Charles Kenny

Unpacking Gender Gaps and Data Gaps in Public Sector Employment and Pay

A CGD Policy Paper with Ugonma Nwankwo and Megan O'Donnell.  We look at available sources to ask (i) Where is data available on employment and wages allowing for comparisons between women and men, and the public and private sectors? (ii) How do women’s employment, compensation, and seniority compare with men’s in the public and private sectors? (iii) How do gender gaps vary by countries’ income level, education levels, and other factors? What are the policy implications of the data we analyze? (iv) Which countries’ efforts can be modeled by others, and how else can global gender gaps in employment and compensation be narrowed? We suggest the Open Government Partnership as a promising platform through which governments can commit to increased transparency around disaggregated employment and wage data, in turn improving policy decision-making aimed at closing gender gaps (or those rooted in other forms of inequality and discrimination). We suggest the Open Government Partnership as a promising platform through which governments can commit to increased transparency around disaggregated employment and wage data, in turn improving policy decision-making aimed at closing gender gaps (or those rooted in other forms of inequality and discrimination).

Your World, Better

Your World, Better: Global Progress and What You Can Do About It is a book written for the smart and engaged middle school student.  It looks at how America and the World has changed since the reader's parents and grandparents were young: what has happened to health and wealth, homes, school and work, rights and democracy, war and the environment, happiness and depression.   It talks about the things that have gotten better, the sometimes-intensifying challenges that remain, and what readers can do about them. 

Your World Better is optimistic, but it doesn’t shy away from the considerable problems we face: from inequality through discrimination and depression to climate change and infectious threats.  It is meant to encourage kids to help make the world better themselves: tip them from a sense of powerlessness toward action, not into complacency.

The pdf of Your World Better is available to download here for free.  Or you can buy a kindle version for 99 cents or a hard copy for $8.10 on Amazon (or six pounds on UK Amazon here).  Any author royalties from those sales will be donated to UNICEF (so far, a bit more than $800 has been donated, thanks!). I talk about the book to Marian Tupy for the Human Progress podcast and to two (fantastic) middle schoolers for NPR.  Then I did a Slack chat with five middle schoolers for Slate. A CGD discussion about the book and talking to children about progress is here. And here's a fifteen minute video about the book (or try it on Youtube).  I am happy for the *text* (not pictures) to be copied or redistributed in any medium, and/or remixed or transformed for any purpose, with attribution.

"Everyone, no matter how old, or how young, should read this. I’m sending to grandkids and their parents." --Nancy Birdsall

"Great read for middle school kids who want to understand how the world is getting better -- and can become even more so!" --Parag Khanna

"How can you pass up a free book?! And one that is so relevant for today? If you know a middle school student or teacher, pass this along! Incredibly fresh and honest." --Karen Schulte 

"Kids are taught that everything's getting worse and we're all doomed--factually incorrect, and a message that leads to cynicism & fatalism, not constructive action. An antidote: Charles Kenny's new Your World, Better..." --Steven Pinker

 

Promoting Women’s Economic Empowerment in the COVID-19 Context

A CGD Working Paper with Megan O'Donnell Mayra Buvinic Shelby Bourgault George Yang.  When health crises like COVID-19 emerge, the shocks to economic, social, and health systems can have different implications for women and girls, with gendered impacts across various dimensions of wellbeing. This paper, part of a series documenting the gendered impacts of the pandemic, focuses on women’s economic empowerment. It begins with a conceptual framework illustrating how the pandemic, associated response measures, economic contraction and different coping strategies intersect with underlying gender norms and inequality in ways that differentially affect the wellbeing of women and girls. It then synthesizes the existing evidence on how the COVID-19 crisis and associated response measures have impacted women’s paid and unpaid work, entrepreneurship, and earnings across sectors in low- and middle-income countries. The paper proceeds to outline economic response measures from national governments and multilateral development banks and the extent to which gender inequalities have been considered in these measures to date. The paper concludes with recommendations aimed at donors and policymakers to ensure the COVID-19 recovery does not exacerbate pre-existing gender gaps in the economy.

How immigration-law enforcement can affect high-skilled American women

Undocumented immigrants provide a lot of child care.  If they aren't around, it is harder for working mothers.  For The Economist.

How equal rights can boost economic growth

For the Economist --gay marriage and more minorities in the workforce are good for the economy.  Patriotic heterosexual white men should support equality.

Americans want equality at work; less so at home

You can't have equality in the workplace if you don't have it in parenting and childcare.  Me in The Economist.

America’s fertility rate continues its deep decline

I you want more babies, let in more women and help them work.  For the Economist.

The cost of rescinding work permits for spouses of immigrants on H-1B visas

Piece on Trump administration getting rid of work authorizations for spouses of H1-B visas, for the Economist.

The gender equality toolbox: The areas of society that still need work, and how to do it

A piece on what Canada could do to further global gender equality for OpenCanada.org.

 

How protests can affect elections

Me in the Economist hoping the women's marches portend a landslide in the midterms.

The IMF: Crawling the Walk on Gender?

A CGD policy note with Tanvi Jaluka and Michael Brown on IMF Article IV negotiations since gender was declared 'macrocritical.' In short, there has been increased attention to the issue as reflected in word counts and discussion of women’s labor force participation, but there is still a long way to go.

