Malawi Gender Assessment Malawi Gender Assessment Malawi Gender Assessment Report No: AUS0002720 © 2017 The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved of The World Bank. The fi This work is a product of the staff ndings, interpretati ons, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily refl ect the views of the Executi ve Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominati ons, and other informati on shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Rights and Permissions on of The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages disseminati its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long ributi as full att on to this work is given. Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: “World Bank. March 2022 Malawi Gender Assessment © World Bank.” All queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank ons, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522- Publicati 2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. March 2022 3 Malawi Gender Assessment Table of Contents Acknowledgements 6 Abbreviations 7 Executive Summary 9 Drivers of Inequality in Human Endowments 10 Drivers of Inequality in Economic Opportunities 10 Drivers of Inequality in Ownership and Control of Assets 10 Drivers of Gender-Based Violence and Low Agency 11 Policy Options 11 Introduction 14 1. Human Endowments 17 1.1 Health 18 1.1.1 Ferti lity 18 1.1.3 Reproducti ve Healthcare 21 1.1.4 Illness and Disease 25 1.1.6 Water Supply, Sanitati on and Hygiene 26 1.2 Education 26 1.2.1 Enrollment 27 2. Economic Opportunities 30 2.1 Agriculture 30 2.1.1 Characteristi cs of Women Plot Managers 31 2.1.2 Agricultural Producti on Barriers 31 2.2 Entrepreneurship 33 cs of Women Managers 2.2.1 Characteristi 34 ng for the Gender Gap 2.2.2 Accounti 34 2.3 Wage Work 36 2.4 Time Use 36 3. Ownership and Control of Assets 38 3.1 Land & Assets 38 3.2 Financial Inclusion 39 4. Voice and Agency 44 4.1 Gender-Based Violence 44 4.2 Harmful Practices 46 4.3 Decision-Making & Household Gender Dynamics 48 4.4 Political Voice & Leadership 49 5. Policy Options 51 4 Malawi Gender Assessment 5.1 Supporting Adolescent Girls and Women to Inform Key Decisions on Schooling, Marriage, Childbearing, and Work 51 Educati on 51 lity Ferti 52 5.2 Increasing Women’s Agricultural Production 53 Increase Women’s Access to Secure Land Tenure 53 on of Cash Crops Increase Adopti 54 Increase Use of More Producti ve Labor 55 Increase Use of Agricultural Inputs 56 5.3 Improving Women’s Entrepreneurship Outcomes 57 5.4 Increasing Women’s Agency and Reducing their Exposure to GBV 59 Increase Women’s Time Agency 59 Reduce Women’s Exposure to GBV 60 5.5 Next Steps 60 Appendix 1: Balance Table (Malawi LSMS) 61 Appendix 2: OLS (Malawi LSMS) 64 Appendix 3: Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition, Sales (Malawi LSMS) 66 Appendix 4: Voice & Agency Descriptive Statistics (Malawi DHS 2015/16) 69 Appendix 5: OLS Regression, Decision-Making Over Purchases (Malawi DHS 2015/16) 70 Appendix 6: OLS Regression, Health & GBV, Decision-Maker as Control, (Malawi DHS 2015/16) 71 5 Malawi Gender Assessment Acknowledgements team of Sustainable Development and Human This report was prepared by a joint World Bank Development Global practi ces. The team was led by M. Yaa Oppong, Sector Leader, SD; Inaam Ul Haq, Program Leader, HD, (both of the Tanzania CMU), and Violett e Mwikali Wambua, Sr. Social Development Specialist. al research was conducted by Rose Gawaya, Gender Consultant. Report writi Initi ng was led by Daniel John Kirkwood, Gender Specialist, and Laurel Elizabeth Morrison, Gender Consultant (both of the Africa Gender Innovati on Lab). The following core team members contributed signifi cantly to the development, review, and fi nalizati on of the gender assessment and are gratefully acknowledged: Tanya Lynn D’Lima, Social Development Specialist; Pamela Chebiwott Tuiyott , Sr. Social Development Specialist; Elita Chayala, GBV Consultant; Blessings Nyanjagha Botha, Sr. Agriculture Economist; Chiho Suzuki, Sr. Health Specialist; Francisco Obreque, Sr. Agriculture Specialist; Efrem Zephnaph Chilma, Sr. Private Sector Specialist; Odete Duarte Muximpua, Water Supply and Sanitati on Specialist; Francis Samson Nkoka, Sr. Disaster Risk Management Specialist; Victoria Stanley, Sr. Land Administrati on Specialist; Esther Angellah Lozo, Operati ons Analyst; Callie Phillips, Sr. Social Development Specialist; Laura Campbell, Social Protecti on Specialist; Lauren Justi ne Marston, Educati on Specialist, Julita Patnes Manda (Consultant); Jeanne Ward (Consultant); Charlott e Wezi Mesikano Malonda, GBV Consultant; Anthony Jeckson Malunga, GBV Consultant; Rose Gawaya, Gender Consultant; Chikondi Clara Nsusa-Chilipa, Transport Specialist; Young Professional; Paula Lorena Gonzalez Marti nez, Gender Consultant; Clift on John Cortez, Adviser; Toni Joe Lebbos, Consultant. In additi on, the team would like to acknowledge early collaborati on with the Poverty team - Miriam Muller, Social Scienti st; German Daniel Caruso, Sr. Economist; Melanie Gross, Consultant, Poverty and Equity; and Lina Marcela Cardona, Economist. Allison Louise Vale edited the report. Judith Elimhoo Matemba, Program Assistant provided ve support and coordinati administrati re process. Priscilla Simbisayi Zengeni, on of the enti Program Assistant, and Gloria Pamela Chinguo, Team Assistant, provided additi onal ve support. administrati on by colleagues from the Ministry of Gender the The World Bank is grateful to contributi Government of Malawi, Joseph Kalelo, Principal Gender Development Offi cer, GBV & Women’s rights, Peter Yelesani, Chief Gender Development Offi cer, Women, Politi cs & Decision Making, and Ronald Phiri, Gender Development Offi cer. We also appreciated technical input by colleagues from UN Women, Yemi Falayojo, Head of Program, Pamela Mkwamba, Nati onal Program Offi cer, and UNFPA. Peer reviewers have contributed signifi on and preparati cantly to the conceptualizati on of the assessment: Verena Phipps, Senior Social Development Specialist; Naoko Ohno, Senior Social Development Specialist; Peter Lafere, Senior Social Development Specialist; and Nazaneen Ali, Senior Governance Specialist, Sameera Maziad Al Tuwaijri, Lead Health Specialist, HHNDR; and Markus Goldstein, Lead Economist, AFECE. With special thanks to Markus Goldstein, who provided support beyond peer review as Lead on Lab, along with his team. The work was conducted Economist at the Africa Gender Innovati ce Manager, Social Sustainability and Inclusion. with oversight from Helene Carlson Rex, Practi Mara K. Warwick, Country Director for Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and Hugh Riddell, Country Manager for Malawi, provided strategic guidance and leadership throughout on of the report. the preparati 6 Malawi Gender Assessment Abbreviations ADC Area Development Committ ee AGYW adolescent girls and young women AIDS acquired immune defi ciency syndrome CAVWOC Centre for Victi mized Women and Children CBCC Community-Based Care Centers CBCM Community-Based Complaints Model CCJP Catholic Commission for Justi ce and Peace CCT Conditi onal Cash Transfers CEDAW Conventi on on the Eliminati on Against Women on of All Forms of Discriminati CEWAG Coaliti on for the Empowerment of Women and Girls CHRR Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitati on CMU Country Management Unit CSO civil society organizati ons CVSUs Community Victi m Support Units DAGG Development Assistance Group on Gender DALY disability adjusted life year DEC District Executi ve Meeti ngs DHRMD Department of Human Resource Management and Development DSWO District Social Welfare Offi ce DV domesti c violence ECD early childhood development ECDI Early Childhood Development Index EPD Economic Planning and Development EQUALs Equity with Quality and Learning at Secondary FBO faith-based organizati ons GBV gender-based violence GDP gross domesti c product GEA Gender Equality Act GENET Girls Empowerment Network GEWE gender equality and women’s equality GRMC Grievance Redress Mechanism Committ ee HCI Human Capital Index HIV human immunodefi ciency virus HSA Health Surveillance Assistant HTP harmful traditi onal practi ces INGO internati onal non-governmental organizati on IPV mate partner violence inti JCE Junior Certi cate Examinati fi on JPAG Joint Program on Adolescent Girls in Malawi MDFR Marriage Divorce and Family Relati ons Act MDGs millennium development goals MDHS Malawi Demographic Health Survey MEAL monitoring, evaluati on, accountability, and learning MEGEN Men for Gender Equality Now MESIP Malawi Educati on Sector Improvement Project MGDS Malawi Growth and Development Strategy MHRC Malawi Human Rights Commission 7 Malawi Gender Assessment MHRRC Malawi Human Rights Resource Centre MICS Multi ple Indicator Cluster Surveys MIS management informati on system MoEST Ministry of Educati on, Science and Technology MoF Ministry of Finance and Economic Aff airs MoGCDSW Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social Welfare MoH Ministry of Health MoJCA Ministry of Justi ce and Consti onal Aff tuti airs MoTPW Ministry of Transport and Public Works MSCE Malawi School Certi cate Exam fi MSME micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises NGO non-governmental organizati on NGO-GCN NGO gender coordinati ng network NGP Nati onal Gender Policy NPA Nati onal Plan of Acti on to Combat Gender-Based Violence OHCHR Offi ce of the United Nati ons High Commissioner for Human Rights OPC Offi ce of the President and Cabinet OSC One Stop Centre PDVA Preventi on of Domesti c Violence Act PEW politi cal empowerment of women PHC Populati on and Housing Census PLHA people living with HIV and AIDS PSEA preventi on of sexual exploitati on and abuse PSS Psychological Support Services RGAP Regional Gender Acti on Plan SSI Social Sustainability and Inclusion. SRH sexual and reproducti ve health SRHR sexual and reproducti ve health and rights TB Tuberculosis (TB) TWG technical working group TFR total ferti lity rate UCT unconditi onal cash transfers UNDP United Nati ons Development Program UNFPA United Nati ons Populati on Fund UNICEF United Nati ons Children’s Fund VAC Vulnerability Assessment Committ ee VACS Violence Against Children and Young Women in Malawi Survey VAWG violence against women and girls VSLAs village savings and loan associati ons VSU Victi m Support Unit WHO World Health Organizati on WOJAM Women Judges and Magistrates Associati on WORLEC Women’s Legal Resources Centre YONECO Youth Net and Counselling *All dollar amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise indicated. 8 Malawi Gender Assessment Executive Summary The government of Malawi has committ ed to addressing gender inequality and improving women’s wellbeing. The government has implemented multi ple strategic development plans to guide policy creati on and implementati on. The current ongoing strategic plan is the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS) III, which is aimed at alleviati ng poverty and fostering sustainable economic growth. In January 2021 the government of Malawi introduced the Malawi 2063 Vision, a strategic development plan which aims for low-middle income status by 2030.i To meet the goals set out in Malawi 2063, human capital development, private sector development, economic infrastructure, and environmental stability have been highlighted as criti cal drivers to be addressed.ii While the MDGS III and the Malawi 2063 Vision both include a focus on gender equality, this is largely done through a human capital and voice and agency lens, with considerably less focus on how closing gender gaps in the producti ve economic sectors can boost economic growth and poverty reducti on. In the MDGS, gender is placed under “other development areas” and grouped together with issues relati ng to youth, disability, and social welfare, with outcomes to be monitored including those focused on access to basic services, women’s roles in various levels of decision-making, and gender-responsive budgeti ng. In the Malawi 2063 Vision, gender is principally discussed under the human capital “enabler” secti on. In reality, the government’s policy focus on gender equality has someti mes gone beyond the areas of human capital and voice and agency. The government has passed and implemented a number of policy reforms which have supported greater gender equality and women’s empowerment in terms not only of educati on, health, and protecti on from GBV, but also in terms of employment and access to assets. Some government eff orts have already brought ve impacts, such as reducing the total ferti positi lity rate and increasing the rate of family planning use, currently about double that of other countries in the region. Yet, there is a need to build upon the recent successes and to speed up progress in many areas, such as by improving schooling rates for girls at the upper secondary level, lowering maternal mortality rates, further decreasing the ferti lity rate, and addressing child marriage and adolescent pregnancy. There is also a need for a greater focus on identi fying and addressing those constraints, including weaker access to various assets that hold back women’s producti vity as farmers, entrepreneurs, and wage workers. Part of the strategy for building on recent gains in gender equality will be about the need for improved implementati on of existi ng policies, and part of it is about identi onal priority policies and interventi fying additi ons that can help close remaining gaps. The aim of this report is to identi fy the most promising opportuniti es for advancing women’s empowerment and gender equality in Malawi by bringing together the latest evidence on: 1) gender gaps in human endowments, economic opportuniti es, ownership and control of assets, and women’s voice and agency; 2) the underlying drivers of those gender gaps; and 3) the ecti eff veness of concrete policy and programmati c interventi ons that address these underlying drivers and/or otherwise have been shown to close the gender gaps. The methodology for this work included a desk review of literature (including both governmental and non-governmental reports as well as academic literature such as impact evaluati ons of relevant interventi ons), descripti sti ve stati cs on gender gaps, including from key sources such as nati onal household surveys and World Development Indicators, and quanti tati ve decompositi on analyses to identi fy the most signifi cant underlying factors behind some key outcomes. 9 Malawi Gender Assessment The drivers of the gender gaps explored in this report are interrelated and oft en compound each other. While many of these factors, such as access to certain assets, are easily quanti able, fi some are not. This latt er group includes social/gender norms that may infl uence individuals’ behavior across every aspect of their lives and may in turn underpin many of the quanti tati ve gaps we pick up in the data. This report primarily focuses on those drivers that are quanti fi able but supplements this with contextual informati on, such as around social norms, which may modify or underpin these quanti able drivers. We fi fi nd the following to be parti cularly impactf ul drivers of gender gaps in the four aspects of gender equality that we cover: Drivers of Inequality in Human Endowments The total fertility rate in Malawi is high at 4.1 births per woman and is driven by: 1) the high adolescent ferti lity rate, itself driven by early marriage and school drop-out; 2) lower use of modern contracepti ves and higher unmet needs for less educated women and those in poorer households. Significant gender gaps at the secondary school level: Drivers of the trend include: 1) nancial constraints at higher educati early marriage and childbirth, and 2) fi on levels. Drivers of Inequality in Economic Opportunities The total conditional gender gap1 in agricultural productivity is 31 percent. Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) women being less likely to farm cash crops, 2) women farmers having less access to male labor, and 3) women having less access to agricultural technology and mechanizati on – which is especially detrimental given women’s greater childcare and domesti es which leave them in more need of labor-saving c responsibiliti opti ons. Women entrepreneurs’ sales are 46 percent less than those of male entrepreneurs. Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) men are more likely to use their own agricultural ecti savings as startup capital, refl vity which allows ng their greater agricultural producti them to save, and 2) men are more likely to have workers and to pay them more. Women wage workers receive lower wages and are more likely than men to not be paid for their work. Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) women are more likely to have me constraints due to performing unpaid domesti ti c and care work, and 2) women are more likely to work in the informal sector due to lower educati ainment and skill onal att levels. Drivers of Inequality in Ownership and Control of Assets Land insecurity is pervasive throughout the country and women are the most land insecure. Drivers of the gender gap include the predominance of customary versus statutory land tenure practi ces which result in women being less likely to have their names on land ti tles and having less decision-making control over their land. 1 The conditi onal gender gap controls for individual factors (e.g., age, educati on level) and plot level factors (e.g., size, ng the diff inputs, labor) while calculati on per hectare between plots managed by men and women. erence in producti 10 Malawi Gender Assessment Women have lower levels of financial inclusion across all domains than men. Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) women’s lower earnings, which likely impacts the volume they are able to save, 2) women’s lower access to key sources of collateral, such as nancial products that are specifi land, and 3) a lack of fi cally targeted at women, for example to get around the collateral constraint that disproporti ects women onately aff because of their less secure access to land. Drivers of Gender-Based Violence and Low Agency High rates of gender-based violence (GBV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) are widespread: Drivers of the trend include: 1) high rates of early marriage and childbirth, 2) low levels of economic independence for women, and 3) low levels of educati on among women. Women have lower levels of agency and decision-making power: Drivers include: cipati 1) women’s lower parti -farm employment; 2) on in employment, especially off women’s lower earnings; 3) the age gap between husbands and wives (with wives being younger); and 4) being in a polygamous relati onship. Policy Options Drivers of gender gaps in Malawi, as elsewhere, are highly interconnected. This means that ons in gaps in one domain are likely to impact outcomes across other domains, policy acti complicati ng the decision on where to focus eff on of this report is orts. Moreover, as the intenti to act as a starti ng point for future policy dialogue with the Government of Malawi, the scope of the report is purposefully broad. However, some initi al prioriti es do emerge. This is fi rstly in terms of which gaps in certain sectors may be parti cularly important to address. Here the decompositi on analyses (presented in the report) are helpful for identi fying the specifi c constraints that appear to be quanti vely ti cal in driving gender gaps in agricultural yields and fi most criti rm sales. However, as well ng which constraints in a given sector may be most important and the types of as indicati interventi ons available to address these, this report also indicates which broader domains of gender gaps may be especially important. In this regard, the evidence presented in this report suggests that the gender gaps around adolescent girls (especially with regard to educati on) may be a parti cularly fruitf ul focus of policy eff orts, given the number of other outcomes they underpin and given their connecti on to Malawi’s overall development, via its ability to make a demographic transiti on. Adolescent girls are also a priority group as they make up 24 percent of all women of reproducti ve age in Malawi.iii Adolescence is a ti me when girls make key decisions, for example whether to drop-out of school and when to start a family, that have life-long implicati ons in terms of their health, me ferti lifeti lity, skills, economic opportunity, and voice and agency. All of these factors are interrelated in complex ways, but global evidence suggests that investments to keep girls in school may be parti cal, with large impacts on their earnings and standard of living, cularly criti child marriage and early childbearing, lifeti lity and populati me ferti on growth, health and nutriti on, agency and decision-making, social capital and insti ons, and future per capita tuti investments in human capital.iv Evidence on these relati onships has also been highlighted in nati onal data for Malawiv and a focus on keeping girls in school is especially relevant given 11 Malawi Gender Assessment that Malawi not only has a larger gender gap in secondary enrollment than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa but also has lower overall levels of enrollment at this level. Many of these issues around adolescence are also heavily infl uenced by negati ve social norms which must be addressed in order for Malawi to make a demographic transiti on and reap a demographic dividend from achieving a larger relati ve working-age to child-dependent populati on. By bringing down ferti lity more rapidly, the country would be bett er placed to leverage the producti al of its large youth populati ve potenti on as they reach working age, increasing the ve size of the working-age to child-dependent populati relati on, leading to higher per capita income, greater household investment in the human capital of each person, lower strain on the provision of basic services, and, ulti mately, a permanent increase in the producti ve capacity of the economy. es beyond this domain. A menu of these promising policy Yet clearly there are opportuniti ons, with reference to the latest nati opti onal, regional, and global evidence on what works to address gender gaps, are summarized below and are further detailed in secti on 5 of the report. This is not intended as a defi ve list but, along with the analysis of the gaps presented niti through the report, is intended to be a starti ng point for further discussions between the World Bank (WB) and the Government of Malawi.2 Summary of Policy Options Policy Priority: Targeting adolescent girls to keep them in school and reduce the vulnerability of those who have already dropped out Driver Addressed Policy Options nancial strain of secondary school on families of Ease the fi adolescent girls, such as through conditi onal cash transfers (CCTs) Low Secondary Support adolescent girls to remain through secondary level and School Enrollment avoid early childbearing, both generally and at ti mes of crisis, & Completi on by providing adolescent livelihood and life skills training which include ‘safe spaces’ Support girls who have already dropped out to avoid early Early Marriage & marriage and early childbearing by improving their economic Childbearing independence, such as through UCTs lity by further enhancing Build on recent success in reducing ferti ve health/family planning access to and quality of reproducti lity High Ferti services and products and nati onwide behavioral change campaigns for enhancing child spacing Policy Priority: Increasing Women’s Agricultural Production 2 Moving forward, the World Bank’s Social Sustainability and Inclusion (SSI) team intends to establish a gender platf orm that will coordinate these eff orts on gender focused policy dialogue, along with operati cal work. The onal and analyti on is for this platf intenti orm to generate synergies in the WB’s wide-ranging eff orts to support gender equality in Malawi, zing those eff with an increased focus on strategically prioriti orts that are expected to bring the most value to the Government of Malawi. 