries with the largest populations in poverty
also have high rates of agricultural employment.
The regions that remain dominated by agriculture,
despite the global trend toward services, are South
Asia (60 percent of employment in agriculture) and
Sub-Saharan Africa (65 percent).
Across regions, there are not major differences in
overall total informal employment between males
and females (Figure 2), with the exception of
Sub-Saharan Africa, with a 13-point difference. In
most regions, except for Middle East/North Africa
and certain parts of South Asia, more women are
informally employed than men.
While the informal sector normally refers to the
non-agricultural economy, the predominant lack of
FIGURE 1: Informal Employment as a Percentage of Total Non-Agricultural
Employment (2004-2010)
100
Formal
Informal
80
60
40
20
0
South Asia
Sub-Saharan
Africa
East/
Southeast Asia
Latin
America
6
Middle East/ Eastern Europe/
North Africa
Central Asia
SOURCE: WIEGO, 2013
FIGURE 2: Informal Employment as a Percentage of Non-Agricultural
Employment by Sex (2004-2010)
100
Female
80
Male
60
40
20
0
South Asia
Sub-Saharan
Africa
East/
Southeast Asia
Latin
America
Middle East/
North Africa
FIGURE 3: Share of Informal Employment in Sector by Sex
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
SOURCE: WIEGO/ILO,
2013
(BRAZIL, 2009)
Female
Male
Transportation
Construction
Manufacturing
Trade
Other Services
FIGURE 4: Share of Informal Employment in Sector by Sex
SOURCE: ILO, 2012
(SOUTH AFRICA, 2010)
50
Female
40
Male
30
20
10
0
Transportation
Construction
Manufacturing
Trade
7
Other Services
SOURCE: ILO, 2012
FIGURE 5: Informal Employment and Poverty, Sub-Sample of 36 Countries
Low percentage of
population under
poverty and high
informal employment
Informal employment (percentage of total non-agricultural employment)
90
80
IND
MLI
BOL
PRY
70
NIC
COL
SLV
LKA
60
HND
PER
UGA
VNM
ECU
EGY
50
40
VEN
BRA
20
LBR
ZWE
PAN
LSO
ZAF
Low percentage of
population under
poverty and low
informal employment
TUR
High percentage of
population under
poverty and low
informal employment
ARM
MKD
10
MDG
ZMB
DOM
NAM
PAN
URY
30
ZMB
MEX
CRI
THA
High percentage of
population under
poverty and high
informal employment
MDA
SRB
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Population living below the national poverty line (percentage of total population)
SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS (SEE TABLE I FOR DETAILS), AND WORLD BANK, WORLD DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS
There is significant male-female segmentation
within the informal economy. For example, there
are much higher numbers of women in the informal
manufacturing sector and higher numbers of men
in transportation and construction (ILO, 2012).
Figures 3 and 4 exemplify this gender stratification.
women per se, but take a careful gendered approach,
understanding that gender norms deeply affect the
informal economy.
“PERHAPS MOST CRUCIALLY, THE
High levels of informal employment correlate
with high percentages of populations in poverty.
A regression analysis (above ) of International
Labor Organization (ILO) and International
Monetary Fund (IMF) data from 36 countries
shows a correlation between poverty and informal
employment (ILO, 2012).
RENEWED INTEREST IN THE INFORMAL
ECONOMY STEMS FROM THE
RECOGNITION OF THE LINKS BETWEEN
INFORMALITY AND GROWTH, ON THE ONE
HAND, AND INFORMALITY, POVERTY AND
Overall, it is important to note that women do not
dominate the informal sector as a whole, but they
tend to be concentrated in the lower-skill and lowerincome segments of the informal economy. An
approach to the informal sector should not target
INEQUALITY ON THE OTHER.”
– WOMEN AND MEN IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: A
STATISTICAL PICTURE, ILO AND WIEGO, 2013
8
WHAT THE LITERATURE SAYS
Although suggested interventions vary, various studies
recognize many of the same barriers to women’s access
to property and assets, market entry, and formal wage
employment. These include:
that men have traditionally held, women have good
reason to be wary. With a multitude of constraints
(including family care, transportation, health
challenges, and household food security), women
often cannot afford to risk trying something new.
Deeply entrenched gender biases in social, political,
and economic structures from the family all the
way to global decision-making. Export markets are
a good example. Gender bias begins with women’s
limited cultivation of export-oriented crops (such as
coffee and rice) because of their restricted access to
quality land, financial tools, and other key inputs.
