This document discusses women's economic empowerment in Southeast Asia and the role of financial inclusion in advancing women's participation in markets. It finds that while women help drive local economies as entrepreneurs, employees and consumers, they often face legal and social barriers that limit their agency and ability to access markets. Country contexts like laws, culture, infrastructure and inequality levels shape women's market participation differently. The document advocates for strategies that address both increasing women's agency and making markets more accessible, while considering global changes and each country's situation. Improving access to financial services is seen as having potential to catalyze greater inclusion of women in real economies and markets.
Background paper on gender responsive financial inclusion in africaDr. Jack Onyisi Abebe
This background paper highlights the current situation regarding gender responsive financial inclusion in Africa. It also highlights the key barriers that contribute towards creating and sustaining the gender gap in financial inclusion, including collateral challenges; the gender-blind approach to financial inclusion by financial institutions; asset ownership challenges among women; uncompetitive and high interest rates and bank charges offered by financial institutions; poor documentation and business history for accessing financial loan products by women entrepreneurs; challenges of formalization of businesses by women entrepreneurs among others. The paper also outlines concrete actions that all stakeholders and duty bearers should take to address the gender gap in financial inclusion in Africa.
This paper reports that financial inclusion for women, specifically access and usage of financial services and products is increasingly attracting great attention. Research and data reveal a trend in reducing the gender gap in access to and utilization of financial services with the introduction of digital literacy and mobile financial services and products in Africa. Although women are lagging behind men, women’s participation in financial inclusion has improved economic growth and better living standards in society. A synopsis is given of entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in Africa and of the methods through which financially excluded women could explore to improve their participation and benefit. Financial position and participation of women in financial inclusion were the focus of discussions by different actors, women entrepreneurs and stakeholders in a workshop gathering at the SEED Africa symposium held in Nairobi in 2016. The substance of the background paper is drawn from those discussions. The emerging good practices and innovative solutions together with the valued comments from participants are published herewith.
Enhancing Women’s Access to Markets: An Overview of Donor Programs and Best ...Dr Lendy Spires
“It is necessary to take a multi-dimensional perspective on poverty reduction. This includes ‘bottom-up growth strategies’ to encourage the broad-based rise of entrepreneurial initiatives” (UNIDO 2003:9). Women are a significant economic entrepreneurial force whose contributions to local, national and global economies are far reaching.
Women produce and consume, manage businesses and households, earn income, hire labor, borrow and save, and provide a range of services for businesses and workers. Women also produce more than 80 percent of the food consumed in Sub-Saharan Africa, 50-60 percent of all staples in Asia, and generate 30 percent of all food consumed in Latin America (see Annex 2, Box 8).
Women represent an increasing proportion of the world’s waged labor force and their activity rates are rising. In Africa, Asia, and Latin America, they are over one third of the officially enumerated workforce (WISTAT 2000). Women-run businesses can be found in emerging sectors such as the production and marketing of consumer goods, commercial banking, financial services, insurance, information services, communications, and transport.
As owners of SMEs, women furnish local, national and multinational companies with ideas, technology, supplies, components, and business services (Jalbert 2000). These activities are likely to prove fundamental as developing economies transition from primarily agricultural to industrial production and become more urbanized. Furthermore, as economies liberalize and open their borders, women-owned and operated SMEs are engaging in international trade—enhancing the prominence and visibility of women entrepreneurs globally.
Understanding how women access markets as producers and wage laborers is likely to prove critical for fostering pro-poor and inclusive economic growth. Analyzing where women are in the global supply chain and documenting the resources they use and transform will provide information about how to strengthen local economies and maximize forward and backward linkages.
Finally, reducing barriers to market access and enhancing women’s productivity will necessarily benefit both economies and households. Entrepreneurship and investment influence the rate and pattern of growth, the types of forward and backward linkages that develop in an economy, the labor demanded, and the human capital investment required to meet these labor demands (Ravallion 2004; Ranis, Stewart, and Ramírez 2000). Rapid growth can contribute to poverty reduction where that growth is broad-based and inclusive (OECD 2004).
As a part of a communications course at the University of Minnesota, Herbert B. Ferguson-Augustus researched the Chinese aid system in Africa. Specifically, he researched the distribution of aid disbursements across the continent, African perspectives on Chinese foreign aid and case studies on Chinese aid policy in Ghana, Angola, South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia. The full report on these findings can be found here.
