Book
Towards Gender Equity in Development

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

As a result of widespread mistreatment and overt discrimination, women in the developing world often lack autonomy. Towards Gender Equity in Development brings together leading scholars working on gender issues to explore key sources of female empowerment and discuss the current challenges and opportunities for the future.

Exploring three key domains, this book adopts a clear multi-disciplinary approach to present different perspectives from gender-focused economics and social research. It covers marriage and women's relative bargaining position within the household; the options available to women outside of marriage and in the context of their community; and overarching discriminatory laws and cultural norms. It engages with questions of how marriage, divorce, and remarriage practices have evolved and with what effects for women; how female empowerment can benefit from improving options and economic and collective action opportunities; and how the government can act as a lawmaker to contribute to modifying norms and practices that disadvantage women.

Table of contents
  1. Introduction
    Siwan Anderson, Lori Beaman, Jean-Philippe Platteau
  2. Part I: Marriage
    Marital trajectories and women's wellbeing in Senegal
    Sylvie Lambert, Dominique van de Walle, Paola Villar
    Working Paper
    | Marital trajectories and women’s wellbeing in Senegal
  3. Making marriages last: Trust is good, but credible information is better
    Rebecca L. Thornton, Hans-Peter Kohler
    Working Paper
    | Making marriages last
  4. Intra-household bargaining in poor countries
    Jean-Marie Baland, Roberta Ziparo
    Working Paper
    | Intra-household bargaining in poor countries
  5. Forced migration and attitudes towards domestic violence: Evidence from Turkey
    Selim Gulesci
    Working Paper
    | Forced migration and attitudes towards domestic violence
  6. Bride price and the wellbeing of women
    Sara Lowes, Nathan Nunn
    Working Paper
    | Bride price and the well-being of women
  7. Part II: Outside Options
    Reducing early pregnancy in low-income countries: A literature review and new evidence
    Lars Ivar Oppedal Berge, Kjetil Bjorvatn, Amina Mohamed Maalim, Vincent Somville, Bertil Tungodden
    Working Paper
    | Reducing early pregnancy in low-income countries
  8. Breaking the metal ceiling: Female entrepreneurs who succeed in male-dominated sectors
    Francisco Campos, Markus Goldstein, Laura McGorman, Ana Maria Munoz Boudet, Obert Pimhidzai
    Working Paper
    | Breaking the metal ceiling
  9. Career dynamics and gender gaps among employees in the microfinance sector
    Ina Ganguli, Ricardo Hausmann, Martina Viarengo
    Working Paper
    | Career dynamics and gender gaps among employees in the microfinance sector
  10. Why do women co-operate more in women's groups?
    James D. Fearon, Macartan Humphreys
    Working Paper
    | Why do women co-operate more in women’s groups?
  11. The impact of social mobilization on health service delivery and health outcomes: Evidence from rural Pakistan
    Xavier Giné, Salma Khalid, Ghazala Mansuri
    Working Paper
    | The impact of social mobilization on health service delivery and health outcomes
  12. Part III: Laws and Cultural Norms
    Governance and the reversal of women's rights: The case of abortion in El Salvador
    Jocelyn Viterna, Jose Santos Guardado Bautista, Silvia Ivette Juarez Barrios, Alba Evelyn Cortez
    Working Paper
    | Governance and the reversal of women’s rights
  13. Gender, Islam, and law
    John R. Bowen
    Working Paper
    | Gender, Islam, and law
  14. The effect of China's One Child Policy on sex selection, family size, and the school enrolment of daughters
    Nancy Qian
    Working Paper
    | The effect of China’s One Child Policy on sex selection, family size, and the school enrolment of daughters
  15. Eradicating women-hurting customs: What role for social engineering?
    Jean-Philippe Platteau, Guilia Camilotti, Emmanuelle Auriol
    Working Paper
    | Eradicating women-hurting customs
  16. Are caste categories misleading? The relationship between gender and jati in three Indian states
    Shareen Joshi, Nishtha Kochhar, Vijayendra Rao
    Working Paper
    | Are caste categories misleading?
  17. Excess female mortality in Africa
    Siwan Anderson, Debraj Ray
    Working Paper
    | Excess female mortality in Africa
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