STATE OF THE FIELD IN YOUTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

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Table of Contents Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Annexes 2012 State of the Field in Youth Economic Opportunities Chapter 7: Asset-Based Approaches: Building and Protecting Assets of AGYW 7.3 Locate the Dependency Burden, Especially the Cost of Children More Equitably Between Males and Females A high proportion of the world’s women support themselves and their children. Shelly Clark of the Population Council undertook research supported by the Population Council and Nike Foundation to revisit womenheaded households or single motherhood. She found in four African countries a range of between 30-70 percent of girls and women will be single mothers at some point in their reproductive lives. 43 As age expectancy rises, the dependency burden increases because women must support aging populations and children. Migration also complicates the situation for AGYW as male migration leaves many women dependent on remittance income. Even as girls find success in the earlier stages of their life, by attending school, earning income, and delaying fertility, the unbalanced distribution of time and income that women spend on children may zero out other gains. Bruce noted that of all the factors robbing females of their share of economic vocation their disproportionate time and financial responsibility for older and young dependents is the “mother of all factors”. Failure to change this dynamic will contribute not only to the impoverishment of AGYW but drive intergenerational poverty. Increasing the father’s share of time and financial costs for children will lead to more sustainable gains for females and help to reduce household poverty. 7.3.1 Bright Ideas: The Population Council on Redistributing the Dependency Burden At the 2011 GYEOC, Bruce offered some modest proposals to reshape the long-term dependency burden on females. YEO programs could integrate the following into their programs to create a more equitable situation for AGYW: • Establish child savings accounts at birth along with unique personal number • Register births noting fatherhood • Provide incentives for both parents to attend the registration of a child at school (both primary and secondary) – and acknowledge responsibility for school fees and other support • Initiate “attached” remittance policies and incentivize investment in children by absent parent • Institute Civil Debt so that unpaid child support is viewed the same as any other debt • Establish community based childcare so parents can help each other with childcare These policies will require some complicity from government authorities. This could be just as important as, or more so than, special training or livelihoods initiatives. 44 • Prioritize property rights for custodial parent 44 Judith Bruce. “The Unique Reasons Girls (and Later Women) are Poor and What We Can Do About It.” Presentation for Making Cents International’s 2011 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference. September 8, 2011. 43 Single Motherhood, Poverty, and Child Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Life Course Perspective. Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., March 31, 2011 86
Table of Contents Chapter 9 Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Annexes 2012 State of the Field in Youth Economic Opportunities 7.4 Advocating for Legal Codes that Respect Marriage, Inheritance and Property Rights for Women is Critical to Protecting AGYW’s Assets For years, YEO practitioners have built girls social and economic assets only to find that their work is compromised by legal practices that limit AGYW’s financial rights. The World Bank, as part of its research on enabling environments for women’s entrepreneurship, has created a database of legal codes and analyzed how they affect women’s assets. They have found that: • Property ownership facilitates women’s jump from micro-finance to bank credit. If women are not considered the legal owners or shared owners of property they cannot use it as collateral and take out loans to finance larger entrepreneurial ventures. In many countries, women also need men to co-sign for loans. In the United States, women could not access business credit until 1974. Legacies of these legal practices exist today and limit women’s opportunities. • Many formal legal codes still allow discriminatory practices under customary law. Many countries still follow the Napoleonic Code that considers the man as head of household and frequently prevent married women from formally owning property, testifying in a trial, or working outside the home. Even when formal legal codes support women’s rights, they may include exemptions for customary laws that discriminate against women. The World Bank found that while low-income countries were more likely to recognize customary law and exempt it from nondiscrimination on the base of gender, middle income countries also recognize discriminatory aspects of customary law. • Gender gaps in legal rights do not necessarily close with income. Even women in formal sector employment with high levels of education find themselves vulnerable. Advocacy on this front can affect women in all income strata and across age groups. While YEO programs advocate for long-term change to legal codes, they can also support young women to make informed choices at a critical life transition: marriage. See Box 7.4.1 to better understand the legal rights of women in your country, plan advocacy campaigns, and counsel AGYW as they prepare for marriage. Chapter 7: Asset-Based Approaches: Building and Protecting Assets of AGYW 7.4.1 Checklist: How Can AGYW Protect Their Assets at Marriage Key life decisions can affect women’s assets and ability to access economic opportunities. Hallward- Dreimeier of the World Bank notes that marriage can significantly impact AGYW and their financial trajectories. To understand this issue in your country, consider the following questions. When AGYW marry, are they able to: ✔ Register their marriage ✔ Choose a marital property regime that will protect them in the case of divorce or their husband’s death ✔ Jointly register property ✔ Register their businesses in their own name ✔ Write a will and have husband write a will to ensure that she will be entitled to his assets 87
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Making Cents International is a dyn
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STATE OF THE FIELD IN YOUTH ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

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