Gender Guide to World Bank and IMF Policy-Based Lending

By Suzanna Dennis and Elaine Zuckerman, Gender Action

In cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America.

Seventy percent of the world's poor are women,1 although women make up about 50 percent of the world’s population. Women and girls in Africa are living increasingly shorter lives than men2 due to their higher rates of HIV/AIDS infection. 3 In South Asia, one-third less women can read than men.4 Women’s declining economic and social condition (relative to men’s) is referred to as the feminization of poverty. Any policies that aim to reduce poverty must address the female face of poverty today.
This Guide describes the impact on people's lives, especially on women, of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) policy-based loans: loans to developing countries that require governments to reform economic, financial and trade policies. These “reforms”—also known as loan conditionalities—generally bypass local democratic processes and contribute to the feminization of poverty. Policy-based loans often help creditors more than women and men in developing countries. Governments are forced to use these loans to repay old debts incurred under dubious circumstances. Loan conditionalities tend to benefit foreign companies by opening up markets at the expense of local industries and working women and men. The World Bank and IMF claim they reduced conditionalities but research demonstrates they actually increased (Alexander 2006; Khor 2006). To change this situation and create a more just world, this Guide provides ideas for actions and advocacy campaigns.
The Guide highlights four reforms often tied to World Bank and IMF policy-based loans that intensify gender inequality and undermine the ability of women and girls to break out of poverty. They are: (1) privatization; (2) decreased government spending; (3) trade and labor market reforms, and; (4) financial sector reforms. Annex 4 explains why we chose these specific reforms.
The Guide provides a number of resources. Relevant topics and ideas for further action are highlighted in boxes throughout the Guide. Annex 1 provides a glossary of terms commonly used in discussing gender, the World Bank and the IMF. Annex 2 contains a list of websites for the reader who wishes to further investigate some of the issues raised in the Guide. Annex 3 is a “Checklist to Engender Country Strategies & Economic Frameworks” developed by Gender Action over the last three years in collaboration with partners around the globe.

Click here for the publication (pdf).