12 Malawi Gender Assessment Driver Addressed Policy Options Insecure Land Incenti vize households to include women’s names on land ti tles on programs, including through off as part of land registrati ering Tenure tle subsidies conditi land ti tling onal on co-ti Engaging men and couples to change norms around gendered crops and increase joint investment decisions Support women farmer cooperati ves to create an environment on of Lower Adopti on and risk and improved for greater sharing of informati Cash Crops linkages to markets Provide women with training in the socio-emoti onal skills that can help them enter export crop farming Lower Use and Support women’s access to mechanizati on and labor-saving technologies to compensate for their lower use of farm labor vity of Producti Support women fi nancially to access more and bett er-quality Farm Labor labor, including through cash transfers Support extension services that are more tailored to women’s Lower Adopti on of c needs, such as by using female extension agents and specifi Agricultural Inputs onal on prior support to leveraging digital technologies (conditi women’s phone ownership) Policy Priority: Improving Women’s Entrepreneurship Outcomes Driver Addressed Policy Options Secure savings mechanisms to give women greater control and privacy over their savings Lower Capital ble to being Providing in-kind support that is less suscepti reallocated to other household members’ needs, such as producti ve assets and cash grants Support non-collateral dependent loans (e.g., psychometric Lower Access to ng) testi Credit ng women that off Support lines of credit targeti er the larger volume loans necessary for transformati onal business growth Support socio-emoti onal skills training which has been shown ecti to be especially eff ve for women’s business outcomes and Lower Skill Levels which can give women the qualiti ati es (e.g., self-initi ve) that can help them overcome the multi ple greater barriers they face Policy Priority: Increasing Women’s Agency and Reducing their Exposure to GBV Driver Addressed Policy Options • Improve provision of Childcare Services, and early child development centers Higher Burden of Care • Address gender norms, including through couples’ and men’s cipati discussion groups, to increase men’s parti on in household es & childcare responsibiliti Physical Insecurity ons • Engage men and boys in behavior change interventi 13 Malawi Gender Assessment Introduction Malawi, a densely populated country with a largely agrarian economy, is one of the poorest countries in the world. As of 2018, most of the populati on live in rural areas and are dependent on agricultural livelihoods, with only 16 percent of the populati es or towns. on living in citi High ferti al recent progress, have left lity rates, despite substanti the country with one of the youngest age structures in the world: 43 percent of the populati on are under the age of 15 and over 75 percent are under the age of 34. The populati on growth rate has placed cant stress on services such as healthcare and educati signifi on, as well as on the agricultural sector through increasing pressure on landvi. Yet the resulti ng youthful age structure of the populati on also presents an opportunity for a demographic transiti on if the country is able to bring down ferti lity rapidly. While Malawi has a history of slow economic growth and poverty reducti on, recent economic and structural reforms have resulted in improvements to a range of development indicators, including the proporti on of the populati on that is ultra-poor as well as indicators that refl ect macroeconomic stability. The overarching policies which guide government planning and policy implementati on have been the Malawi Growth and Development Strategies (MDGS) I, ve-year strategic plans aimed to alleviate poverty and foster sustainable economic II, and III, fi growth to meet development goals. In January 2021, the government of Malawi introduced the Malawi 2063 Vision, a strategic development plan which aims for low-middle income status by 2030.vii To meet the goals set out in Malawi 2063, human capital development, private sector development, economic infrastructure, and environmental stability have been highlighted as criti cal drivers to be addressed.viii While the MDGS III and the Malawi 2063 Vision both include a focus on gender equality, this is largely done through a human capital and voice and agency lens, with considerably less focus on how closing gender gaps in the producti ve economic sectors can boost economic growth and poverty reducti on. In the MDSG, gender is placed under “other development areas” and grouped together with issues relati ng to youth, disability, and social welfare, with outcomes to be monitored including those focused on access to basic services, women’s roles in various levels of decision-making, and gender-responsive budgeti ng. In the Malawi 2063 Vision, gender is principally discussed under the human capital “enabler” secti on. However, in reality, the government’s policy focus on gender equality has gone beyond the areas of human capital and voice and agency to directly address issues around women’s economic empowerment through, for example, support to more equitable access to assets. The Government of Malawi’s eff orts to improve gender equality can be seen through policy commitments, both recent and long-standing, covering all key domains of gender outcomes, as set out in the World Bank Group’s Gender Strategy, including endowments (health, educati on), economic opportuniti es (jobs, assets), and voice and agency. For example: The Health Sector Strategic Plan (2017-2022), the National Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy (2017-2022), and the National Youth Policy (2013). These ongoing policies are part of a framework which the government has implemented to prioriti ze the accessibility and uptake of family planning services. For example, the government has invested in human resources and training to deploy healthcare professionals to provide community services and expand outreach. These eff orts should help the country build on some of the successes it has achieved between 1992 and 2015, including: a drop of the total ferti lity rate from 6.9 to 4.1 14 Malawi Gender Assessment births per woman, a drop in unmet need for family planning from 35 percent to 19 percent, ves from 7 percent to 58 percent. and an increase in the use of modern contracepti Building on this success will be important. For example, while the adolescent ferti lity rate has decreased over the last 30 years, it remains signifi cantly higher than the averages of Sub- Saharan Africa, Southern and Eastern Africa, and low-income countries globally. Given the age structure of the country, it is vital that the ferti lity rate of adolescent girls decrease rapidly in order for the country to benefi t from a demographic transiti on. To that end, the Health Sector Strategic Plan prioriti zes reproducti ve and adolescent health and is working in tandem with the Nati onal Youth Policy which supports age-appropriate sexual and reproducti ve health educati on and informati on. The Nati onal Sexual and Reproducti ve Health and Rights Policy zes the provision, access, and quality of sexual and reproducti prioriti ve health care.ix The Free Primary Education Policy, and the National Education Sector Investment Plan (NESIP) (2020-2030). In accordance with the consti on of Malawi, which identi tuti es fi educati on as a human right, the Free Primary Educati on Policy, introduced in 1994, provides fee-free primary educati on to all children. The success of this policy is demonstrated by the gender parity achieved at the primary level. However, gender parity disappears at the secondary school level at which point school is no longer free and adolescent girls are oft en simultaneously faced with increased pressure to drop out due to marriage or pregnancy. The Nati onal Educati on Sector Investment Plan is a long-term strategic plan which guides viti acti es and the educati es. Some of the primary prioriti on sector’s policy prioriti es of the Nati onal Educati on Sector Investment Plan is to increase equitable access to educati on and improve the quality and relevance of educati on to encourage higher enrollment.x Gender Equality Act (2013). This policy and its reforms to date provide signifi cant protecti on to women in the workforce. The Gender Equality Act prohibits gender-based discriminati on in employment, mandates equal renumerati on for equal work, provides protecti on from sexual harassment at the workplace, provides for eight weeks of maternity leave, and prohibits ces.xi Yet, as women work predominantly informally in the agriculture sector, harmful practi most women do not benefi t from these provisions. The National Land Policy (2002), the Married Women’s Property Act (1882), and the Deceased Estates Act (2011). The Nati onal Land Policy, like the Land Act of 1965, recognizes three forms of land: public, private, and customary. It also recognizes three forms of land tenure: 1) freehold, which is private land with exclusive rights, most oft en consisti ng of largescale commercial plantati ons, 2) leasehold which is public, private, and customary land leased through either customary or statutory law, and 3) customary tenure in which land is held by a group, usually administered by a traditi onal leader on behalf of the community. The Nati onal Land Policy recognizes the authority of customary law and seeks to extend gender equality protecti ons that already existed under statutory law to cover land held under customary law. The long- xii established Married Women’s Property Act provides equal legal rights of property ownership to wives and husbands, and grants women equal administrati ve authority over property while married. The more recent Deceased Estates Act provides women with the legal authority to inherit land if widowed, provides women and girls with equal inheritance rights as male family members, and makes land grabbing a criminal off ence.xiii 15 Malawi Gender Assessment The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (2006), The National Plan of Action to Combat Gender Based Violence (2014-2020), the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act (2015), and the National Strategy to End Child Marriage (2018). The 2006 Preventi on of Domesti c Violence Act provides specifi c legislati on, legal remedies, and social services to those impacted by domesti c violence.xiv The Nati onal Plan of Acti on to Combat Gender-Based Violence aimed to provide a strong framework for sustainable interventi on to prevent and eff vely respond to GBV, to increase recogniti ecti on and unacceptability of GBV, and to improve the quality of services responding to GBV by 2020. Yet, despite increased legal protecti ons, GBV conti nues to be a signifi cant challenge throughout the country and victi ms of domesti c violence demonstrate a conti nued preference for seeking help through informal channels rather than reporti ng to formal authoriti es, such as the police. The preference for informal versus formal reporti ng is likely due in part to a low understanding of women’s rights and is likely indicati ve of women’s confi dence in formal recourse. The Marriage Divorce and Family Relati ons Act set the legal minimum age for marriage at 18 for both boys and girls and, in 2017 the consti tuti on was amended to change the age of marriage to align with the Act.xv In 2018, the government launched the Nati onal Strategy to End Child Marriage. The strategy advocates for a multi sectoral approach to reduce the prevalence of child marriage by 20 percent before 2023. Yet, early marriage has conti nued to be pervasive in Malawi which has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.xvi To build on these eff orts and ensure further progress on gender outcomes, prioriti on based zati on evidence is needed. Gender is a complex issue that cuts across all sectors, with multi ple interrelated gender gaps and multi ple possible policy responses within each sector, yet the me and resources of the government and its development partners are fi ti nite. This report aims to help in this regard by presenti ng evidence on the size of diff erent gender gaps, the relati ve importance of diff erent factors in driving these gaps, and the availability and eff veness of ecti potenti al policy responses. To aid further with prioriti on of eff zati orts to close gender gaps, the report also highlights the dispariti es in the size of various gender gaps and constraints between rural and urban areas and between diff erent regions of Malawi. The approach of this report follows the framework of the World Bank Group Gender Strategy (FY16-23) which focuses on strategic objecti ves in human endowments (educati on, health), economic opportuniti es (including jobs and ownership/control over assets), and enhancing women’s voice and agency and engaging men and boys. This strategy is founded on a conceptual framework, set out in the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development, which proposes that households, markets, and tuti insti ons (both formal and informal), and their interacti uence gender equality ons all infl and economic development.xvii The methodology for this report included a desk review of literature (including both governmental and non-governmental reports as well as academic literature), descripti ve stati cs on gender gaps, including from key sources sti such as nati onal household surveys and World Development Indicators, and quanti tati ve analyses to identi fy the most signifi cant underlying factors behind some key outcomes.3 The intenti on is for this analysis to support the Government of Malawi in its policy discussions and decisions around closing gender gaps and, ulti mately, to contribute to stronger evidence- orts to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in Malawi. based eff 3 Following this gender assessment, a gender platf ons orm for Malawi will be established to take forward the policy opti and conti nue to engage on these topics within the country. 16 Malawi Gender Assessment 1. Human Endowments Human Endowments - KEY Takeaways While lower than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa, the total fertility rate in Malawi is still high at 4.1 births per woman despite a recent decline and is partially driven by the high adolescent fertility rate. High ferti lity and adolescent ferti lity rates are correlated with decreased economic acti vity, lower levels of educati on, poverty, and decreased agency. High ferti lity and low birth spacing are also associated with poorer health outcomes for women as well as for their children. On a larger scale high ferti lity prevents the country from capitalizing on a demographic dividend, a pre-requisite of which is a rapid decline in ferti lity. While gender gaps in access to primary education have been falling, there is still a considerable gender gap at the secondary level, with a Gender Parity Ratio of only 84 percent for secondary enrollment. Lower educati onal att ainment among women is lity, decreased economic opportuniti correlated with earlier pregnancy, increased ferti es and decreased lifeti on, women’s resulti me earnings. In additi ng lack of economic independence plays a role in exposing them to more unequal and riskier sexual relati onships that in turn increase their exposure to HIV and GBV. Policy Options: Increase girls’ educati onal att ainment and decrease risk of early pregnancy and marriage by; 1) providing fi nancial support to their families through conditi onal cash ll in school and unconditi transfers (CCTs) for girls sti onal cash transfers to reduce the vulnerability of those girls who have already dropped out; 2) improve learning outcomes, including through general programs that are not specifi cally targeted to girls and for which we have a greater wealth of evidence; and 3) use safe spaces to give girls (both those in school as well as drop-outs) the knowledge and economic empowerment they need to take control of their reproducti ve choices and livelihoods; and 3) expand and enhance further access and quality of reproducti ve health/family planning services and products and nati onwide behavioral campaign for enhancing child spacing. Human capital consists of the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate throughout their lives, enabling them to realize their potenti ve members of society.xviii Gender al as producti gaps in human endowments can result from harmful and unequal policies and practi ces. However, policies and programming can reduce gaps in human endowment by addressing both supply and demand-side factors aff ng access to health and educati ecti on services. Supply- ons such as improving infrastructure and increasing the number of side factors include acti trained healthcare and educati on professionals, and access to health products and services. In contrast, demand-side factors include behavior change programming, which promotes the importance of early childhood educati on or discourages early marriage and short birth spacing. This secti on will explore human endowment gender gaps in Malawi by analyzing the gender gaps in health and educati on. 17 Malawi Gender Assessment 1.1 Health 1.1.1 Fertility Addressing high ferti lity rates is an important policy objecti ve for most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. One potenti ally positi ve impact of the region’s high ferti lity and populati on growth is a large youth populati on which, if given the right economic opportuniti es, could contribute to economic growth. However, to fully realize these potenti al benefi ts, countries also need to rapidly bring down ferti ve size of the child-dependent populati lity, thus reducing the relati on and increasing the relati ve size of the working-age populati on. This would increase per capita incomes, allowing households to invest more in the human capital of each household member. Moreover, enhancing child spacing and reducing populati on growth would also help reduce the pressure that governments with limited resources face in providing access to basic services.xix Malawi has made signifi cant progress toward the challenge of reducing ferti lity. In 1990, the country had a higher total ferti lity rate (TFR) than the averages for Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern and Southern Africa, and low-income countries. However, in recent years Malawi has made rapid progress and now has a lower TFR than all the aforementi oned groups, dropping from 5.9 to 4.1 births per woman between 2005 and 2019. Yet this level of ferti xx lity is sti ll high and leaves Malawi with a populati on growth rate of 2.7 percent, meaning that its populati on is expected to double by 2038. Such high ferti on growth reinforces women’s lity and populati economic exclusion and strains the capacity of the health and educati on systems.xxi According to the Demographic and Health Survey of 2015, the ferti lity rate in Malawi is signifi cantly higher in rural areas than in urban areas. In terms of regions, the Northern Region has the lowest ferti lity rate in the country (4.2) while the Southern Region (4.6) has the highest gure 2). The TFR decreases with increased levels of wealth as well as levels of educati (fi on. For example, women with more than a secondary level of educati on had an average of 2.3 children, while women with no educati on had an average of 5.5 children.xxii Figure 1: Fertility Trends Figure 2: Fertility Rates Within Malawi Source: World Development Indicators, the World Bank Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16, STAT Compiler 18 Malawi Gender Assessment Teenage Pregnancy Adolescent ferti lity is an especially important issue as high adolescent ferti lity is strongly correlated with higher lifeti lity. The teenage years are a criti me ferti cal period in a woman’s life when she makes choices that will have long-term implicati ons for her future well-being and producti vity. Decisions such as whether and when to drop out of school, get married, or have a child signifi cantly impact women’s labor market outcomes later in life. Women who begin childbearing at a young age are likely to have more children throughout their lifeti me, are less likely to conti nue their educati on, and as a result, have worse economic outcomes.xxiii Larger family sizes can be impede women’s economic empowerment and the welfare of their households: global research indicates that each birth reduces the total labor supply over a woman’s reproducti ve life by about two years,xxiv and increased numbers of children in a household are correlated with increased levels of poverty.xxv on to the educati In additi ons, there are signifi onal and economic implicati cant health risks associated with early childbirth and short birth intervals. Childbearing at a young age increases the chances of complicati ons during pregnancy and childbirth. Coupled with HIV, complicati ons during pregnancy and delivery are the leading cause of death among girls aged 15-19 in Malawi.xxvi Teenage pregnancy in Malawi is highly correlated with child marriage, though the relati onship has dual causality. Girls who become pregnant are oft en forced to marry as a result, while girls who marry before eighteen are more likely to become pregnant. Cultural practi ces play a cant role in teenage pregnancy. Many ethnic groups encourage early sex and marriage signifi through gendered expectati ons regarding women’s responsibiliti es to marry and bear children. Some ethnic groups further encourage early sexual acti vity through cultural practi ces such as ceremonies initi ng girls into womanhood. Underlying all of these causes, low awareness ati among girls regarding ferti lity and family planning contribute to increased teenage pregnancy.xxvii Figure 3: Adolescent Fertility Rates Trends, Births Per 1,000 Women 19 Malawi Gender Assessment The adolescent ferti lity rate has fallen from about 158 to 132 births per 1,000 women ages 15- 19 in the last 20 years, though it remains signifi cantly higher than the average across Sub-Saha- ran Africa (100) and Eastern and Southern Africa (93) (fi gure 3).xxviii The median age of fi rst birth, 19 years, has not changed signifi cantly in the same period. The rate of teenage childbearing varies regionally, with higher rates in the Northern and Southern Regions than the Central Re- gure 4). Of women in Malawi, 29 percent of those age 15-19 have begun childbearing, gion (fi ranging from 5 percent of women aged 15, to 59 percent of women aged 19. Generally, wom- en in urban areas give birth for the fi me about one year later than women in rural areas, rst ti at 19.9 years versus 18.9 years. Wealthier women are much less likely than poorer women to begin childbearing as a teenager, and the age of fi rst birth is lower among women with primary or no educati on than among women with at least a secondary level of educati gure 5).xxix on (fi Figure 4: Percent Of Figure 5: Characteristics Of Childbearing Teenagers Childbearing Teenagers Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16, STAT Compiler Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16 Birth Spacing Aside from delaying the age of marriage and childbearing, it is also criti cal to address ferti lity amongst women who have already begun childbearing. The length of birth intervals, the amount of ti me between separate childbirths, have an important impact on lifeti me ferti lity as well as on health outcomes for mothers and babies. The World Health Organizati on (WHO) recommends a minimum of 33 months between two successive births. In Malawi, the median birth interval increased from under 33 months in 1992 to 41 months in 2015, likely refl ng ecti the increased use of family planning services. The median birth interval is longer in urban (49 xxx months) than rural areas (40 months). While it is above the WHO recommended minimum in all parts of the country, there is wide variati on by district, with median intervals as low as 36 months in Machinga district and as high as 47 months in Blantyre district. The three regions of Malawi have median birth intervals between 40 (Central) and 43 (Northern). A qualitati ve study in Lilongwe found that most women cite the need to regain strength following a birth as their main reason for birth spacing. Women who had a live birth wanted to wait longer than women who had a sti ll birth or experienced a neonatal death. 