DEPP working paper

This Working Paper is part of the Development Economics and Public Policy series

Gender and Growth in Sub Saharan Africa: Issues and Evidence

Mark Blackden, Sudharshan Canagarajah, Stephan Klasen and David Lawson

Abstract

The paper argues that gender inequality acts as a significant constraint to growth in Africa, and that removing gender-based barriers to growth will make a substantial contribution to realizing Africa's economic potential.  Reducing gender inequality in access to and control of key productive resources necessary for growth is a concrete means of accelerating and diversifying growth, making it more sustainable, and ensuring that the poor both contribute to, and benefit from, that growth, i.e., that growth is "pro-poor." By identifying some of the key factors that determine the ways in which men and women contribute to, and benefit (or lose) from, growth in Africa, we argue that looking at such issues through a gender lens is an essential step in identifying how policy can be shaped in a way that is explicitly gender-inclusive and beneficial to growth and the poor.  We also suggest that further research on the linkages between gender and growth is essential for both analytical and policy reasons. 

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