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Theme: Social Protection |
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 | Can job platforms contribute to closing gender gaps in labor markets? SAR GIL’s new report, Making Job Platforms Work for Women: A Guide for Practitioners and Researchers, finds that job platforms can significantly expand opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups – but only if they address persistent barriers and deficiencies in access, skills, and platform design. Drawing on interviews, research, and real-world examples, the report offers 9 practical recommendations to make platforms more inclusive and boost women’s participation and success. To accompany the report launch, SAR GIL held a dissemination event with World Bank staff, job platform representatives, researchers, and policymakers. You can watch the event recording here.
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Spotlight 💡 |
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 | World Survey on the Role of Women in Development 2024: Harnessing Social Protection for Gender Equality, Resilience and Transformation (2024) This flagship UN Women report assesses global progress and gaps in gender-responsive social protection, highlighting how programs can better shield women and girls from poverty, strengthen resilience to shocks, and challenge restrictive social norms. Drawing on insights from researchers, policymakers, civil society, and UN partners, it offers guidance for designing a new generation of social protection systems that uphold rights and advance sustainable development.
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What We're Listening To and Watching |
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 | Gender-Transformative Social Protection (2024) Can social protection systems move beyond accommodation to become a catalyst for challenging the structures and norms that perpetuate inequalities? This episode of the Social Protection Podcast explores how such systems can better address the needs of women and girls and avoid reinforcing traditional gender roles in the workplace and in caregiving. The speakers offer examples for how social protection can be designed for a more equitable future – by increasing access to labor markets and education, reducing poverty, food insecurity, and gender-based violence, and promoting positive shifts in social norms. |
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 | Gender and Development: Lessons from Across Multilateral Development Banks (2025) Hosted by the Center for Global Development, this webinar brings together heads of evaluation units to discuss recent independent reviews of gender and development work. Moderated by Mayra Buvinic, the panel features Sabine Bernabè (World Bank), Mona Fetouh (International Fund for Agricultural Development), Emmanuel Jimenez (Asian Development Bank), and Emmanuel Pondard (European Investment Bank). The speakers share progress, insights, and ongoing challenges in mainstreaming gender, aligning incentives, and measuring results. They conclude with recommendations to advance gender equality in lending operations and policy dialogue. |
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Featured Resources on South Asia |
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 | SDG Push through Social Protection Programs: Reflecting on UNDP’s Strengthening Women’s Ability for Productive New Opportunities Project in Bangladesh (2024) This report explores the long-term impacts of a graduation-based social protection initiative in Bangladesh, revisiting women who participated from 2017 to 2019 – many of whom were widowed, divorced, abandoned, or caring for disabled husbands. Household incomes for these women remain nearly four times higher than baseline, alongside greater decision-making power and confidence to engage with local authorities, signaling a significant boost in agency. These sustained gains are driven by improved entrepreneurship skills, stronger business confidence, and diversified livelihoods. Financial inclusion has also risen sharply: about 80% of women now have bank accounts, 70% use them regularly for savings, and over 90% hold mobile financial service accounts – compared to just 14% affiliated with banks and less than 1% building savings through banks at baseline.
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 | Pensions and Depression: Gender-Disaggregated Evidence from the Elderly Poor in India (2024) Empowering women with financial support and decision-making authority can strengthen agency and resilience in later life – improving health, dignity, and social inclusion for vulnerable women. This study finds that India’s National Social Assistance Program delivers more than financial relief, by significantly improving mental health among the elderly poor and reducing depression by around 10 percentage points. The benefits are particularly pronounced for women, especially widows, who experience notable improvements in well-being and autonomy. The researchers attribute these gains not just to cash transfers, but also to increased control over resources, reduced labor burdens, better access to healthcare, and healthier lifestyles.
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 | Universal Social Protection and Gender Disparities in Food Security: Insights from Nepal (2024) This study examines how Nepal’s nationwide old-age allowance unintentionally deepened gender disparities in household resource allocation. While the program increased financial support for seniors, it did not improve women’s food consumption. Eligible older women were 8.8 percentage points more likely than men to eat fewer meals and 5.3 percentage points more likely to go hungry. The disproportionate hunger experienced by older women – especially in households with young children – exposes the silent cost borne by grandmothers who often take on additional childcare. These insights demonstrate the need for gender-informed behavioral analysis in the cost-benefit calculations of social assistance programs. |
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Evidence from Elsewhere |
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 | Social Safety Nets, Women’s Economic Achievements and Agency: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2024) This meta-analysis of 106 studies covering over 200,000 women in 42 low- and middle-income countries shows that social safety nets (SSNs) can significantly boost women’s economic inclusion and agency. Strongest gains – across assets, savings, workforce participation, and decision-making – come from unconditional cash transfers, asset transfers, and social care services, while conditional cash transfers and in-kind programs have smaller or inconsistent effects. The findings underscore that program design is as important as delivery. The report calls for expanding access to excluded groups, linking SSNs with complementary services, prioritizing women’s leadership, and closing evidence gaps through rigorous research on design, context, gendered outcomes, including gender norms and cost-benefit analysis that incorporates a gender lens.
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 | Cash Is Queen: Local Economy Effects of Cash Transfers to Women in West Africa (2025) In Northern Nigeria, where female labor force participation is just 34%, an unconditional cash transfer program sparked a surge in women’s entrepreneurial activity. Distributed primarily to women in ultra-poor households, the transfers eased capital constraints and enabled them to start local businesses that fit within gendered expectations of care and domestic responsibilities. One year after the program ended, beneficiary women had increased micro-enterprise ownership by 20 percentage points, while nearby non-beneficiary women also saw a 13-point rise, reflecting significant spillover effects. Both groups enjoyed higher consumption, improved food security, and a shift toward joint household decision-making – highlighting how small cash injections can leverage female labor, boost local demand, and generate broader economic and social impacts even in settings constrained by restrictive gender norms.