20 Malawi Gender Assessment While the increased access to family planning services has supported the trend towards longer birth intervals, many women sti ll experience or fear confl ict with their husbands/partners over decisions around birth spacing, with the majority of women wanti ng longer birth intervals than their husbands/partners. This fi nding in parti cular underlines the importance of engaging men in birth spacing interventi ons.xxxi Beyond access to family planning, other factors which aff ect birth spacing include prolonged breastf eeding and postpartum absti eeding, nence. Breastf under the correct conditi ons, infl uences the durati on of postpartum amenorrhoea by preventi ng women from ovulati ng and thereby impeding women’s ability to become pregnant. However, breastf eeding is rarely practi ced for the purpose of preventi ng pregnancy. Moreover, between 2000 and 2015, the median durati on of postpartum amenorrhoea decreased from 12.7 months to 9.8 months, while the median durati on of postpartum absti nence decreased from 5.8 months to 4.1 in the same ti meframe.xxxii Thus, these factors do not appear to have played a role in the trend towards longer birth intervals. 1.1.3 Reproductive Healthcare The maternal mortality rate in Malawi is 451 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. This is above the average across Africa Eastern and Southern (398) and is also higher than the latest nati mates for neighboring Kenya (377) and Zambia (286), though it is lower than onal esti the latest nati mates for Tanzania (642) and Mozambique (589). Based on the ferti onal esti lity and maternal mortality rates in the country, it is esti mated that 2 percent of women in Malawi will die from maternal causes during their reproducti me.xxxiii ve lifeti Improvements to the reproducti ve healthcare system in Malawi are criti cal to reducing the risk to women’s health throughout their lifeti me through improved knowledge of risk preventi er maternal healthcare, and increasing women’s reproducti on, bett ve agency (their ability to decide how many children to have and when) through family planning. Reproducti ve healthcare is also criti cal to the health of children born, with data suggesti ng risk of neonatal mortality is higher for boys than girls.xxxiv The current coronavirus pandemic has the potenti al to further worsen women’s maternal health care access and outcomes, due to the potenti al for the spread of the virus and the emergency response to the virus to disrupt the supply and demand for maternal and reproducti ve health services. A modeling exercise by the Global Financing Facility (GFF) fi nds that in Malawi the pandemic has the potenti al to leave 142,500 women without access to facility-based deliveries and to increase maternal mortality by 66 percent over the next year.xxxv Family Planning Family planning increases women’s reproducti ve agency, enabling women to manage how many children they have, as well as when they have them. By facilitati ng women’s choices on when to have children, family planning increases their educati onal and economic opportuniti es while also improving their chances of having safer pregnancies through adequate birth spacing and preventi ng pregnancy unti l their bodies have fully developed. Family planning also empowers women and their partners to best decide the family size which they can provide for.xxxvi 4 4 Among currently married women. 21 Malawi Gender Assessment Figure 6: Contraceptive Figure 7: Trends Of Contraceptive Use4 Use Trends Note: Among currently married women Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16, STAT Compiler Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16 Malawi has made tremendous progress increasing access to and use of modern contracepti ves over the last thirty years, driven by expansion of family planning services and community engagement (Figure 7). As of 2015, the rate of women currently using a modern contracepti ve in Malawi was around twice that of neighboring countries. xxxvii Knowledge of family planning is nearly universal in Malawi with women and men alike being aware of modern contracepti ve methods. The rate of married women using contracepti ves increased signifi cantly between 2004-2015/16. Among currently married women, 58 percent are using modern contracepti ves, of unmarried, sexually acti ve women, 43 percent use a modern contracepti ve method. The increase in contracepti ve use by the number of living children indicates that women are using contracepti ves as a tool to achieve their ideal family size or prevent having any additi onal children. Of married women, 80 percent said that the use of contracepti on is a joint decision with their husband/partner, while 13 percent said the wife decided independently, and 7 percent said it was solely the husband’s decision.xxxviii Of the 78 percent of married women who have a demand for family planning, either to limit or space births, 19 percent have not had their need met. Having an unmet need for family planning is higher among younger women (22 percent) than older women (16 percent)5. Married women in the Northern and Southern regions are more likely to have an unmet need for family planning than are women in the Central region (Figure 6). The use of contracepti ve methods is higher while the unmet need for family planning is lower among wealthier households. The total demand for family planning among unmarried women is higher than among married women, yet the percentage of women whose needs have been met is much lower for unmarried women than it is for married women.xxxix 5 Young women refer to those aged 15-19 and older women refer to those aged 45-49. 22 Malawi Gender Assessment Maternal Healthcare In Malawi, pregnancy and childbirth follow closely behind malaria and HIV/AIDs as the leading cause of death and disability of women. In additi on to poor reproducti ve health outcomes, cient maternal healthcare presents a signifi insuffi onal and household cant cost to nati economies. Potenti al economic gains from improving maternal health care stem from reducing both direct and indirect negati ve impacts, such as out-of-pocket healthcare costs and decreased producti vity. xl Antenatal Care Maternal healthcare begins early in pregnancy with antenatal care and conti nues aft er delivery with postnatal checks. Antenatal care is an important stage in which women are screened and monitored for illness, infecti ons, and complicati ons during their pregnancy. It is recommended that women have at least four antenatal visits, and that the fi rst occur during the fi rst trimester. Early diagnosis of illness or identi cati fi on of complicati on can reduce the risks to mother and baby. In Malawi, 95 percent of women received antenatal care from a skilled provider6 during the pregnancy of their most recent birth and 51 percent of women received at least 4 visits. Yet only 24 percent of women sought care during their fi rst trimester.xli A qualitati ve study conducted at two terti ary hospitals in Malawi explored factors that prevent women seeking care during their fi rst trimester. The study found that spiritual beliefs held by the mothers and the providers had the most signifi cant impact on how and when women seek antenatal care. The study found that both mothers and healthcare workers believed it was culturally inappropriate to disclose a pregnancy to anyone before the fourth or fi h month, when pregnancy becomes ft more visible. This belief was frequently cited as preventi ng study parti cipants from seeking rst trimester. Additi care in their fi onally, many women prefer to see a traditi onal healer or birth endant believing they will be more compassionate, and that hospitals and clinics should att only be used for illness or injury.xlii Finally, women who live in wealthier households, who are more educated, and who live in urban areas are more likely to receive antenatal care from more skilled providers and also to seek care during the fi rst trimester.xliii Delivery The percentage of women who deliver in health faciliti es can make an important contributi on to improvements to maternal health outcomes, though this impact is moderated by the quality of care women receive. In 2015/16, 91 percent of births in Malawi were delivered at a heath facility, and only 7 percent were delivered at home. Between 1992 and 2015/2016 the rate of deliveries in health faciliti es rose by 36 percent, while rates of home deliveries dropped by the same proporti on. Women giving birth for the fi rst ti me are more likely to give birth in a health facility than women who have given birth multi mes.xliv This trend may ple ti ect changing generati refl onal atti tudes towards insti tuti onal births or may refl ect increased confi dence of mothers aft er the fi rst couple of births which aff ect their percepti ons of the costs and benefi ts associated with giving birth in a health facility.xlv Births in urban areas are more likely to take place in a health facility than births in rural areas (96 percent versus 91 percent), and increased rates of facility delivery are highly correlated with increased levels of the mother’s educati on.xlvi 6 cers, clinical offi Skilled providers are doctors, medical offi cers, medical assistants, nurses and midwives. 23 Malawi Gender Assessment Postnatal Care The days and weeks aft cal for both mothers and babies, most deaths occur er birth are criti me. Women who delivered in a health facility are more likely to have a postnatal during this ti checkup within two days of delivery that those who did not (45 percent versus 14 percent). Urban women, more educated women and wealthier women are all more likely to receive mely postnatal care.xlvii ti Barriers to Seeking Care Over 70 percent of women report facing at least one serious barrier in accessing health care for themselves (fi gure 8). The most common reported barriers are the distance to a health facility (56 percent), obtaining money to pay for treatment (53 percent), followed by not wanti ng to go alone, and obtaining permission to go for treatment (fi gure 9). Women in rural areas, women with less educati on, and women from poorer households are more likely to face at least one barrier in accessing healthcare.xlviii A nati onwide study identi ed transportati fi on, distance, and fi nancial resources as key barriers to access. The median travel ti me from homes to health centers is about one hour, and two-and-a-half hours to central hospitals. Finally, female heads of household disproporti onately lack the fi nancial resources to go to a hospital, 59 percent as compared to 39 percent of male headed households.xlix Figure 8: Percent Women with Figure 9: Barriers To Healthcare Access Barrier To Access 24 Malawi Gender Assessment 1.1.4 Illness and Disease Malaria In areas of high malaria transmission, by the ti me an individual reaches adulthood, they have acquired parti al immunity that can protect them against severe disease, which is why children are at greater risk from malaria than adults. However, pregnant women, especially women in their fi rst pregnancy, lose some immunity and are more suscepti ble to the disease. Additi onally, malaria during pregnancy is associated with negati ve health outcomes for both mother and child, including anemia and low birth weight.l In Malawi the nati onal guidelines were updated in 2014 to include the new WHO recommendati ons, increasing the nati onal recommended number of doses of intermitt ent lity preventati ferti ve treatment IPT, or SP/Fansidar, to at least three during each pregnancy. Of women who had a live birth in the last year, 89 percent had taken at least one dose of ITP while only 30 percent had taken at least the recommended three doses. Pregnant women in the Northern Region are less likely than those in the Central or Southern Regions to receive ITP.li It is also highly recommended that pregnant women, as well as children under fi ve, sleep under mosquito nets which have been treated with insecti cide. In Malawi, only 44 percent of pregnant women slept under a treated mosquito net. Of pregnant women, those in urban areas, from wealthier households, and with higher levels of educati on are more likely to sleep under a treated mosquito net.lii HIV Women in Malawi, and Sub-Saharan Africa overall, bear a disproporti onate burden of HIV infecti ons. Women across Sub-Saharan Africa have on average a 60 percent higher risk of HIV infecti on than men in general and have a 70 percent higher risk of infecti on than men with similar sexual behavior. HIV/AIDS has an additi liii onal disproporti onate impact on women as they carry a higher burden of care for sick household members. This is not only due to social norms which dictate that care work is a women’s responsibility, but also because female headed households are more likely to have household members ill with AIDS or TB than are male headed households, 18.2 percent versus 10.3 percent. Both the higher rate of illness as well as the higher burden of care result in women having less me to invest in income generati ti viti ng acti es than their male counterparts.liv HIV infecti on among adolescent girls has been correlated with economic dependence, unequal power ons, and older partners.lv While poverty is linked with increased risk of HIV, schooling relati has been linked to a reducti on in risky sexual behavior. Evidence suggests that empowering school-age girls and their families fi nancially can have a signifi cant impact on their partner choice and their sexual and reproducti ve health, to be discussed further in secti on 5.lvi In Malawi, there is a higher prevalence of HIV among women than men (10.8 percent and 6.4 percent respecti vely). Among young people 4.9 percent of women and 1 percent of men aged 15-24 are infected with HIV. There is a higher prevalence of HIV among men and women in urban areas than rural areas, 17.8 percent of women in urban areas versus 9.2 percent of women in rural areas. The HIV prevalence in the Southern Region is more than double that in either the Northern or Central Regions. HIV prevalence is higher among women in the highest wealth quinti le than in lower quinti les.lvii 25 Malawi Gender Assessment HIV prevalence is lowest among men and women who have never been married (3 percent), followed by those who are currently married (9.8 percent), those who are divorced/separated (19.1 percent), and those who are widowed (32.3 percent). HIV prevalence is higher among those who are in a polygamous union (14.3), than other types of unions. Women who fi rst had rst had sex at age 16 or 17 (13.9 sex before age 16 are more likely to have HIV than those who fi percent versus 10.4 percent). As the risk of exposure increases with each sexual partner, HIV prevalence increases with the number of sexual partners a person has had. HIV prevalence is 5.7 percent among women (1.7 percent among men) with only one lifeti me sexual partner and is 35.4 percent among women (12.8 percent among men) with 10 or more lifeti me sexual partners.lviii 1.1.6 Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Water and sanitati on have signifi cant gender implicati ons which extend beyond the safety and adequacy of drinking water and personal hygiene. They include: 1) women globally are much more likely than men to be tasked with collecti ng water when it is not available on the premises. The ti me and energy spent on collecti ng water has direct negati ve impacts on the already limited ti me available to women to engage in economic acti es; 2) lack of Water viti Supply, Sanitati on and Hygiene (WASH) in school setti ngs has been correlated with lower educati onal att ainment for girls and it is common in many places for girls to miss school due to menstruati on; and 3) lack of access to WASH at home, in clinics, and in hospitals is highly correlated with increased infecti ons which are a leading contributor to maternal mortality rates. lix Most households in Malawi have access to improved sources of drinking water. In urban areas 98 percent of households have access to improved water sources, mainly piped water to residences (41 percent) and public taps (33 percent). On the other hand, 85 percent of rural households have access to improved sources, mostly through wells (72 percent), while 15 percent rely on unimproved sources. Treati ng drinking water is the most effi cient way to ensure that water is safe to drink, yet only about a quarter of people in the country use an appropriate water treatment method.lx 1.1.7 Road Injuries Road injuries are esti mated by the WHO to be the fi ft h leading cause of loss of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) in Malawi, with men signifi cantly more impacted than women. Men are esti mated to suff er a loss of 2834 DALYs per 100,000 populati on due to road injuries compared to 849 for women. One recent study in Malawi esti lxi mated that men made up 82 percent and 89 percent of people involved in fatal and non-fatal road traffi c collisions respecti vely.lxii There is a lack of evidence on the specifi c factors that explain this gender gap, erent transport/mobility patt but diff erns (how, when, and where women and men travel) may play a role and there is some evidence that men’s alcohol consumpti on is a factor.lxiii 1.2 Education ng in girls’ educati Investi on is crucial for improving a wide variety of outcomes for women, including those related to earnings, health, and agency, all of which positi vely impact their families and communiti es while improving labor producti vity and economic growth. The fact that educati ng girls is a good investment is highlighted in global research that esti mates the private returns to female educati on to be 2 percentage points higher than the equivalent 26 Malawi Gender Assessment returns for males.lxivFollowing the fi rst democrati ons in 1994, the government of c electi Malawi prioriti zed primary educati on, based on the percepti on that basic educati on would contribute to poverty alleviati on. Since 1994, when school fees were banned in public primary schools, the primary completi on rates increased from 36 percent to 85 percent for girls, and 46 percent to 76 percent for boys. While Malawi has made progress on gender equality in educati on and now has relati vely high gender parity in primary educati on, the gender gap widens substanti ally at the secondary level – moreover, overall levels (for boys and girls) of enrollment and completi on at secondary level are also lower than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa. This has criti cal implicati ons for a range of outcomes: as demonstrated throughout this report, some of the most signifi cant gaps in wellbeing among women are between those who have at least a secondary level of educati on and these who have a primary level of educati on or less. There also remains a persistent gap in literacy rates which refl ects the large historical gender on that conti gaps in educati nue to have an impact on the stock of educated adults today: only 55 percent of women are literate as compared to 70 percent of men.lxv These larger educati on gender gaps among adults are important not only for the producti vity and welfare of adult women and their households but also for the outcomes that their children experience, given evidence on the intergenerati on poverty. onal transmission of educati To build on its success and enable more girls to att ain higher levels of educati on, programs must support girls to overcome barriers that only aff ect them (e.g., early childbearing, social norms that devalue girls’ educati on), those that aff ect both sexes but have a larger impact on girls (e.g. costs, distance to school, violence), and those that aff ect girls and boys largely equally (e.g. low-quality teaching). This means that in some cases lxvi girl-focused interventi ons will be preferable, while in other cases gender educati on improvement programs and policies that target girls and boys may be more appropriate. 