The focus of this Issue Brief is to explore to what extent youth volunteerism
contributes to the economic empowerment of young people in Asia and the
Pacific, due to the skills which may have been developed during volunteering.
The Brief is a result of a desk study on volunteering and youth unemployment and
underemployment throughout the region, accompanied by a number of interviews
with current and former volunteers.
The Issue Brief first breaks down the challenges of youth unemployment,
underemployment and informality in Asia and Pacific, as well as rapidly changing
skill requirements, which are barriers for young people entering the labor market.
The Brief moves on to discuss the various forms of volunteering in the region, as well
as the skills volunteers may develop during volunteering. The last section explores
which of those skills are relevant to employability and labor market access for young
people and discovers the benefits of volunteering for youth entrepreneurship.
A number of recommendations are made on employability including but not limited
to the importance of skill needs anticipation and skills development relevant for
labor market access and entrepreneurship, followed by recommendations for
volunteer serving organizations and volunteers themselves. These include, for
example, to design volunteer programmes to empower women and expose them to
new work environments and for volunteers to volunteer more strategically to expand
social capital and networks, which are crucial for finding employment in markets
dominated by informality
Report - The Prosperity Index In Africahamishbanks
Entrepreneurs play a key role in fostering wealth and wellbeing for ordinary Africans; entrepreneurs are "enablers of growth" who break down economic barriers and social constraints.
Ellie Howard travelled to Amman, Jordan in 2012 shadowing the work of Microfund for Women, both in the office and in the field. As well as completing an entry to the Grameen Jameel awards, and carrying out desk research, Ellie interviewed various staff within the organisation.
Content is also derived from interviews with other organisations in the region such as FINCA and Jordanian Insurance Company.
Ellie_howard@hotmail.co.uk
This document provides a definition, framework, and indicators for measuring women's economic empowerment. It defines economic empowerment as having both the ability to succeed economically and the power to make economic decisions. A framework is presented that shows economic empowerment has two components - economic advancement and power/agency - that are interrelated. Projects can address empowerment by enhancing resources or changing norms/institutions. The document concludes by outlining reach, economic advancement, and power/agency indicators that could be measured at the individual/household and community/institutional levels.
The document discusses the global challenge of youth unemployment, with over 400 million new jobs needed in the next decade. Asia and the Pacific account for over half of unemployed youth worldwide. Support is needed for youth beyond just jobs or training, including strengthening financial capabilities and encouraging entrepreneurship to stimulate economic growth. Effective policies couple financial education with support for youth entrepreneurship initiatives. Direct youth engagement through programs promoting financial literacy and entrepreneurship can complement government policies.
Background paper on gender responsive financial inclusion in africaDr. Jack Onyisi Abebe
This background paper highlights the current situation regarding gender responsive financial inclusion in Africa. It also highlights the key barriers that contribute towards creating and sustaining the gender gap in financial inclusion, including collateral challenges; the gender-blind approach to financial inclusion by financial institutions; asset ownership challenges among women; uncompetitive and high interest rates and bank charges offered by financial institutions; poor documentation and business history for accessing financial loan products by women entrepreneurs; challenges of formalization of businesses by women entrepreneurs among others. The paper also outlines concrete actions that all stakeholders and duty bearers should take to address the gender gap in financial inclusion in Africa.
This paper reports that financial inclusion for women, specifically access and usage of financial services and products is increasingly attracting great attention. Research and data reveal a trend in reducing the gender gap in access to and utilization of financial services with the introduction of digital literacy and mobile financial services and products in Africa. Although women are lagging behind men, women’s participation in financial inclusion has improved economic growth and better living standards in society. A synopsis is given of entrepreneurship and financial inclusion in Africa and of the methods through which financially excluded women could explore to improve their participation and benefit. Financial position and participation of women in financial inclusion were the focus of discussions by different actors, women entrepreneurs and stakeholders in a workshop gathering at the SEED Africa symposium held in Nairobi in 2016. The substance of the background paper is drawn from those discussions. The emerging good practices and innovative solutions together with the valued comments from participants are published herewith.
