Gender Publications

Sep 11, 2020

Factsheet: Women's Insurance Program

Women in emerging markets often lack insurance protection, exposing them to risks when they want to launch a business or need to pay for a healthcare emergency. This factsheet present an overview of IFC's unique role as a strategic partner to the insurance sector through technical advice and investments.

English | 2 pages | 2020 IFC

Sep 9, 2020

Enhancing Employee Productivity & Well-Being in Challenging Times

English | 2 pages| IFC 2020

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Airbnb’s Home-Sharing Trainings

In 2018, the global travel platform Airbnb partnered with the World Bank and the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission to hold home-sharing training sessions in India. This case study explores how the program developed training modules aimed at improving women's ability to engage with guests and unlock the value of their homes.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: DiDi Chuxing’s Inclusive Workplace Programs

For companies operating in the platform economy, gender dividends are particularly relevant as they are well placed to benefit from increased innovation and improved product and service design for closing current gaps. Global mobile transportation platform DiDi Chuxing realized that women in China face several barriers to equal employment. This case study highlights the company’s efforts to recruit and support more women in the tech sector through the DiDi Women’s Network.

English | 4 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Elo7 Grows its E-Commerce Platform by Helping Women Become Digital Entrepreneurs

Women comprise the majority of Brazilian online marketplace Elo7’s users. As part of IFC’s Digital2Equal initiative, Elo7 surveyed 1,000 sellers to better understand the needs women entrepreneurs. This case study highlights the survey’s key findings and how Elo7 utilized the insights to develop targeted tools and content aimed at helping women entrepreneurs professionalize their sales efforts in the digital world.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Facebook’s Use of Sex-Disaggregated Data to Design Targeted Programs for Women

In partnership with the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Facebook’s Future of Business (FOB) surveys have gathered insights from millions of small business owners across 97 countries. This case study highlights Facebook’s approaches and explores how insights from FOB surveys informed the development of programs which support women-owned enterprises’ participation in the digital economy through digital skills and business training.

English | 4 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Giraffe Sheds Light on South Africa’s Gender Income Gap

As part of IFC’s Digital2Equal initiative, South African recruitment app Giraffe analyzed salary figures from 122,000 job applicants on the platform. The findings, which are covered in this case study, reveal wage discrepancies between men and women across different sectors in South Africa. They also show a widening wage gap at the bottom of the distribution curve, indicating that low-income women earn significantly less than their male counterparts compared with women in middle- and high-income brackets.

English | 2 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Google’s Internet Saathi Program

Global technology company Google launched Internet Saathi—a program that seeks to encourage rural women in India to develop and pass on digital literacy skills in their communities—in collaboration with Tata Trusts. The program has helped more than 30 million women learn about the internet in over 290,000 villages across 20 states in India, with over 20,000 villages added in the past year. This case study explores the opportunity to expand women’s access to information and addresses some of the social norms that exacerbate digital divides in India.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Grab’s Safer Everyday Tech Roadmap

Southeast Asian super app Grab initiated the Safer Everyday Tech Roadmap, aimed at raising the bar for safety standards in transportation. This case study explores the importance of safety as a key concern for women users of ride-hailing services and Grab’s design-centered approach in responding to these concerns.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Jumia’s Women and Youth Empowerment Program

In 2019, African e-commerce company Jumia sold products to more than 6 million consumers across the continent, with an estimated transaction or lead every two seconds. However, growth of e-commerce in Africa is hindered by low connectivity, particularly among women. In Jumia’s home market of Nigeria, only 21 percent of women and 38 percent of men have formal internet access. This case study highlights Jumia’s Women and Youth Empowerment Program—an initiative that aims to build the local e-commerce market in Nigeria by equipping women and Nigerians younger than age 30 with the training and support needed to help them earn additional income through eCommerce.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Lazada Empowers Mothers by Supporting “Mompreneurs”

For Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada, working with mothers is an opportunity to support entrepreneurs who struggle to start and grow ventures. Through its “Mompreneur” initiative, the company reached thousands of working mothers. This case study explores how a pilot in the Philippines demonstrated positive impacts that have led to plans for replication in other markets.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Lynk Addresses Inclusion in the Informal Sector

Kenyan work platform Lynk connects blue-collar workers with job opportunities and provides a platform for artisans to showcase and sell their products. As part of IFC’s Digital2Equal initiative, Lynk realized it could support women’s entry into high-paying but male-dominated industries. This case study highlights how Lynk’s approach allowed it to gain a better understanding of the challenges and needs of women who use the platform and helped the company to develop training and financial support schemes.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Mercado Libre’s Inclusive Policies Fuel Women’s Intrapreneurship and Entrepreneurship in Latin America

Twenty years after its founding in Argentina and expansion into 18 countries, Latin American e-commerce site Mercado Libre supports an estimate of 600,000 families. This case study highlights how Mercado Libre’s approach to diversity and inclusion helped increase the proportion of women employees in information technology (IT), management, and senior leadership roles. The company fosters an inclusive culture, nurtures IT talent, and provides women access to technology education. It also shows how a dedication to building diverse teams has inspired equally mindful approaches to creating a better enabling environment for the women entrepreneurs who use the platform.