1.2.1 Enrollment Early Childhood Development In Malawi, Early Childhood Development services are considered part of the formal educati on system. Early Childhood Development (ECD) evolved independently from the government as informal community-level daycare. Since that ti me the government of Malawi has formalized the ECD program under the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social Welfare, yet the programs themselves remain operated at a community level, led by community-based ons (CBOs), faith-based organizati organizati ons (CSOs).lxvii ons (FBOs), and civil society organizati In part due to this history and the conti nued decentralized organizati on of services, the quality of the programs diff ers greatly, despite the nati onal ECD syllabus. Part of the reason for varying quality of educati on at this level is that some receive funding from outside sources, while others do not. Many of the centers are facilitated by volunteers, of whom less than 50 percent are trained, and each caregiver cares for on average 69 children, rather than the recommended 25. Additi onally, access remains a signifi cant challenge for many children who may not live close enough to a center. lxviii In 2018, 49 percent of children accessed ECD nati onally. Of all the children accessing ECD centers, 51 percent were girls and 3 percent were children with disabiliti es. Malawi’s Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) score in 2014 was 60 percent, indicati ng that 60 percent 27 Malawi Gender Assessment of children were developmentally on track, with girls scoring slightly higher than boys (54 on to the positi percent versus 56 percent).lxix In additi ve impact early childhood educati on can have on children’s cogniti ve development and preparedness for primary school, the use of the community childcare centers enable’s women to pursue income-generati viti ng acti es. While there does not appear to be a gender gap in access to ECD, improving overall access to ECD may play an important role in freeing up women’s ti me from childcare, thus allowing more women to enter the labor force or to dedicate a greater number of hours to paid work. Indeed, regional evidence shows that women with access to childcare services are more likely to be employed or to have worked in the last 30 days.lxx Primary Education Primary educati on consists of eight The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is a rati o of years and children are expected to at- either the gross or net enrollment for male and tend from age 6-13. However due to girl students. Gender parity is indicated by the lack of documentati on for registrati on, GPI with a score of 1, a GPI below 1 indicates a lack of understanding by the parents that enrollment rates and environments which about the age children should begin favor male students while a GPI higher than 1 school, or high repeti ti on rate of stu- indicates enrollment rates and environments dents in early grades, many children which favor girl students. may not be in the age-appropriate grade.lxxi The Net Attendance Ratio (NAR) accounts for on of school age children att the proporti ending The Gender Parity Index (GPI) for net school. enrollment is 1.01, slightly in favor of girls with 94 percent of primary The Gross Attendance Ratio (GAR) depicts the school aged girls and 93 percent of total number of students as a percentage of the primary school aged boys att ending offi cial school-age populati on. school. However, the gross enrollment at the primary level is 127 percent indicati ng that students outside of the offi cial age range are att ng that more male children ending primary school, and the gross GPI is .93, indicati regardless of age are att ending primary school than female children.lxxii Net att endance rates er very litt diff le between urban (95 percent) and rural (94 percent) areas at the primary level. The Northern Region of the country has the highest overall net att endance rate at 96 percent. Children are more likely to go to primary school if they are from a wealthier household than children from less wealthy households.lxxiii Secondary Education Secondary educati on consists of four years and is intended to be for students aged 14-18. However, as with primary school, many students are outside of this age rage due to delayed start and repeti on of grades. While in secondary school students sit two exams, the Junior ti fi Certi cate Examinati on (JCE) following the second year, and the Malawi School Certi cate fi Exam (MSCE) following the fourth year. When free primary educati on was introduced, the government increased the number of primary schools to absorb the increase in enrollments. However, the number of secondary schools did not grow at the same rate and, as a result, many more students complete primary school than there is room for in the secondary educati on system. Only 38.3 percent of primary students transiti oned into the secondary level in 2018.lxxiv 28 Malawi Gender Assessment The gross GPI is 0.84, meaning that irrespecti ve of age, more male students than female students are att ending secondary school. This compared to an average GPI of 0.89 across all of Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, the GAR for the secondary level in Malawi (37 percent) is also lower than the average for Sub-Saharan Africa (44 percent). Combined with the relati vely large gender gap, this means that a large number of girls are dropping out before reaching secondary educati al and putti on, reducing their learning potenti ng them at risk of early marriage and childbearing. endance is higher in urban areas (41 percent) than in rural areas (13 percent), and the Att Northern Region has the highest att endance rates in the country. Att endance at the secondary school level is highly correlated with household wealth, those from wealthier households being more likely to be enrolled in school.lxxv The dropout rate is higher among girls (13.4 percent) than boys (8.5 percent) in secondary school. Analysis of data from Malawi’s Fift h Integrated Household Survey (2019–20) indicates that school fees are the most common reason for dropping out of primary and secondary school for girls and boys.lxxvi Aft er costs, marriage/ pregnancy is the most common reason given for girls dropping out at both primary (16 percent of responses for girls, 2 percent for boys) and secondary level (26 percent of responses for girls, 3 percent for boys).lxxvii Higher Learning Institutions As menti oned previously, only 3 percent of women and 5 percent of men throughout the country have more than a secondary educati on. As is true at other levels of educati on, women in urban areas are more likely to att end higher learning insti tuti ons than women in rural areas: only 1 percent of women in rural areas have att ended more than secondary school compared with 12 percent of women in urban areas. While girl students tend to outperform male students on the secondary school exam, there is only one female for every 10 males in higher learning insti ons.lxxviii The quality and relevance of higher educati tuti on conti nues to be a challenge. The Ministry of Educati on has identi ed a lack of relevant research and fi learning programs that engage learners and encourage enrollment. The curriculum of higher learning insti ons poorly aligns with industry needs, creati tuti ng a disconnect between the skills coveted by employers and those gained through enrollment.lxxix In additi on to geographical access and perceived relevance, is likely that confl icti ng social pressures and a lack of willingness to conti nue to fund girl’s educati on contribute to this discrepancy. Children with Disabilities There is limited data available about the proporti on of students with disabiliti es in school, or the conditi on. The Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability, and Social on of their educati Welfare considers the lack of disability friendly infrastructure to be a challenge to equitable access to educati on from the primary level through higher educati on.lxxx About 1.6 percent of students at the secondary level have disabiliti es, most with special needs relati ng to limited vision, limited hearing, learning disabiliti es, physical disabiliti es, deaf, and blind.lxxxi 29 Malawi Gender Assessment 2. Economic Opportunities Economic Opportunities - KEY Takeaways The total conditional gender gap in agricultural productivity is 31 percent: Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) women being less likely to farm cash crops; 2) women farmers having less access to male labor; and 3) women having less access to agricultural technology and mechanizati on – which is especially detrimental given women’s greater childcare and domesti es which leave them in more need of labor-saving opti c responsibiliti ons. Policy Options: Provide socio-emoti onal skills training and couples training to help women to increase their likelihood of adopti ng cash crops and their infl uence in intrahousehold decisions on agricultural investments. Provide fi nancial support to encourage female farmers to hire male labor and improve women’s access to labor saving technologies including mechanisati on. Increase the benefi ts women are able to get from extension services, including by increasing the use of female extension workers and digital extensions technologies. Women entrepreneurs’ firm sales are 45 percent less than those of male entrepreneurs: Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) men are more likely to use their own savings from their agricultural businesses as start-up capital; 2) men are more likely to have workers and to pay them more, hinti ng that men may have bett er access to higher-skilled or more producti ve workers; and 3) men are more likely to operate businesses that are mobile. Policy Options: Increase women’s access to and control over business capital through innovati ve saving mechanisms and producti ve inclusion programs. Increase women’s access to sources of business credit that can support larger volumes of fi nancing for transformati onal business growth. Provide women with training on the types of personal initi ve skills that have been shown to be especially impactf ati ul for women and can help them overcome the social norms and other greater barriers they face by building their perseverance, self-initi ve, and other qualiti ati es. Increase women’s ti me agency and exibility through increasing availability of aff fl ordable childcare services. Women wage workers are more likely than men to make less money or not be paid for their work: Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) women are more likely to have ti me constraints due to performing unpaid domesti c and care work, and 2) women are more likely to work in the informal sector due to lower educati ainment and skill levels. onal att Policy Options: Increase childcare services available to help women alleviate ti me constraints. Increase women’s vocati onal, entrepreneurial, and socioemoti onal skills to ease their entrance into the work force. 2.1 Agriculture Across Sub-Saharan Africa women consti cant, and oft tute a signifi on of the en the largest, porti agricultural workforce.lxxxii Malawi is one of the world’s 15 nati onal economies most dependent on agriculture. Despite decreasing over the last 50 years, in 2017 agriculture contributed 26 percent of the country’s GDP. Data from the 2015/16 DHS indicates that 59 percent of wom- 30 Malawi Gender Assessment en and 44 percent of men in Malawi were employed in agriculture during The Unconditional Gender Gap in Agricultural the 12 months prior to the survey. production – The total diff erence in output per These numbers are 68 percent and 52 hectare between male and female farmers. percent if we only look at women and men in rural areas. However, the con- The Conditional Gender Gap in Agricultural tributi on of the sector to the nati onal Production – Accounts for the diff erence in economy is impeded by a large gender plot size and agro-climati ons. c conditi producti vity gap. Plots managed by men produce an average of 25 percent higher yields than plots managed by women.lxxxiii Reasons for this gender gap center on the unequal equal use of inputs such as land (discussed further in secti on 3), labor and labor-sav- ing technology, knowledge, ferti lizer, improved seeds, and women’s lower parti on in the cipati cash crop/export crop value chains. Esti mates from the World Bank indicate that closing the gender gap in agricultural producti vity in Malawi would increase the agricultural GDP of the country by 6.7 percent, raise the nati onal GDP by 2.1 percent, and reduce poverty by 2.4 per- cent, which equates to lift ing 238,000 people out of poverty.lxxxiv 2.1.1 Characteristics of Women Plot Managers Women plot managers diff er from their male counterparts in several meaningful ways. Women ve years. Generally, plot managers are older than male plot managers by an average of fi women plot managers are less educated than male plot managers. Most women plot managers are not married: 70 percent are either widowed, divorced, or separated, and consequently live in households with fewer household members to provide labor on their farm or plot. By contrast male plot managers are overwhelmingly (87 percent) married monogamously and only 3 percent are widowed, divorced, or separated. In part due to their marital status, women plot managers have less access to family labor, than male plot managers.lxxxv 2.1.2 Agricultural Production Barriers Agricultural Inputs In Malawi women use lower levels of inputs, such as ferti lizer, improved seeds, and extension services than men. The diff erence in use of inputs accounts for more than 80 percent of the gender gap in producti vity in the country.lxxxvi While diff erences in the quanti ty of inputs accounts for most of the agricultural producti on gap in Malawi, the lower returns that women get from inputs also contributes to the gender gap in producti vity. For example, when male farmers in Malawi use the same quanti es of ferti ti lizer as female farmers, the improvements to their yields are greater, suggesti ng that women either use inferior ferti lizer, use the ferti lizer incorrectly, or use it at the wrong ti me. A recent study of maize fi lxxxvii elds in Malawi found that female cantly more likely to use lower quality seeds, less ferti farmers are signifi lizer, and farm on lower quality soil than their male counterparts. Additi onally, the study found that when controlling for the quality and quanti ty of these inputs, there was no gender gap in agricultural yield.lxxxviii Extension services are criti cal with regard both to women’s access to an equitable quanti ty ve returns to those inputs. Yet, female farmers oft of inputs as well as to their relati en benefi t less from extension services than male farmers. A recent study in Malawi found that female 31 Malawi Gender Assessment famers and female headed households are less likely to receive agricultural advice than their male counterparts and that the rates of female headed households receiving advice actually decreased between 2016 and 2018. Households headed by older women appear to be at a cular disadvantage and were the least likely to receive agricultural advice.lxxxix Another parti recent study in Malawi found that gender stereotypes are a signifi cant barrier preventi ng women from benefi ng equally from extension services, both due to perceived gender roles ti within the household as well as gender norms perpetuated by extension workers, for example, selecti ng men for a technical training while selecti ng women for trainings on the nutriti onal benefi ts of a new crop. xc Male Labor & Mechanization The gender gap in access to male labor accounts for almost half of the total gender gap in agricultural producti vity.xci Male labor can be accessed either through hired labor, or through family labor. In Malawi, female plot managers deploy fewer household male laborers on their plots than do their male counterparts, likely due in part to smaller household sizes and fewer male household members. Many women plot managers lack access to hire male labor because they are unable to aff ord it.xcii In some countries hired male labor has been documented as less producti ve under women plot managers than it is under men plot mangers. The diff erence in hired male labor producti vity could result from women not being able to aff ord bett er quality labor, from cultural bias which may lead hired male workers not to work as hard for a female plot manager, or from women’s lesser ability to eff vely supervise labor due to ecti competi ng domesti c responsibiliti es. As most women plot managers are widowed, divorced, xciii or separated, there are also fewer people in the household to contribute to agricultural labor. Women plot managers frequently use available female family labor in place of male family labor, including themselves and their children. Yet, the increased use of female family labor is insuffi cient to fully compensate for the higher producti vity of male labor. Closing the gap in access to male labor could increase GDP by $45 million. xciv Agricultural mechanizati on in Malawi includes machines such as irrigati on systems and machinery used in processing agricultural output, as well as tools such as hand hoes and animal carts which aid in physical labor. Mechanizati on may be especially important to women given its quality as a substi tute for labor, with women in Malawi having less ti me available due to childcare and domesti es and less access to male farm labor. One of the c responsibiliti barriers to mechanizati on on women’s farms is the high cost of purchasing machinery, which is compounded by accessing credit being more of a challenge to women than men (see secti on 4).xcv Crop Choice The constraints that impact crop choice are signifi cant in preventi ng women from improving income from agricultural producti on. Despite female farmers in Malawi enjoying higher returns than male farmers from switching to high-value crops, they are less likely to culti vate the more valuable export crops than men, an important driver of the gender gap in agricultural producti vity. Women in Malawi plant fewer cash crops such as tobacco which is planted on 3 percent of plots managed by women as opposed to 10 percent of plots managed by men. Barriers to entry which have been identi ed as preventi fi ng women in Sub-Saharan Africa from adopti ng cash crops and accessing these value chains include risk aversion (higher value crops are oft en associated as being higher risk crops, requiring more up-front investments), the ability to produce or sell large enough quanti es to reach markets and have competi ti ve ti 32 Malawi Gender Assessment al fi pricing, and the initi nancial and knowledge requirements to adopti ng a new crop and accessing new markets. While these barriers exist for all farmers, they are more diffi cult for female farmers to overcome due to more restricted access to fi nancing (see secti on 3), more constricted access to, and more limited benefi t from, extension services, and the additi onal challenge of overcoming restricti ve social norms. Such social norms encourage gendered roles in agriculture, for example setti ng the expectati on that women farm as a contributi on to household food security while men parti cipate in cash crop value chains. xcvi 2.2 Entrepreneurship Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world and women cant part of the entrepreneurial workforce. However, many women become are a signifi entrepreneurs out of economic necessity, being more constrained than men in pursuing wage work or other economic opportuniti es due to lower educati me- on and skill levels and ti consuming domesti es. Women entrepreneurs throughout Sub-Saharan Africa c responsibiliti experience underlying constraints which infl uence their decision-making and contribute to four main drivers of the gender gap in entrepreneurship: 1) women entrepreneurs are less likely to operate enterprises in more profi table male dominated sectors; 2) women entrepreneurs have lower access to capital and use fewer hired workers; 3) women entrepreneurs are less likely to adopt advanced business practi ces, to innovate, or to formalize their business; and 4) women entrepreneurs are less willing to compete. All these factors contribute directly to women owned enterprises producing lower returns than those owned by men.xcvii Decomposition Methodology Oaxaca-Blinder decompositi on methodology is widely used in economic analysis to isolate the factors contributi ng to gender gaps in agricultural producti vity and wages, among other outcomes. The methodology decomposes the gender gap into two main components: an endowment eff ect and a structural eff ect. The endowment eff ect captures the diff erence in the levels of resources that women have relati ve to men, such as educati on, or amount of credit. Policies and programs may diminish the endowment eff ect by ensuring equal access to and use of the resources across genders. However, even when men and women have access to the same quanti ty and quality of resources, they may not achieve the same results: the structural eff ect refers to the porti on of the gender gap that exists because of erences in the returns on resources. diff To examine the gender gap in entrepreneurship in Malawi specifi cally, the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovati on Lab conducted a decompositi on analysis of LSMS data, using the Oaxaca-Blinder analysis method (see full results in appendices 1-3). Based on the data, women business managers’ sales are nearly 65 percent less than those of male managers. However, when controlling for individual, household, and enterprise-level factors, this disparity lessens to 45 percent. This diff erence indicates that the gender gap largely stems from diff erences between men and women in returns to resources. Indeed, the analysis fi nds that 70 percent of the gender gap in sales comes from the diff erence in the returns to various factors, while 30 percent comes from the diff erence in the levels of factors.xcviii This decompositi on analysis is complemented by evidence from a range of literature, including the evidence of gender constraints facing women entrepreneurs in Malawi that is presented in the World Bank’s Profi ng from Parity report. ti 33 Malawi Gender Assessment 2.2.1 Characteristics of Women Managers Of business managers included in the LSMS sample, 47 percent were women. Relati ve to male managers, women managers are, on average, less educated; less likely to be married; less likely to be head of household and younger. Households of men and women managers are about the same size, but on average households of women managers have a higher dependency rati o. Finally, managers included in the analysis work in the following sectors: trade (63 percent of women managers and 46 percent of male managers); manufacturing (15 percent of women managers and 12 percent of male managers); services (16 percent of women managers and 28 percent of male managers); agriculture (4 percent of women managers and 8 percent of male managers); and other (1.3 percent of women managers and 5.3 percent of male managers).xcix 2.2.2 Accounting for the Gender Gap Start-Up Capital Within the entrepreneurial sector, sources of start-up capital diff cantly between men er signifi and women managers. Men tend to use saved earnings from agriculture, which widens the gender gap in sales. As discussed previously, male plot managers receive greater returns to agricultural work, increasing the likelihood that they would be able to earn and save more money to be reinvested in a non-agricultural enterprise. