Expanding research and policy on gender and tax through a new community of practice

During the past five years, research and policy attention to gender equality and taxation has increased. Historically, research focused on the disincentives that tax and benefits systems—especially in high-income countries—create for secondary or part-time earners, usually women, to increase their wages or working hours. More recent research, focusing on low and middle-income countries, addresses broader issues, including gender differences in the incidence of presumptive taxes, user fees, and land taxes. Several multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, UNDP, and the IMF, have launched research and technical assistance programs, and national-level revenue authorities and tax administrations have begun to explore how their institutions can better support the objective of gender equality. As these efforts expand, a recent paper argues that current frameworks can be improved to guide policy toward increased revenue and gender equality.

To improve coordination and accelerate research and data collection, the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD) at the Brookings Institution and the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) launched a community of practice on gender and tax (CoPGT). The community of practice aims to provide a platform for members to exchange ideas, knowledge, and critical reflections on research and data. By bringing together experts and stakeholders from academic, multilateral, and nonprofit organizations, the CoPGT seeks to deepen and complement existing work. Activities in the first year include a comprehensive mapping exercise to catalog ongoing research on the topic, establishing a repository of public resources, and convening technical dialogs.

A news story about the CoPGT launch was published by ICTD website.

To know more about the CoPGT, please contact CoPGT coordinator Daisy Attu at [email protected]