English | 5 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: MYBank’s Gender-Driven Approach to Lending

Chinese online lender MYBank has provided loans to more than 20 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China, using a data-driven approach with more than 3,000 variables to assess within three minutes an applicant’s ability to repay. This case study explores how MYBank has embraced the opportunity of women-owned SMEs as a market, including developing initiatives to help more women take advantage of MYBank’s offerings.

English | 2 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Salesforce’s Intentional Approaches to Inclusivity in the Employee Lifecycle

Customer relationship management platform Salesforce is considered a trailblazer in setting standards for equal pay and inclusive practices. This case study charts the development of Salesforce’s inclusion strategy over the past eight years and how initiatives in the past year resulted in equal pay adjustments for 7 percent of employees—96 percent of the pay gaps were due to unexplained differences between genders.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: SweepSouth Highlights the Pay and Working Conditions of Domestic Workers

To better understand the needs of domestic workers and to advocate for change in workers’ pay, South African home-cleaning service app SweepSouth conducted a survey of more than 1,300 domestic workers across the country as part of IFC’s Digital2Equal initiative. This case study explores how findings from the survey are informing policy debates on the pay and working conditions of domestic workers in South Africa.

English | 3 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 14, 2020

Digital2Equal: Uber India Gets Women Moving

Transport is a key—and often underemphasized—tool for increasing women’s economic potential. This case study highlights global ride-hailing firm Uber’s efforts to increase safety and security for its drivers and passengers by rolling out sexual harassment training to 75,000 drivers in India and by promoting freedom of movement through social media campaigns.

English | 2 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 5, 2020

Green Delta: The Case for Insuring Women for a Better Tomorrow

Green Delta Insurance Company (GIDC) is an IFC client and the first non-life insurer in Bangladesh targeting women customers. In 2014, the company launched Nibedita—a comprehensive accident insurance product for both urban and rural women that now serves all income levels. This case study summarizes GIDC’s groundbreaking approach with women.

English | 7 pages | 2020 IFC

Aug 3, 2020

Factsheet: Tackling Childcare

Access to good quality, affordable childcare can benefit employees, their children, employers, and economies. This factsheet offers an overview of IFC’s Global Tackling Childcare Advisory program working with companies across regions and sectors to aid the implementation of family-friendly workplace policies.

English | 2 pages | 2020 IFC

Jul 30, 2020

Tackling Childcare: Employer-Supported Childcare in Cambodia

This study, based on surveys of employers and childcare providers in Cambodia analyzes key drivers of, and gaps in, employer-supported childcare. It identifies a suite of available childcare options and models provided by employers. The report also assesses the accessibility, availability, quality, and affordability of private childcare in Cambodia, and presents a business case for investing in it.

Jul 28, 2020

AXA Mansard: The Case for Insuring Women for a Better Tomorrow

With support from IFC, AXA Mansard sought to become a preferred insurer and an employer of choice for women in Nigeria. This case study explores how the company conducted market research to understand the needs of Nigerian women, developed products specifically for women, created strategic partnerships with women’s organizations, and trained senior managers and agents to better serve women customers.

English | 7 pages | 2020 IFC

Jul 21, 2020

Factsheet: Workplace Responses to Gender-Based Violence

Gender-based violence can impact business operations through workplace bullying and sexual harassment, employees experiencing domestic and sexual violence, and sexual exploitation and abuse connected to the workplace. This factsheet provides an overview of IFC's work addressing gender-based violence.

English | 2 pages | 2020 IFC

Jul 21, 2020

1st for Women: The Case for Insuring Women for a Better Tomorrow

This case study explores the business case for women-centric insurance products in South Africa. The insurer 1st for Women, found that although South African women were purchasing insurance policies, these did not cater specifically to women’s needs. To tap into this estimated $788 million market, 1st for Women analyzed women’s risk-protection needs and designed specific solutions and products, rather than just repackaging existing products.

English | 7 pages | 2020 IFC

Jul 14, 2020

Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Harassment: Emerging Good Practice for the Private Sector

This publication outlines emerging practices in addressing gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in operations and investments, while accompanying sector-specific briefs provide targeted guidance on addressing GBVH risks in key sectors, including transport, construction and manufacturing.

96 pages | © July 2020 IFC, EBRD, CDC Group | Complimentary

Jul 8, 2020

COVID-19 and Gender-Based Violence: Workplace Risks and Responses

This guidance note seeks to inform employers about the heightened risks of gender-based violence as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and outline ways in which employers can address these risks, improve employee and community well-being, and create a safe and resilient workplace.

English | 14 pages | 2020 IFC