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to use start-up capital gift ed to them by family or friends, which parti ally narrows the gender gap. One contributi ng factor is the higher burden of care women carry, which reduces access to economically producti viti ve acti es. In additi on to taking up ti me which women might otherwise use to engage in producti viti ve acti es, caring for children requires women to stay home or bring their children to work with them, both of which may negati vely impact producti vity. Raw Materials Women entrepreneurs tend to spend more on raw materials and earn higher returns on raw material expenditures than do male entrepreneurs, narrowing the gender gap. Raw materials are goods used to produce fi nal products, such as cloth for clothing or ingredients for baked goods. Women’s household businesses are much more likely than man’s to be involved in the manufacture of food products which likely contributes to the increased purchase of raw materials. Workers and Wages cantly aff Signifi ng the gender gap are workers and wages paid to workers. Women ecti entrepreneurs tend to use workers from within their household. Yet, only male workers from within the household narrow the gender gap, and they only do so slightly. Male entrepreneurs on the other hand are more likely to hire male workers from outside the household, and they pay their workers higher wages. Both the use of male workers and the higher wages paid widen the gender gap in sales, with their impact much larger than that of women entrepreneurs’ use of male labor from within their household. This may either suggest that certain barriers prevent women from hiring more producti ve workers or that women operate in sectors that are lower 34 Malawi Gender Assessment value and that require less skilled workers. Regarding this last point, while our analysis fi nds cipati that parti c sectors does not underpin the gender gap in sales, the categories on in specifi of sectors (trade, manufacturing, etc.) are relati vely broad and may hide gender-segregati on between smaller sub-sectors. Years and Place of Business Male entrepreneurs are more likely than women entrepreneurs to have an enterprise which is either mobile or whose locati on is categorized as “other” which means somewhere other than the more traditi ons of their house, the market, the roadside, industrial, or onal locati commercial sites. Both enterprises which are mobile and have locati ons categorized as “other” increase the gender gap. One reason for this is likely that women are more constrained to ons than men due to their care work and domesti certain locati es. Concerns c responsibiliti regarding their personal safety and cultural norms may also be a considerati on discouraging them from operati ng their enterprises outside of setti ngs they consider to be safer or more gender appropriate. Potential Role of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Widening the Gender Gap in Firm Sales While we do not yet have country-level evidence for Malawi on the gender diff erenti al impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on business outcomes, there are good reasons to believe women will be more aff ected and less able to cope with shocks related to COVID-19. As women- owned fi rms in Malawi are on average smaller and have lower sales and profi ts, they may be able to remain in business and withstand the impacts of the pandemic for a shorter period of ti me. Women’s weaker professional networks and other constraints they face in accessing knowledge may also hinder their ability to cope with the crisis. Indeed, data from neighboring Tanzania shows that in additi on to having lower cash reserves to withstand the shock of the pandemic, smaller businesses (in which women are more concentrated) are also less aware than larger fi rms of government support programs that may be available (62 percent, versus 52 percent among all fi rms). In additi on, the same survey from Tanzania also showed that smaller businesses are less likely to have invested in digital soluti ons to compensate for the disrupti ons caused by the pandemic (12 percent of SMEs and large fi rms versus only 4 percent of micro rms).c At the regional and global level, we also have emerging gender disaggregated evidence fi on the impacts of the pandemic on businesses. Using data from the Facebook COVID-19 Future of Business Survey, this research found that across several countries in SSA the business closure rate as of May 2020 was 43 percent for those businesses owned by women compared to 34 percent for those owned by men.ci The higher closure rate for women owned business was found to be related to school closures, highlighti onal impact of childcare ng the additi responsibiliti es on women’s exposure to negati ve impacts of the pandemic on their economic acti es. The survey also showed that women are more concentrated in consumer-facing viti sectors which experienced a more severe demand shock from the pandemic. This last point is also specifi cally relevant to Malawi, with LSMS data showing that 93 percent of women’s businesses sell to fi nal consumers compared to 87 percent of men’s businesses. 35 Malawi Gender Assessment 2.3 Wage Work Around the world women are less likely to parti cipate in the labor market and generally have access to lower-quality employment opportuniti es than men. Some of the drivers of the gender pay gap globally are diff erences in educati onal att ainment between men and women, women’s concentrati on in lower wage sectors, women’s relati vely higher parti on in part cipati me work (resulti ti ng in part from women’s care responsibiliti es), and discriminati on in pay between men and women performing equal work. In Malawi, women are less likely to be engaged in wage work and oft en receive lower pay when they are. The latest LSMS data for Malawi shows that 9.6 percent of the labor force was engaged in wage, salary, or commission acti es. More men in Malawi (12 percent) than viti women (4 percent) are salaried workers. Parti cii cipati on in wage work is most common among individuals with a terti ary level of educati on (63.3 percent), and least common among those without any educati on (5.6 percent).ciii Women and men are most commonly employed in agriculture, yet of women who are employed in agriculture only 36 percent receive payment for their work. Women are much less likely than men to be employed in unskilled manual labor: about 2 percent of the female labor force compared to 25 percent of the male labor force. However, women and men are equally likely to be employed in professional, technical, or managerial occupati ons (7 percent).civ Women in urban areas are most likely to be employed in the sales and services sector (26 percent), or in the professional, technical, or managerial sector (26 percent), while men in urban areas are most likely to be employed in the skilled manual labor sector (31 percent). Women who have more than a secondary level of educati on are more ons. Women in rural areas likely to work in professional, technical, or managerial positi and who are uneducated work mostly in the agricultural sector and are oft en unpaid.cv In Malawi, the mean raw gender pay gap of monthly earnings between men and women is 36.2 percent, meaning that women wage workers earn about 64 cents for each dollar earned by men.cvi Women’s lower earnings in wage employment may be partly due to ti me constraints related to domesti c chores, such as collecti rewood, and childcare ng water or gathering fi responsibiliti es that prevent them from working longer hours. Indeed, analysis of the latest LSMS data for Malawi fi nds that women wage workers work fewer hours than men and that women spend more ti me on non-market acti es. Additi viti onally, women are much less likely to be paid for their labor than are their husbands. Of currently married women, only 30 percent are paid in cash compared to 61 percent of men, and 59 percent of women are not paid at all. While the proporti on of men who are paid for their work has not changed, the paid employment of women dropped from 45 percent in 2010 to 30 percent in 2015/16.cvii 2.4 Time Use The analysis presented in this report fi me than men nds that women in Malawi spent less ti working across all major types of employment: agriculture, entrepreneurship, and wage work. ndings are in line with global and regional trends regarding women’s ti These fi on me allocati between economic producti vity and domesti es. c responsibiliti 36 Malawi Gender Assessment The gender diff erences between how men and women use their ti me are oft en driven by entrenched social norms and can be a driving force behind gender gaps in economic parti cipati on and access to economic opportuniti es. Time use is allocated, to some extent, based on socio-cultural percepti ons of men’s and women’s responsibiliti es towards the wellbeing of the household. As a result, women around the world are disproporti onately responsible for care work and domesti c responsibiliti es. As highlighted throughout this report, the unequal burden of care work placed on women has broad implicati ons. Women are more likely to work fewer hours in paid jobs and are willing to accept lower quality jobs than men in exchange for the fl exibility they need to fi t domesti c work around paid work. Bett er quality jobs in the formal sector, with fi xed schedules or full-ti me work may require a redistributi on of domesti c responsibiliti en a low-quality job in the informal sector, part-ti es. Oft me work, or being self-employed provides more fl exibility to women allowing them to maintain their domesti c responsibiliti es.cviii In most countries there is a larger gender gap in ti me use between men and women in rural areas than urban areas, in part because of resource availability. For example, in many rural areas women and girls bear the highest burden for collecti ng water to meet the needs of the household. The presence of children in a household is also associated with less ti me allocated to paid work by women and more ti me allocated to unpaid care work. The resulti me ng ti poverty which women experience greatly impacts their economic producti vity and so their bargaining power within the household.cix The increasing demands of children on women’s me is why, as menti ti on 2, women globally lose an average of two producti oned in secti ve years for each child they have. Aside from societal norms, factors infl uenced by government policy can greatly impact the ability of women to allocate more of their ti me to paid market work. Gender inequaliti es in access to educati on, higher-paid employment, access to producti ve inputs, and ability to move around can infl uence percepti ons of opportunity regarding the allocati on of paid or unpaid work between men and women. In additi on, access to government-funded maternity leave and services such as aff ordable childcare can narrow gender diff me allocated to erences in ti paid work. cx 37 Malawi Gender Assessment 3. Ownership and Control of Assets OWNERSHIP & CONTROL OF ASSETS - KEY TAKEAWAYS Land tenure insecurity is pervasive throughout the country and women are the most land insecure. Drivers of the gender gap include the predominance of customary versus statutory land tenure practi ces which result in women being less likely to have their names tles and having less decision-making control over their land. on land ti Policy Opti on on a large-scale uti on: Increase land registrati nancial lizing household fi incenti ves and informati on sharing on the benefi ts of women’s empowerment and land rights to increase the inclusion of women’s names on property ti tles/deeds. Women have lower levels of financial inclusion than men across all domains. Drivers of the gender gap include: 1) women’s lower earnings which likely impedes the volume of women’s savings; 2) women’s lower access to key sources of collateral such as land; nancial products that are specifi 3) a lack of fi cally targeted at women, for example to get around the collateral constraint; and 4) social norms and personal safety issues that may make women more reluctant to visit physical bank branches. Policy Opti ons: Increase women’s access to and control over business capital through innovati ve saving mechanisms and producti ve inclusion programs. Increase availability of low collateral or alternati ve collateral lending products. Increase women’s access to sources of business credit that can support larger volumes of fi nancing for transformati onal business growth. Pilot subsidized or free business registrati on combined with bank informati on sessions and/or access to a business bank account. 3.1 Land & Assets Globally women and girls oft en lack the rights and or protecti on of their rights to own and inherit land. Yet, evidence shows that strengthening women’s land rights increases the returns on women’s labor, increases their voice and agency, and positi vely impacts income, food security, and agricultural investment and producti vity among other outcomes. For example, increasing women’s security of land tenure has been shown to increase their incenti ves to make producti ve investments in that land.cxi In additi on, ownership of valuable assets such as land increases women’s access to credit as many fi nancial insti tuti ons require collateral in the form of immovable assets. Yet, the WB has esti mated that 90 percent of rural land in Sub-Saharan Africa is undocumented and that women are more likely than men to lack documentati on.cxii What is more, the percepti on of land tenure security is low, the 2016/17 Integrated Household Survey (IHS) reported that 33 percent of households were not confi dent they would sti ll possess their land in ten years. Compounding issues of undocumented land cxiii tenure is increasing land pressure due to the rapidly growing populati on which is sti ll primarily engaged in and dependent on agriculture. As a result, the average farm size is about one hectare per household, and the low-input, low out-put smallholder farming may not provide sustainable livelihoods for people in Malawi for much longer. The impact of land pressure and constrained profi tability from smallholder farming pose a signifi cant threat to women’s livelihoods, with DHS data indicati ng that 59 percent of women in Malawi are employed in 38 Malawi Gender Assessment gure rising to 68 percent of women in rural areas, where the poorest agriculture, with this fi tend to live. Historically, Malawi has had dual systems of land allocati on. The fi rst system is made up of larger areas of land provided to estates to culti vate commercial crops under freehold or leasehold. The second system is composed of smallholder farmers who produce mainly food crops for subsistence farming under customary tenure. While restricti ons on smallholder farmer’s parti cipati on in cash crops were removed in the 1990s, because of the farmers’ limited resources and vulnerability to risk, their ability to diversify their crops has been constrained. As land has become more scarce land disputes have increased. Most disputes are centred on inheritance and tend to be correlated with higher levels of land tenure insecurity and large producti vity losses, especially for women. Land tenure insecurity is esti mated to cause producti vity losses of 12 percent for women and 5 percent for men.cxiv Matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance systems co-exist in the country, yet despite the Deceased Estates Act of 2011, customary practi en prevents women from inheriti ce oft ng property. Women currently remain signifi cantly less likely than men to be able to sell or bequeath land, a signal of their lower level of ownership.cxv This discrepancy in customary practi ce versus statutory law is cant as the majority of Malawi’s total land is customary.cxvi signifi The 2016 land law aims to demarcate land areas controlled by individual traditi onal leaders as a preconditi on to granti ng documented rights to individuals. The Customary Land Act is cxvii meant to strengthen women’s representati on in decision-making on land issues and enable women to register individually as landowners. The law is expected to increase land tenure security which will in turn promote increased investment in land and increased access to credit, as land is frequently used as collateral. However, in addressing individual land rights it is important to understand potenti al implicati on which can ons of land tenure formalizati include the reducti on of secondary land rights held by women, tenants, and on or eliminati marginalized groups who do not have a primary claim to land through existi ng customary systems. Formal land ti tles and deeds are rare in Malawi; 90 percent of men and women do not have a tle or deed for their property. Only 3 percent of women have a ti ti tle/deed for their house and 2 percent for their land. For men the fi gures are similar with 4 percent having a ti tle/deed for their house and 5 percent having a ti tle/deed for their land. Having a ti tle/deed is strikingly more common among property owners in urban rather than rural areas: 19 percent of women property owners in urban areas have a ti tle/deed as compared to only 1 percent of women property owners in rural areas. There is also variati on by level of educati on: data from the 2015/16 DHS indicate that 41 percent of women property owners with higher educati on have a ti tle/deed compared with only 8 percent of women with secondary educati on. 3.2 Financial Inclusion nancial inclusion is a signifi The gender gap in fi cant barrier to women’s empowerment, rural development, regional economic growth, and sustainable development. Globally, there is a 7 percent gender gap in ownership of an account with a fi tuti nancial insti onal on. The Internati 39 Malawi Gender Assessment Financial Corporati mates that women owned businesses have up to $320 billion in on esti unmet fi nancing needs globally, and that 70 percent of women entrepreneurs own small- or medium-sized businesses with insuffi cient or non-existent access to formal fi nancial services. While the overall fi nancial inclusion gap has decreased in recent years, the gender gap in nancial inclusion has not signifi fi cantly improved, with men’s and women’s rates of account ownership growing at about the same pace.cxviii The impact of limited access to formal fi nance is harmful to women in several ways. Women entrepreneurs and farmers are less able to start and invest in their businesses, they are less able to access markets and capitalize on economic opportuniti es and have less access to new technology which would improve producti vity. If the situati on was addressed, increased nancial inclusion for women could act as a driver for women’s economic parti fi cipati on and for economic growth more broadly.cxix Inadequate access to fi nance is arguably parti cularly criti cal to women given their lower earnings which likely impedes their ability to save. In Malawi, 7 this is evidenced by women entrepreneurs being more likely to use start-up capital which was gift ed to them by family than men who are more likely to use their own savings (as described in secti on 2). However, even when women can save, social norms may make it harder for them to invest these savings how they see fi t, with pressure to redistribute their savings to other household or extended family members rather than investi ng in their own businesses. For this reason, it is also important to increase women’s access to tools that can allow them to have greater privacy and control over their earnings, such as secure savings accounts under their own name. There is already evidence from elsewhere in the Africa Western and Central region showing that such tools can incenti vize women to maximize their producti vity in the workplace, in the knowledge they will be able to fully benefi t from the fruits of their labor.cxx Barriers to women’s fi nancial inclusion include their lower access to key sources of collateral, such as land (see secti on 3.1) and a dearth of fi nancial products designed to meet their needs, such as low-collateral or alternati ve collateral products that could compensate for women’s lack of access to collateral. Some of the barriers to women’s fi nancial inclusion are also driven by societal norms such as women’s care responsibiliti es which impede their ability to travel to nancial insti fi ons which most oft tuti en lack a physical presence in rural areas. Women are also oft en seen as less att racti ve clients than men as a result of a preference for male dominated sectors and larger enterprises which are more oft en owned by men. Legal barriers which inhibit women’s control over various assets are another common barrier to women’s fi nancial access. Globally 90 percent of economies have at least one law which impede on women’s economic acti es.cxxi While statutory law in Malawi provides for equal inheritance rights for wives and viti daughters, the law does not specifi cally prohibit gender discriminati on in access to credit.cxxii Moreover, given women’s lower control over land due to the prevalence of customary practi ces over statutory law (as discussed above), even with equal statutory inheritance rights women are likely less able to leverage land as collateral. Account Ownership Just over a third of people age 15+ in Malawi have an account, and of those who have an account, less than a quarter have an account with a fi tuti nancial insti on, with a large gap between women and men (fi gure 10). 