Canada has introduced a set of programmes to test novel approaches to skills development. This report analyses the potential of these programmes to improve the future-readiness of Canada’s adult learning system. Further, it outlines how these programmes might be expanded to promote optimal skills use and learning within workplaces, through the use of high-performance work practices.
Since 1992, the Information System on Occupational Exposure (ISOE) has provided a forum for radiological protection professionals from nuclear power utilities and national regulatory authorities worldwide to discuss, promote and co-ordinate international co-operative undertakings for the radiological protection of workers at nuclear power plants. The ISOE objective is to improve occupational exposure management at nuclear power plants by exchanging relevant information, data and experience on methods to optimise occupational radiological protection.
This report on work management provides practical guidance on the application of work management principles as a contribution to the optimisation of occupational radiological protection. It recognises that while work management is no longer a new concept, continued efforts are needed to ensure that good performance, outcomes and trends are maintained in the face of current and future challenges. The focus of this report is therefore on presenting the key aspects of work management that should be considered by management and workers to save time, doses and money, supported by updated practical examples from within the ISOE community.
This Emission Scenario Document (ESD) presents an approach to estimate the emissions of substances used in wood preservatives (EU Product Type 8) from two stages of their life cycle: 1) application (industrial applications / in situ applications by professionals and amateurs) and storage of treated wood prior to shipment, and 2) treated wood-in service.
Achieving gender equality in the economy and in the political leadership remains an ongoing challenge across the world. This report aims to address this gap. It provides comparative data and policy benchmarks on women's access to public leadership and inclusive gender-responsive policy-making across OECD countries. The report is prepared in the context of the OECD Gender Initiative, launched by the OECD Ministers.
This report examines how current legal provisions in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are impacting women’s ability to fully participate in economic life, both as employees and entrepreneurs. It is based on a comparative analysis of the various rights set out in constitutions, personal status laws, labour laws, in addition to tax and business laws. The report recognises the considerable progress made – in particular in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings – following the adoption of constitutional and institutional reforms to strengthen women’s status.
Yet ensuring sufficient opportunities for women remains a challenge in the six countries. The report suggests that this may be due to different factors such as: the existence of certain laws that are gender discriminatory, contradictions between various legal frameworks, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and barriers for women in accessing justice. Through targeted policies, countries can tackle these challenges, and help unleash women’s potential to boost growth, competitiveness and inclusive social development.
India’s rooftop solar targets represent a major opportunity for sustainable development and for women’s employment. While India has shown a strong commitment towards a clean energy transition through its renewable electricity installation target for 2022, deployment of rooftop solar technology has been slow. With the potential to create a large number of jobs in general, the rooftop solar sector also generates the types of jobs attractive to highly skilled women in particular, a largely untapped pool in India.
Our analysis, based on a survey of rooftop solar companies as well as qualitative interviews with women currently employed in the sector, seeks to identify opportunities for better gender balance at work, as well as barriers to achieving it. Women currently account for only 11% of the workforce in the companies we surveyed. Participation of women is particularly low in roles involving frequent travel and a required onsite presence at project sites.
We recommend that the government enhance policies to scale up the rooftop solar market by addressing the general challenges facing this sector, and introduce gender-targeted policies to enable and encourage companies to advance actions that effectively support women’s employment in this sector.
While women account for more than half of university graduates in several OECD countries, they receive only 30% of tertiary degrees granted in science and engineering fields. This publication presents the proceedings of a recent international workshop to assess the underlying causes behind the low participation of women in scientific careers, especially at senior levels, and to identify good practice policies to attract, recruit and retain women in scientific careers in public and private research.
Public institutions play a critical role in promoting gender-sensitive policies and gender equality more broadly, in the MENA region and around the world. Advancing gender balance in public institutions and public life more generally, including the judiciary, parliaments, and the political executive constitutes a major step towards gender-responsive policies and non-discrimination and serves as a key milestone in promoting gender equality. This report provides a comparative overview of the policies affecting women’s participation in public life across the MENA region. It examines the existing barriers to women’s access to public decision-making positions, and provides a cross-country assessment of current instruments and institutions to advance women’s empowerment in the MENA region. The report undertakes an analysis of the existing legal barriers for gender equality in public life, including with regard to political and economic rights, freedom of movement, labour law, family law, access to justice and gender-based violence and provides focused policy-recommendations to close legal and institutional gaps. The report has been prepared by the OECD, in partnership with Centre for Arab Women Training and Research (CAWTAR) and with the support of the Arab Administrative Development Organisation (ARADO) and covers the following countries: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
Women in Business 2014 summarises the progress made by the OECD-MENA Women Business Forum (WBF) since the publication of its first Women in Business report in 2012. In 2012, five groups of actions had been identified as priorities to be carried out by governments, international stakeholders, financial and business support organisations, as well as statistical agencies. In two years, the WBF has developed inputs for three of these areas of priority actions. The WBF’s contributions are growing along with its increased recognition as a hub which spurs concrete improvements in the business climate for women entrepreneurs in the MENA region.
Today, women’s entrepreneurship is all the more important as governments in the region are facing the colossal challenge of rebooting job creation to improve the well-being of a growing workforce and confidence in the economy. The economic prospects of MENA economies that are going through a political transition have improved but unemployment has increased, inflation is rising and public finances have deteriorated. In these countries, political uncertainties add to long term structural difficulties. In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the challenges still lie in the diversification of their economies.
This publication provides an overview of approaches and measures in MENA-OECD Investment Programme economies to promote, support and advance women's entrepreneurship development in the Middle East and North Africa. It covers such issues as access to credit and business development services and information and information on data collection and research on women entrepreneurs in the MENA area.
