Bangladesh has achieved impressive gains in women’s status and gender equality, but access to reproductive health services, labor markets, physical security and role in decision-making need urgent attention, says a World Bank report.

The report documents change in norms, attitudes, and practices related to gender equality based on national surveys and field work and is a comprehensive analysis of key development outcomes. It also addresses important regional variations with a focus on Sylhe more...

This paper examines through longitudinal survey and case study data the role of HIV and AIDS in the intergenerational transmission of poverty in rural Uganda. It focuses on the factors that contribute to chronic poverty in rural Uganda; the patterns of intergenerational transfers and asset inheritance in the study households; the impact on children orphaned by AIDS and on older people of the intergenerational transmission of poverty, and the gender aspects in the transmission of intergenerationa more...

'Why, after 20 years of international responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic are infection rates still on the increase? Why are the numbers of women living with HIV increasing faster than the number of men? HIV/AIDS is not only driven by gender inequality - it makes gender inequality worse, putting women, men and children further at risk. What can be done to address a problem entrenched in this inequality, denial and stigma? International experience demonstrates that an approach which transforms gen more...

The Handbook is designed to be useful to two groups of people. First, it aims to help government and NGO officials to plan, initiate, evaluate and improve ICT-based enterprise projects for women. Second, it is intended for facilitated use by groups of women themselves who want to start up, manage and improve ICT-based enterprises.

HIV testing is routine in programmes for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV, and most hospitals offer it as part of antenatal care. But many women in Kenya's western Nyanza Province say pre-natal HIV tests are a direct threat to their marriages. 'During my last pregnancy ... I was referred to the laboratory for tests after counselling and told to bring my husband for the test but he declined. After much prodding, he agreed to accompany me but refused to be tested; afte more...

This research project examines Information and Communication Technology Development (ICTD) initiatives in India with the aim of exploring how gender-inclusive principles are, and can be, incorporated into ICTD projects.Building from this conceptual framework of women’s empowerment, the approaches and strategies of five initiatives are mapped within broader development and policy contexts. The emergent understandings of gender-related change and challenges 'on the ground' then inform an analyti more...

This paper explores the meanings of women's empowerment and gender equality in the information society, looking at the opportunity for progressive change and critically unpacking the ICTD discourse on gender and development. It also seeks to articulate a rights-based framework to policy and action that takes on the specific question of what models of access and connectivity will work for the marginalised peoples and countries, in a manner that promotes gender justice.

The objective of this project use information and communications technology (ICT) tools to provide comprehensive sexuality and life skills education that empower adolescent women in Chennai, India. In India, there are approximately 10 million pregnant adolescents and adolescent mothers at any given time. Unfortunately, education, health and family welfare programmes are not adequately addressing the special needs of these women. This project uses ICTs to provide comprehensive sexuality education more...

The objective of this project is to assist disadvantaged women who are confined to their homes due to disabilities and other circumstances. This project targets disadvantaged women who, due to disabilities and other circumstances, are confined to their homes and as a result are economically constrained. The project explores the possibility of developing an integrated system of information and communications technology (ICT) tools such as computers, Internet, telephone, Short Message System (SMS) more...

This report provides an overview of the issues and trends that emerged from mapping studies on aid effectiveness, gender equality and women’s empowerment in Indonesia, Nepal and Papua New Guinea. The three countries receive different levels and patterns of official development assistance (ODA), which have influenced the development of mechanisms for the implementation of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.