OPPORTUNITIES FOR MEN AND

WOMEN: EMERGING EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

Sarosh SattarNovember 28, 2011

Europe and Central Asia RegionThe World Bank

Outline

Motivation and Objective Economic context Education Labor market outcomes Entrepreneurship Concluding remarks

Motivation and Objective Motivation

Rapid growth, so who was benefiting? Big crisis, so who was hurt?

Objective Do women and men have comparable

outcomes in key economic spheres in ECA? If not, what are the potential sources of the

differences?

Motivation: The Economic ContextEconomic growth, Sectoral contributions, and Demographic profile

ECA economic growth was robust

ECA grew robustly compared to LAC and the world average.

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 50

100

150

200

250

300

EAPECALACWorld

GD

P, In

dex

1999

=10

0ECA grew well above the global average

The ascendance of the services sector

Globally, the importance of services sectors grew in GDP while the share of agriculture and services shrank

ECA LAC EU15 World-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Agriculture Industry Services

in %

age

poin

t ch

ange

, 199

9-20

09

ECA experienced the largest struc-tural shift in GDP

ECA’s population is older and aging

ECA World0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1927

7066

11 8

Ages 0-14 Ages 15-64 Ages 65+

Shar

e of

pop

ulat

ion,

in p

erce

nt

ECA has compari-tively few chil-dren and this will continue given low fertility

Though ECA ‘s population currently is more in their prime age years, it is because of fewer children.

Human CapitalAcademic performance, School enrollments, and Fields of study

Small enrollment gender gaps in ECA

The gender gap in ECA is minimal and comparable to high income OECD countries.

ECA LAC High-income OECD World-6

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

PrimarySecondary

mal

e-fe

mal

e ne

t en

rollm

ent

rate

s, in

%ag

e po

ints

International comparison of academic performance, 2009

The gender gap in academic performance is small and on average girls do better than boys

Reading Math Science 80

85

90

95

100

105

ECA OECD

Ave

rage

mal

e / f

emal

e sc

ores

, in

%

Gender Parity

More women than men go to university

Women’s gross tertiary enrollment rates exceed those of men – and higher incomes will only accentuate this inequality.

ECA

High-in

come O

ECD LA

CEA

PWorl

d - 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Female Malegr

oss

enro

llmen

t ra

tes,

in %

Fields of study

With the exception of sciences and engineering, female students out numbered male students in other fields.

-

5

10

15

20

25

30

FemaleMale

in %

of

tota

l stu

dent

bod

y

Labor market outcomes

ECA’s labor force participation rates

Globally there is a gender gap. ECA’s female and male labor force participation rates are well below the high income OECD averages Female Male

0102030405060708090

100

ECA EAP LAC MNA SSA SAS

labo

r fo

rce

part

icip

atio

n,in

% o

f po

pula

tion

(15

-64

yrs)

High income OECD averages, by gender

Labor force participation rates were stagnant

ECA’s participation rates stayed stagnant despite high economic growth .

ECA EAP LAC MNA SSA SAS OECD-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

FemaleMale

chan

ge in

LFP

, 199

9-20

09 (

in

%ag

e po

ints

)

ECA saw minimal change in labor force participation

Employment by sector in ECA, 2008

The majority of women employees are in the services sector which is the growing sector of the economy.

Female Male -

10

20

30

40

50

60

70 Agricul-tureIndustryServices

empl

oyee

s as

% o

f to

tal

empl

oym

ent

by s

ex

66% of women work in services

Number of jobs lost or gained by sector, 1999-2008

Though men and women gained more or less an equal number of the new jobs over the last decade, women’s gains were almost all in the services sector.

Agriculture Industry Services-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

MaleFe-male

in m

illio

ns

Occupations by gender

Women disproportion-ately pursue professional & technical jobs compared to men.

Men Women -

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Professionals & technicians Admin personnel

in p

erce

nt o

f em

ploy

ed, b

y ge

nder

39% of women are professionals or technicians

Raw gender wage gap

The gender wage gap is large. Moreover, once corrected for human capital it is very larger.

EU

10

Cen

tral A

sia

Rus

sia+

S. C

aucu

ses

W. B

alka

ns

-

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

19

24

29

36

41

Gender Gap in time use(in number of hours per day)

Women in ECA are involved more in domestic activities than men and less than

Work Domestic Activities Freetime Other-3.0

-2.0

-1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

-1.9

2.9

-0.9

0.0

-1.7

2.1

0.70.1

ECA OECD

Relatively few young children in ECA are in childcare

Formal childcare in ECA is not prevalent

199019952000200120022003200420052006200720080

5

10

15

20

25

30

ECA EU

Enro

lmen

t Rat

e of

Chi

ldre

n ag

ed

unde

r 3, p

er 1

00 C

hild

ren

Relatively few young children in ECA are in childcare

In ECA, women with children decrease their participation in the labor force significantly

0 1 2 3 or more0

20

40

60

80

100

7162

56

42

78 75 72

57

ECA OECD

Number of children

fem

ale

labo

r fo

rce

(in

% o

f w

omen

wit

h ch

ildre

n)

Entrepreneurship

Business activity is relatively modest

New business activity is low in ECA compared to other regions of the world

Tajik

istan BiH

Uzbe

kist

anAl

bani

aM

onte

negr

oKy

rgyz

Rep

Mol

dova

Lith

uani

aCr

oatia

Russ

ian

Fed.

Rom

ania

Slov

enia

Mac

edon

ia, F

YRBu

lgar

ia

- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

New

reg

iste

rati

ons

per

1000

per

sons

, 15

-64

year

s

ECA Average

Women employers

Yet, the gender gap is still large

Armen

ia

Georgi

a

Azerba

ijan

Lithu

ania

Eston

ia

Slove

nia

Czech R

epub

lic

Croatia

Serbi

a

Hunga

ry0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

fe-malemale

in %

of e

mpl

oyed

, by

sex

Female firm ownership by sector

Plastics Electronics IT ConstructionRetail Garments0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Fem

ale

owne

rshi

p in

% o

f fir

ms

by s

ecto

r

Women participate in the private sector but are poorly represented in key rolesThis is for registered firms with 5 or more employees

010203040

ECA

Some findings about female owned firms

They are smaller in size whether in terms of sales revenues or employees

Women-owned firms concentrate in different sectors than male-owned firms.

Female-owned firms are as profitable as male owned firms holding firm characteristics constant.

Female owned firms pay a slightly higher interest rate than men (0.6%).

Concluding remarks

Overarching messages

Europe and Central Asia’s gender advantage is eroding and the rest of the world is catching up rapidly.

The last decade opened up opportunities for women and took away some for men, but occupational segregation and wage disparities hinder women’s progress.

The demographic transition has large and different implications for men and women in many areas including pensions and labor markets.