Enhancing Women’s Access to Markets: An Overview of Donor Programs and Best ...Dr Lendy Spires
“It is necessary to take a multi-dimensional perspective on poverty reduction. This includes ‘bottom-up growth strategies’ to encourage the broad-based rise of entrepreneurial initiatives” (UNIDO 2003:9). Women are a significant economic entrepreneurial force whose contributions to local, national and global economies are far reaching.
Women produce and consume, manage businesses and households, earn income, hire labor, borrow and save, and provide a range of services for businesses and workers. Women also produce more than 80 percent of the food consumed in Sub-Saharan Africa, 50-60 percent of all staples in Asia, and generate 30 percent of all food consumed in Latin America (see Annex 2, Box 8).
Women represent an increasing proportion of the world’s waged labor force and their activity rates are rising. In Africa, Asia, and Latin America, they are over one third of the officially enumerated workforce (WISTAT 2000). Women-run businesses can be found in emerging sectors such as the production and marketing of consumer goods, commercial banking, financial services, insurance, information services, communications, and transport.
As owners of SMEs, women furnish local, national and multinational companies with ideas, technology, supplies, components, and business services (Jalbert 2000). These activities are likely to prove fundamental as developing economies transition from primarily agricultural to industrial production and become more urbanized. Furthermore, as economies liberalize and open their borders, women-owned and operated SMEs are engaging in international trade—enhancing the prominence and visibility of women entrepreneurs globally.
Understanding how women access markets as producers and wage laborers is likely to prove critical for fostering pro-poor and inclusive economic growth. Analyzing where women are in the global supply chain and documenting the resources they use and transform will provide information about how to strengthen local economies and maximize forward and backward linkages.
Finally, reducing barriers to market access and enhancing women’s productivity will necessarily benefit both economies and households. Entrepreneurship and investment influence the rate and pattern of growth, the types of forward and backward linkages that develop in an economy, the labor demanded, and the human capital investment required to meet these labor demands (Ravallion 2004; Ranis, Stewart, and Ramírez 2000). Rapid growth can contribute to poverty reduction where that growth is broad-based and inclusive (OECD 2004).
As a part of a communications course at the University of Minnesota, Herbert B. Ferguson-Augustus researched the Chinese aid system in Africa. Specifically, he researched the distribution of aid disbursements across the continent, African perspectives on Chinese foreign aid and case studies on Chinese aid policy in Ghana, Angola, South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia. The full report on these findings can be found here.
The focus of this Issue Brief is to explore to what extent youth volunteerism
contributes to the economic empowerment of young people in Asia and the
Pacific, due to the skills which may have been developed during volunteering.
The Brief is a result of a desk study on volunteering and youth unemployment and
underemployment throughout the region, accompanied by a number of interviews
with current and former volunteers.
The Issue Brief first breaks down the challenges of youth unemployment,
underemployment and informality in Asia and Pacific, as well as rapidly changing
skill requirements, which are barriers for young people entering the labor market.
The Brief moves on to discuss the various forms of volunteering in the region, as well
as the skills volunteers may develop during volunteering. The last section explores
which of those skills are relevant to employability and labor market access for young
people and discovers the benefits of volunteering for youth entrepreneurship.
A number of recommendations are made on employability including but not limited
to the importance of skill needs anticipation and skills development relevant for
labor market access and entrepreneurship, followed by recommendations for
volunteer serving organizations and volunteers themselves. These include, for
example, to design volunteer programmes to empower women and expose them to
new work environments and for volunteers to volunteer more strategically to expand
social capital and networks, which are crucial for finding employment in markets
dominated by informality
Report - The Prosperity Index In Africahamishbanks
Entrepreneurs play a key role in fostering wealth and wellbeing for ordinary Africans; entrepreneurs are "enablers of growth" who break down economic barriers and social constraints.
Ellie Howard travelled to Amman, Jordan in 2012 shadowing the work of Microfund for Women, both in the office and in the field. As well as completing an entry to the Grameen Jameel awards, and carrying out desk research, Ellie interviewed various staff within the organisation.
Content is also derived from interviews with other organisations in the region such as FINCA and Jordanian Insurance Company.
Ellie_howard@hotmail.co.uk
This document provides a definition, framework, and indicators for measuring women's economic empowerment. It defines economic empowerment as having both the ability to succeed economically and the power to make economic decisions. A framework is presented that shows economic empowerment has two components - economic advancement and power/agency - that are interrelated. Projects can address empowerment by enhancing resources or changing norms/institutions. The document concludes by outlining reach, economic advancement, and power/agency indicators that could be measured at the individual/household and community/institutional levels.
