Questions about Gender

Your readings this week cover a wide range of topics: economic growth and structural transformation; demographic change; health, education and labor markets; and the status of women in society. The common denominator for all of these issues is gender: women and men are impacted differently by rapid urbanization, the state’s choices in health and education spending, and the development on labor markets. In what ways? Do women in MENA face different challenges than women in Europe or the United States (where women’s representation in Congress is pretty abysmal)? Tunisia has a higher parliamentary representation of women than the region as a whole – how can we explain difference across the region in women’s political influence?