In the age of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), investing in more sustainable infrastructure and promoting gender equality have emerged as two key global-development priorities.1 The infrastructure agenda is underpinned by evidence showing that improved infrastructure can promote economic development, which in turn helps reduce poverty.2 It recognizes that meeting global infrastructure-investment needs, estimated at $94 trillion through 2040,3 requires crowding in significant private investment and developing projects through public-private partnership (PPP) models. The gender equality agenda recognizes that gender inequalities not only deprive women of basic rights and opportunities, but also stymie economic development outcomes.4
The links between these two priorities-one fueled by technical, engineering and financial disciplines, the other by more social disciplines-are often misunderstood, not considered, or poorly defined. It is generally accepted that well-thought-out improvements to infrastructure service delivery can improve gender equality outcomes. Providing better water and sanitation services, for example, can reduce the time women and girls spend fetching water, freeing their time for educational or economic pursuits.5 In transport, it is well documented that women have more complex mobility patterns than men due to their gender roles (for example, taking care of children). As a result, they often try to juggle trips between other daily tasks and disproportionately shoulder the opportunity costs related to poor and unreliable transport systems.6 If faced with unreliable transport options, a woman may choose not to take a job further away, because her schedule would not allow it.
Yet, merely providing much-needed infrastructure and related services will not improve gender equality outcomes. Broader social power structures, norms, and a country's legal and regulatory environment can impact women's and men's abilities to equally benefit from infrastructure services. The process of challenging power structures and changing norms is not easy, though many openings exist throughout the infrastructure project-development process to do so. Ensuring the equitable presence of both male and female voices when deciding which infrastructure to build or what technical solution to choose helps ensure better results for end users, something that many private players already recognize. There is increasing recognition by private-sector infrastructure operators to cater more to women as users, improve the gender balance of their boards, source materials and services from more women-owned companies,7 and increase the number of women in the workforce.8 Considering these opportunities and developmental priorities, this primer distills high-level advice to help practitioners plan and develop infrastructure PPPs that incorporate actions, design features, and strategies that will help close the persistent opportunity gaps between women and men.
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1 On January 1, 2016, the 17 SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development-adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit-officially came into force. Goal number five is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and goals six, seven, nine and 11 directly refer to infrastructure development.
2 See Sánchez-Robles, 1998; Canning, 1999; Demetriades and Mamuneas, 2000; Röllerand Waverman, 2001; Esfahani and Ramirez, 2003; Calderón and Servén, 2004, 2010. More recently, increasing attention has been paid to the impact of infrastructure on poverty and inequality (Estache, Foster and Wodon, 2002; Calderón and Chong, 2004).
3 From G20-supported Global Infrastructure Hub Analysis, July 2017.
4 See Hakura, Dalia et al, Inequality, Gender Gaps and Economic Growth: Comparative Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa, IMF, 2016; or Gonzales, Christian et al, Catalyst for Change: Empowering Women and Tackling Inequality, IMF, 2015.
5 A well-planned World Bank Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Morocco demonstrated this. After project completion, time spent fetching water by women and girls was reduced by 50 to 90 percent. With more time and better health, female primary-school attendance in the project area increased by 21 percent. World Bank. ICR Review. Report number: ICRR11535.
6 Gender tool kit: Transport-Maximizing the benefits of improved mobility for all, Asian Development Bank, 2013.
7 Companies such as EDF Energy, TransCanada and PG&E are signatories to WEConnect International-a global network that connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world.
8 Supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Kazakhstan's Almaty Electrotrans (AET), a municipal tram and trolleybus company hired its first female driver. This was a big step for the company, and is a helpful move to bringing the company's workforce more in line with its customer base (60 percent of users are women). See: Lessons on Equal Opportunity from Almaty Electrotrans. EBRD, 2015.