Introduction
The world needs everybody to work meaningfully and contribute to economic growth - that includes women. Unfortunately, the efforts of women and young girls towards meaningful contribution to economic growth is often not appreciated. Do you think that more could be done to empower women and harness their full potential in the quest of economic stability and growth? Many think that a lot could be done to better position women as agents of growth anywhere they are.
This article will review some keys stats from a UN Women report about the situation on ground as regards women and economy. If you wonder what UN Women is, here is what the organization is all about:
UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. source
So lets go straight into the stats contained in the report.
Women are most vulnerable to economic challenges
While the world in general grapple with social and economic challenges, women often come worse off. They are usually the largest victims of economic degradation in many aspects. For example, more women are developing economies suffer the effects of poverty than the male gender. Exactly how many women in our world are extremely poor? Here is a section of the report that captures it:
One in every 10 women is living in extreme poverty (10.3 per cent). If current trends continue, by 2030, an estimated 8 per cent of the world’s female population – 342.4 million women and girls – will still be living on less than $2.15 a day source
The above stat makes for grim reading but that is currently the situation on ground. It is understandable because women are often discriminated against in the job sector for example. Most industries often prefer the men to do most jobs than women. A survey of major leading industries such as the IT sector would show that majority of the roles are filled by the male gender.
As more women struggle to find job opportunities even in industries where they have been professionally trained, it becomes difficult for them to make any decent living. The benefits of being gainfully employed such as a living wage and numerous work benefits are deprived of many women in the labor markets. These are conditions that have plunged many women into deeper poverty as they above stats from UN Women rightly portrays it.
Consider another area of economy where women are often lagging behind than men. Many now call it the digital divide. Its basically describes a condition in which some of the world population have access to digital technology such as mobile phones while others are simply cut off. While technology is growing and evolving mainly in developed economies, many do not have access to this basic amenity in developing countries. How do women far in the digital divide compared to men? Below is another stat from the UN Women report.
The digital divide remains a gendered one with 37 per cent of women globally not using the internet, meaning 259 million fewer women have access to the internet than men source
Its a big figure up there. 259 million more men are using the internet than the women. With lots of income opportunities like blockchain technology dependent on internet access, these millions of women would have missed out on the opportunities and this would simply put them at more economic disadvantage than men. This same issue is very prominent in other aspects of digital technology.
Unfortunately, digital technology remains one of the sectors that are overwhelmingly dominated by men. Taking a look at the boards of major tech companies today tells the whole story about women in technology. These companies are often headed by a man. As regards the board where all the decisions are made, men still make up a large number than women. There is still another aspect of the digital divide that sees women trailing men - banking.
Access to banking and financial products is often out of the reach of more women than men. Even in economies that are considered developed, the story is just the same. Here is a section of the report that captures it:
In developing economies, the gender gap stands at 6 per cent per cent while globally it sits at 4 per cent with 78 per cent of men reporting having an account at a formal financial institution compared to 74 per cent of women source
Even the rise in prominence of Neo banks and other digital only financial services have not helped to close the gap considerable. Of the millions of the worlds unbanked, more of them are women. The economic challenges seem to intertwin understandably. For example, if more women do not have equal access to employment, then they will likely not have the means to afford some digital technologies like the internet. And when they are not gainfully employed in a formal institution, then there are chances some of these women will not be able to have a bank account.
How do we address these challenges as pointed out by the UN Women report?
The world would be better if more women work
Here is a stat which supports the idea that we are better off if more women have equal capacity to bring value to the economy:
Women’s economic empowerment increases economic diversification and income equality for shared prosperity. It is estimated that closing the gender gap could give the global economy a USD 7 trillion boost source
$7,000,000,000,000 global economic boost if more women work? That is a significant number by all standards, isn't it? So where do we begin to address this huge challenge?
Gender equality in the job sector has been identified as a great place to improve women's potential for adding greater economic value to the society. Give women and ladies more job opportunities and decent employment. Should some sectors or industries be restricted to the male gender? That is currently the situation on ground. Its a kind of unwritten rule. During job interviews, women are often screened out even before they have a chance to speak because of their gender.
Maybe government policies in the job sector needs to be revisited and amended. The government might make policies that directly or indirectly promote having more women in the workforce. For example, a policy might establish the male-to-female ratio of any workforce. Having a closer or possibly an equal number of women as men in any workforce would be effort in the right direction. Such government policies might indirectly make this possible by offering more opportunities to partner, or providing more aid to such organization where women are reasonably represented in the workforce.
Another way to empower more women to become valuable contributors in the economy is through education. Young boys and men have more opportunities to go to school that women. This has also caused the number of illiterate women and young girls to have a wide margin compared to men and boys. So everyone should take the education of young women as priority. They should not be reserved to managers of the home. A woman that is properly educated would bring more value in the society. They have a higher chance of securing good jobs and accessing social protection.
Finally
The UN Women report has highlighted areas of need if which should not be ignored. The more women there are that are empowered economically, the better our societies and world at large.
Note: Thumbnail edited from Pixabay