Author: Kathleen Beegle ;Lead Economist with the World Bank Gender Group

A number of recent posts on Development Impact have focused on gaps in labor market outcomes for men and women. This includes some posts in the job market series in late 2019 and, in 2020, a look at the ‘dismal statistic’ on female-to-male labor force participation rates in India and Pakistan, changing the way women think about themselves and what they can do as a means to closing gaps, and a summary of the World Bank’s Research Group recruitment. The latter was underpinned by goal setting in the shortlisting process with respect to between men and women applicants. Fun fact: such quota setting with respect to the composition of candidates to interview is known in the U.S. as the Rooney Rule — established by the U.S. National Football League in 2003 and named after the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers (and intended not in regards to women hires but with regards to ethnic-minority candidates in coaching and senior league jobs, though it is now used more generally in the private sector).

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