“Women’s economic participation in MENA and  globalized labor markets”

Call for research proposals

The Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) and the World Bank are launching the second research competition of the Gender Economic Research and Policy Analysis (GERPA).  The objective of the competition is to reach out to economic researchers and research centers in the MENA region to mainstream gender issues within their regular and ongoing work and to provide incentives to make gender sensitive research an essential component of economic policy over time.

The striving need for economic research on gender is driven by the wide mismatch between the region’s economic achievements and the status of women.  Over the past decades, the MENA region has succeeded in achieving high economic growth as well as in improving the general well being of the population.  However, this increase has not been accompanied by an increase in the economic participation of women, and the region has the lowest rate of female economic participation in the world. The poor economic participation of women is an obstacle for further growth and development in the region, and the empirical record shows that no country can achieve healthy and sustainable economic growth if half of its labor force is idle and its resources are used inefficiently.

This is especially true in a world of globalization and economic liberalization where the national economies are becoming increasingly integrated with the international economies through trade, foreign investment, migration and the diffusion of technology.  At the same time, the efficient allocation of resources and the increased competition tend to increase job turnovers, relocation, and privatization, leading countries to adopt more flexible labor market policies with asymmetric effects on men and women employment opportunities. This new national and international setting requires a thorough and deep understanding of how globalization affects women economic participation in MENA and to what extent it contributes to employment creation for women in the region. As such, the GERPA competition provides funding to researchers working within previously “gender neutral” economic research agendas to incorporate the gender aspect in the existing economic research undertaken in the region.

Proposal submission procedure:

Deadline for proposal submission:    15 October 2008

Decision for acceptance made by:     20 December 2008

Please send a title and an electronic copy of the proposal to:

CONTACT:  Soukeina Bouraoui

Email:          This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Eligible Applicants:  To be eligible for the grant, applicants must originate from the MENA region (they may be residing in the region or outside). The definition of the MENA region follows the World Bank delineation which includes the following countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine/West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Djibouti.  However, applicants from the region can collaborate with anyone outside the region for cross country comparisons. 

Proposal Elements and Length:  The proposal should state a clear research question with a clear indication of the policy implication, a description of the methodology and data to be used, the time frame of the study and a detailed financial statement. The research proposal should not exceed 5 pages.

Research and Methodology: The research question can be an original contribution to the field of gender and economics in MENA or an extension of an existing research to which the gender component is added. The research can be multi-country to ensure teamwork and comparative analysis; however, single country studies are also welcome to submit. The research proposal should be relevant for policy implementation and the end results should present the scientific evidence necessary to strengthen or criticize a specific economic policy or to suggest a new policy.

Research Themes and Topics

The competition focuses on theoretical and empirical research on current and priority issues facing women in the economies in MENA.     The following are some of the topics that will be considered, but other topics are also welcome.

1) Globalization and gender

Globalization has a direct impact on the structure of the labor market in general and the labor market for women in particular. Over the last 20 years, and following the debt crisis, most non-oil producing countries in MENA have adopted the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) which consists in liberalizing their economy and opening up to the outside. The program is implemented in parallel to a strategy of macro policy reforms including a number of bilateral and regional trade agreements, fiscal and public sector reforms and the development and growth of domestic and global markets through deregulation, privatization and deep integration. These policies have different gender outcomes within MENA countries and there is need to study the effect of globalization on employment opportunities for women.

2) Trade Liberalization

Most countries in the region are moving toward trade liberalization and are getting more and more integrated.  In this context, the issue of trade liberalization and its impact on gender is one of the most urgent relevance. As exporting firms tend to pay better wages than domestic firms, higher-wage jobs will be created in the economy and men as well as women will benefit from these higher pay jobs.  This could create new opportunities for women to have access to an income and achieve financial sustainability. The topic seeks to answer a number of questions.  Does trade liberalization have different impacts on women's and men's employment opportunities, conditions of work and the gender wage gap? Do the changes in governments’ fiscal policies resulting from the loss of tariff revenue have unequal impact on men and women?   To what extent does foreign direct investment contribute to narrowing up the gender wage gap? 

3) Trade in Services

In recent years, the services sector has been gaining growing importance in the economies of MENA, accounting for a large part of the value-added and employment growth. Trade in services has been concentrated in a number of sectors such as the energy, construction, telecommunications, transportation and financial sectors. Besides its important macroeconomic, financial, and balance of payments effects, trade in services leads to important efficiency gains through the internal reforms and the reorganization of the economy which leads to gains in other sectors as well. This theme studies how trade in services has different impacts on women and men and the extent to which it can promote gender equality in the region.

4) Gender and Migration

There is no doubt that by providing women with financial independence, freedom of mobility and updated labor market skills, migration can be an empowering experience for women.  In a time where the world economies are more and more interconnected and where the geographical boundaries are narrowing up, migration can be an important source for employment opportunities and can contribute incredibly to poverty reduction and economic growth.  Migrant remittances and investments, and the newly acquired skills of returnees can potentially contribute to poverty reduction. However, the migration outcome differs according to gender. Migrant women can be more vulnerable than men because of differences in their capacity of integration and networking. In addition, the laws and regulations of the receiving and sending countries (the availability of social protection and access to information), the level of education of migrant women and their family situation can play a crucial role in determining the migration outcome.