It continues with their blockage from selling in
international markets due to lack of connections,
training on export standards, and overall financial
and business management skills. It ends with women
missing out on sustainable, well-paying jobs within
those export markets due to limited education
and technical training, labor discrimination, time
burdens, and further restrictions on women’s ability
to work outside the home.
MARKET ACCESS LITERATURE
Similar to the overall importance of harmonizing
an inputs approach with a capabilities approach,
the market access literature emphasizes the need
to support not only women’s hard skills (e.g.
production methods, logistics) but also women’s
soft skills in organizing, networking, and creating
horizontal and vertical market relationships.
The creation and expansion of women’s collective
organizations and women’s chapters within mixed
organizations have numerous helpful effects for
market access, including:
◆◆
Interventions that pursue an inputs approach (focus
on credit, capital, infrastructure, and transport)
without a capabilities approach (focus on women’s
ability to enter markets, negotiate with creditors,
and build leadership) may limit women’s ability
to succeed. Inputs are necessary components of
improving livelihoods in both the informal and
formal economies. The literature corroborates,
however, that complementing inputs with a capabilities
approach may create more sustainable gains.
◆◆
Strengthened bargaining power;
◆◆
More rapid and increased knowledge transfer;
◆◆
◆◆
9
Improved ability to market products and reach
economies of scale;
◆◆
◆◆
Women’s logical risk aversion. Whether it is taking
on loans with short repayment terms, entering new
competitive markets, or getting trained for jobs
Increased access to inputs, technology, and
market information;
Minimized predatory pricing and
monopoly impacts;
Reduced buyer concerns about volume and
production reliability; and
Enhanced management of women’s numerous
care responsibilities and time burdens.
Although little data analysis is available to show the
economic and social returns of collective approaches, case
studies have confirmed that women’s organizing can be
effective when done in culturally appropriate ways. In
more conservative environments, it may be necessary to
support women-only groups that enable greater decisionmaking power for participants. In other contexts, women’s
participation in mixed groups can be quite effective in
helping them access increased resources, information,
and vertical market linkages and connections.
The use of financial services is low for both women
and men living in poverty, though the barriers to
women’s access are higher than they are for men.
Both men and women cite low income as the
primary reason for nonuse of financial services (i.e.
they do not have enough cash to deposit). Women
have the additional barriers of no collateral or
guarantors for credit, restricted mobility to get to
banks, and social norms that place financial assets
under the control of a male family member.
Another consistent finding throughout the studies
is the need to improve regulations, reduce risks, and
create incentives to encourage women to enter and
thrive in new markets. This includes expanding the
number and types of gender appropriate financial
instruments, such as rural savings, crop insurance,
and low interest loans that do not require guarantors
or unrealistic collateral requirements. It also includes
the creation of social insurance programs, including
pensions, child-care support, and social security.
INFORMAL ECONOMY LITERATURE
Informality is the norm, rather than the exception.
Economies and labor markets are becoming more,
rather than less, informal. The recent World Bank
Gender at Work report found that women’s formal
labor force participation has fallen from 57 percent
in 1990 to 55 percent in 2012 (World Bank, 2014).
Women face major constraints to their participation
in the economy, particularly the formal economy.
These include violence, restrictions to their
movement, and lack of education, among others
(World Bank, 2014).
PROPERTY AND ASSETS LITERATURE
Women’s ownership of and control over assets of
all types has a positive impact on their mobility,
household decision-making, choices about
employment, access to healthcare, and child health
and education outcomes, regardless of income group.
One study in India, however, found that women’s
wage employment had a greater positive impact on
these outcomes than assets (IFPRI, 2012). Yet, other
studies have emphasized how assets, such as land
ownership, especially affect the ability of poor women
to generate income (Rabenhorst and Bean, 2011)
The populations living under $2 a day are
concentrated in the informal economy, with
women represented more than men in lower-skill,
lower-capital, and lower-income segments of the
informal economy. Women are particularly clustered
into home-based work, domestic labor (resident
and migrant), non-remunerated family labor in
agriculture, and short-term inconsistent work.
Most countries have equalized formal property
rights between men and women, with the important
exception of inheritance rights. However, equality in
practice is far from reality. This is primarily due to the
contradictions between customary laws/practices and
legal frameworks, lack of knowledge among both men
and women of laws and their application, and cultural
norms that discriminate against women.
“WE REALLY NEED A MORE ENABLING
FRAMEWORK AT BOTH THE
PROGRAMMATIC AND POLICY LEVELS IF
WE’RE GOING TO SEE WOMEN IN THE
INFORMAL SECTOR START TO CLAIM
THEIR PLACE IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.”
