This paper examines trends in indicators of gender equality and women's development, using evidence derived from individual indicators and gender equality indices. We extend both the United Nations Development Program's Gender Development Index and Gender Inequality Index to examine time trends....

It is well established that a wide range of legal impediments in countries' domestic laws have prevented women from achieving full economic empowerment, which in turn has negative macroeconomic implications. In many countries, laws often reflect and perpetuate gender norms that limit women's...

This paper considers various dimensions and sources of gender inequality and presents policies and best practices to address these. With women accounting for fifty percent of the global population, inclusive growth can only be achieved if it promotes gender equality. Despite recent progress,...

Women are disadvantaged relative to men, according to key economic, social, and political measures of equality, but in many areas, such as education, differences are narrowing. The concept of externalities underlies the arguments for including gender considerations in budget programs and...

Gender gaps in womens' economic opportunities-labor market and entrepreneurship-have remained high in India. Lack of adequate collateral limits women entrepreneurs' ability to access formal finance, leaving them to rely on informal sources, constraining their growth. A small-open economy DSGE...

We investigate the link between gender inequality in financial inclusion and income inequality, with three contributions to the recent literature. First, using a micro-dataset covering 146,000 individuals in over 140 countries, we construct novel, synthetic indices of the intensity of financial...

Using a broad set of macroeconomic country characteristics to supplement a new and comprehensive micro-level dataset for 140 countries, we identify structural factors, policies, and individual characteristics that are associated with financial inclusion-in general, and for women in particular....

This paper assesses the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on gender development and gender inequality. In fact, FDI through increased labor demand, technological spillovers but mostly through corporate social responsibility and economic growth, can potentially influence women's welfare....