Teachers' pay increases can be linked to performance assessments that include input from parents, and families can be motivated to keep their children in school through lunch programs, free books and other services. Second, before poor women will consider joining the work force, they must be able to increase the productivity of their household tasks. Policies that extend the availability of running water, electricity and community services can have an immediate impact in this regard. For women with children, the availability of low-cost child care during working hours is central to the decision to seek work or stay at home. According to the IDB report, studies in Brazil and other countries have shown that increasing the supply of affordable child day care leads to greater female participation in the work force.
Governments can also reform laws that indirectly discourage women's employment.
In order to avoid this considerable expense, many companies simply prefer not to hire women for important and better-paying positions. This tends to encourage labor segregation that relegates women to comparatively low-skilled clerical and service jobs. Even laws that keep the minimum wage too high can work against women's employment, by forcing too many companies to rely on informal work arrangements that offer very low pay and no job protection. Window of opportunity. Changing these policies can be both politically difficult and costly, of course.