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 | Unlocking the Potential of Household Surveys to Measure Women’s Access to Social Protection (2025) This study analyzes household survey data from 27 countries to examine how social protection programs reach men and women differently, shaping gender equality outcomes. It finds that despite widespread implementation, many programs lack gender-responsive design and fail to close gaps in labor market participation and financial inclusion. Household-level data expose hidden inequities, such as women’s benefits being tied to a male partner’s status or household headship. The authors argue that improving social protection monitoring using sex-disaggregated and household-level information is essential for crafting policies that can support women’s empowerment. They recommend redesigning social protection to provide targeted support for female‐headed households, individual entitlements rather than household-level allocations, and stronger care services to reduce women’s unpaid burdens.
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 | Accelerating Gender Equality Through Social Protection (2024) Nearly half the world lacks adequate social protection, with women and girls disproportionately affected. This World Bank Evidence and Practice Note highlights growing evidence that well-designed social protection programs boost human capital, expand women’s access to jobs and assets, and strengthen their leadership and decision-making. More recent evaluations show that these programs can help reduce gender-based violence, challenge harmful norms, and improve resilience to climate, economic, and conflict-related shocks. Operational experience reinforces these findings, revealing benefits that extend from individuals to communities and national economies. To advance gender equality through social protection, the authors recommend expanding gender-smart programs, scaling up cash-plus approaches, improving financial inclusion, strengthening adaptive delivery systems and social care services, engaging the private sector, and increasing the availability of sex-disaggregated data.
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Blogs |
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How Social Protection Helps People Become Self-Reliant (2025) Nearly 1.6 billion people in low- and middle-income countries still lack any form of social protection, and the World Bank has set an ambitious goal to reach 500 million more people – half of them women – by 2030. This blog draws on findings from the World Bank’s State of Social Protection 2025 report, which spotlights how social protection and labor programs help women and men access opportunities, secure better jobs, and build self-reliance. It identifies three priorities for accelerating progress: expanding coverage through stronger databases, digital payments, and case management systems; increasing benefit adequacy beyond basic survival through employment support that connects people to better jobs; and strengthening shock-responsive delivery systems, financing, and governance.
| Future-Proofing Retirement: Why Pension Systems Must Adapt to Women’s Needs (2025) Many retirement systems fail to account for women’s distinct career paths marked by caregiving and lower labor force participation, widening gender gaps in savings and benefits. World Bank data show that in 81 of 190 economies, time spent on childcare does not count toward pension benefits, reducing women’s replacement rates by an average of 3-7 percentage points. In 62 economies, women also face lower retirement ages, further shrinking their contributions. Some countries are addressing these gaps, with 29 offering incentives such as tax breaks, contributory allowances, and child bonuses. Gender-responsive pension systems could boost overall social and economic resilience, especially as women join the workforce in greater numbers but remain concentrated in vulnerable sectors.
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Gender-Responsive Social Protection: A Key to Unlock Progress Across the SDGs (2025) Gender-responsive social protection is capable of accelerating progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With just 5 years left to meet the 2030 agenda, this blog highlights how well-designed social protection programs that link cash transfers, care support, and labor market tools can reduce inequalities and boost women’s economic participation and resilience to shocks. Breakthroughs are reflected in new policies: Mexico’s Supreme Court, for example, mandated social security for domestic workers in 2018, doubling registered workers by 2022. Similarly, Mongolia expanded maternity benefits to cover all women, including informal workers and herders, while expanding paternity leave to promote shared caregiving.
| Bringing Rwanda’s Social Protection Practices onto the Global Stage (2025) Rwanda has transformed its national narrative from one of tragedy to a global example of inclusive growth, with the economy achieving sustained GDP growth of around 5% per year since 2006. Central to this shift is its flagship social protection initiative, the Vision Umurenge Program (VUP), which pairs public works and direct cash transfers with early childhood development and nutrition interventions. Over 50,000 households and nearly 40,000 caregivers, predominantly women, now benefit from VUP’s integrated services, strengthening livelihoods and child well-being. The approach builds on global lessons and evidence, addressing material needs and fostering aspirations.
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Jobs and Other Opportunities
In Case You Missed It! |
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Were you unable to attend our September or October learning events? Don’t miss out! |
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 | Watch the September recording of “Why Mindsets Matter: Insights from a Large-Scale Education Intervention in Andhra Pradesh, India” and review the policy brief or visit the Entrepreneurial Mindset Development Program website.
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 | Watch the October recording of “Unlocking Potential: Key Findings from an Evidence-Based Toolkit for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Bangladesh” and take a look at the report or the PowerPoint. |
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About WEESA WEESA is a dynamic community of practice that fosters regional exchange, dialogue, and capacity building on women's economic empowerment (WEE) by strengthening links between evidence and action. Members are researchers, policymakers, development practitioners, and other stakeholders interested in expanding and accelerating WEE and gender equality in South Asia and elsewhere. Launched in January 2022, our community has expanded to 4000+ members based in over 90 countries, drawing together individuals who work outside and within the World Bank. WEESA is hosted by the World Bank’s South Asia Gender Innovation Lab (SAR GIL), a platform that promotes evidence-based solutions to address gender gaps in South Asia and is supported by the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE) in partnership with the Gates Foundation and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The UFGE is supported with generous contributions from Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Gates Foundation, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
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Coordinator: Talajeh Livani; Editor: Charla Britt; Researcher: Gyanu Sharma; Designer: Veronica Del Motto; Copy Editor: Feriel Ramoul |
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