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About the authors

Title page

Copyright

Table of contents

Illustrations

Foreword by Stephen Devereux

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

Introduction: why social protection needs a gender lens

Beyond mothers and safety nets: the argument for a gender-sensitive approach to social protection

Methodology

Figure 0.1 Life story of Tamenu

Figure 0.2 Life story of Faisal

Figure 0.3 Life story of Mayimbu

Figure 0.4 Life story of MiLenh

Structure of the book

1 Key concepts in gender and social protection

Introduction

Concepts of poverty and vulnerability

Concepts of gender in development

Box 1.1 Addressing gender inequality leads to poverty reduction, economic growth and enhanced household resilience

Conceptualising social protection

Box 1.2 Approaches to social protection

Table 1.1 Social protection categories and instruments

Integrating a gender lens into the transformative social protection framework

Table 1.2 Examples of gendered economic and social risks and vulnerabilities

Figure 1.1 Pathways mediating the effects of economic and social risks on gendered well-being

Box 1.3 Gender-related policy and legislation implications for social protection

2 The gendered patterning of vulnerability, risk and resilience

Introduction

Economic vulnerabilities and risks

Box 2.1 Poverty and vulnerability as a gendered experience

Personal Narrative 2.1: Tamenu’s experience of multilayered shocks in southern Ethiopia

Figure 2.1 Asset distribution among women’s marital and natal families

Social vulnerabilities and risks

Table 2.1 Worsening sex ratios at birth over time

Box 2.2 Life-course and intergenerational consequences of reproductive health vulnerabilities in Latin America

Resilience: gendered patterning of coping strategies and resources

Conclusions

3 Transferring income and assets: assessing the contribution to gender-sensitive poverty reduction

Introduction

Cash and asset transfers: an overview

Table 3.1 Typology of cash and asset transfer approaches

Applying a gender lens to transfer programmes

Case studies: cash and asset transfers in Ghana, Peru and Bangladesh

Table 3.2 Cash and asset case study programme details

Personal Narrative 3.1: Cash transfers can provide relief for the poorest – Bange’s experience of living with illness in Ghana

Personal Narrative 3.2: Asma’s experience of integrated social protection in Bangladesh

Conclusions

4 Working one’s way out of poverty: public works through a gender lens

Introduction

Table 4.1 Gender differences in labour force participation

Personal Narrative 4.1: PWPs as a lifeline for the extreme poor – Tamenu in Ethiopia

Applying a gender lens to public works programmes

Box 4.1 Using public works labour in social sector activities

Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP): an antidote to emergency-focused development

Box 4.2 Rural poverty and gender in Ethiopia

Personal Narrative 4.2: Family headship norms may disproportionately affect young men – Haile in Ethiopia

India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): a transformative approach to tackling poverty

Box 4.3 Agriculture, poverty reduction and gender in India

Box 4.4 Accounting for variation in women’s participation by state

Table 4.2 Unpaid work and its implications for community asset generation through PWPs

Conclusions

5 Insuring against shocks: the gendered dimensions of insurance

Introduction

Personal Narrative 5.1: The ripple effects of health vulnerabilities – Pho Ly in Vietnam

Integrating a gender lens into insurance

Informal insurance mechanisms

Formal insurance

Box 5.1 Domestic workers and social insurance access

Box 5.2 Gender-sensitive pension reforms in Latin America

Table 5.1 Social health insurance examples from developing countries

Personal Narrative 5.2: Without life insurance, surviving family members often face long-term vulnerabilities – Osman Mohammed in Ghana

Box 5.3 Self-Employed Women’s Association(SEWA) – micro-insurance good practice

Conclusions

6 Ensuring access to state provision: towards more gender-sensitive subsidy schemes

Introduction

Subsidy programmes: an overview

Gender dimensions of subsidy design, implementation and impact

Personal Narrative 6.1: Boys are also vulnerable to being taken out of school – Faisal’s experience, Indonesia

Food subsidies

Agricultural input subsidies

Education and health subsidies

Subsidised childcare services

Box 6.1 Estancias and intra-household dynamics

Integrated subsidies

Box 6.2 Social protection in Vietnam

Personal Narrative 6.2: Integrated subsidy programmes help serve basic needs – Mi Lenh in Vietnam

Conclusion

7 Why politics matters: a genderedpolitical economy approach to social protection

Introduction

Defining political economy

Conceptualising gendered political economy

Political economy opportunities and challenges for gender-sensitive social protection

Box 7.1 The gendered political economy of cash transfers in Pakistan

Box 7.2 MGNREGS’s social audit approach

Box 7.3 A mismatch between government commitment to women’s economic empowerment and resourcing

Box 7.4 The pivotal role of women’s voluntary organisations in constructing early-twentieth-century social welfare policy in the USA

Box 7.5 Transformative opportunities only partially realised

Conclusions

8 Conclusions and recommendations: advancing gender-sensitive social protection

Introduction

Policy and programme design

Table 8.1 Examples of good practice in policy and programme design

Implementation capacity and fiscal space

Table 8.2 Examples of good practice in terms of implementation capacity

Institutional coordination and linkages

Table 8.3 Examples of good practice in institutional coordination and linkages

Community–programme interface

Table 8.4 Examples of good practice at the community–programme interface

Monitoring, evaluation and lesson learning

Table 8.5 Examples of good practice in terms of monitoring, evaluation and lesson learning

Box 8.1 Monitoring and evaluation indicators for gender-sensitive social protection

Political economy dynamics

Moving forward

Annex 1 Public works programmes and their gender dimensions

Annex 2 Examples of gendered impacts of key social protection instruments at individual, intra-household and community levels

Glossary

Notes

References

Index