4. WHAT TOOLS EXIST TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT?

There is a wide range of tools that are considered to be key prerequisites to enable women’s economic empowerment. However, there is a huge difference globally in how they are implemented. In general, the following tools have proven to be efficient in supporting WEE:

• Enable women to make independent decisions (creating conditions free from legal restrictions based on gender, free from threats of violence etc.)
• Have open discussions about changes to social norms (discuss rigid social norms connected to gender, challenging prejudices and stereotypes such as “women should take care of household and children whereas men provide for the families and work at the labour market”)
• Access to education and training (equal access for girls and young women to schools and universities, entrepreneurial education, financial and economic literacy, vocational education, upskilling and re-skilling, technological and digital training to keep pace with job changes etc.)
• Access to income and decent & flexible work opportunities (creating conditions for women to be able to integrate into the labour market)

• Access to child-care support (affordable child-care facilities, creating alternative forms of child-care, mutual community support etc.). For example, in Czech Republic, public care for pre-school children is provided, with fees covering mostly only the basic costs. Due to the lack of public infrastructure, child-care recognised and partly funded by the public sector can be provided also in alternative forms after meeting all criteria and requirements).

• Inclusive value chains (creating beneficial conditions for small businesses to help them to bring a product/service from its design and manufacturing to customers – e.g. prioritise and promote small entrepreneurs and local economies, provide training on gender equality awareness at local or municipal level, educate consumers etc.).
• Policies to promote workplace equality (support for implementation of diversity and inclusion policies in the workplace. For example, the European Commission set up an EU platform of Diversity Charters as a place for NGOs, public bodies, private companies etc. to meet, discuss and exchange experience).
• Access to financial services (e.g., loans, access to bank accounts, low/no interest rates on loans).
• Support for women entrepreneurship (through education, networking, equal access to capital, business networks etc.).
• Incentives for men to take over a part of the childcare and family care (e.g. In Germany both parents together get Parent-Money for 14 month for each child, this time can be divided by choice between the parents. As it is mostly women who tend to avail of this opportunity, two of the 14 months must be taken by the other parent (most often the father), otherwise they expire.