Le droit à sa place

À l’aide de témoignages de femmes vivant de l’itinérance visible et de l’itinérance cachée, cet article illustre comment celles-ci sont victimes de la violation de droits liés à leur condition. Ces droits bafoués révèlent que la violence familiale et conjugale, le refus d’accomplir un rôle d’aidante naturelle et la pauvreté sont également des portes d’entrée dans l’errance et l’itinérance. Ces trois aspects semblent par ailleurs contribuer à l’apparition de problèmes de dépendance (alcool et toxicomanie) et de santé mentale usuellement liés à l’entrée dans l’itinérance. Pour trouver des solutions durables à l’errance et à l’itinérance des femmes, travailler à la promotion de droits fondamentaux tels que l’accès au logement ou à des services appropriés semble donc insuffisant. Il est nécessaire de se pencher également sur les mécanismes et les formes d’oppression des femmes et leurs produits que sont la pauvreté, la violence et le travail domestique imposé. Trois enjeux sont soulevés pour l’intervention : 1) la reconnaissance de la non-visibilité de femmes à risque ou en situation d’errance et d’itinérance et le défi que ceci représente dans le cadre de pratiques d’interventions et de prévention fondées principalement sur l’apparence physique des personnes et des comportements associés à la maladie mentale ou la toxicomanie; 2) la nécessité de maintenir et de développer des services tenant compte de facteurs structuraux, notamment pour les femmes pauvres et leurs enfants; et 3) la reconnaissance des droits bafoués.Through interview excerpts with women living or having lived hidden or visible homelessness, the authors show how these women are victims of rights violation related to their status as women. These violations of rights reveal how violence, refusal to accomplish a role as « informal » caregiver as well as poverty might lead to homelessness. Distress linked to violence, poverty and traditional gender role compliance seem also to foster dependence (use of drugs and alcohol) and mental health problems that are often linked to causes of homelessness. To find durable answers to homelessness, work on right promotion is thus insufficient. It is necessary to also work on the structural mechanism of women’s oppression and its by-products that are poverty, violence and imposed domestic work. The authors present three challenges for intervention: the invisibility of women at risk, the necessity to maintain and develop services which take into account structural factors notably for poor women and their children and work for rights recognition