Property rights for women in urban areas are equally
as important as in rural areas. More people live in
cities than rural areas, and this trend will intensify.
Women have less access to support systems when they
relocate to urban and peri-urban areas, and women in
urban areas need secure property to start and expand
informal economic enterprises.
– GLOBAL NORTH PRACTITIONER
Recent studies categorizing populations within
the informal economy find three major types of
individuals (World Development, 2014):
10
◆◆
◆◆
◆◆
“Top-tier” or “high-performers,” which are
mostly informal enterprises that employ other
workers, have some access to capital, and have
an education and some business skills. These are
not individuals below the poverty line.
Priorities for self-employed people in informal
enterprises include enforceable commercial
contracts, legal ownership of their assets, tax
breaks and incentives to increase competition and
production, membership in trade associations,
protection against predatory creditors, and social
insurance/protection (WIEGO, 2012).
“High-potentials,” which are mostly selfemployed enterprises with no workers, few
assets, and little access to credit. These may
include individuals below the poverty line.
Priorities for informal workers in both formal and
informal enterprises include secure contracts, worker
benefits, membership in unions/associations, social
protection, and employer contributions to social
protection (WIEGO, 2012).
“Subsistence,” which are enterprises with no
employees and low levels of education, poor
language skills, no assets, and very restricted
access to credit. Most of this population is
below the poverty line of $2 a day. Women are
most concentrated in this category.
A comprehensive policy approach to the informal
economy should include:
◆◆
The data gaps are vast and challenging. Few countries
collect data, much less sex-disaggregated data, on
informal economic activity, and statistical norms for
data collection have only recently emerged. Groups
like WIEGO, working with the ILO, have made
important inroads in this space. Yet, there is very little
domestic or donor funding for data collection at large,
much less for the informal economy.
◆◆
◆◆
◆◆
Extending state protection to informal workers;
Increasing the productivity of informal
enterprises and incomes of informal workers;
Registering informal enterprises and regulating
informal work where appropriate; and
Creating more decent, consistent living wage
jobs, preferably formal jobs.
Regulatory frameworks must recognize gender differences,
heterogeneity in the informal economy, and local needs
of enterprises and workers. The International Labor
Organization has the most comprehensive frameworks and
policy recommendations for the informal economy, but
even those are lacking in that they emphasize formalizing
the informal sector rather than integrating it into a more
complex and holistic economic system.
There are innovative approaches and policy
frameworks that assist informal workers and
enterprises. Countries such as Bolivia, Botswana,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Lesotho,
Mauritius, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal and South
Africa have adopted laws and regulations to support
and protect those in the informal economy.
National Laws and Regulations in Developing Countries Related
to the Informal Economy
INFORMAL SECTOR OR SELF-EMPLOYMENT
MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES/MICROCREDIT
Burkina Faso
Singapore
Brazil
Mauritius
Peru
Croatia
Papua
New Guinea
Thailand
Djibouti
Morocco
Philippines
Egypt
Peru
Togo
Dominican
Republic
Nicaragua
Turkmenistan
DOMESTIC WORK
SOCIAL PROTECTION/PENSIONS
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Philippines
Benin
Lesotho
Nepal
Argentina
Jordan
South Africa
Brazil
Mauritius
South Africa
Bolivia
Mozambique
Zambia
India
Namibia
Brazil
Nicaragua
Source: ILO, 2013
11
FINDINGS FROM FOCUS GROUPS IN
HAITI & GHANA
Haiti and Ghana are in very different economic positions.
But despite the different economic landscape of each country,
focus groups in both Haiti and Ghana shared many of
the same challenges and frustrations, especially the farmers.
They also shared similar recommendations and creative
solutions for increasing economic opportunities for women.
INFORMAL ECONOMY INFRASTRUCTURE
Even more significant is the fact that focus group
participants gave recommendations on women’s
collectives that have received less attention in the body
of existing literature. This presents a gap for researchers,
policy makers, and practitioners alike.
Create and incentivize more comprehensive
financial tools, especially in rural areas, that
better fit women. These include graduated, lowinterest loans without high collateral or guarantor
requirements and with more flexible repayment
terms. It also includes more comprehensive tools,
such as savings and insurance, and ongoing
mentoring and financial training that can help
women better navigate risks.
Almost all focus groups recommended that their
governments, donors, and foreign investors:
Support local/national production, processing, and
market infrastructure.
Common recommendations from focus group
participants fell into three general categories: informal
economy infrastructure, regulation and state protection,
and women’s organizing and leadership development.