7 ve volumes of savings by sex. Though we do not have data on relati 40 Malawi Gender Assessment Figure 10: Account Ownership Source: The Global Findex Database 2017 Mobile Banking The 2015/16 DHS shows that approximately 27 percent of women and 30 percent of men use a mobile phone for fi ons. The latest (2017) Findex data show similar gender nancial transacti gaps, with 25 percent of women compared to 31 percent of men reporti ng having made nuing gender gaps in mobile phone or received a digital payment over the past year. Conti ownership rates (fi gures 11, 12) may contribute to gender gaps in use of digital fi nance, leaving women with less access to mobile money and other digital fi nance tools. Women also appear to be less likely to have access to the internet through their mobile phone, with data from the Afrobarometer 2016/18 survey for Malawi showing that 66 percent of women (versus 56 percent of men) say that their phone does not have internet access. Figure 11: Women’s Mobile Phone Ownership Figure 12: Men’s Mobile Phone Ownership Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16, STAT Compiler Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16, STAT Compiler 41 Malawi Gender Assessment Savings While 2017 Findex data show that women were almost as likely as men to have saved over the past year (51 percent of women versus 53 percent of men), women tend to use informal rather than formal savings mechanisms. Of the 52 percent of people aged 15 and older who saved money on the last year, more than three ti mes as many people saved money with a savings club or a person outside of their family than with a fi tuti nancial insti on, with this even more the case for women than for men (fi gure 13). Given women’s lower incomes, it is likely cantly lower than that of men, but we do not have sex that their volume of savings is signifi disaggregated data to show this. Figure 13: Savings Mechanism Source: The Global Findex Database 2017 Credit Most of the gender gaps in use of diff erent borrowing mechanisms and purpose for borrowing funds are relati vely small, yet among entrepreneurs, women appear to have access to lower volumes of credit. Of the 52 percent of people who borrowed money in the last year, 12 percent of men and 13 percent of women borrowed for health or medical expenses and 6 percent of men and 7 percent of women borrowed to start, operate, or expand a farm or business. Women were more likely than men to borrow from a savings club, while men are more likely than women to borrow from family and friends, yet the gender gap in borrowing from a fi tuti nancial insti on is gure 14). However, there appears to be more of a gender gap in volume of credit, very small (fi with data from an impact evaluati rms in Malawi showing that women- on survey of informal fi owned businesses held loan amounts that were only 74 percent the volume of men’s.cxxiii 42 Malawi Gender Assessment Figure 14: Borrowing Mechanism Source: The Global Findex Database 2017 43 Malawi Gender Assessment 4. Voice and Agency Women’s Voice & Agency - KEY Takeaways Gender-based violence is widespread in the country with high rates GBV as well as IPV. Drivers of the trend include: 1) early marriage, 2) low levels of economic independence, and 3) low levels of education. Women have lower levels of agency, as reflected in decision-making power. Drivers of this trend include: 1) women’s lower participation in employment, especially off-farm employment; 2) the age gap between husbands and wives (with wives being younger); 3) being in a polygamous relationship. Policy Options: Increase women’s incomes through productive inclusion programming. Increase women’s vocational, entrepreneurial, and socioemotional skills to ease their entrance into the work force, with a specific focus on adolescent girls to set them on a virtuous cycle (greater investment in skills, delayed marriage, and childbearing, leading to better economic opportunities and more equal relationships) and maximize lifetime impacts. Increase women’s time availability for income-generating activities through childcare services. 4.1 Gender-Based Violence GBV has been acknowledged as a serious concern in Malawi, with both individual and societal consequences. In 2014, the Ministry of Gender reported that GBV is a drain on the country’s resources and prevents women from contributi ng to social and economic progress. GBV incurs lost income and producti vity, strains the healthcare and judicial systems, and lowers the accumulati on of human and social capital. In additi mated on to such indirect costs, it is esti that the judicial and healthcare expenses from domesti c violence had a direct economic cost of more than $2.7 million in 2013 alone.cxxiv Yet, despite government eff on of women experiencing physical violence orts, the proporti rose from 28 percent to 34 percent between 2010 and 2015/16. It is worth highlighti ng that physical violence and sexual violence may not occur in isolati on, but in combinati on with each other. Of women who experienced violence about 40 percent sought help while 49 percent never sought help or spoke to anyone about the violence. The most common informal source of help is the woman’s family (62 percent), and the most common formal source is the police (10 percent). Both the occurrence of GBV and the lack of formal reporti ng are due in part to the prevailing patriarchal cultural factors as well as a low understanding of human rights and cular, women’s rights. Women who are employed for cash are more likely than women in parti who are not employed to seek help. Currently married women are less likely to seek help than women who are divorced/separated/widowed, or women who have never been married. Seeking help does not vary by urban and rural areas, nor by educati on level or wealth status. However, help seeking is more common in the Central Region than either the Northern or Southern Regions.cxxv 44 Malawi Gender Assessment Figure 15: GBV Prevalence Younger women and women with no children are less likely to have experienced physical violence. Previously married women are more likely to have experienced either physical or sexual violence than married women or women who have never been married. Women with on and increased at least a secondary level of educati wealth, are less likely to experience sexual violence. Perpetrators of physical violence against married women are most oft en their husbands, 53 percent of ever- married women report their current husbands, and 26 percent, report former husbands as their perpetrators. Of never-married women, the vast majority reported family members, followed by boyfriends and teachers. Similarly, perpetrators of sexual violence against ever- married women are almost all reported as having been current or former husbands, only 5 percent reported a stranger as the perpetrator. Among never-married women, the most common perpetrators of sexual violence are current or former boyfriends, followed by Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16, STAT Compiler strangers and friends/acquaintances. Both physical and sexual violence are more common among employed women than unemployed women. GBV varies by on, physical violence is slightly more common in urban areas, while sexual violence is locati more prevalent in rural areas. Regionally, GBV is most prevalent in the Northern Region (fi gure 15). Intimate Partner Violence The Numbers GBV Under the umbrella of GBV, IPV is a seri- Of all women aged 15-49 years: ous problem in Malawi, with over 40 per- 34 percent have experienced physical violence. cent of ever-married women having ex- 3 percent have experienced physical violence oft en perienced physical, sexual, or emoti onal 13 percent have experienced physical violence in the last violence. An important aspect of IPV are year. 21 percent have experienced sexual violence. the atti tudes of both men and women 14 percent experienced sexual violence in the last year. about the justi cati fi on of husbands beat- 8 percent fi rst experienced sexual violence before age 22 ing their wives. A slightly higher percent- 4 percent experienced sexual violence before age 18. age of women than men (16 percent and 13 percent respecti vely) believe that it is IPV Of all women who have ever been married: justi able for a husband to beat his wife fi 42 percent have experienced physical, sexual, or in certain circumstances. Between 2010 emoti onal violence. - 2015/16, atti tudes towards wife beati ng 33 percent have experienced IPV in the last year. remained steady, although there is varia- 30 percent have experienced physical violence. ti on regionally. Both men and women, are 21 percent have experienced sexual violence. 24 percent experienced physical or sexual violence in the more likely to think wife beati ng is accept- last year. able if they live in rural areas, have lower 30percent have experienced emoti onal violence. levels of educati on, and are from poorer 23percent experienced emoti onal violence in the last year. households. cxxvi Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16 45 Malawi Gender Assessment The rates of physical, sexual, and emoti onal violence between 2010 – 2015/16 have increased, suggesti ng that IPV may be on the rise. IPV is more prevalent among divorced/separated/wid- owed women than currently married women. Unlike other forms of violence, rates of IPV do not diff er between urban and rural areas, however, it is less common in the Southern Region of the country than the Northern or Central Regions. Husbands who have more than a sec- ondary level of educati on are less likely to engage in IPV. However, couples are more likely to experience IPV if the husband is bett er educated, or husband and wife are equally educated, than are couples in which neither is educated, or the wife is more educated than the husband gure 16). Husbands’ alcohol consumpti (fi on is a signifi cant factor which increases the risk of IPV; 79 percent of women whose husbands are oft en drunk have experienced IPV, compared to 34 percent of women whose husbands do not drink. Finally, women whose father beat her mother are more likely to experience IPV themselves, demonstrati onal ng the intergenerati eff ect of IPV.cxxvii Figure 16: Characteristics of IPV Perpetrators Source: Malawi DHS, 2015/16 4.2 Harmful Practices Child Marriage Early marriage, or child marriage is a practi ce which is deeply embedded in society and onal customs in Malawi. In additi traditi on to social norms, poverty is a key underlying driver of child marriage, children from poor families being twice as likely to marry early than children from households which are not poor. Harmful social and cultural practi ces fuel child marriage. Girls in Malawi undergo a common practi ati ce of initi on into adulthood upon reaching puberty. The initi on ceremonies diff ati er between ethnic groups yet are oft en considered to encourage early sexual acti vity. Viewed as ready for marriage upon reaching puberty, many families of adolescent girls and the girls themselves consider marriage as a mechanism to ensure fi nancial security, with the payment of a dowery to the bride’s family being a signifi cant nancial incenti fi ve. Treated as a coping mechanism following shocks, families seek to reduce the burden of feeding their family through child marriage.cxxviii The trend of treati ng child marriage as a coping mechanism is parti cularly concerning in the face of the ongoing pandemic, the economic impacts of which may increase rates of child marriage. 46 Malawi Gender Assessment Consequences of early marriage are signifi cant and oft en long term. Of women who dropped out of school 24 percent did so because they had gott en married, signifi cantly limiti ng their me economic opportuniti lifeti es. Women who marry young are more likely to experience cxxix IPV and to have litt le to no decision-making power within their homes. Additi onally, young brides are oft en socially isolated from sources of support, a signifi cant barrier to seeking help for GBV or IPV. Since they drop out of school, they are more likely to be illiterate, have limited economic opportuniti es, and as a result are more dependent on their husbands. In additi on, girls who marry early are likely to begin childbearing early. Girls who give birth at a young age, before their body has fully matured, are at higher risk for complicati ons before and during childbirth and are less likely to receive proper medical care while pregnant. Finally, girls who begin childbearing at a young age are more likely to have more children throughout their me, marrying at 13 rather than 18 increases the number of children a girl is likely to have lifeti by more than 12 percent.cxxx Malawi has one of the highest rates of child marriage in in the world with half of girls married before their 18th birthday, and 12 percent of girls married before their 15th birthday.cxxxi There cant gender gap in the median age of fi is a signifi rst marriage, 18.2 years for women and 23 years for men. The median age of marriage has increased by less than one year since 1992, and almost half of women marry before their 18th birthday, while only 8 percent of men marry at the same age. Women in urban areas marry later than women in rural areas, and women in the Central region marry at a slightly later age than the Northern and Southern regions. Women from the wealthiest households marry later than less wealthy women. Women with at least secondary educati on level marry much later than uneducated women, 24.8 years, and 17.6 years respecti onship between marriage and vely. It is important to note that the relati educati on works in both directi ons. Women who marry early are oft en removed from school, thereby ending their educati on early, while women who are not in school are more likely to be married at a younger age.cxxxii Polygamous Unions In Malawi polygamy is recognized under the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relati ons Act as a marriage contracted under customary law. cxxxiii About 13 percent of women are in polygamous unions, the proporti on is greater in rural areas (14 percent) than urban areas (5 percent). There on with the practi is regional variati ce being most common in the Northern Region (18 percent), followed by the Central Region (14 percent), and the Southern Region (11 percent) having the smallest proporti on. Older women are more likely than younger women to report having co- wives. Less educated women are more likely to be in this type of union than more educated women; 21 percent of women with no educati on compared to 3 percent of women with more than a secondary level of educati on. Women in polygamous unions in Malawi have a higher cxxxiv HIV prevalence rate (16 percent) than women in monogamous unions (12 percent) and have a higher risk of experiencing IPV due to unequal power relati ons.cxxxv Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Female genital muti on/cutti lati ng (FGM/C) is a practi ce that involves cutti ng some part of the clitoris or labia as a rite of passage into adolescence rather than for medical reasons. This practi ce has been widely condemned internati onally as a violati on of women’s and children’s human rights. In some areas of Malawi traditi onal chiefs have confi rmed that FGM/C is 47 Malawi Gender Assessment practi ced, but it is not common enough to be widely known or internati onally recognized. There are no offi cial accounts of the prevalence of FGM/C in the country, and there is no specifi on prohibiti c legislati ce. A nati ng the practi onal survey on traditi onal practi ces in 2018 found a nati onal prevalence of FGM/C of 3.5 percent to 4.3 percent in the southern region, with Phalombe having the highest concentrati on at 13.6 percent. Other similar practi ces, such as labia stretching, are more commonly practi ati ced as part of initi on ceremonies, and are esti mated to be practi ced in about half of communiti es. cxxxvi 4.3 Decision-Making & Household Gender Dynamics Household Decision-Making Women’s parti cipati on in decision-making regarding their own earnings increased signifi cantly between 2010 – 2015/16. The percentage of women who say that they alone or jointly have the nal say in all three decisions (own health care, making large purchases, visits to family, relati fi ves, friends) included in the DHS increased from 11 percent in 2000 to 47 percent in 2015/16. There were large jumps in women’s parti on in all three of these decisions, though the cipati increase was especially notable in joint/sole parti on in decisions on own health care (28 cipati percent to 68 percent) and making large purchases (17 percent to 55 percent). The increases in women’s parti cipati on in decision-making were also driven by joint decision-making rather than by an increase in women’s sole decision-making. Women who are employed, have higher levels of educati on, live in urban areas, and are in wealthier households are more likely to parti cipate in household decision-making.cxxxvii Over the same period there was also an increase in the proporti on of women involved in decisions on how to use their own earnings: women’s parti on (joint or sole) increased cipati from 60 percent in 2000 to 76 percent in 2015/16. Joint decision-making with their husband/ partner is the most common decision-making approach reported in the latest DHS, followed by women reporti ng sole decision-making power, and husbands controlling decisions about the woman’s earnings. Meanwhile, in terms of decisions regard men’s earnings, 44 percent of men maintain sole control of their own earnings, 48 percent share joint decision-making with their wife, and just under 8 percent of men give primary decision-making control to their wives. Only about half of women who work without cash earnings, and less than half of women who do not work, parti cipate in joint decision-making regarding their husband’s income. Yet, about 80 percent of husbands who either do not work or work without cash earnings, parti cipate in joint decision-making about their wife’s earnings. Women who are younger, have lower levels of educati on, and who are poor are the least likely to have control over their earnings and it is more likely that their husbands will be sole decision-makers about their money.cxxxviii Taking, Giving, & Agreeing on Decision-Making Power A recent study took a detailed look into not only women’s parti on in decision-making, but cipati also the dynamics around their and their husband/partner recognizing and either agreeing or not agreeing on her role as the primary or as a joint decision-maker regarding large household purchases. The study, which included 23 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, found improved maternal and child health outcomes among women who claim that they are the primary or sole decision-maker. Among couples who agree on the wife’s role as primary or joint decision- maker the positi ve maternal and child health outcomes were increased and the prevalence of 48 Malawi Gender Assessment emoti onal, physical, and sexual inti mate partner violence all decreased signifi cantly. On the other hand, the study also found, a signifi cant increase in IPV among couples who contest the woman’s decision-making power in the household.cxxxix These fi ndings could be interpreted as highlighti ng communicati ng the importance of engaging men (and facilitati on between couples) when implementi ng programming aimed to increase women’s agency and decision- making power. In this light, an analysis of DHS data for Malawi (see appendices 4-6 for full results), conducted by the Africa Gender Innovati on Lab of the World Bank for this gender assessment, investi gated the impact and the personal and household characteristi cs of women who either report that they make joint decisions, or are the main decision-maker regarding major household purchases. Decision-Making Characteristics The analysis found that women who work off the farm, who earn more than their husband, les are more who have been married longer, and who are in the two highest wealth quinti likely to be either main or joint decision-makers. In contrast, the analysis found that women in polygamous unions, women married before age 20, women who are not working, and women who are younger than their husband are less likely to have decision-making power. Husbands are more likely to agree that their wife has decision-making power if she either earns more than he does, and/or if they are in part of the highest wealth quinti le.cxl Decision-Making Implications The analysis found that women who claim to be either the main or a joint decision-maker are more likely to access prenatal services and are less likely to experience physical IPV. What is more, the analysis highlighted the positi ve impact of husbands agreeing that their wife is either the main or a joint decision-maker. These women are more likely to receive assistance in childbirth, they are less likely to have an unmet need for family planning, their children are less likely to be stunted or malnourished, and they are signifi cantly less likely to experience emoti onal, physical, or sexual IPV. 4.4 Political Voice & Leadership Women’s parti cipati onal as well as local government is essenti on in nati al to creati ng opportuniti es for women to arti culate their needs and concerns. The local government system in Malawi is part of a decentralized design in which local councils are responsible for proposing acti viti es, examining government policies, and overseeing their implementati on. Women elected to their local council can advance and advocate for interests and concerns important to women. Yet, since 1998, when local government councils were created through decentralizati on, few women have been elected to local government councils. In 2014, only 13.4 percent of those elected to local councils were women, which is signifi cantly lower than the regional average of 24 percent.cxli About 7 percent of council chairpersons are women while 40 percent of vice chairpersons are women. This high percentage of female vice chairpersons is likely indicati ve of an att empt for gender balance. However, qualitati ve evidence suggests that many female vice chairpersons are highly constrained, disempowered, and in eff ect side-lined as a result of their positi on and a general lack of clearly defi ned roles and responsibiliti es.cxlii 49 Malawi Gender Assessment on, low female parti In additi on at the local level has a negati cipati ve impact on female representati onal level as local government is a valuable path to gaining politi on at the nati cal experience before running nati onal campaigns.cxliii Parliamentarians are essenti al to catalyzing change and initi ng policies and reforms which ati provide rights and protecti on to women and eliminate the barriers preventi ng women from cipati parti ng in full civic and economic