Norms and Reform: Legalizing Homosexuality Improves Attitudes

A paper by Dev Patel and me for CGD.  This analysis examines the relationship between legal reform and social norms surrounding homosexuality. We document three main findings. First, about a fifth of the variation in individual preferences can be explained at a country level. Second, using a difference-in-differences strategy, legalizing homosexuality improves how individuals view the tone of their communities. Third, we provide further evidence supporting a legal origins argument by examining former colonies. Countries that were colonized by the British Empire have significantly worse legal rights for samesex couples than those under other colonial powers. We conclude that adopting legal reform can improve societal attitudes.

We can honour the sacrifice of our troops by deploying more women peacekeepers

For Irin news, with Tanvi Jaluka.

Gender Laws, Values, and Outcomes: Evidence from the World Values Survey

A CGD Working Paper with Dev Patel.  This paper analyzes six waves of responses from the World Values Survey to understand the determinants of beliefs about women’s roles in society and their relationship with the legal system and outcomes. Using survey data for 300,000 individuals, we find that characteristics of an individual’s home country only explain about a fifth of the variation in values, and a single individual can report strongly different norms about women’s equality across different domains. There is a strong correlation between norms, laws and female labor force participation and between norms and the proportion of legislators who are women—but not between norms and relative female tertiary education. There is some suggestive evidence that laws may be more significant than norms in determining female employment outcomes, but the available evidence does not allow for strong causal statements at the cross-country level.

An economist warns that the next generation of feminists will feel even more frustrated

For Quartz.  The original title, still in the weblink, gave me a panic attack.

Expanding Women’s Role in Developing Technology: Increasing Productivity, Improving Lives

A CGD note with Megan O'Donnell, accompanied by a blog looking at the private sector's record of involving women in innovation (car companies: awful, biomed: better).  It is a shocking waste of talent that women are just 15% of listed inventors on patents worldwide.  There are things we could do to make that better.

Why Increasing Female Migration from Gender-Unequal Countries is a Win for Everyone

A policy note for CGD.  Women find it hard to emigrate from countries with terrible women's rights.  It would be self-interested for recipient countries with good rights to favor their entry.

A Smart Investment: $1 Billion for Promoting Women’s and Girls’ Economic Empowerment

The next US administration should allocate at least $1 billion in additional resources—equal to a little over two percent of current US overseas assistance—exclusively dedicated to advancing gender equality in developing countries, with a specific focus on improving women’s and girls’ economic opportunities and outcomes. A CGD brief with Megan O'Donnell Mayra Buvinic and Cindy Huang.

The Impact of Legislation on the Hazard of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Burkina Faso

A CGD paper, with Ben Crisman, Sarah Dykstra and Megan O'Donnell.  In 1996, Burkina Faso enacted legislation banning the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Much of the qualitative literature surrounding FGM/C discounts the impact of legal change on what is considered a social/cultural issue. We use data from the Demographic and Health Surveys DHS(VI) in Burkina Faso to test for a discontinuous change in the likelihood of being cut in the year the law was passed. We find robust evidence for a substantial drop in hazard rates in 1996 and investigate the heterogeneous impact of the law by region, religion, and ethnicity. Overall, we roughly estimate that over a ten year period the law averted the genital mutilation/cutting of approximately 237,591 women and girls. We qualify our findings recognizing that Burkina Faso is a special case with a long history of bottom-up and top-down approaches to eliminating the practice.

A US Law or Executive Order to Combat Gender Apartheid at Work in Discriminatory Countries

A policy memo for CGD on a law to help US multinationals combat inequality in the workplace overseas.

A number of countries worldwide have laws that specifically discriminate against women’s participation in the workforce, including bans on particular occupations, restrictions on opening bank accounts or taking jobs without a male family member’s authority, and restrictions on travel. Such discriminatory laws are associated with considerably lower female labor force participation and with negative consequences for economic growth and sustainable development. They also contradict globally accepted norms and values on gender equality in the workplace. The US legislation or executive action we propose would encourage US multinationals to mitigate the impact of local discriminatory legislation to the extent possible within the host country’s domestic laws by following a code of conduct regarding women’s employment, potentially limiting that obligation to the most discriminatory of countries. The proposed legislation is modeled on US anti-apartheid legislation (P.L. 99-440) that encouraged US firms to hire, train, and promote nonwhites in South Africa in the 1980s. Part of the legislation addresses the actions of the executive branch; this could also form a stand-alone executive order.

Saudi Arabia is Underwriting Terrorism Let's Start Making it Pay

A call for smart sanctions on the House of Saud based on its extremism at home and abroad.  For Politico.

Advancing a Gender-Based Development Agenda

A chapter for CGD's White House and the World publication looking at US policies from trade through migration, investment and aid that could improve outcomes for women worldwide.  Written with Sarah Dykstra.

The Good Old Days Were Fine. These Days Are Better

Anyone who wants to go back to the 50's is old, white, male, hetero and (still) stupid. For @BW.

How the Decline of Arranged Marriages Helps the Fight Against Poverty

More and more people are getting married for love.  Yay.  For @BW.

India's Problem Is Rape, Not Uber

Sadly, women get raped in regular taxi cabs, too.  For @BW.

How To Stop the Global Crisis of Domestic Violence

Laws help --in @BW.

Why Saudi Arabia Is the Next South Africa

Legal discrimination on the grounds of gender shouldn't be more acceptable than on grounds of race.  For @BW.

Divorce's Rise in Emerging Economies Helps Women Get Ahead

A @BW article arguing the rise of divorce is good for women worldwide.

The Trojan Paradox

More birth control = fewer abortions.  For FP.