Improve transportation infrastructure and lower
costs. Improve transportation to and between
markets and financial services in order to help
reduce the need for women to travel with cash.
Lowering the costs of reliable transportation would
immediately improve the profitability of subsistence
informal enterprises, as these costs represent a
significant share of expenditures.
“THE WORKING WORLD IS UNFAIRLY
DOMINATED BY MEN AND IT IS NO
WONDER THAT WOMEN ARE SOMETIMES
SCARED TO WORK WITH THEM. SECURITY
Diversify crop investments and income generation
activities for women to help them better manage
seasonal shifts, climate change, general risk, and
increase the amount of women-controlled cash.
IS A CONSTANT THREAT TO WOMEN
THAT UNDERMINES THEIR ABILITY TO
CONTRIBUTE TOWARD THEIR COUNTRY’S
Consider women’s safety as they engage in economic
projects. Women can be vulnerable when they
ECONOMY.”
– GLOBAL SOUTH PRACTITIONER
12
travel to and from markets and other facilities,
which is why it is important to address women’s
transportation challenges. It’s also important to
pay attention to the potential for domestic conflict
arising from women’s increased economic activities.
This may include potential conflict that can arise
from women’s increased time burden, desire to
make decisions about their earned income for the
household, or overall changes in gender roles and
economic participation.
at border customs. Educate the public on these
standards, and enlist the help of market women’s
associations as watchdogs.
Monitor and regulate collusive practices of market
leaders when they exclude new women or men from
out of town from entering their markets. At the
same time, educate new sellers on market standards
and needed steps for registration.
Increase police and other state protections for
women suppliers, buyers, traders, and sellers at
borders, in markets, at financial institutions, and on
key transportation routes in order to help reduce the
threat of violence. Enable women traders to travel
at night when necessary by organizing police escorts
for clustered group crossings, increasing overall
police presence, and reducing travel restrictions.
Increase the number of gender-sensitive agricultural
and livestock extension agents, including those that
are women. A certain number that focus only on
women should be allotted.
REGULATION AND STATE PROTECTION
Better link ministries of gender and social
protection with ministries engaged in economic
development, such as finance, infrastructure,
transportation, labor, and planning to ensure that
gender policies are integrated into each cycle of
economic development programs.
Focus group participants affirmed the dire need for state
regulation and international collaboration in protecting
women and their organizations from predatory lending;
exploitation of land, property and inheritance rights;
manipulative middlemen; and security threats. This
includes the following recommendations:
Update and/or enforce application of existing land,
property, and inheritance laws. Support creative
solutions to harmonize legal frameworks and
customary law, and integrate gender policies in
order to uphold women’s access to and control over
land and property.
“WHEN I BRING MY RICE TO GET WEIGHED
AND THEY POUR IT INTO A BAG THAT IS
MUCH BIGGER THAN THE STANDARD AND
TELL ME I CAN ONLY GET PAID FOR THREE
Create and enforce transparent contracts, especially
in rural areas. Educate both women and men on
their rights to avoid exploitation within agreements,
including legal requirements for contracts and
options for recourse when contracts are violated.
QUARTERS OF A BAG, I KNOW THAT I AM
GETTING CHEATED. BUT WHO CAN I GO TO
FOR HELP? I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SELL.”
Crack down on corrupt middlemen practices,
particularly for weights and measures and price
fixing. Establish, update, and/or clearly publish and
disseminate laws on standard weights and measures.
This includes translating laws into local dialects and
sharing information through other means, such
as radio, so that those who are illiterate can also
understand their rights. Ensure that public, private,
and INGO funders consistently enforce national
weights and measures standards into value chain and
market system programs and that women participants
receive all necessary information and training.
– GHANAIAN WOMAN SMALLHOLDER FARMER
ORGANIZING AND LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
Women from both countries and in different sectors
adamantly asserted that they could significantly improve
their sustainable incomes if they were able to better
organize, network, advocate, and lead collective groups.
Many of the women had worked with international
development projects through their women’s collective or
cooperative. Their ability to meet was almost exclusively
dependent on that particular initiative’s funding. Their
Regulate illegal foreign product dumping on local
and national markets in trade agreements and
13
conversations and trainings were often siloed and did
not factor in a more comprehensive array of economic
activities and skill sets due to project restrictions. In
certain cases, women were unable to continue organizing
after projects ended.
leadership, organizing, public speaking, negotiating,
and advocacy.
Management of collective risk and sharing of care
work or other time burdens. Women are often
dependent on one another to access inputs (such
as credit and savings) and shoulder the many
competing demands on their time, including caring
for children, elders, and the sick; collecting water;
and feeding their households.
