This Focus Note includes illustrative examples from successful initiatives around the world that demonstrate the potential of these strategies—from digital financial solutions that respect privacy concerns to data-driven approaches that challenge institutional biases. Development actors,...

Pluralistic ignorance is a social norms phenomenon in which people mistakenly believe that their personal preferences are not what most people around them support or prefer. This misalignment can lead individuals to adjust their behaviors away from their preferences. Pluralistic ignorance can...

This study is one component of broader World Bank trade facilitation assistance program provided to the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho (hereafter referred as Lesotho). This note presents key findings from the study, which focused on identifying the challenges faced by women owned, led or...

Gender equality and economic growth have historically tended to move together yet identifying causal effects has been difficult. This paper uses data on the support for female suffrage in Switzerland in order to explore the impact of technology adoption on gender norms. We argue that the early...

In a context of high polarisation and long-term tensions over advancing gender equality, this report examines how negotiations at the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in June 2025 achieved some key successes, and managed to hold the line on gender rights in the face of backlash. Based in...

The proportion of women on the executive and supervisory boards of Germany's largest private companies has risen considerably since data collection for the DIW Women Executives Barometer began 20 years ago. While it was just over one percent on the executive boards of Germany's 200...

New ODI research underscores how women's movements are leading the push for democratic governance and inclusion, particularly in contexts of eroding civic space or where democracies are increasingly authoritarian. Yet, they face growing backlash from a rising tide of politicised religion. Based...

More than three years after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, some of its global spillover effects continue to impact many low-income and lower-middle-income countries (LICs and LMICs). As the world faces new global shocks - such as aid cuts and rising US tariffs - this synthesis report...

Gender equality is associated with economic growth and resilience, yet various factors, including climate change, may stall progress toward equal rights for men and women. This paper analyzes historical temperature and precipitation fluctuations within countries to assess their effect on legal...

Global development debate, which challenges the traditional North-South divide and focuses on the within-country or micro-level development perspective, argues that there is gender inequality in development within countries or at the micro level. It has brought a new dimension to the argument on...

This study investigates the impact of land formalization projects on women's tenure security in Pangani Ward, Coastal Region, Tanzania, while also considering the broader global implications for women's land rights. Despite progressive legislation that guarantees equal land rights for women,...

*Expansion of EDI bureaucracy has been fuelled by government regulation, not by market forces or rising prejudice *Growth of EDI undermines meritocracy, replacing fairness and talent with group quotas and targets *Previous estimates suggest direct public sector EDI costs of £557m a year, with...

Occupational segregation between men and women and between rural and urban areas is a persistent driver of labor market inequality in Europe. Women and rural workers are often overrepresented in lower-paid and lower-status occupations, reflecting structural barriers to occupational mobility....

Gender segregation in higher education persists across developed countries and is paradoxically stronger in wealthier, more gender-equal societies. Using data from over 500,000 children across 37 Western countries, we show that this segregation has roots in childhood. We document a strong...

Women remain under-represented in the EU fisheries sector, particularly as regards fishing and aquaculture activities. This in-depth analysis provides an overview of women's participation in the sector, exploring available statistics and the incorporation of the gender dimension in EU fisheries...

Attitudes toward the roles of women and men in society have become more egalitarian in Germany and most countries around the world since World War II. Recently, however, this process has slowed significantly, even reversing in some places. In most countries, the attitudes of the youngest ten age...

This article examines how inequalities in traditional labour markets shape experiences and outcomes on platform work. The research applies Acker's framework of inequality regimes, with a focus on gender, to a qualitative case study to analyse freelance platform work, specifically the provision...

Utilizing data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, we employ panel methodologies and unconditional quantile regression (UQR) analysis to explore the prevalence and impact of the motherhood penalty within the context of the United Kingdom. Our panel findings underscore the persistence of a...

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of public childcare provision on women's and men's start-up rates in Germany. Going beyond previous studies, we also analyze its impact on the extent of the gender gap in start-up rates. Literature review: The current state of research...

The Constitution of Ukraine defines Ukraine as a unitary democratic state with a division of powers into legislative, executive and judicial. The Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) is the sole legislative body and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine represents the executive branch. The President of...

The Republic of Moldova (hereinafter 'Moldova' or 'the Republic of Moldova') has a civil law system. The Constitution1 is the supreme law in the country, at the top of the legislative hierarchy. All laws (organic and ordinary), subordinate normative acts, and judicial decisions must align with...

The Republic of Serbia is a constitutional, multi-party parliamentary democracy. Although its constitutional development reflects a complex federal past - as a constituent republic of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, later as a part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and...

The Women's Economic Empowerment in Bangladesh: An Evidence-Guided Toolkit for More Inclusive Policies report provides an examination of gender disparities in economic empowerment in Bangladesh. It aims to shed light on the current state of gender inequality by analyzing rich microdata from...