In Sub-Saharan Africa, multiple interrelated challenges hinder the potential of girls and young women. Girls and women are more likely to live in poverty than men, have less access to education and health services, and rarely benefit from productive economic opportunities. Restrictive social...

Vulnerable adolescent girls and young women need a broad set of support to reduce barriers to access, participation, retention, progression, and completion of secondary education. The Keeping Girls in School (KGS) program under the World Bank-funded Girls' Education and Women's Empowerment and...

Prior research has found that boys often outperform girls in high-stakes math exams, raising the question of whether these gender differences under pressure stem from nature or nurture. This relative female disadvantage can influence access to selective university programs and subsequent career...

Le Sahel - comprenant le Burkina Faso, le Tchad, le Mali, la Mauritanie, le Niger et le Sénégal - fait face à des inégalités de genre aggravées par la pauvreté, le changement climatique et l'insécurité. Les femmes et les filles souffrent particulièrement de ces crises, notamment à...

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) risks in energy operations arise across both the demand and supply sides of the sector. On the demand side, limited access to energy, particularly lighting and clean cooking, can restrict women's mobility, increase their exposure to violence, and limit...

Bullying is a widespread form of aggression that emerges early in childhood and is common in school settings. Using Italian data from the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education and Training (INVALSI) on primary school students, we document gender differences in self-reported...

Using the Timor-Leste Survey of Living Standards, we show that the household education spending on girls was higher than for boys in the period following independence. This pattern contrasts with that in the neighboring and politically interrelated country of Indonesia. We explore how religious...

Girls and young women in Sub-Saharan Africa face multiple, inter-related challenges. In Zimbabwe, the odds are stacked against too many girls from an early age. The survey explores the aspirations and challenges faced by girls and young women aged 15 to 35, revealing that while eighty percent...

Kenya is at a pivotal moment in advancing prosperity for adolescent girls. With a solid educational base already established, the country has a unique chance to broaden its efforts toward comprehensive empowerment by addressing both economic and social dimensions. Prioritizing school-to-work...

Mozambique stands at a critical juncture in addressing adolescent girls' pathways to prosperity. Due to prevailing vulnerabilities, there is momentum to strengthen the country's educational foundations to comprehensive empowerment that addresses economic and social dimensions simultaneously. By...

This paper studies the impact of access to state-run religious schools on girls' outcomes in Türkiye. These schools, offering religious instruction and a conservative school environment, became accessible to girls following a 1976 court ruling. Exploiting variation in exposure to religious...

Between 2019 and 2022, Madagascar experienced an acute drought that triggered a chronic food security crisis, drawing justified attention to its nutritional and poverty-related impacts. However, local communities also perceived this period as one of social upheaval, where risks particularly for...

This study examines the five-year impacts of a bicycle distribution program for adolescent girls in rural Zambia, implemented across 91 schools as part of a randomized controlled trial. While the program increased girls’ self-reported empowerment and reduced experiences of domestic and...

Cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG) is a dimension of violence committed against women and girls that is enabled by the increased use of digital technologies and amplified by the exponential growth of user online presence. Risks for women and girls online are further increased by...

Cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG) is a dimension of violence committed against women and girls that is enabled by the increased use of digital technologies and amplified by the exponential growth of user online presence. Risks for women and girls online are further increased by...

Cyber violence against women has been rising at alarming rates in recent decades. Such acts not only harm women as individuals but have severe detrimental effects on society and the economy at large. This Brief analyzes laws from 190 economies to assess the extent and coverage of current...

This study examines the five-year impacts of a bicycle distribution program for adolescent girls in rural Zambia, implemented across 91 schools as part of a randomized controlled trial. While the program increased girls' self-reported empowerment and reduced experiences of domestic and intimate...

We examine teachers’ perceptions toward top performing students and their role model influence on others in an online survey-based experiment. We randomly expose teachers to profiles of top performing students and inquire whether they consider the profiled top performers to be influential role...

We examine teachers’ perceptions toward top performing students and their role model influence on others in an online survey-based experiment. We randomly expose teachers to profiles of top performing students and inquire whether they consider the profiled top performers to be influential role...

Abstract: Educating girls has a myriad of benefits ranging from greater empowerment and economic opportunities to improved health outcomes and reduced poverty. In Pakistan, school-age children, especially girls, lack quality educational access and attainment. Girls, in comparison to boys, are...

Evidence shows that Guinean women and girls face important barriers across all dimensions of well-being that prevent them from having access to opportunities on an equal footing with men. The poor agency of women and girls, as reflected in the high prevalence of discriminatory legal and social...

Overlapping crises such as climate change, the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, regional conflicts and rising global food insecurity exacerbate the inequalities faced by adolescent girls, making them particularly vulnerable in these critical times. For many girls, these circumstances...

Gender-based violence (GBV) at schools is a pervasive problem that affects millions of adolescent girls worldwide. In partnership with the Ministry of Education in Mozambique, we developed an intervention to increase the capacity of key school personnel to address GBV and to improve students’...

Excessive work among adolescents may compromise educational development. Without home appliances, household work can take over 50 h a week and an additional 30 h when an infant is present. School-aged girls are often tasked with doing laundry, which is time-consuming and inflexible without a...

This study uses a cluster-randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of a large-scale women and girls empowerment program on sexual and reproductive health and empowerment outcomes in Cote d'Ivoire. The study assesses and compares the impact of diverse strategies aimed at equipping...

Cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG) occurs as part of the broader continuum of gender-based violence (GBV), which is embedded in persisting unbalanced power structures. This form of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is linked to the societal reproduction of gender stereotypes....

Cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG) occurs as part of the broader continuum of gender-based violence (GBV), which is embedded in persisting unbalanced power structures. This form of violence against women and girls (VAWG) is linked to the societal reproduction of gender stereotypes....