Despite substantial progress, gender gaps persist in many developing countries. Since the 1990s, a literature has emerged arguing that these gaps are not only inequitable, but also reduce economic performance. This review finds that, first, it is methodologically difficult to determine reliable...

This paper studies the impact of an affirmative action policy on occupational segregation by gender in South Africa. We estimate the effects of the Employment Equity Act of 1998, the Black Economic Empowerment Act in 2003 and the Codes of Good Conduct in 2007 on (Black) female employment in top...

A large literature claims that female labor force participation (FLFP) follows a U-shaped trend over the course of economic development. This feminization U hypothesis is motivated by secular patterns of structural change in combination with education and fertility dynamics. We show that...

Reviewing the burgeoning literature on the deep historic roots of gender inequality, we theorize and provide evidence for an overlooked trajectory that (1) originates in a climatic configuration called the "Cool Water" (CW-) condition, from where the trajectory leads to (2) late female marriages...

In this article, we survey the theoretical literature investigating the role of gender inequality in economic development. The vast majority of theories reviewed suggest that gender inequality is a barrier to development, particularly over the long run. Among the many plausible mechanisms...

In contrast to UNDP's wildly successful Human Development Index (HDI), UNDP's gender-related indices have had a rather rocky history. To this day, the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) has not produced a measure that has met the requirements of policy-makers, academics and development...

Occupational and sectoral segregation by gender is remarkably persistent across space and time and is a major contributor to gender wage gaps. We investigate the determinants of one-digit occupational and sectoral segregation in developing countries using a unique, household-survey based...

We investigate the effect of the Vietnam War and the socialist regime in the Northern part of the country on female labour force participation. We differentiate the effect across birth cohorts, thus comparing immediate and long-term impacts. After presenting a theoretical model implying effects...

Institutions are a major factor explaining development outcomes. This study focuses on social institutions related to gender inequality understood as long-lasting norms, values and codes of conduct that shape gender roles, and presents evidence on why they matter for development. We derive...

In a recent paper in the Review of Economic Studies, Siwan Anderson and Debraj Ray (Anderson and Ray, 2010) develop and apply a new 'flow' measure of 'missing women' to estimate the extent of gender bias in mortality in developing countries. Contrary to the existing literature, they find that...