engagement to an equal extent as men. Female parliamentarians are more likely act on issues such as equal pay, reproducti ve rights, and gender-based violence. They are also more likely to promote social issues such as childcare and educati on, leading to bett er human capital outcomes and inclusive economic growth. Yet, women make up less than 25 percent of all parliamentarians worldwide. Female voice and leadership are needed in government to promote and enforce policies pertaining to women.cxliv Despite numerous nati onal commitments to gender equality onal and internati and equal representati on though quotas, elected politi cal representati on in the country is unequal. Although Malawi was led by a female president between 2012-2014, female politi cal cipati parti on has seen litt le progress. As of 2019 only 23 percent of members of parliament were female. Female representati on in local governments remains even lower, at only 14.5 percent.cxlv Women in Malawi face signifi cant barriers in accessing elected positi ons which include the cost of campaigning, and perceived traditi onal gender roles. Parliamentary candidates spend an average of 5.2 million MK, or $7,100, in primary electi ons followed by 11.7 million MK, or $15,900, on general electi ons. Historically, male candidates have spent 14 percent more money ons that their female counterparts, leaving women running for offi on electi nct ce at a disti disadvantage.cxlvi The percepti on of traditi onal gender roles also plays a role in countries which have not yet normalized female candidacy or female elected offi cials. One study found that voters in Malawi prefer candidates who are married with young children, a profi le which is less common among female candidates that male. Additi cant amount of qualitati onally, a signifi ve data points to a prevalence of negati ve campaign tacti cs which exploit gender norms in ng female candidates.cxlvii targeti However, there are indicati ons of evolving norms regarding women’s parti on in politi cipati cs. on of the fi Following the electi rst female president, a study examined the infl uence that having a female president had on current female members of parliament. The study found that under the leadership of the female president, female parliament members behaved in a manner less constricted by previous gendered issue-ownership patt erns and gave signifi cantly more speeches. These fi ndings speak to the infl uence of leadership to change norms through symbolic representati on in additi cal acti on to politi ons.cxlviii on to unequal representati In additi ons, 60 percent of positi on in elected positi ons with decision-making responsibiliti es in the public sector are held by men. The importance of ensuring gendered perspecti ves through equal gender representati on cannot be overstated in ons of leadership and decision-making. Yet, some government ministries report less than positi 10 percent of decision-making positi ons are held by women. A common reason given for why gender inequity persists within ministries is that there is a lack of qualifi ed women available which prevents ministries from being able to implement the 60:40 rati o. cxlix 50 Malawi Gender Assessment 5. Policy Options Based on the analysis presented above we present a series of policy opti ons that are grouped under the following outcomes: 1) supporti ng adolescent girls to make decisions (around schooling, marriage, childbearing, work) that set them on a more producti ve path, with erenti diff ated approaches to target the specifi c vulnerabiliti es of adolescents who are sti ll in school and those who have already dropped out and conti nue building on successful eff orts on reducing ferti lity; 2) increasing women’s agricultural producti vity; 3) improving women’s entrepreneurship outcomes; and 4) increasing women’s agency and reducing their exposure to GBV. The policy opti ons presented here are not intended to be a defi ve and exhausti niti ve list of all the approaches the government and its development partners should consider. Rather, they are intended to facilitate further discussion among government and between government and development partners by highlighti ng those interventi ons for which we have strong or emerging evidence (from nati onal, regional, and global research) on their eff veness at ecti addressing the key drivers of gender gaps highlighted in this report. 5.1 Supporting Adolescent Girls and Women to Inform Key Decisions on Schooling, Marriage, Childbearing, and Work In the area of human endowments, policies that target adolescent girls have the potenti al for especially large impacts on individual welfare and overall nati onal economic development. Adolescence is a ti me when girls make key decisions, for example whether to drop-out of school and when to start a family, that have life-long implicati ons in terms of their health, me ferti lifeti lity, skills, economic opportunity, and voice and agency. All of these factors are interrelated in complex ways, but evidence suggests that investments to keep girls in school may be parti cularly criti cal, with large impacts on their earnings and standard of living, child marriage and early childbearing, ferti lity and populati on growth, health and nutriti on, agency and decision-making, social capital and insti ons, and future per capita investments in tuti human capital.cl These impacts are parti cularly relevant for Malawi given their potenti al to stem rapid populati on growth. The World Bank’s Systemati c Country Diagnosti c for Malawi nds that despite recent success in lower the TFR, high populati fi on poses challenges to poverty reducti on and is putti ng pressure on the agricultural sector through increased land pressure and environmental sustainability.cli Education Girls and boys in Malawi enjoy relati vely equal access to educati l reaching upper- on unti secondary school. However, the situati on changes aft er girls reach the upper-secondary level. To eliminate the gender gap at the secondary school level, and to encourage conti nuati on tutes, there are two policy prioriti into higher learning insti es to tackle: 1) easing fi nancial constraints which prevent girls from conti nuing their educati on, and 2) improve learning outcomes to increase the number of girls qualifi ed to pass on to upper-secondary school, including through programs that are not specifi cally targeted to girls. Such eff orts should also contribute to lowering adolescent ferti lity rates. Evidence from across the region suggests that household fi nancial constraints are especially important in impeding access to educati ons that household on for girls and that interventi nancial constraints can be parti fi cularly eff ve at improving gender parity and increasing ecti 51 Malawi Gender Assessment cular type of cost interventi girls’ school enrollment.clii One parti on that we have strong evidence for is conditi onal cash transfer programming. One study in Malawi compared the impact of CCTs and UCTs provided to households with teenage girls on teenage pregnancy rates, early marriage rates, and school dropout rates. Provision of the CCTs was conti ngent on the girls ending school. The study found that recipients of the CCTs maintained higher enrollment att rates and outperformed the UCT group in English reading comprehension.cliii While there do not appear to be gender gaps in learning outcomes, improving learning for all students will ensure a higher number of girls can progress to higher levels of schooling. What is more, evidence suggests that programs focused on learning outcomes do not need to explicitly target girls to ensure impact on girls. An analysis of interventi ons aimed to improve learning outcomes compared programming that explicitly targeted girl students against general programming, which targets both boys and girls. The study found that girls’ learning outcomes for both general and gender targeted programming were similar. The study highlighted that as general interventi ul for girl students, as well as boys, policymakers ons can be highly impactf should not limit their choices to gender targeted interventi ons, of which there are fewer proven opti ons. Outside of interventi ons that target adolescent girls, a secondary considerati on is providing opportuniti es for adult educati on which can boost women’s producti vity, with analysis of LSMS data from Malawi fi nding that years of schooling is one of the factors that underpins the agricultural producti vity gender gap.cliv On the other hand, educati on and skills programs that reach adult women are especially important in Malawi given large historical gender gaps in schooling as refl ected in the gap in adult literacy rates (55 percent for women, 70 percent for men). Digital tools off er a promising mechanism for reaching women with adult educati on, as they address the ti me and social constraints that may prevent women from traveling outside the home for training. For example, evidence from Niger demonstrates improved test results for women and men by including a mobile phone component as a moti onal and vati educati onal tool to an adult educati on. An additi on interventi onal result of the program was women farmers’ increased producti on of cash crops.clv Fertility To conti nue to address populati on growth and build upon the government’s recent success in decreasing the TFR, it is essenti al that interventi ons address women who have begun childbearing as well as adolescent girls who have not. Increased use of and access to family planning services either for birth spacing or to limit births is essenti al for married women and women who have already begun childbearing. Despite free family planning services provided by the government, women and girls face barriers in accessing services. A study in Lilongwe found that increased access to postpartum family planning services increased postpartum contracepti ve use and decreased risks of short birth spacing.clvi A qualitati ve study in Malawi found that husbands and partners oft en desire shorter birth intervals than their wife and confl ict regarding birth spacing decisions have signifi uence over women’s decisions cant infl regarding birth spacing. The study found that involving men in birth spacing interventi ons would be criti cal to successful behavior change. clvii While investi onal achievement to address adolescent ferti ng in girl’s educati lity would likely have the largest impact in the long-term, given the links to adolescent and lifeti lity and me ferti given the importance of getti ng young women on the right track at a key point in their lives, 52 Malawi Gender Assessment there is also a need to focus on girls who have already dropped out and who are unlikely to return to school. Reaching this group of girls is especially important as they may be especially vulnerable and at greater risk of early childbearing and marriage. For this group unconditi onal cash transfers can reduce their vulnerability by reducing their fi nancial dependence on men and their suscepti onships, for example relati bility to unequal relati onships with signifi cantly older men: our analysis of DHS data for Malawi shows that a larger age gap between husbands and wives is associated with weaker parti on in decision-making, highlighti cipati ng its potenti al negati ons for women’s voice. UCTs have already shown promising results in this ve implicati regard in Malawi.clviii UCTs have been found to be parti cularly eff ecti ve in reaching out-of-school girls who are unlikely to return to school and who may be parti cularly at risk of early marriage and pregnancy. A study found that UCTs were more eff ve at reaching out-of-school girls, ecti cantly delaying marriage and childbearing as compared to both the control group and signifi recipients of the CCTs.clix Programs that deliver life skills and vocati onal skills training via safe spaces have also shown promising results, with impacts not only on economic outcomes but also on early ferti lity and marriage. In Uganda, for example, an impact evaluati on of the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) program found that parti cipati ng young women were 26 percent less likely to have a child, 58 percent less likely to be married or cohabiti ng, and 72 percent more likely to be engaged in income generati viti ng acti es.clx A mediati on analysis of the results hints that the life skills training plays a more important role than the vocati onal skills in achieving these impacts but that a large porti on of the impact could also be att ributable to the impact of the girls’ clubs in providing a safe space for girls to interact with each other. This is consistent with other recent work on the returns to safe spaces social interacti on.clxi In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on school interrupti on, evidence of programming which miti gates the long-term impacts of the crisis and encourages educati onal conti nuati on is highly valuable. For example, Sierra Leone saw a large increase in teenage pregnancies during the Ebola crisis when schools were closed. Yet an impact evaluati on of a program providing adolescent girls with life skills, livelihood skills, and credit for income-generati viti ng acti es nds that the program almost enti fi rely prevented that rise in teenage pregnancies for villages where it was implemented. It also resulted in girls in treated villages being twice as likely to return to school once schools reopened. The study fi nds that these eff ects were enabled by the ‘safe space’ girls clubs that were used as the delivery mechanism for the training. These clubs allowed girls to spend more ti me away from men. The life skills training provided under the project also resulted in older girls increasing their use of contracepti on, while the livelihood skills training also had a positi ve impact, with girls exposed to the program improving their numeracy and literacy levels. 5.2 Increasing Women’s Agricultural Production Increase Women’s Access to Secure Land Tenure cant problem in Malawi, where 90 percent of people lack formal Land insecurity is a signifi tles and customary practi land ti ces put women at a disadvantage. Government investments in securing land rights would have many positi ve downstream impacts, especially on women who face higher levels of land tenure insecurity than men. A nati onwide land tenure regularizati on program in Rwanda formalized land rights and supplied ti tles to landholders. The program provided both legally married women and later unmarried women with equal rights to land 53 Malawi Gender Assessment access and property ownership as men, which strengthened inheritance rights without gender bias. The program resulted in a signifi cantly higher increase in investments into soil conservati on by female landholders compared to male landholders.clxii In Benin, a program formalized land ownership and provided land certi cates to owners, resulti fi ng in increased investments in cash crops and ferti lizer use by female-headed households. Another result of the program was that women switched to working on plots of land that were not part of the program (and so which remained at greater risk of appropriati on). This highlights the need to cover all land, but it also highlights the potenti al for land tenure reforms not only to improve producti vity by incenti vizing greater investments in land but also to allow household members who may only be engaged in agriculture as a way to protect their land, to have the confi dence to leave it unatt ended so enabling them to engage in (potenti ally more producti ve) off farm work. Finally, due to the program’s impact on inheritance, widowed benefi ciaries were more able to remain in their dwelling aft er their husbands’ death, and the program led to more gender-inclusive inheritance patt erns.clxiii Recent evidence indicates that relati vely small incenti ves can be eff ve at getti ecti ng households to include women’s names on land ti tles as part of land ti tling programs. An experimental study in Tanzania off ered formal land ti tles to low-income, unplanned sett lement residents. Property ti tles were off ered at subsidized prices, made less expensive by additi onal incenti ves to include women as owners or co-owners of household land. The study results show that price is a signifi cant obstacle preventi ng many from registering land. The small incenti ve that further lowered the price of land registrati on is an adequate inducement to formalize women’s ownership.clxiv In Uganda, another program increased the demand for co-ti tling of land by 50 percent when households were off ered fully subsidized land ti tles on the conditi on that the wife’s name was included. Demand increased by 25 percent when parti cipants were simply exposed to an educati onal video about the benefi ts of joint ti tling. The positi ve impacts of this informati onal interventi on are especially signifi cant for two reasons: fi rstly, such provision of informati on entails negligible marginal costs, so can potenti ally be easily scaled-up; secondly, providing informati on to men on the benefi ts of empowering women through land rights or through other channels, could go beyond infl uencing immediate fi nancial incenti ves by changing mindsets. Importantly, across both studies menti oned above, the incenti ves to include wives’ names did not reduce overall demand for land ti tles. Finally, given the overlaps and ambiguiti es in women’s land rights in customary versus statutory law in Malawi, programs that provide women and men with informati on on their land rights and on the processes necessary to eff ecti vely claim these rights would also be highly relevant and may help close the gap between women’s rights in theory and women’s rights in practi ce. Increase Adoption of Cash Crops Crop choice is a signifi cant contributi ng factor to the gender gap in agricultural producti on in Malawi. Signifi cant barriers, such as percepti ons of “male crops” and risk aversion, oft en prevent women from adopti ng higher-value crops. Socio-emoti cant onal skills gave have signifi impacts on the likelihood of women adopti ng cash crops. In Malawi, a study found that an increase of one standard deviati on in a woman farmer’s noncogniti ve skills is associated with a 40 percent increase in their probability of growing tobacco (a cash crop), partly by increasing women’s adopti on and use of key producti ve inputs. Moreover, the eff ect was concentrated in patrilocal societi es where women face the most adversity and where returns would be the highest.clxv Additi onally, emerging evidence from Mozambique shows that a program providing 54 Malawi Gender Assessment socio-emoti ati onal/personal initi ve skills to women farmers increased their likelihood of growing higher value crops and of starti ng off -farm businesses.clxvi To overcome knowledge gaps which act as barriers to women’s entry into higher value crops, women may not only need access to certain inputs but also to instructi on that enables them to use these inputs most eff ecti vely. In Benin, a new rice variety was introduced, and farmers were provided both the inputs and informati on about the new crop. The interventi on led to increased agricultural yields and income for female farmers.clxvii In Uganda, the provision of resources through subsidized input packages combined with extension services encouraged most women farmers to culti vate and consume a new orange-fl eshed sweet potato crop.clxviii A signifi cant barrier faced by women wishing to enter the higher value chains is the challenge of producing a large enough quanti ty to parti cipate eff vely in the value chain. An interventi ecti on in the Democrati c Republic of the Congo studied the economic impact of innovati orms on platf (IPs) on women farmers within the maize value chain. As a group, the women who were part of the IP cooperated to negoti ate more lucrati ve purchases and sales. Working together in this way increased their ability to share informati on and spread the risk amongst themselves rather than carrying it alone. Specifi cally, the study looked at the economic performance of women farmers that were part of all-women farmer IPs against the fi nancial performance of women farmers that made up about 20 percent of mixed-gender farmer IPs. Evidence showed that parti cipants in the all-women farmers IP were bett er able to address challenges, improve their value chain parti on, and increase their yields than women from the mixed-gender cipati farmers IP.clxix Promising results have come out of Cote d’Ivoireclxx and Ugandaclxxi from couples-based interventi ons to encourage more joint agricultural decision-making and increased women’s cipati parti on in the value chains. While such interventi ons have achieved success and are promising, there is also a need for interventi ons that can target women farmers who are widowed, separated, or divorced. Increase Use of More Productive Labor Globally, women farmer’s agricultural producti vity is disproporti onately constrained by their lower access to farm labor, including labor from household members, hired labor, and their own labor which is constrained by domesti c duti es. This is also the case in Malawi. Women plot managers in Malawi have on average less male labor available from within their household and achieve lower returns from the male labor they do use, leaving them at a disadvantage compared with male plot managers. Financial limitati ve social norms oft ons or restricti en prevent female farmers from hiring more producti ve labor, leaving them dependent on unpaid/household labor which may be less producti ve. When women do hire labor, it is less producti ve than labor hired by male farmers, possibly due to fi nancial constraints. Addressing these fi nancial constraints is, therefore, one key policy opti on for improving women’s access to (higher quality) labor. An evaluati clxxii on of a program in Zambia showed that spending on hired labor increased by four-ti mes when households with children under 5 received cash transfers.clxxiii Another important policy opti me availability, either on is to help address women’s lower ti through support to childcare services or through ti me-saving mechanizati on. Women oft en cient fi lack suffi nancial resources to access agricultural mechanizati on, exacerbati ng gender 55 Malawi Gender Assessment inequaliti es.clxxiv Thus, providing women with fi nancing or discounts for leasing or purchasing agricultural machinery could help address the gender gap in yields. It is important to note that improving mechanizati on does not guarantee that women will be the benefi ciaries, the availability of the machinery can itself impact gender roles in households and communiti es. One study in Tanzania found that as a traditi