Document(s) 13 of 13

Aggregation: The combining of two or more kinds of economic entities into a single category. Data on international trade necessarily aggregate goods and services into manageable groups. For macroeconomic purposes, all goods and services are usually aggregated into just one.

Allocative inefficiencies: Inefficiencies arising because resources have not been allocated to their most productive use.

Budget: The budget is the annual announcement of the government’s fiscal policy changes. It announces the tax changes proposed for the following tax year, and also how the government plans to spend that revenue.

Commodification (or marketisation): The extent to which a market value has been given to previously non-commercial goods and services.

De facto female-headed households are those where male family members are absent, usually because they have migrated in search of work.

De jure female-headed households are those where women have become heads as a result of divorce, widowhood or abandonment or as wives in polygamous marriages.

Demographic transition refers to the change from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates. In developed countries this transition began in the eighteenth century and continues today. Less developed countries began the transition later and are still in its earlier stages.

Endogenous growth: Growth derived or originating internally within a system (in economics, usually a state).

Exogamy: The custom of marrying outside the tribe, family, clan or other social unit.

Exogenous growth: Growth derived or originating externally to a system.

Gender refers to those rules, norms, customs and practices by which biologically associated differences between the male and female of the human species are translated into socially constructed differences between men and women, boys and girls which give them unequal value, opportunities and life chances.

Gender-blindness means ignoring the different socially determined roles, responsibilities and capabilities of men and women. Gender-blind policies are based on information derived from men’s activities and/or assume those affected by the policy have the same (male) needs and interests.

Gender-disaggregated data: This focuses on issues of particular relevance to women and men, girls and boys, and their different roles and positions in society. Statistics on household distance from water or fuel, for example, have different implications for women and men since it is usually the former who spend time collecting these necessities when they are not readily available.

Gender mainstreaming: “Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” (Agreed conclusions of the UN Economic and Social Council 1997/2).

Gender-neutral: Gender-neutral policies are not specifically aimed at either men or women and are assumed to affect both sexes equally. However, they may actually be gender-blind (see above).

Gender-responsive budget (GRB): GRBs (also called ‘gender-sensitive budgets’, ‘gender budgets’, ‘women’s budgets’ and ‘women’s budget statements’) aim to assess the impact of government budgets, mainly at national level, on different groups of men and women. They include analysis of gender-targeted allocations (e.g. special programmes targeting women); they disaggregate by gender the impact of mainstream expenditures across all sectors and services; and they review equal opportunities policies and allocations within government services.

Gross domestic product (GDP) measures output generated through production by labour and property that is physically located within the confines of a country in a given time period (usually a year).

Gross national product (GNP): The market value of all final goods and services produced for consumption in society during a given time period (usually a year) by nationals no matter where they are located.

Macroeconomics: The study of the behaviour of the overall economy, including inflation, unemployment and industrial production. It focuses on the level of income or output of the economy, including the level of employment, aggregate investment, total consumption and the money supply.

Matrilineal: Descent is traced and property inherited through the female line.

Microeconomics: The study of the behaviour of small economic units, such as individual consumers, households or companies. It focuses on

the determination of the prices that induce these agents to act, including wages for labour and return rates of investment funds. These concerns cover issues of demand and supply, welfare and distribution.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOS): An NGO is any nonprofit, voluntary citizens’ group that is organised on a local, national, regional or international level. NGOs perform a variety of services and humanitarian functions, bring citizens’ concerns to governments, monitor policies and encourage political participation at the community level. Some are organised around specific issues, such as human rights, the environment or health.

Patrilineal: Descent is traced and property inherited through the male line.

Patrilocal: Of or relating to residence with a husband’s kin group or clan.

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) describe a country’s macroeconomic, structural and social policies and programmes to promote growth and reduce poverty, as well as associated external financing needs.

Reproductive sector: The reproductive sector is concerned with caring for the present and future labour force, and the human population as a whole, including providing food, clothing and shelter in the household. Work in this sector is generally unpaid and usually excluded from national accounts. Reproductive labour is mainly performed by women, and takes up an extremely high proportion of their time.

Structural adjustment programmes (SAPs): SAPs are intended to restore a sustainable balance of payments, reduce inflation and create the conditions for sustainable growth in per capita income. Typical measures are spending cuts in the public sector and tight monetary policy. At least 75 developing countries undertook SAPs in the 1980s, with loans from the World Bank and IMF. It has been argued that these policies have a disproportionate effect on women because they fail to take into account women’s roles in the reproductive sector, the gender division of labour and inequalities in household allocations.

System of National Accounts (SNA): This is a set of macroeconomic accounts, balance sheets and tables based on internationally agreed concepts, definitions, classifications and accounting rules. The 1993 revision of the SNA recommended that all production of goods in households for their own consumption be included in the measurement of economic activity. Unpaid household work, such as caring for children and the elderly, is still excluded.

Usufruct: The rights to farm a piece of land and profit from the produce but not to ownership.

Document(s) 13 of 13