The belief that increased numbers of women holding decision-making positions is a sign of empowerment is reflected in the United Nations Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), which tracks the percentages of women in national parliaments, in other legislatures, and as senior officials and managers among professional and technical workers. There is a growing demand for an increasing presence of women in political decision-making. It is argued that women need to be ‘empowered’ in the realm of political decision-making so as to facilitate their ‘real’ empowerment.

This report provides a gender review of a decade and a half of World Bank infrastructure lending for 1,246 projects. The objective of this review is to assess the status of and trends in gender integration in the World Bank infrastructure portfolio, and to establish a baseline for monitoring and enhancing gender integration in line with commitments made for the 2006 Gender Action Plan.

Development Aims and Impacts: Women elected to local government can be effective as members of council committees (including committees with responsibilities such as construction tendering) as well as in reaching out to women citizens, if given skills training and support. Mechanisms, such as citizen committees through which women can express their views and priorities for local infrastructure and services, can also be useful tools to increase local government responsiveness to the needs of women, i.e., to improve governance. It is not enough for towns or other actors to identify objectives and activities to benefit women—they also need to set aside the budgets to implement them, which ADB can encourage and support (e.g., through performance criteria). ADB Processes and Management Tools: Performance criteria on women’s participation are a powerful tool when they are developed as part of a set of performance criteria that all need to be met for further participation in the investment component of the project—this approach promotes practical action and also reinforces the legitimacy of issues of women’s participation in governance and in project benefit.