onal female agricultural role was mechanized, it was adopted by men, leaving women more dependent on men than they were before the task was mechanized. This study highlights the importance understanding social norms before introducing programing that may increase agricultural producti vity gaps and or leave women more reliant on male labor. clxxv Increase Use of Agricultural Inputs The research presented in this report suggests that women’s lower returns to non-labor inputs, such as pesti lizer, are one of the key factors underpinning the gender gap in cides and ferti agricultural yields in Malawi. While ensuring that women have access to the same quality of these inputs as men do is important, global evidence suggests that a focus on improving the design and delivery of extension services, so that they meet women’s specifi c needs, is likely to be a parti cularly promising strategy. cal to increase the adopti It is criti on of improved agricultural inputs and technology to increase women’s agricultural producti on. Globally, women oft t as much as men from en do not benefi agricultural extension services because they do not target, or have not been adapted to address, the specifi c needs and barriers of female farmers.clxxvi A study in Malawi found that female extension workers could transmit informati on more successfully and that their students experienced greater yields than their male counterparts. Yet, due to gender percepti ons, both male and female farmers believed female trainers to be less capable and were less recepti ve to their training. There is evidence that the gender of extension workers can signifi clxxvii cantly impact outcomes for female farmers. Programming from Mozambique showed that in villages which had a female extension worker, adopti on of and demand for agricultural technologies increased among female farmers. clxxviii Female access to and demand for extension services and agricultural training can be elevated through farmer groups which have been identi ed as a vehicle for promoti fi ng women’s cipati parti on and learning in agricultural development initi ves. A study in Malawi found ati that women were bett er able to access agricultural trainings in women dominated farmer groups as opposed to male dominated farmer groups, highlighti ng the importance of providing women with their own spaces in which they are less confi ned by gender norms.clxxix Another interventi on in the Democrati c Republic of the Congo found that women in the all-women farmer groups were bett er able to address challenges, improve their value chain parti on, cipati and increase their yields than women from the mixed-gender farmers IP. However, gendered clxxx farmer groups should be implemented with cauti on as other research indicates that female dominated farmer groups perform worse than male dominated farmer groups due in part to the more restricti ve social networks of women.clxxxi Digital technology is a powerful tool to enhance women farmer’s use of extension services. cally, digital extension services off Criti er an invaluable opportunity for farmers to engage with, and seek assistance from, agricultural extension services while person-to-person contact is limited. Program data from an adult educati on in Niger suggests that access to on interventi mobile phones and an increased capacity to use them resulted in an increased diversity of 56 Malawi Gender Assessment crops grown and in marginal cash crops grown by women.clxxxii A randomized control trial in Uganda providing video extension messaging services found that women who watched the videos had more knowledge about culti on practi vati ces and adopti on of inputs, played a larger role in agricultural decision-making, and had higher producti on and sales.clxxxiii 5.3 Improving Women’s Entrepreneurship Outcomes There is a trend for men entrepreneurs in Malawi to use saved earnings from agriculture for their start-up capital, which widens the gender gap in fi rm sales. Women, on the other hand, were more likely to use capital that was gift ed by family and friends, which helps close the gender gap but only parti ally. This partly highlights the importance of getti ng more women into higher value crops and otherwise supporti ng their greater agricultural producti vity that could help them build a more robust savings base from which to move into off -farm entrepreneurship (see agriculture policy opti ons for more). However, even if women have more savings, it will also be criti cal to think about how to enable them to exert decision-making control over those savings, so they can invest in their business acti es. There is emerging evidence that savings products that give women greater privacy viti and control over their earnings can help increase the uptake and impact of savings products. This is especially important in Malawi, given evidence that women are not in full control of their earnings. An interventi on in Côte d’Ivoire introduced direct-deposit commitment savings accounts in a cashew factory. Findings from the showed evidence of a 10 percent increase in producti vity and earnings for parti cipants. The study found that the uptake of accounts was concentrated among women who faced higher levels of redistributi ve pressure. Demand for the savings accounts depended on its existence remaining private to the individual. These ndings identi fi fy that the pressure to redistribute women’s earnings by family members and acquaintances is a signifi cant barrier to women’s moti on to generate savings from their vati work and to their ability to reinvest their savings as they see fi t. Findings from a study in Kenya of women market vendors and men bicycle taxi drivers showed that the women entrepreneurs were more likely to sign up for a formal savings account than the male entrepreneurs, possibly because men were bett er able to save money safely at home. Women who opened an account increased their savings and made more producti ve investments in their business.clxxxiv This example again underscores the importance of women having the opti on to independently make decisions regarding their earnings. While mobile products can also be leveraged to help reach women. Experimental evidence from Tanzania shows that women microentrepreneurs save signifi cantly more by using mobile savings accounts and, as a result, can obtain more microloans from mobile fi nancial service providers. However, while mobile products could be leveraged to reach women in rural clxxxv nancial insti areas that are especially underserved by physical fi ons, a pre-requisite for tuti embarking on such an approach is to increase the availability of mobile phones and mobile internet. The latest Afrobarometer data show, for example, that half of women in rural areas (compared to 40 percent of men) do not own a mobile phone. Another approach to ensuring that women are able to use capital to invest in their businesses is to support in-kind contributi ons rather than cash. Such contributi ons are less easily diverted to other household or extended family demands. This can include producti ve asset transfers. Producti ve assets transfers, such as livestock which can be used sustainably for income 57 Malawi Gender Assessment generati ng purposes, and interventi ons provide both a vehicle for income generati on and training to teach women how best to capitalize on their assets. At the same ti me, one of the most positi ve aspects of producti ons for ve asset transfers is their long-term implicati earnings. They are also highly impactf ul in the short term and, for this reason, are oft en used as part of emergency response to sti mulate economic recovery and encourage self-suffi ciency. Producti ve asset transfers off er an opportunity to diversify income sources and start a virtuous cycle of income generati on, economic empowerment, asset ownership, food security, and improved nutriti on.clxxxvi In the DRC, a hybrid microcredit and livestock asset transfer program provided a pig to almost cipants. A year and a half aft exclusively female parti er receiving the producti ve asset, 24.7 percent fewer recipients than non-recipients had outstanding loans, and recipients experienced ve improvements in health and mental health.clxxxvii A randomized control trial, subjecti implemented in Nigeria, provided unconditi onal cash transfers to female primary decision- makers of households. The study found that recipients were 14 percent more likely to be in the labor force and were 11 percent more likely to work in a non-farm business. The parti cipants working in a non-farm industry invested more into that business, and profi ts were 80 percent higher than those of non-recipients.clxxxviii Producti ve inclusion programs, or graduati on programs, are a more expansive and multi faceted interventi on, including a combinati on of producti ve asset and cash transfers, technical and life skills training, regular in-person support, and a savings vehicle. Experimental evidence from the BARC graduati on program, looking at interventi ons across six countries, including Ethiopia and Ghana, found that across all six countries, the program resulted in increased consumpti on spending, 16.4 percent in Ethiopia and 6.9 percent in Ghana, as well as increased producti vity through self-employment. clxxxix Results from a producti ve inclusion program in the DRC, which included training, a monthly sti pend, a savings vehicle (VSLA), and social networking through community groups, had a positi ve impact on women. Parti cipants were twice as likely to have savings, which were likely to be signifi cantly higher than nonparti cipants. Additi onally, the earnings of parti cipants were 1.6 ti mes higher than those of nonparti cipants, and they were 40 percent more likely to have become self-employed.cxc Even if women are able to save money and also have eff ecti ve decision-making power over how to spend that money, personal savings may sti ll be too small to support transformati onal long-term business growth. This means access to business credit will also important, especially for growth-oriented women entrepreneurs. While microfi nance, village savings and loans programs, and small cash transfers are eff ecti ve for microentrepreneurs, they are generally insuffi cient for growth-oriented businesses, with very litt le evidence to suggest they could have transformati onal impacts on key business outcomes such as sales and profi ts.cxci Larger volumes nancing have been shown to be eff of fi ecti ve for growth-oriented women entrepreneurs. Women who parti cipated in a program in Ethiopia which provided larger individual liability loans (average size of $12,000)/and or entrepreneurship training increased their profi ts by 40 percent aft er three years. Yet women’s access to larger volumes of fi nance is oft en constrained by their lower access to key sources of collateral, such as land. Large cash grants given as part of business plan competi ons to identi ti fy promising fi rms can be one soluti on. A business plan competi on in Nigeria provided cash grants of $50,000 and increased the likelihood that ti women would operate an enterprise and increased sales and profi ts.cxcii Another opti on is to pilot credit products that are less reliant on collateral. One example of this is the use of 58 Malawi Gender Assessment psychometric tests to replace or reduce collateral requirements. These tests have been piloted ve on a loan applicant’s likelihood of in Ethiopia and have been found to be highly predicti being able to repay their loan. This valuable informati on on credit worthiness may not only be important given women’s lower access to collateral but could also help to counter the possible gender biases of lenders who may view women’s businesses as riskier.cxciii Finally, recognizing that women entrepreneurs face multi ple barriers that are reinforced by discriminatory gender norms, providing them with the socio-emoti onal skills (such as perseverance, self-initi ati ve etc.) that could bett er help them to overcome these barriers may also be important. Moreover, such psychology-based training, also known as personal ati initi ve (PI) training, has been shown to be more eff ve than standard business training ecti programs at increasing business outcomes, with even larger impacts for women than for men. An impact evaluati on in Togo compared the impacts of a standard business training program and a personal initi ve training on microentrepreneurs. Women who received the personal ati ati initi ve training increased profi ts by 40 percent, while those who received the business training increased earnings by a stati cally insignifi sti cant 5 percent.cxciv Forthcoming results from a similar PI training program in Mozambique was also found to be eff ve for women farmers ecti (increasing their adopti on of higher value crops and establishment of off -farm businesses), highlighti ng that the skills such programs teach can enable women to overcome barriers in a number of diff erent sectors. However, less positi ve results from a PI training in Ethiopia highlight the importance of implementati on quality, including the importance of using trainers who previously owned a business and can relate to the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.cxcv 5.4 Increasing Women’s Agency and Reducing their Exposure to GBV Increase Women’s Time Agency Women disproporti onately lack the agency required to allocate their ti me due to social norms, which require them to be responsible for most unpaid domesti c and childcare obligati ons. As a result, women have less ti me than men to spend on producti ve acti es and spend viti signifi cantly more ti me caring for children.cxcvi In additi on to reducing the ti me women can spend on income-generati ng acti es, the greater childcare burden also likely impacts the viti quality of the work they are able to contribute to these acti es. This includes the quality of viti their own work as well as they quality of others, as childcare responsibiliti es may reduce their ability to eff vely supervise labor they employ on their farms or in their businesses. Indeed, ecti this is refl ected by the fi nding that women farmers in Malawi achieve lower returns to male household labor and that this contributes to the gender gap in agricultural producti vity. One possible soluti on is to make childcare services more accessible to women. Early childhood development centers evolved independently from the government as informal community- level daycare to enable women to pursue producti ve acti es. However, while the centers viti are in rural as well as urban areas, the centers currently are overcrowded and understaff ed, possibly discouraging some women for uti lizing them as childcare opti ons. Experimental evidence from Kenya shows that women who received vouchers for subsidized childcare were 8.5 percent more likely to be employed. Single mothers specifi cally benefi ted by shift ing to jobs with more regular hours and less loss to their income. A randomized control trial cxcvii of a preschool interventi on in Mozambique demonstrated that, in additi on to educati onal outcomes, caregivers were spared over 15 hours of childcare duti es per week and were 26 percent more likely than the control group to have worked in the previous 30 days.cxcviii 59 Malawi Gender Assessment While childcare interventi ons have most frequently been implemented in urban areas, the demographic compositi on of Malawi, in which only 16 percent of the populati on lives in urban areas and the vast majority of working women work in agriculture, suggests that implementi ng childcare services in urban areas will have limited impact on the majority of women. Another soluti on to decrease the burden of care that women carry is to promote greater sharing of domesti c responsibiliti es between husbands and wives. In Eastern DRC, a men’s gender norms discussion group series increased men’s parti on in housework.cxcix In cipati Rwanda, gender norms discussion groups for couple led to both women and men a reporti ng higher levels of men’s parti on in childcare and household tasks in additi cipati ons on to reducti in IPV.cc Reduce Women’s Exposure to GBV Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic including increased poverty, insecurity, and restricted movement, have elevated the risk of GBV for women, especially within the home. The risk of GBV can constrain women’s movements and economic acti es. On the DRC viti and Rwanda border, a traders’ empowerment training on corrupti on and GBV trained small- scale cross-border traders, many being women, on procedures, tariff s, and their legal rights to facilitate safe passage in cross-border trading. The program found that parti ng in cipati the training reduced bribe payments by 27.5 percent and reduced the incidence of GBV by 30.5 percent among the parti cipants. However, these results were driven by a change in behavior among traders to avoid situati ons associated with bribe requests, not a reducti on in bribes being requested. These fi ndings signal a need for clear regulati ons and highlight the importance of women’s understanding of their rights and value of insti tuti onal trust to feel safe and empowered in reporti ng problems.cci Changing social norms regarding gender roles and acceptability of IPV by engaging men is a promising programmati on. In Rwanda, a gender-transformati c opti on ve couples’ interventi engaged expectant/current fathers and their partners in parti cipatory small group discussions ing perceived gender norms and lowering IPV. Women reported experiencing with the aim of shift less physical and sexual IPV over the last year than their counterparts in the control group.ccii However, this type of interventi on requires thorough research and understanding of the context and the gender dynamics to avoid adverse reacti ons such as increased rates IPV. 5.5 Next Steps The government of Malawi has made substanti al progress through economic and structural reforms to accelerate reducti ons in ultra-poverty rates and demonstrate progress on key development indicators. Going forward, signifi cant barriers remain which conti nue to drive gender gaps, and slow development outcomes. The aim of this report was to highlight some of the most pressing of these barriers, along with evidence on opti ons to addressing drivers, and for this analysis to be used as a starti ng point for conti nued policy discussions with the Government of Malawi. Moving forward, the World Bank’s SSI team intends to establish a gender platf orm that will coordinate these eff orts on gender-focused policy dialogue, along with operati onal and analyti cal work. The intenti orm to generate synergies in on is for this platf the World Bank’s wide-ranging eff orts to support gender equality in Malawi, with an increased zati focus on strategic prioriti on. 60 Malawi Gender Assessment Appendix 1: Balance Table (Malawi LSMS) 61 Malawi Gender Assessment 62 Malawi Gender Assessment 63 Malawi Gender Assessment Appendix 2: OLS (Malawi LSMS) 64 Malawi Gender Assessment 65 Malawi Gender Assessment Appendix 3: Oaxaca-Blinder Decomposition, Sales (Malawi LSMS) 66 Malawi Gender Assessment 67 Malawi Gender Assessment 68 Malawi Gender Assessment Appendix 4: Voice & Agency Descriptive Statistics (Malawi DHS 2015/16) 69 Malawi Gender Assessment Appendix 5: OLS Regression, Decision-Making Over Purchases (Malawi DHS 2015/16) 70 Malawi Gender Assessment Appendix 6: OLS Regression, Health & GBV, Decision-Maker as Control, (Malawi DHS 2015/16) 71 Malawi Gender Assessment 72 Malawi Gender Assessment 73 Malawi Gender Assessment Endnotes i “Malawi Country Partnership Framework – A Focused and Flexible Engagement Strategy,” World Bank, accessed September 24, 2021, htt ps://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malawi/publicati on/malawi-country-partnership- framework-a-focused-and-fl exible-engagement-strategy. ii on | United Nati “Malawi Vision 2063: An Inclusively Wealthy and Self-Reliant Nati ons in Malawi,” accessed September ps://malawi.un.org/en/108390-malawi-vision-2063-inclusively-wealthy-and-self-reliant-nati 24, 2021, htt ps:// on, htt malawi.un.org/en/108390-malawi-vision-2063-inclusively-wealthy-and-self-reliant-nati on. iii on and Overview. 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Diaz And Dina Najjar, “Gender And Agricultural Extension: Why A Gender Focus Matters,” Journal Of Gender, Agriculture And Food Security (Agri-Gender), 2019, Https://Doi.Org/10.22004/Ag.Econ.301204.gender analysis is often not included in the design and implementation of extension ser- vices. Our aim with this review is to highlight the importance of gender integration into agricultural extension programs in various parts of the world, to raise much needed awareness on the subject. We do not aim for an extensive literature review but rather seek to identify the harms caused by the exclusion of gender, make suggestions for how scholars and practitioners might include gender, and indicate some ways to move forward. Ultimately, gender transformative approaches should be pursued in the 79 future as strategies that focus on the causes of inequality, rather than the symptoms.”,”container-title”:”Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender clxxvii Ariel Benyishay Et Al., Are Gender Differences In Performance Innate Or Socially Mediated? (World Bank, Washington, Dc, 2016), Https:// Doi.Org/10.1596/1813-9450-7689. clxxviii Florence Kondylis Et Al., “Do Female Instructors Reduce Gender Bias In Diffusion Of Sustainable Land Management Techniques? Experimental Evidence From Mozambique,” World Development 78 (February 2016): 436–49, Https://Doi.Org/10.1016/J. Worlddev.2015.10.036.married women cultivate plots separated from those of other family members. They face different challenges to productivity, such as deficiencies in inputs, weak property rights, and time constraints. It has long been argued that traditionally male-dominated extension services may also contribute to a gender bias in adoption of new agricultural techniques. If this is true, placing women in extension positions may help other women overcome barriers to adoption posed by inequitable access to agricultural extension services or exposure to inapt information. To better understand the role of gender in the dissemination of sustainable land management (SLM clxxix Netsayi N. Mudege et al., “The Role of Gender Norms in Access to Agricultural Training in Chikwawa and Phalombe, Malawi,” Gender, Place & Culture 24, no. 12 (December 2, 2017): 1689–1710, https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2017.1383363.no. 12 (December 2, 2017 clxxx Paulin Njingulula Mumbeya et al., “Can Innovation Platforms (IPs) Improve Rural Women Participation in Maize Value Chain? 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