The document discusses the global challenge of youth unemployment, with over 400 million new jobs needed in the next decade. Asia and the Pacific account for over half of unemployed youth worldwide. Support is needed for youth beyond just jobs or training, including strengthening financial capabilities and encouraging entrepreneurship to stimulate economic growth. Effective policies couple financial education with support for youth entrepreneurship initiatives. Direct youth engagement through programs promoting financial literacy and entrepreneurship can complement government policies.
World Bank Africa Development Forum 20 in 5Chichi Osuagwu
The document summarizes the Africa Development Forum book series, which is sponsored by Agence Française de Développement and the World Bank. The series focuses on issues relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa's economic and social development. It aims to both document specific topics and contribute to policy debates. The books in the series examine a wide range of issues related to development in Africa and provide research that is useful for practitioners, scholars, and students. Some example book topics mentioned include agriculture, infrastructure, gender, youth employment, and urbanization.
Educational qualifications of entrepreneurs and performance in small and medi...ResearchWap
ABSTRACT
The study examined the effect of educational qualifications on entrepreneurs and performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. In this study, relevant and extensive literatures were reviewed under sub-headings. The descriptive research survey was used in the assessment of the opinions of the selected respondents with the adoption of the questionnaire and the sampling technique. A total of 100 (One Hundred) respondents were selected and used as samples for this study, the respondents were made up of (50 males and 50 females). A total of four null hypotheses were generated and used in this study using both the percentage frequency counts and the t-test statistical tools at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the data analyses, the following results were generated: hypothesis one found that there is a significant effect of educational qualifications and performance of entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises in Lagos State Nigeria, hypothesis two showed that there is a significant gender difference in the management of small and medium scale enterprises due to educational qualifications of the entrepreneurs in Lagos State while hypothesis three indicated that the effective management of small and medium scale enterprises significantly depend on the educational qualifications of the entrepreneurs in Lagos State, Nigeria and finally, hypothesis four revealed that there is a significant gender difference in the successful management of small and medium scale enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria
Over 300 stakeholders from 12 countries representing the private sector, government, training institutions, academia, philanthropy, and youth attended the Impact Sourcing (IS) Conference held on November 13th and 14th at the Polo Club in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The event was hosted by Rockefeller Foundation Africa regional office Managing Director Mamadou Biteye and the Digital Jobs Africa Team, and was officially opened by Dr. Edmund Katiti, director of the Africa Program for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
The document summarizes the UN-HABITAT Youth Fund, which provides grants of up to $5,000 or $25,000 to support youth-led urban development projects. The fund aims to empower youth, alleviate poverty, support innovative ideas, and promote training and entrepreneurship. It has an annual budget of $1 million. The application deadline is April 15, 2010. Projects must involve youth ages 15-32 and be led by registered non-profit organizations in cities with over 10,000 inhabitants.
The document discusses constraints to women entrepreneurs' access to microfinance in South-South Nigeria. It identifies four main constraint factors through exploratory factor analysis: 1) Technical factors like transportation costs, lack of trust, and short payback periods. 2) Economic factors such as high interest rates and limited loan amounts. 3) Managerial factors including low loan accessibility and discretionary loan amounts. 4) Social factors such as distance, securing guarantors, and too many loan applications. The study suggests reducing interest rates, increasing access in rural areas, relaxing loan conditions, and prioritizing loans for women entrepreneurs.
The Gender Talk Group (GTG) is a program launched by MADE Nigeria to address socio-cultural constraints limiting women's participation in economic opportunities. The GTG brings together women and men farmers/entrepreneurs to discuss these issues and find solutions. Interviews with participants found that the GTG has helped empower women by providing a platform to build skills and networks, navigate barriers like limited access to resources, and gain influence over decisions. While challenges remain like access to land and inputs, women reported increased incomes, knowledge, and ability to start their own businesses from participation. The flexible discussion-based model was seen as an effective way to sustainably improve women's economic conditions.
Over the course of 2017-2019, the Ye! Community undertook a series of activities in partnership with Mastercard
Foundation. This impact report details the project activities and its outcomes.