Supporting women’s overall ability to organize,
communicate with one another, and build a more diverse
suite of technical and leadership skills is an important
area for investment. To this end, women interviewees
emphasized the need to support:
Networking for both horizontal and vertical market
linkages. This includes learning how to identify
potential mentors and allies both inside and outside
of their field and building market linkages between
women suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers.
Communication, transportation, and regular
meetings. This includes cell phones for leaders to
contact members often, as well as support for inperson regular meetings (i.e. covering the cost for
transportation, food, lodging, childcare, etc.). Even a
basic level of organizing can make a big difference for
women to share market information, mitigate risk,
mentor one another, and identify collective strategies.
Advocacy for women’s rights. Women want to
understand their rights on all manner of economic
laws and policies. They want to know who the
public, private, NGO and multi-lateral decision
makers are and how to influence them. They require
access to both printed and oral information in their
own language, training, and networks and resources
that will help them amplify their voices.
Technical and overall leadership skills. Women
are hungry for technical training on advanced
agricultural techniques, product standards, pricing,
labeling, marketing, and financial management.
They also want often-ignored ‘soft skills’ training on
14
FINDINGS FROM INTERVIEWS
WITH EXPERT INFORMANTS
The informant interviews, including experts from both
developed and developing countries, added a different
dimension to the research than the literature scans and
field focus groups.
attention, research, advocacy, and funding currently
targeted toward the informal economy, even though
they recognize that is the locus of activity for people
in poverty. Respondents felt this gap represented
a leadership opportunity for donors, researchers,
and advocates.
Respondents most often cited market access,
property rights, infrastructure, and business training
as four key interventions for women’s economic
advancement, echoing themes from the field focus
groups. It was clear from the interviews that the free
market economic path is the assumed paradigm for
women’s economic opportunity.
Many interviewees expressed frustration with how
donors are approaching gender integration in all
spheres, not just economic growth. For example,
more than a few respondents shared experiences
where government or private donors had expressed
strong support for gendered monitoring and
evaluation and then later instructed the grantee to cut
gender impact assessments due to their cost. Practices
for gender integration have not yet caught up to the
awareness and rhetoric of major development actors.
Interviewees highlighted a lack of differentiation
between women in poverty, the middle class, and
elites when designing interventions. Several recognized
this as a major problem for ensuring that those at
the base of the pyramid truly benefit from economic
development initiatives. Some donor respondents
shared that they did not distinguish between various
income or skill levels in their programs. This may mark
a place where certain stakeholders need further training
and resources to help craft more comprehensive and
inclusive economic growth strategies.
Researchers repeatedly noted the lack of good data
on women’s economic opportunity, particularly
at the household and individual levels. They also
recognized in certain cases that data exist, but there
is a lack of dissemination, analysis, and use of that
data. In addition to this being of fundamental
importance to the field of development and
women’s advancement, there is considerable energy
for advocacy around building infrastructure for
sound data collection, including building the
capacity of groups in developing countries to engage
in data collection and analysis.
Respondents also talked about the importance of
childcare, safety and security, social norms, and
collective action and networking. This finding also
overlaps strongly with the priorities we heard from
grassroots women in the field focus groups.
Those familiar with the field of women’s economic
opportunity confirmed that there is much less
15
THE GAPS IN DATA & RESEARCH
The clearest trend throughout the literature is that when
it comes to women’s economic participation, data and
research gaps abound. This is especially true within the
informal economy.
to share lessons learned and replicate or scale up
best practices.
Build, through research and analysis, a gendered
paradigm for economic diversity that recognizes
both the formal and informal sectors, and the
variety of linkages between them. Move away from
the current paradigm that prioritizes formalization
above all else, in order to be more inclusive and
protective of both women and men working outside
of formal sector jobs.
Women Thrive recommends that donors:
Include a strong focus on building the data
collection and analysis capabilities of all actors. This
applies from the local level to the global level, with
an emphasis on both grassroots capacity building
around data collection and analysis, and national
government planning mechanisms.
Summary charts for each literature scan contain
additional findings on research gaps in each issue area
and can be accessed on the Women Thrive website at:
www.womenthrive.org/economicopportunity.
Make donor and implementing partner gender
assessments and impact evaluations public. Doing
so would enable the development community
16
POLICY AGENDAS ON THE
INFORMAL ECONOMY
Below is a list of policy agendas and actors engaged on women’s economic opportunity that Women Thrive gathered
through this research; this is not an exhaustive list.
