Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Asia

WEESA is a virtual knowledge-sharing platform that fosters regional exchange, dialogue, and capacity building on women’s economic empowerment (WEE) by strengthening links between evidence and action. Members are researchers, policymakers, development practitioners, and other stakeholders interested in how to expand and accelerate WEE and gender equality in South Asia and elsewhere.

Don't miss out! When you join WEESA you'll have access to our Monthly Digest and regular learning events. And don't forget to bookmark this website – a one-stop resource for WEE-related content.

WEESA is hosted by the World Bank’s South Asia Region Gender Innovation Lab (SAR GIL), a solutions platform for gender equality. Support is provided by the Gates Foundation (GF) and the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE). We are grateful for the years of support provided by the South Asia Regional Trade Facilitation Program (SARTFP) which concluded in 2024.

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MONTHLY DIGESTS

Private Sector

April 2025

In this op-ed, originally published in the Financial Times, World Bank President Ajay Banga underscores the importance of a dynamic private sector that can convert growth into local jobs. Women should be part of that ...

Water

March 2025

Women bear the brunt of water scarcity and inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities and services. They also tend to be more adversely affected by water-related disasters. Despite this, women remain ...

Energy

February 2025

Research shows that women's participation in the energy sector – as consumers, employees, and decision-makers – advances gender equality and women’s empowerment while enhancing service delivery, financial performance, ...

Highlights from 2024

Year in Review

As we close-out 2024 and look ahead to 2025, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your active participation in the WEESA CoP. Over the past year our membership has tripled, with members now residing in over 90 ...

Special Issue: WEE Retrospective

December 2024

This digest revisits WEE-related studies and frameworks that have profoundly shaped research, policies, and global initiatives. The evidence is strong: empowered women are better able to engage in decent work, access and ...

Infrastructure

November 2024

Getting infrastructure right can help close gender gaps, promote equality, and empower women economically. Achieving this will require a fundamental shift in how infrastructure is planned, built, and managed, with ...

Migration and Remittances

October 2024

Women are capitalizing on migration and remittances to improve their livelihoods and support their families. As the 2023 World Bank flagship report Migrants, Refugees, and Societies offers, migration can be a pathway to ...

FINANCIAL INCLUSION

September 2024

Financial inclusion can boost economic growth and women’s empowerment, leading to better outcomes in health, education, and overall well-being. The latest Global Findex data bring encouraging news: the gender gap in ...

Entrepreneur ship

August 2024

Research shows that women-led businesses tend to be smaller and less profitable, have higher closure rates and greater difficulty obtaining finance in comparison with businesses led by men. Nevertheless, according to the ...

Natural Hazards

July 2024

It is as sure as the changing of the seasons. Every summer, torrents of monsoon rain pound the Himalayas. Over the rocky earth exposed from retreating glaciers, the rivulets turn into streams, rushing down the slopes, ...

Leadership

June 2024

Women are gaining ground. Over the past three decades, the global average of women in parliaments has risen from 11% to 27% and women are increasingly represented on executive teams. These upward trends not only benefit ...

Assets and Resources

May 2024

Gender inequalities in assets and resources remain a central impediment to increasing productivity, well-being, and economic growth. Studies show that women’s improved access to and control over land, housing, property, ...

Green Transitions

April 2024

Adapting to climate change has become the defining development challenge of our time. As green transitions precipitated by the climate crisis gather momentum, making a clean break from gender discrimination becomes all ...

With or Without Him

March 2024

There are few clear answers in the nascent field of study focusing on male engagement in Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) programs and its impacts. Despite widespread assumptions that engaging men must necessarily be ...

Social Protection

February 2024

Social protection programs ensure a minimum level of economic well-being, protecting the most vulnerable from poverty and destitution. Integrating gender into the design and implementation of these safety nets can ...

Gender Data

January 2024

We’re ushering in the New Year with a plea for more and better gender data and measurement. What gets measured matters, and the availability of sex-disaggregated data remains woefully inadequate – especially across ...

Toolkits

December 2023

We have scoured the internet to identify this curated suite of action-oriented WEE-related insights -- full of lessons learned and recommendations for accelerating gender equality and women's economic empowerment in ...

Skills and Vocational Education

November 2023

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) can provide a lifeline for the hundreds of millions of women who couldn’t finish school and the left behind youth who are not in school, employment, or training. As ...

Education

October 2023

Development indicators show that South Asian women are much better educated than a generation ago and, if the trend in school enrollment continues, will surpass men in the future. However, this improvement in human ...

Agriculture

September 2023

Between 1991 and 2021, the percentage of South Asian women engaged in agriculture declined from 76% to 59%, according to the World Bank’s data portal. Despite this trend, agriculture is the biggest source of employment (...

Digital Inclusion

August 2023

With the world abuzz about advances in machine learning artificial intelligence, developments in the digital world have never been so important. It is estimated that 90% of future jobs will require ICT skills, making ...

Childcare

July 2023

The dearth of childcare services in South Asia is mirrored by the dearth of rigorous research to understand its implications. As our Spotlight on the policy brief from the South Asia Gender Innovation Lab shows, there ...

Gender-based Violence

June 2023

Gender-based violence is frequently called a shadow pandemic, one that has ruined a staggering number of lives for centuries. In India, for example, 28% of ever-married women aged 15-49 report having faced physical ...

Policies and Legislation

May 2023

From 1970 to 2022, women all over the world fought to pass 2,000 laws to further gender equality and won, as data from the latest Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) report reveal. Still, only 14 countries have achieved ...

CONTACT US

Do you have any new reports, blogs, publications, or events you would like to share with our community or a technical question to ask your peers? We welcome member submissions to help us stay informed. Email us at weesacop@worldbank.org

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SAR GIL Must-read Reports

South Asia Gender Innovation Lab Annual Report FY24: SAR GIL has influenced over US$501 million in development spending in World Bank projects — amounting to US$99 for every US$1 invested in the Lab.

Women's Economic Empowerment in Pakistan: An Evidence Guided Toolkit for More Inclusive Policies: This report identifies key policy priorities and provides a comprehensive toolkit for policymakers to design targeted and impactful interventions.

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