Why does women’s economic empowerment matter (WEE)? How can we invest in and support women’s economic empowerment? How can we boost women’s entrepreneurship, seeing itself as a tool for the economic empowerment of women?
Answers to these questions are outlined in this article which serves as an introduction to the topic of women’s economic empowerment. It summarises the context and provides an overview of the reasons why support dedicated to women to become independent and equally participative in the labour market is important. It also outlines some of the tools that could facilitate this increase in support. A more detailed analysis of this topic is available in the long version of the article.
HOW DO WE DEFINE WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT?
There are several definitions of the term ‘women’s economic empowerment’ (WEE). Most of the definitions see WEE as a process that helps women to access resources and opportunities to increase their rights, control resources, increase their possibility to make independent decisions, and benefit from economic gains.
WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS AND BARRIERS THAT WOMEN FACE DUE TO THEIR UNEQUAL POSITION AT THE LABOUR MARKET?
Women face different limitations and barriers when accessing and participating in the labour market. Ample research has shown the following findings illustrating the unequal position of women in the labour market:
- Women are less likely to participate in the labour market than men, they are over-represented in informal and vulnerable employment, and in some countries, they are legally discriminated against.
- Women are more likely to be unemployed than men.
- Women are paid less than men.
- Women are less likely to have access to social protection and financial services.
- Women are constrained from achieving the highest leadership positions.
- Women are disproportionately responsible for care work which is unpaid and remains unrecognized.
- Women are less likely to become entrepreneurs.
WHAT ARE THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT?
When gathering support to promote women’s economic empowerment, it is useful to prove its positive economic as well as societal impact. There are several studies and researches that acknowledge the contribution of women’s economic empowerment to overall economic and social well-being.
Their findings show that women’s economic empowerment:
- supports equality between men and women in terms of participation in the economy;
- helps to reduce the gender pay gap and the gap in employment between men and women;
- supports adequate workplace conditions;
- allows the social and economic potential of women to be fulfilled;
- indirectly, it influences the quality of life of the woman’s entire family, communities as well as the society;
- sets a path for poverty reduction;
- gives access to capital and financial services;
- boosts new businesses and supports local economies, boosts economic productivity and increases economic diversification.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOOLS TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT?
There is a wide range of tools that are considered to be key prerequisites for enabling women’s economic empowerment. However, there are huge differences globally in how they are implemented. In general, the following tools have proven to be effective in supporting WEE:
- Enabling women to make independent decisions;
- Having open discussions about changes in social norms;
- Access to education and training;
- Access to income;
- Access to decent & flexible work opportunities;
- Access to child-care support;
- Providing incentives for men to take over a part of the care and family work;
- Having policies to promote workplace equality;
- Access to financial services;
- Providing support for women’s entrepreneurship.
WHO ARE THE AGENTS OF CHANGE AND HOW THEY CAN BECOME ACTIVE?
Women and men play different roles in the diverse collection of societies and economies that exist. However, due to objective barriers, women face difficulties accessing the same labour market opportunities as men. Changing this situation is the goal of women’s economic empowerment, specifically, women having equal participation and access to resources.
There are different agents who have different tools and possibilities to influence women’s economic empowerment. Among them, there are women themselves, but also men, employers, trade unions or the state. Many economists admit that creating supportive conditions for women to enable them to become independent and active at the labour market contributes to overall economic growth and prosperity. For that reason, empowering women economically becomes a more and more important topic on the agendas of decision- and policy-makers. However, this requires not only a system change in policies and infrastructure, but also a change in our mindsets. Without involving men more in child and family care, a shift in the traditional family-paradigm cannot be achieved. Moreover, every tool for women’s economic empowerment needs to be assessed individually in respect of the overall country-specific situation and policies should be introduced while considering the whole societal context.
A more complex view of the relationship between gender and the economy is analysed in the article on „Introduction to Feminist Economics“. Hereby, if you are interested to know more about the key assumptions of the feminist paradigm and find out about the roots of gender inequality, we would like to invite you to read this article for another dose of inspiration.
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