ACTORS BASED ON THE INFORMANT
INTERVIEWS
LEVEL
POLICY AGENDAS
MUNICIPAL
Integrate the needs of informal workers and
enterprises into city planning
WIEGO
Assist slum dwellers in accessing employment
in either the formal or informal economy
Asia Pacific Women Law and Development
Provide legal assistance to informal sector
workers and enterprises, e.g. community level
paralegals, fast-track mediation
Technoserve (agriculture)
Ensure the delivery of local utilities at reasonable
prices to informal workers and businesses
Organize informal workers/producers at the
local level into networks or collectives to do
advocacy on their own behalf
Procure municipal goods and services from
informal sector enterprises or cooperatives
17
Slum Dwellers International
CARE
ACDI/VOCA
ACTORS BASED ON THE INFORMANT
INTERVIEWS
LEVEL
POLICY AGENDAS
NATIONAL
Promote employment-intensive growth
through macroeconomic policies
WIEGO
Remove de jure and de facto tax
discrimination affecting the informal sector
Tax Justice Network
Lower the costs and increase the benefits of
transitioning enterprises to the formal economy
U.S. Overseas
Create a legal and regulatory environment that
enables cooperative businesses that often start
off in the informal sector to flourish
Harmonize both statutory law and customary
law in order to increase women’s access to
and control over land and property
Asia Pacific Women Law and Development
International Finance Corporation
Cooperative Development Council
Oxfam
ActionAid
Landesa
SEWA
Create social protection floors that encompass
wage protection, basic occupational health
and safety, and pensions
Organize informal workers into collectives and
associations, which can then interact with the
national government
Imbed management of the informal sector
into national development strategies
REGIONAL
Create regional frameworks and institutions for
migrant labor protection
WIEGO
Assist countries in creating regionally tailored
frameworks to manage the informal economy
Huairou Commission
Ensure that regional economic and trade
agreements enhance employment growth and
safeguard small producers/enterprises
Global Land Network
Support data collection efforts at the country
and regional levels
Create land policy frameworks within regional
bodies like the African Union focused on
more holistic approaches to land security that
prioritize women’s collective organizing
Ensure that regional bodies like the
Comprehensive Africa Agriculture
Development Programme (CAADP) are
integrating gender frameworks for informal
sector women smallholder farmers’ rights and
work within agricultural value chains
18
Asia Pacific Women Law and Development
International Land Coalition
CARE
ActionAid
Oxfam
AFL-CIO
Via Campesina
ACTORS BASED ON THE INFORMANT
INTERVIEWS
LEVEL
POLICY AGENDAS
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT
Imbed gender sensitive informal economy
reform into country development
cooperation strategies
Integrate gender sensitive informal sector
reform into the Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC) policy dialogues with
countries, including in new second compacts
Ensure MCC infrastructure investments meet
the needs of women and men in the rural and
urban informal sector
Ensure Power Africa projects reach women
and men in the informal economy (both rural
and urban)
Enhance Feed the Future’s attention to
regulatory frameworks for the informal
economy and collective structures
Support sex disaggregated informal economy
data collection and gendered analysis efforts at
the country, regional, and global levels
Institutionalize the U.S. Government’s
commitment to and fulfillment of the
International Aid Transparency Initiative guidelines
UN/ POST-2015
AGENDA
Prioritize sex disaggregated data collection
generally, and for informal economic activity
in particular
Include the informal economy in the decent
work agenda
Include property rights in the post-2015
Sustainable Development Agenda
INTERNATIONAL
LABOR
ORGANIZATION
United Nations Foundation
Women’s Major Group
Association for Women’s Rights in
Development (AWID)
Global Land Network
Indigenous People’s Forum
Create a stand alone gender goal in the
post-2015 Sustainable Development
Agenda and include a women’s economic
opportunity element
AFL-CIO
Further promote statistical guidelines for the
informal sector
WIEGO
AFL-CIO
Support country level data collection and analysis
Provide country guidance on how to apply
formal sector labor protections to the informal
sector, including sample gender-sensitive
regulatory frameworks
INTERNATIONAL
FINANCE
INSTITUTIONS
Encourage macroeconomic policies that
support employment generation
Provide financial support for data collection
and analysis
Ensure that programs to advance women’s
economic opportunity reach those living
under the $2/day poverty line
19
Association for Women’s Rights in
Development (AWID)
MOVING FORWARD:
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
STAKEHOLDERS
Prioritize rigorous sex and age disaggregated data
collection, analysis, and public dissemination on
all economic activities, particularly including the
informal economy. Build the capacity of both local
and national governments and civil society to collect
and assess this data. Join the new Data2X initiative
launched by the U.S. Department of State in 2013.