Women make a significant contribution to West Africa's food economy, perpetuating a long tradition of commerce and participating in cross-border trade and regional outreach. Their activities face numerous obstacles but also present important opportunities, highlighted in this report through an unprecedented relational and spatial analysis of social networks. The study focuses on the rice sector in the Dendi region (Benin, Niger and Nigeria) and on the regional governance networks that support women's entrepreneurship. It confirms that Nigeria occupies a privileged position due to its demographics and growing urbanisation. The report proposes the development of innovative public policies based on the reinforcement of the social capital of women and policy approaches that promote better integration of the initiatives undertaken by governments, international and non-governmental organisations to empower women and strengthen their resilience.
Gender equality in terms of economic and financial opportunities is becoming increasingly relevant at both national and international level. The need to address the financial literacy of women and girls as a way to improve their financial empowerment, opportunities, and well-being has been acknowledged by the G20 Leader’s Declaration in June 2012, as well as part of a wider horizontal OECD project on gender equality. The OECD International Network on Financial Education (INFE) established a dedicated workstream in 2010 to address the needs of women for financial education under the support of the Russia/World Bank/OECD Trust Fund for financial literacy and education.
This book collects the work carried out within this workstream, including policy guidance to help policy makers address women's and girls' needs for financial education, and a comprehensive analysis of the current status of knowledge on gender differences in financial literacy and policy responses in terms of financial education for women and girls.
In the current era of globalisation, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognised as major players in innovation and job creation. Furthermore, entrepreneurship is no longer a male preserve: although few women can be found at the head of large companies, an increasing number are taking up the challenge of creating and managing their own businesses.
This conference proceedings explores the phenomenon of women entrepreneurs in small and medium entreprises, examining such issues as governmental support, networks, doing business overseas, starting businesses, and financing.
The first OECD Conference on Women Entrepreneurs in SMEs in 1997 highlighted their contribution to innovation and job creation. Since that time, women’s entrepreneurship has been burgeoning. Women entrepreneurs constitute a growing share of SME owners, with higher than average start-up rates in several OECD Member and non-member countries. Eliminating obstacles to the creation and development of firms by women and creating a level playing field for women business owners is vital for a thriving entrepreneurial sector and important for national growth strategies. Women business owners are creating new niches for entrepreneurial activity and have the potential to become key players in the new, knowledge-based economy. However, they must adapt to profound changes in the way small enterprises do business, both locally and at the global level. The 2000 Conference aimed at finding ways to help women-owned SMEs seize the opportunities offered by globalisation, ICTs, changes in firm organisation, the increasing importance of the service sector, and other current developments. Cette publication est tirée de la conférence de l'OCDE sur « Les femmes entrepreneurs à la tête de PME : pour une participation dynamique à la mondialisation et à l'économie fondée sur le savoir ». Les lecteurs de langue française y trouveront une synthèse en français des présentations, discussions et conclusions de la conférence.
Cette brochure est publiée dans le cadre des activités du Régime pour l'Application de Normes Internationales aux Fruits et Légumes, créé en 1962 par l'OCDE. Elle fournit des commentaires et des illustrations en vue de faciliter l'interprétation commune des normes en vigueur et constitue donc un outil précieux tant pour les services de contrôle que pour les milieux professionnels responsables de l'application des normes ou s’intéressant au commerce international de ces produits.
The IEA Wind Power Technology Roadmap 2013 Edition recognises the very significant progress made since the first edition was published in 2009. The technology continues to improve rapidly, and costs of generation from land-based wind installations continue to fall. Wind power is now being deployed in countries with good resources without any dedicated financial incentives.
The 2013 Edition targets an increased share (15% to 18%) of global electricity to be provided by wind power in 2050, compared to 12% in the original roadmap of 2009. However, increasing levels of low-cost wind still require predictable, supportive regulatory environments and appropriate market designs. The challenges of integrating higher levels of variable wind power into the grid need to be addressed. For offshore wind, much remains to be done to develop appropriate large-scale systems and to reduce costs.
The 2013 Wind Power Roadmap also provides updated analysis on the barriers that exist for the technology and suggests ways to address them, including legal and regulatory recommendations.
Wind energy is perhaps the most advanced of the “new” renewable energy technologies, but there is still much work to be done. This energy technology roadmap identifies the key tasks that must be undertaken in order to achieve a vision of over 2 000 GW of wind energy capacity by 2050. Governments, industry, research institutions and the wider energy sector will need to work together to achieve this goal.
“Too much ‘red tape’!” is one of the most common complaints from businesses and citizens in OECD countries. Administrative simplification is a regulatory quality tool to review and reduce administrative and regulatory procedures. It has remained high on the agenda in most OECD countries over the last decade and continues to be so. Countries’ efforts to strengthen their competitiveness, productivity and entrepreneurship during the current recession have made simplification efforts even more urgent.
Until now, efforts to reduce administrative burdens have primarily been driven by ambitions to improve the cost efficiency of administrative regulations, as these impose direct and indirect costs on regulated subjects. Many countries will finish their current projects over the next few years and must decide how to continue their efforts and how to make them more efficient.
This report looks beyond 2010 and presents policy options for administrative simplification that are in line with current trends and developments. It provides policy makers with guidance on the available tools and explains common mistakes to be avoided when designing, undertaking and evaluating administrative simplification programmes.
Why Fish Piracy Persists: The Economics of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing focuses on the economic, environmental and social aspects of fish piracy and identifies the forces that drive this activity. Based on data from a workshop of around 120 experts, as well as analytical documents developed for this study, this book presents the most systematic and consolidated information to date in order to assess measures already in place and to propose new solutions.