Climate Change Impact and Structural Reforms in Kiribati
KIRIBATI
sanitation facilities, and clean water) 13 or childcare/elderly care facilities. The government could
conduct an assessment of their potential impact on gender-whether they help reduce the unpaid
work burdens women face and support female labor force participation—and to prioritize this
spending based on the assessment.
13.
Analytical work on other low-income countries shows the potential positive impacts on
fiscal policy reforms. Fabrizio et al. (2020) find that fiscal policies that address gender inequality
(e.g., infrastructure or education investment, sanitation facilities, and parental leave) can not only
help support female labor force participation but also have a positive impact on economic growth
while reducing poverty and income inequality. Moreover, the authors show that most of these
measures, in the long run, pay for themselves, as higher rate of labor force participation increases
economic activity, growth, and tax revenues. In Senegal, for example, the authors use an analytical
model to examine the impact of investment in safe water infrastructure and find that it would
increase female labor force participation by about 9 ppts, and reduce poverty and income inequality.
14. Finally, collecting and analyzing gender-disaggregated data would allow Kiribati to
accurately monitor its gender-related goals. The government acknowledged the need for
gender-disaggregated data for systematic use for policy planning, monitoring, and evaluation. The
Ministry of Women, Youth, Sports and Social Affairs (MWYSSA) has started the work to collect
gender-disaggregated data. However, by December 2020, only 21.3 percent of indicators needed to
monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from a gender perspective were available
(UN, 2021). Data on poverty, wage payments, and access to assets/credit are also not available.
Given the low institutional capacity in Kiribati, significant efforts are required in improving data
collection and management, both in terms of data quality and data frequency, to facilitate accurate
and timely monitoring and supervision.
D. Conclusion
15. While making significant achievements in promoting gender equality, further progress
could be made to remove the still relevant gender gaps in Kiribati. Women in the country have
fared well in terms of health and education, but face gender gaps in labor force participation rates,
unemployment, income, and poverty. Legal barriers remain, particularly in terms of parenthood and
access to assets/credit. Though the overall level of gender inequality is lower compared to the
average of other countries in the same income group, there is a considerable heterogeneity among
different categories, indicating room for improvement. Closing gender gaps could potentially
support higher growth and help the country achieve its SDGs. Policies to strengthen gender equality
include strengthening gender equality in the legal framework; introducing gender budgeting and
fiscal policy reforms; and developing gender-disaggregated data collection for better awareness and
monitoring.
13 A study by the Asian Development Bank (2021) points to the challenges in accessing fresh water in the South
Tarawa region of Kiribati, while a study by the World Bank (2019) notes that women spend more time than men on
fetching water for cleaning, washing, and child- and elder-care-related activities.
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