FOR ALL STAKEHOLDERS:
Significantly increase the interactions between
researchers, donors, policy makers, advocates,
practitioners, and women’s representatives. Each
stakeholder needs to be more grounded in the
perspectives and evidence from other stakeholder
groups in the space.
Encourage entrepreneurship in industries that
employ low-skill, low-income people. Incentivize
businesses to employ people in poverty.
FOR DONORS (PRIVATE AND PUBLIC):
Increase support for country-level policies,
regulations, and social protections that prioritize
both women and men in the informal economy,
especially those in the lowest income bracket.
If poverty reduction is a programmatic goal, ensure
that participant selection processes are geared
toward low-income, low-skilled people in extreme
poverty. Ensure that targets are set appropriately so
they do not create disincentives to work with people
in poverty.
Incorporate investments in low-income women’s
joint action and leadership development, including
advocacy training, into economic opportunity projects.
Improve the rule of law for people in the informal
economy. Assist governments in creating low-cost
community-based legal services for those in the
informal sector and extreme poverty.
Stimulate more research on labor migration trends
and the implications for elder and childcare in
sending countries.
20
FOR PRACTITIONERS:
FOR RESEARCHERS:
Add building soft skills and capabilities to technical
training for both women and men.
Focus on building data collection and analysis
capabilities of all actors. This applies from the local
level to the global level, with an emphasis on both
grassroots capacity building around data collection
and analysis and national government planning
mechanisms.
Address women’s unpaid care work and other time
burdens to craft more equitable and sustainable
income generation solutions for people in both the
informal and formal economy.
Build, through research and analysis, a gendered
paradigm for economic diversity that recognizes both
the formal and informal sectors, and the variety of
linkages between them. Move away from the current
paradigm that prioritizes formalization above all else,
in order to be more inclusive of both women and men
working outside of formal sector jobs.
Encourage entrepreneurs to employ, source from
and/or mentor low-income, low-skilled women
living in poverty.
Initiate field visits or learning exchanges that help
low-income women producers, suppliers, and
emerging entrepreneurs better understand how
to increase production on larger farms, create or
expand processing centers and gain greater firsthand knowledge of best business practices.
FOR ADVOCATES:
Reduce the risks for women (and men) in poverty to
enter new markets, start up new economic activities, or
diversify crops by providing income insurance, low- or
no-interest loans, and start-up capital.
Advocate for country-level policies, regulations, and
social protections that prioritize both women and
men in the informal economy, especially those in
the lower quintile income bracket.
Support local organizations with gender expertise
to work with communities to upwardly harmonize
customary and statutory property rights to benefit
women and men equally.
Advocate for increased and improved investments in
low-income women’s leadership development, joint
action, learning exchanges, and mentoring support.
Advocate for rigorous sex and age disaggregated
data collection, analysis, and public dissemination
on informal economy activities and the
dissemination of gender analyses within economic
development programs.
Pursue holistic approaches that address genderbased violence, health issues, educational needs, and
other areas for project participants to ensure that
their economic activities are successful. Partner with
other organizations or service providers to add these
dimensions to economic opportunity projects.
21
A LISTING OF RESEARCH REPORTS
& STUDIES REFERENCED
Amin, A.T.M. Nurul, The Informal Sector in Asia from
the Decent Work Perspective, Working Paper on the Informal
Economy, ILO, 2004.
ILO and WIEGO: Women and Men in the Informal
Economy: A Statistical Picture, Second Edition, 2013.
ILO: Statistical Update on Employment in the Informal
Economy, Department of Statistics, 2012.
Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, Raghabendra
Chattopadhyay and Jeremy Shapiro, Targeting the HardCore Poor: An Impact Assessment, IMFR Research Centre
for Microfinance, 2011.
ILO: Transitioning from the Informal to the Formal
Economy, Report V (1), International Labor Conference,
103rd Session, 2014.
Barrientos, Stephanie, Naila Kabeer and Naomi Hossain,
The Gender Dimensions of the Globalization of Production,
World Commission of the Social Dimension of
Globalization, International Labor Office, Working Paper
No.17, 2004.
National Intelligence Council: Global Trends 2030:
Alternative Worlds, Office of the Director of National
Intelligence of the United States, 2012.
Patnaik, Sanjoy and Sarita Pradhan, Securing Land Rights
for Women Through Institutional and Policy Reforms,
Prepared for the World Bank Annual Conference on
Land and Poverty, 2013.
Chan, Man-Kwun, Informal Workers in the Global
Horticulture and Commodities Value Chains: A Review of
Literature, Women in Informal Employment Globalizing
and Organizing (WIEGO) Working Paper No.28, 2013.