Three essays in the economics of gender and development

Cette thèse de doctorat explore les obstacles à l'égalité des sexes dans les pays en développement. Elle est composée de trois essais. Le premier essai (chapitre 1) explore les racines de l'inégalité des sexes en faveur des garçons dans l'éducation. Il analyse l'effet de l'interaction entre la culture et les conditions économiques des ménages pauvres sur les probabilités de décrochage scolaire des garçons et des filles, en utilisant des données du Malawi. L'adéquation du Malawi à cette analyse découle de la coexistence sur son territoire de deux coutumes différentes de résidence post-maritale pour les couples : les coutumes patrilocales et matrilocales. Les résultats des estimations montrent que l'inégalité entre les sexes en matière d'éducation est enracinée dans l'interaction des conditions économiques du ménage et de la coutume patrilocale - lorsqu'un couple marié s'installe près de la famille du mari ou avec elle après le mariage. L'essai conclut que les politiques publiques qui rendent inutile le recours aux coutumes traditionnelles par les parents pour organiser leur vie familiale peuvent éliminer les inégalités entre les sexes favorisant l'éducation des garçons. Les deux derniers essais analysent la question de la polygynie—lorsqu'un homme peut avoir plusieurs épouses simultanément. Cette institution du mariage a disparu dans le monde entier mais reste confinée dans un groupe de pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, notamment dans la région du Sahel. La théorie économique prédit que l'augmentation de l'éducation des femmes entraîne la disparition de la polygynie. Cependant, les preuves empiriques ne permettent pas encore d'établir ce lien de causalité, mais plutôt une corrélation négative entre l'éducation et les probabilités de polygynie des femmes. Le deuxième essai examine l'effet de l'éducation sur les probabilités de polygynie des femmes, en utilisant principalement les données de l'Ouganda. Pour l'identification, nous utilisons une approche d'estimation qui aborde conjointement les problèmes de sélection de l'échantillon et d'endogénéité de l'éducation. Nous estimons un modèle à trois équations comprenant une équation de la polygynie (principale), une équation du mariage (sélection) et une équation de l'éducation (endogénéité). Les résultats de l'estimation confirment la prédiction de la théorie économique selon laquelle l'augmentation de l'éducation des femmes entraîne la disparition de la polygynie. Le troisième et dernier essai fournit des preuves sur la cause du regroupement de la polygynie dans les pays sujets à la sécheresse. Les preuves montrent que dans les économies villageoises dépendantes de l'agriculture pluviale, la rupture des accords informels de partage des risques suite à des chocs tels que les sécheresses augmentent la valeur de la famille nombreuse, tant en taille qu'en composition, comme levier des stratégies de résilience. Nous constatons que la polygynie permet aux ménages de renforcer leur résilience face aux effets négatifs de la sécheresse sur le rendement des cultures. Ces trois essais contribuent à faire progresser nos connaissances sur les obstacles à l'inégalité des sexes en Afrique subsaharienne. Il attire principalement l'attention sur l'importance pour les pays en développement d'investir dans la scolarisation des filles (essai 2) et de promouvoir des politiques publiques qui rendent moins attrayant pour les parents le recours aux institutions traditionnelles pour soutenir leurs moyens de subsistance (essai 1). En outre, des politiques telles que celles qui encouragent les petits exploitants agricoles en tant que stratégie de développement peuvent contribuer à la persistance de la polygynie dans les communautés sujettes à la sécheresse si elles sont menées sans sevrer la population rurale de sa dépendance à l'égard de l'agriculture pluviale. Dans ces contextes, la promotion de stratégies de résilience et d'adaptation indépendantes de la taille des ménages peut conduire à la disparition de la polygynie et du mariage d'enfants (essai 3).This Ph.D. thesis explores barriers to gender equality in developing countries. It is composed of three essays. The first essay (chapter 1) explores the roots of gender inequality favoring boys in education. It analyzes the effect of culture interaction with poor household economic on the school dropout probabilities of boys' and girls', using Malawi data. Malawi's suitability for this analysis stems from the coexistence in its territory of two different customs of post-marital residence for couples: patrilocal and matrilocal customs. Estimation results show that gender inequality in education is rooted in the interaction of household economic conditions and the custom of patrilocality—when a married couple settles near or with the husband's family after marriage. The essay concludes that public policies that make it unnecessary for parents to rely on traditional customs to organize their family life can eliminate gender inequality favoring boys' education. The last two essays analyze the issue of polygyny—when a man can have multiples wives simultaneously. This marriage institution has disappeared globally but remains confined in a cluster of sub-Saharan African countries, particularly in the Sahel region. Economic theory predicts that increasing women's education leads to the disappearance of polygyny. Still, empirical evidence is yet to establish this causal link, settling instead for a negative correlation between education and women's polygyny probabilities. The second essay examines the effect of education on women's polygyny probabilities, using primarily Uganda data. For identification, we use an estimation approach that jointly addresses sample selection and education endogeneity problems. We estimate a three-equation model comprising a polygyny (main) equation, a marriage (selection), and an education (endogeneity) equation. Estimation results confirm economic theory's prediction that increasing women's education leads to the disappearance of polygyny. The third and final essay provides evidence on the cause of the clustering of polygyny in drought-prone countries. Evidence shows that in village economies dependent on rainfed agriculture, the breakdown of informal risk-sharing arrangements following covariate shocks such as droughts increases the value of having a large family, both in size and composition, as a lever of resilience strategies. We find that polygyny allows households to build resilience to the adverse effects of drought on crop yields. These three essays contribute to advancing our knowledge of the barriers to gender inequalityin sub-Saharan Africa. It mainly draws attention to the importance for developing countries to invest in girls' schooling (Essay 2) and promote public policies that make it less attractive for parents to resort to traditional institutions to support their livelihoods (Essay 1). Additionally, policies such as those promoting smallholder farmers as a development strategy can contribute to the persistence of polygyny in drought-prone communities if done without weaning the rural population of its dependence on rainfed agriculture. In these settings, promoting resilience and adaptation strategies independent of household size can lead to polygyny and child marriage's disappearance (Essay 3)

A Regime Switching Analysis of the Income-Pollution Path with time Varying- Elasticities in a Heterogeneous Panel of Countries

We analyze the threshold effects of income changes on CO2 emissions in a large sample of 95 countries, over the period 1980-2017. Our estimation uses a Panel Smooth Transition Regression (PSTR) and controls for urbanization, energy consumption and population. Results of the point estimates show that income-pollution relation is captured by three continuums of regimes, and smooth transitions from one regime to another. In the first transition, the income-pollution elasticity is positive, meaning that a rise in income leads to more pollution. In the second transition, the coefficient tends to zero and is insignificant. This second transition represents an intermediate stage matching with the peak of EKC U-inverted curve, where the rise in income does not necessarily lead to more pollution. The third transition corresponds to the highest living standard and is characterized by a negative parameter. Any additional income leads to lesser pollution. For low-income countries, the turning point occurs at 1017$, for middle income at 1890$ and for high income at 12397$. These suggestive values, estimated inside the model, rather than pre-determined provide evidence that low and middle-income countries will not reach developed countries’ living standards to have their depollution at a sustainable level. Also, there is neither a single income threshold nor income-pollution path through which all countries should go through. Besides, developed countries’ income-pollution path appears to be more stable and resilient to external shocks as opposed to low- and middle-income countries. The major undermining factor for the atmosphere among the control variables is primary energy consumption. The impact of primary energy consumption remains high at all stages, with an average impact rate on CO2 emissions of 0.65% for any additional consumption. Population growth has a more positive impact on CO2, on average, than urbanization

Estimating the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty in Asia-Pacific LDCs

