Equality and Security
Social and workforce protection
Definition
Legal protection and standards that have particular benefit for women in lower paid occupations
*Social protection programs that specifically address other WEE elements (e.g., conditional cash transfer schemes to keep girls in school or avoid early marriage) are not considered here
© Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Ryan Lobo | Call center in Patna, India | 2014
How social and workforce protection supports women's economic empowerment
Access to income and assets
Social protections have a strong positive impact on women's wages
Evidence on the impact of minimum wage laws in an informal sector: Domestic workers in South Africa
Domestic workers in South Africa experienced significant wage gains after new labor protections (right to a written contract, paid leave, severance pay, notice prior to dismissal, minimum wage, overtime pay, and unemployment insurance) were enacted.
Dinkelman and Ranchhod | 2012
The effects of minimum wages on the employment and earnings of South Africa's domestic service workers
After South Africa established a minimum wage for domestic workers in 2002, overall wages for increased by 22 percent and real monthly wages increased by 16 percent, with average women’s wages and real monthly wages increasing at a faster rate than those of their male counterparts.
Hertz | 2005
Control of and benefit from economic gains
Women are less likely to receive pensions, which correlates with a higher likelihood of living in poverty
Women at work: Trends 2016
As of 2016, 57.8 percent of women worldwide received a retirement pension compared to 68.4 percent of men; the pension gender gap was greatest in North Africa, where only 8 percent of women receive a pension compared to 63.6 percent of men.
International Labor Organization | 2016
What is the impact of non-contributory pensions on poverty? Estimates from Brazil and South Africa
Studies of non-contributory pension programs found that the poverty gap would be 40 percent greater in Brazil and 81 percent greater in South Africa if the pension plans were not in place. Rural old age non-contributory pension plans helped reduce poverty in Brazil; among households with pensions, 38.1 percent lived in poverty (compared to 51.5 percent of those without pensions).
Barrientos | 2003
Power to make decisions
Anecdotal evidence suggests that social and workforce protections have a positive effect on women’s agency, though additional research is needed to understand the strength of this effect
Age and security: How social pensions can deliver effective aid to poor older people and their families
Interviews with older women in Nepal and India revealed that access to a pension increased feelings of self-worth.
HelpAge International | 2004
Universal non-contributory pension schemes for low-income countries: An assessment
A study in Namibia found that the sense of security conferred by pensions encouraged family members to migrate in order to pursue economic opportunities and employment.
Johnson and Williamson | 2008
How social and workforce protection produces further benefit
Health
Studies have shown that access to social welfare results in positive health results for pensioners themselves and their families
Women empowerment and economic development
South African girls living with a grandmother who received a pension had better nutritional outcomes than those who did not live with one.
Duflo | 2012
Making health insurance work for the poor: Learning from the Self-Employed Women’s Association’s community-based health insurance in India
The Self-Employed Women’s Association, a trade union in India that provides community-based health insurance for informal women workers, reduced “catastrophic hospitalizations” (i.e., those costing more than 10 percent of annual household income) by more than 50 percent.
Ranson et al. | 2005
Family and welfare
Families benefit from elders with access to pensions, though further research is needed to determine whether these benefits varied according to the gender of the pension recipient
Social pensions in Namibia and South Africa
A study in Namibia found that 28 percent of social pension income was used directly by the pensioners, with the remaining funds split among grandchildren (55 percent), children (25 percent), and other relatives (20 percent); female-headed households spent roughly 10 percentage points more on the entire household.
Devereux | 2001
Women empowerment and economic development
The gender of the pension holder may matter: Children in South Africa living with a man eligible for a pension were more likely to attend school than those living with a woman eligible for the pension.
Duflo | 2012