Small Gender Gap in African Policy Priorities? Economic Empowerment Narrows Infrastructure Divide

Insights from the Field

gender gap

policy prioritization

women's economic participation

Africa

Do Men and Women Have Different Policy Preferences in Africa? Determinants and Implications of Gender Gaps in Policy Prioritization was authored by Jessica Gottlieb, Guy Grossman and Amanda Lea Robinson. It was published by Cambridge in PSR&M in 2018.

This study examines gender differences in policy preferences across Africa.

Contrary to Conventional Wisdom

Gender gaps are surprisingly small on average but vary significantly by country and domain.

Key Findings

Women's labor force participation narrows the infrastructure gap
Social vulnerability widens disparities in clean water prioritization
The most pronounced gender differences occur where women are least represented in formal politics

Implications

These findings suggest that policies aimed at increasing women's political representation should focus on areas with significant gender preference divergence.