This technical note was prepared as a background note for the Asia-Pacific Countries with Special Needs Development Report 2021: Strengthening the resilience of least developed countries in the wake of the coronavirus disease pandemic – Lessons for the next programme of action (Sales No. E.21.II.F.7).This technical note provides a brief review of global poverty estimates of the impact of the pandemic and proposes a new estimate for Asia-Pacific LDCs. It finds that by 2021, the pandemic could push around 3.4 million people into extreme poverty based on the $1.90-per-day international poverty line and 10.7 million people under the$3.20-per-day poverty line in Asia-Pacific LDCs. The application of the same methodology to all Asia-Pacific developing countries reveals that nearly 90 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty and over 150 million and 170 million under the $3.20 and$5.50 poverty lines, respectively, by 2021. The extent to which households, especially the poorest will gain from the ongoing fiscal impulses and economic growth regains will play an important role in explaining the pace of poverty curb in LDCs and developing Asia- Pacific. A more inclusive and broader approach to recovery should remain a priority.</p

LES POLITIQUES DE LA BANQUE MONDIALE RELATIVES À LA PROMOTION DE L’ÉDUCATION DES FILLES DANS LES PAYS EN DÉVELOPPEMENT: PROMESSE D’ÉQUITÉ OU RENFORCEMENT DES INÉGALITÉS?

Cet article porte sur l’analyse des politiques privilégiées par la Banque mondiale pour promouvoir la scolarisation des filles dans les pays en développement. Lʹexamen est fondé sur une approche sociopolitique des rapports sociaux de sexe, des représentations sociales de l’éducation et de la place et du rôle des filles et des femmes dans la société. L’analyse des rapports annuels et des plans stratégiques révèle que les politiques éducatives de l’institution sont conformes à l’idéologie néolibérale et à une vision réductrice et utilitariste du capital humain considérant les filles et les femmes comme une ressource productive essentielle à ne pas gaspiller. Mots clés : scolarisation, équité, filles, pays en développement, analyse des politiques This article reports on an analysis of World Bank policies encouraging school enrolment of girls in developing countries. The study is based on a sociopolitcal approach to gender relations, social representations of education, and the role of girls and women in society. The analysis of annual reports and strategic plans shows that the Bank’s educational policies are in line with a neoliberal ideology and a reductionist and utilitarian view of human capital that sees girls and women as an essential productive resource that should not be wasted. Keywords: school enrolment, equity, girls, developing countries, policy analysis

On The Trade-Off Between Welfare and Peace: Evidence from West African Countries Using a Quantile Regression

The recent relapse of peace across Africa, especially in West Africa has been nurturing a wide range of concerns on the responsibility of both government and the international community. The effectiveness of actions against insecurity and terrorism with no harm on welfare remains the predominant outlook in all debates. With the aim to assess the current regional synergy against insecurity in all kinds, this study applies a quantile regression approach to investigate the effectiveness of governments’ efforts to improve welfare, in the context of increasing insecurity. Instead of focusing on the Human Development Index, repeatedly used in previous studies as an indicator of welfare, the approach in this study favors two different variables, which are less broad and more pertinent when analyzing poor economies. These indicators are life expectancy at birth and infant mortality. From the analysis, development aid is found to have no direct impact on welfare. On the opposite, government social spending contributes to increase life expectancy, reduce infant mortality, and therefore plays an important role in the enhancement of welfare. The impact of social spending on welfare is stronger in countries with poor welfare indicators. However, military spending remains an undermining factor in the effort to heighten households’ welfare

On The Trade-Off Between Welfare and Peace: Evidence from West African Countries Using a Quantile Regression

The recent relapse of peace across Africa, especially in West Africa has been nurturing a wide range of concerns on the responsibility of both government and the international community. The effectiveness of actions against insecurity and terrorism with no harm on welfare remains the predominant outlook in all debates. With the aim to assess the current regional synergy against insecurity in all kinds, this study applies a quantile regression approach to investigate the effectiveness of governments’ efforts to improve welfare, in the context of increasing insecurity. Instead of focusing on the Human Development Index, repeatedly used in previous studies as an indicator of welfare, the approach in this study favors two different variables, which are less broad and more pertinent when analyzing poor economies. These indicators are life expectancy at birth and infant mortality. From the analysis, development aid is found to have no direct impact on welfare. On the opposite, government social spending contributes to increase life expectancy, reduce infant mortality, and therefore plays an important role in the enhancement of welfare. The impact of social spending on welfare is stronger in countries with poor welfare indicators. However, military spending remains an undermining factor in the effort to heighten households’ welfare

The Absorption and Spending Capacity of Aid in the Economic Community of West African States

The study focuses on the absorption and spending capacity of aid inside the member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The absorption and spending of aid are analyzed through the impact of aid on, respectively, the non-aid current account balance, and the non-aid government budget. One of the new features of the study is the inclusion of financial and government related variables in the list of control variables. This helps to capture well the estimators, and avoid the bias generated by the exclusion of relevant variables. In addition, the study uses more appropriate econometric tools. The analysis focuses on three econometric estimators, namely, a fixed effect model, an instrumental variable and the generalized method of moments. Results show that aid is more absorbed than spent inside the whole union. Countries that have less dependency on aid have better spending capacity than the ones who highly rely on aid. In highly-aid dependent countries, aid is used to reduce budget deficit rather than to finance government expenditures