There is no doubt that ensuring that women and girls enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men and boys is the right thing to do from a moral and ethical standpoint. However, it also makes economic sense — US$160 trillion worth, to be precise.
A new report released by the World Bank Group, with support from the Canadian government, found that if women had the same lifetime earnings as men, global wealth would increase by an average of US$23,620 per person in the 141 countries studied, for a total of US$160 trillion.
That is a lot of money that could be put toward reducing inequality, expanding the ranks of the middle class and mitigating the factors that drive social and political instability.
Illustration: Mountain People
Despite this clear opportunity, women still only account for 38 percent of their countries’ human capital wealth, defined as the value of the future earnings of adult citizens. In poor and lower-middle-income countries, women account for just one-third of such wealth — or even less.
In nearly every country, women and girls face systemic barriers that bar them from full and equal participation in the workforce and the formal economy more broadly.
While the specific challenges confronting women vary, the fundamental imperative is the same everywhere: National governments and international actors must put the needs and priorities of women and girls at the center of everything they do.
As the current head of the G7, Canada has committed to ensuring that gender equality and women’s empowerment are integrated into all of the body’s themes, activities and initiatives.
This approach echoes Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy, launched last year on the premise that ensuring equal rights and economic opportunities for women and girls is the best way to eradicate poverty.
Reflecting this commitment, participants at the May 31 to June 2 meeting of G7 finance and development ministers in Whistler, British Columbia, discussed women’s economic empowerment, including unlocking the potential of adolescent girls.
Last week in Charlevoix, Quebec, G7 leaders affirmed this focus. To gain access to the opportunities and the resources needed to succeed in the workforce, empowerment must occur throughout a woman’s life, from early childhood to school and the acquisition of in-demand job skills.
If women are to participate equally in the labor force, it must first be ensured that they have the right tools. That means guaranteeing that all women and girls have access to healthcare and information, proper nutrition and safe and effective learning environments at all levels.
It also means upholding sexual and reproductive rights and combating sexual and gender-based violence, including harmful practices like child, early, or forced marriage.
However, that is not enough to improve women’s employment opportunities and earnings. Collective action must be taken to reduce the amount of time women spend in unpaid work; to ensure they have access to and control over productive assets like land, credit, insurance and savings; and to address the restrictive social norms that relegate women to lower-paid or informal work.
Policies to support women’s entrepreneurship would also have far-reaching benefits. One initiative that is already advancing this goal is the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, a collaborative partnership housed at the World Bank and supported by 14 governments, including Canada. It seeks to unlock billions of dollars in financing for women-owned or women-led businesses in developing countries.
The huge costs of depriving women and girls of rights and opportunities are borne not only by women and girls, but also by their families, communities and the entire economy. By investing in women and girls and ending gender inequality, those costs can be eliminated and the fate of entire countries changed.
Moreover, by considering economic empowerment in terms of gender, it can be better understood how intersecting issues like ethnicity, age, disability, or language also create barriers to full and equal economic participation. Dismantling these barriers would bring even more far-reaching benefits.
Only by unleashing the full potential of all people to participate fully in the economy can growth be strengthened, poverty eliminated and mounting global challenges, from conflict to climate change, be responded to effectively.
The G7 meeting presented an important opportunity to take concrete steps toward doing just that.
Kristalina Georgieva is CEO of the World Bank. Marie-Claude Bibeau is the Canadian minister of international development and La Francophonie.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
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