8 8
TO WA R D G E N D E R E Q UA L I T Y I N E A S T A S I A A N D T H E PAC I F I C
FIGURE 2.23 Vietnamese men owned more agricultural land plots than did women in 2008 percentage of land plots with identified owners on the certificates, Vietnam, 2008 total
16.9
65.1
18.0
urban
19.7
61.2
19.1
rural
16.8
65.3
18.0
0
20
40
only a female owner
percent
60
80
only a male owner
100
joint owners
Source: World Bank estimates using VHLSS (GSO Vietnam), 2008 data.
FIGURE 2.24 Female-headed households are less likely to own livestock ownership of livestock by poorest and richest 20% of population, by gender of household head
Cambodia, 2008
Indonesia, 1999
Lao PDR, 2008
female-headed households
Timor-Leste, 2007
richest, 20%
poorest, 20%
richest, 20%
poorest, 20%
richest, 20%
poorest, 20%
richest, 20%
poorest, 20%
richest, 20%
Limited effects of economic growth on gender gaps in assets
poorest, 20%
share of households that own livestock, %
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 –10
countries surveyed, women were as likely as men to report having an account in a formal financial institution in Cambodia and Thailand; less likely to have an account in China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Vietnam (although the difference is statistically significant only in Malaysia and Vietnam); and more likely to have an account in Mongolia and the Philippines. A small-scale study of Vietnam’s rural credit market in 2002 indicated that credit rationing depended on education and credit history, but found no evidence of bias against women (Barslund and Tarp 2003). The Thailand 2005 Household Socio-Economic Panel data show a similar rate between men and women holding a savings account in a financial institution (46 percent and 49 percent, respectively). Although this similarity is observed in Thailand’s urban as well as rural areas, the situation may vary between rural and urban areas of other countries and might be very different in the Pacific, for which individual data are lacking.
Vietnam, 1998
male-female gap
Source: World Bank estimates using household income and expenditure surveys of various countries and years.
in access to formal finance is likely to be small in East Asia. Evidence from G allup surveys conducted since 2011 suggests that men and women have similar access to formal finance in East Asian countries (Demirgüç-Kunt and Klapper 2012). As figure 2.26 shows, of the nine East Asian
E conomic grow th could, in principle, increase women’s asset holdings by increasing income, but this factor alone is insufficient to close the gender gap in asset holdings. Market transactions are an important way to accumulate assets, and evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean suggests that, after inheritance, markets are the second most important channel for women in that region to acquire land. In that sense, income plays an important role. However, as shown in chapter 3, substantial gender gaps in income still persist in the East Asia and Pacific region, despite economic growth. Other complex legal and social factors also make it very challenging to close the gender gap in asset holdings with economic growth alone. Evidence from South Asia indicates that better employment opportunities and progressive legislation do not necessarily lead to gender equality in access to and control of land, because of social factors