Women’s International Day: Five must-read publications on social protection, women’s empowerment and gender equality

By IPC-IG

                         

 

By Denise Marinho dos Santos, Communications Officer

 

Brasília, 8 March 2019 - Celebrating the 2019 International Women's Day (IWD), the IPC-IG has curated a special collection of articles dedicated to women’s empowerment and gender equality. This year’s theme for IWD is “Think equal, build smart, innovate for change”, focusing on “innovative ways in which we can advance gender equality and the empowerment of women, particularly in the areas of social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure”, according to the UN Women.

From social protection to the participation of women in the labour market, we’ve hand-picked some of best publications recently published by the Centre.  

  1. The Policy in Focus issue "Women at work: addressing the gaps" tackles the significant barriers faced daily by women worldwide to engage as full economic citizens. It addresses a crucial aspect of women’s economic empowerment: labour market participation. Not all kinds of work entail positive outcomes for women, as they face challenges in pursuing well-paid, productive jobs that enable them to accumulate assets. Women’s time use will remain constrained if deeply rooted social norms, such as regarding housework and child-care responsibilities are not shared by other household members.
  2. The Policy in Focus issue “Social protection: towards gender equality” covers key topics related to gender equality and social protection. It gathers articles and studies focusing on the contexts of social protection programmes currently under way in South Africa, Egypt, Uganda, Tanzania and Brazil. Some of the articles reflect on the challenges of pursuing gender equality through social policies, what can be improved and where can progress be seen.
  3. The Policy in Focus Magazine issue “Protagonist Women” highlights examples of women taking the lead in an antagonistic society. It recognises the pluralities of experiences and challenges that exist for women globally—from biological challenges to those of physical integrity and reproductive health, and restrictions imposed by certain societal values and norms.
  4. The One Pager “How can cash transfer programmes work for women and children?” seeks to outline good strategies and practices in designing and implementing gender- and child-sensitive cash transfer programmes, based on international experience. The study focuses on programme features, highlighting the importance of anticipating effects on women and children during each step of programme design, implementation and evaluation.
  5. The One Pager “Challenges and perspectives for rural women in Brazil under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” looks into the inequality faced by rural women and proposes a policy framework based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda to create a strategy that could decrease disparities in access to production factors, technology, knowledge and economic and social opportunities, as well as enhance women's role in agriculture, with significant benefits towards achieving all the SDGs.


It was not easy to narrow down our selection to just these five publications, so here are some more suggestions here.