How can rich countries promote gender equality in development cooperation?
The UK government will publish a white paper on international development by the end of 2023. It will set out their approach to international development to 2030. How can they best support gender equality?
I have 7 evidence-based suggestions - relating to jobs, climate, lead-poisoning, culture and migration.
Tackle labour-displacing automation
East Asia industrialised at a time when, with low enough wages, you could use relatively labour-intensive methods and still be competitive in global markets. This enabled broad-based job-creation, economic growth and high female employment. Taiwan was once extremely patriarchal, but now has a twice-elected female PM, presiding over a cabinet that is 44% female.
The East Asian pathway to development and gender equality is now closing. Since 2006, routine jobs have shrunk. Jobs in manufacturing and services are threatened by labour-displacing automation. If demand falls, job queues will grow, and women will be at the back. Male unemployment may also trigger hostile sexism.
Alternatively, automation could be engineered to improve worker marginal productivity and increase labour demand. This is paramount for both development and gender equality.
Mitigate climate breakdown
When crops fail, girls are forced into early marriages. Desertification in Africa is causing bloodshed. Harsh climates stall development (a major engine of gender equality). Existential threats also tend to exacerbate social policing.
End lead poisoning
Babies exposed to lead are more likely to academically under-perform, get suspended, and become violent criminals. In LMICs, children’s blood lead levels often exceed 5 μg/dL. Reducing lead poisoning could help promote peace and learning (see my Substack and a new campaign by CGD).
Protect space for civil society
Strong independent women’s movements are a major driver of gender equality, worldwide. They are threatened by authoritarian repression. In Egypt, for example, activists are tightly constrained. Autocrats may try to provide a veneer of equality by promoting women leaders; but what really matters is space for civil society.
Show that neighbours do support gender equality
In patriarchal countries, people massively underestimate men’s support for female employment and affirmative action. In Mexico and India, the gap is huge. Pluralistic ignorance reinforces what I call “The Patrilineal Trap”. Families (incorrectly) fear that they will lose honour if they permit their wives and daughters to work. Film, TV and media campaigns could help show that working women are greatly respected.
Publicise zero tolerance for abuse
Shift expectations about how others will react to male harassment and violence. Provide credible messaging that government and community will hold men accountable. The Mexican City of Chihuahua now fines misogynist music, saying that rape and beatings are unacceptable. The Saudi government recently named and shamed a man for sexual harassment. Singapore’s message is equally clear: “if you molest, we will arrest”.
In India, by contrast, newspapers and television abound with horrific tales of women being assaulted and killers being ‘out on the loose’. This media reporting instills fear and suppresses female employment. Raising awareness can actually backfire.
Perpetrators will be much less likely to assault if they anticipate accountability.
Migration
Welcome immigrant students and workers. This may be beyond the scope of a UK government white paper on development cooperation, but it’s amply supported by evidence.
TLDR
So those are my 7 evidence-based suggestions on how to promote gender equality through development cooperation: tackling automation, climate, lead-poisoning, culture and migration.
Video from my visit to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.