Rabenhorst, Carol S. and Anjali Bean, Gender and
Property Rights: A Critical Issue in Urban Economic
Development, Prepared for the International Housing
Coalition and the Urban Institute, 2011.
Chen, Martha Alter, The Informal Economy: Definitions,
Theories and Policies, Women in Informal Employment
Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO) Working Paper
No.28, 2013.
Sumner, Andy, Where Do The World’s Poor Live? A
New Update, IDS Working Paper, Volume 2012 No.
393, 2012.
Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, Leora Klapper and Dorothe Singer,
Financial Inclusion and Legal Discrimination Against
Women: Evidence from Developing Countries, World Bank
Development Research Group, Policy Research Working
Paper 6416, 2013.
Swaminathan, Hema, Rahul Lahoti, and Suchitra
J.Y., Women’s Property, Mobility, and Decisionmaking:
Evidence from Rural Karnataka, India, International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Discussion Paper
01188, 2012.
Eyben, Rosaling and Marzia Fontana, Caring for Wellbeing,
Commissioned Paper for the Bellagio Initiative, 2011.
UNFPA: State of the World’s Population 2007: Unleashing
the Potential of Urban Growth, United Nations, 2007.
Gindling, T.H. and David Newhouse. “Self-Employment
in the Developing World.” World Development Vol. 56
(2013): 313-331.
World Bank: Gender at Work: A Companion to the World
Development Report on Jobs, World Bank Gender and
Development Unit, 2014.
Grimm, Michael, Peter Knorringa and Jann Lay.
“Constrained Gazelles: High Potentials in West Africa’s
Informal Economy.” World Development Vol. 40 (2012):
1352-1368.
22
STUDIES INCLUDED IN
THE LITERATURE SCANS
Hatcher, Meggiolaro, and Ferrer: Cultivating women’s
rights for access to land, ActionAid and International
Food Security Network, 2005.
MARKET ACCESS
Patnaik and Pradhan: Securing land rights for women
through institutional and policy reforms, Landesa, 2013.
Buvinic, Mayra, Rebecca Furst-Nichols and Emily
Courey Pryor: A Roadmap for Women’s Economic
Empowerment, United Nations Foundation and
ExxonMobil, 2013.
Rabenhorst and Bean: Gender and property rights:
A critical issue in urban economic development,
International Housing Coalition and Urban
Institute, 2011.
Gammage, S., N. Diamond, and M. Packman:
Enhancing Women’s Access to Markets: An Overview of
Donor Programs and Best Practice’s and the repackaged
Enhancing Women’s Market Access and Promoting Propoor Growth, USAID, OECD, 2005, 2007.
Swaminathan, Lahoti, and JY: Women’s property,
mobility and decision-making: evidence from rural
Karnataka, India, IFPRI, 2012.
INFORMAL ECONOMY
Ferris, Shuan, Paul Mundy and Rupert Best: Getting to
Market: From Agriculture to Agroenterprise, Catholic
Relief Services, 2009.
Chan, Man-Kwun: Informal workers in
global horticulture and commodities value
chains, WIEGO, 2013.
Riisgaard, Lone, Anna Maria Escobar Fibla and Stefano
Ponte: Evaluation Study: Gender and Value Chain
Development, Danish Institute for International
Studies, 2009.
Chen, Marty: The Informal Economy: Definitions,
Theories, and Policies, WIEGO, 2012
Gindling, T.H., and David Newhouse: Self-Employment
in the Developing World, World Development
Journal, 2014.
Staritz, Cornelia and José Guilherme Reis: Global Value
Chains, Economic Upgrading, and Gender, 2013.
Grimm, Michael, Peter Knorringa, and Jann Lay:
Gazelles: High Potentials in West Africa’s Informal
Economy, World Development Journal, 2012.
PROPERTY RIGHTS
Banerjee, Duflo, Chattopadhyay, and Shapiro: Targeting
the hard core poor: An impact assessment, MIT Poverty
Lab, 2011.
International Labor Organization (ILO): Transitioning
from the informal to the formal economy, ILO, 2013.
UN Women: Economic Crises and Women’s Work, UN
Women, 2013.
Demirguc-Kunt, Klapper and Singer: Financial inclusion
and legal discrimination against women: Evidence
from developing countries, World Bank, Development
Research Group, 2013.
23
Women Thrive Worldwide works to create
a world in which women and men work
together as equals so that they, their families,
and their communities can thrive.
www.womenthrive.org
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT
[email protected]