Women’s Economic Empowerment Network A Practitioner’s GuideDr Lendy Spires
This document provides a summary of issues related to women's economic empowerment globally and in the United States. It discusses barriers women face in attaining economic potential in both developing and developed nations. These barriers include lack of access to education, credit, and difficulties balancing family responsibilities with work. The document also outlines business cases for why companies should engage in promoting women's economic empowerment, such as expanding the talent pool and enabling greater economic growth. Major areas of focus are highlighted, including poverty, education access, financial literacy, and credit access.
Africa c review meeting on beijing+20 at uneca for africa in addis ababa, eth...Dr Lendy Spires
The document summarizes a meeting of 190 civil society organizations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss progress on implementing the Beijing Platform for Action from the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. The meeting aimed to review progress made in the past 20 years, validate a draft CSO shadow report, prepare an advocacy position statement, and develop strategies for financing sustainable development and advocating for women's rights. Participants discussed ensuring women's rights and gender equality are integrated into post-2015 development and financing for development processes from a feminist perspective.
Over the past century, The Rockefeller Foundation has remained true to the pursuit of health access for all mankind. We have helped to build and develop schools of medicine and public health, contributed to new medicines and treatments that helped cure patients and advanced the field of health. Our long history has given the foundation a unique place in the field of global health. We have the ability and privilege to convene great minds, catalyze new initiatives, identify new opportunities and increase global health and wellbeing.
This document presents a consultation draft of a proposed International Public Sector Governance Framework developed by CIPFA and IFAC. It aims to promote good governance in the public sector by establishing benchmark principles. The framework takes a whole-system approach and defines seven principles for good governance: strong commitment to integrity and ethical values; openness and stakeholder engagement; defining outcomes in terms of sustainable benefits; determining interventions to achieve outcomes; developing capacity; managing risks and performance; and transparency and reporting. The document provides commentary and examples for applying each principle. It seeks public comments on the framework.
This presentation, given at the 6th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF6), discussed a recent paper by Elisabeth Pruegl (“Neoliberalism with a feminist face: Crafting a new hegemony at the World Bank,” Feminist Economics, 2016) on the World Bank’s approaches to gender equality. Starting in 2001, empirical attempts to establish that economic growth and gender equality (and poverty reduction) were positively correlated produced mixed results: some studies supported the correlation, others contradicted it or gave ambivalent answers. The Bank then turned to micro-level studies, e.g., of institutions such as markets that had failed women. Should women be changed or markets and other social institutions be changed? The presentations at GAF6 reflected some of the possible answers to these questions. If women are considered unequal because of their different endowments, overcoming the gender gap with interventions to help women to compete can help, as illustrated by the participatory projects described by Supaporn Anuchiracheeva in the Earth Net Foundation, Thailand, and the Myanmar agribusiness skills training described by Ram Bhujel. Many presentations also addressed giving women greater voice, rights and negotiating power. Roel Bosma concluded that mass media communication needs to be used to enhance profound changes in norms, values and attitudes of men, before gender equality can be reached. Conversely, GAF6 participants often talked about markets and the economy as absolutes, e.g., lamenting but not challenging the low prices women receive in wages, and accepting the fish price as a financial fact, rather than as a constructed negotiable factor. Pruegl concluded that the World Bank’s emerging “modified kind of neoliberalism produces substantial openings” because it starts to address also the “coercively gendered institutions” previously treated as private, such as the family and care giving. In the new approach, the actors may become more embodied, less abstract. Susana Siar’spresentations on Costa Rica cockle harvesters and Amonrat Sermwatanakul’s social media marketing of Siamese fighting fish both revealed the embodied power of women’s agency. As fisheries and aquaculture are certainly about markets, and many at GAF6 stressed the need for a fish value chain approach, making markets for fish, for labor, enterprises, etc., work for women appear as worthwhile spaces for research and action in achieving gender equality.
The solutions for socioeconomic development are no longer only in the public sector. Latin America has changed dramatically over the last decade, and the private sector can play an increasingly important role in the region’s progress. That’s where social impact investing comes in—a way that investors can make money while doing social good.
The White House has appointed a social innovation czar and the Inter-American Development Bank is doing work every day in this expanding arena. Is social impact investing one of the keys that will finally unlock the region’s intractable inequality?
In this new Latin America Center analysis, released today, Adrienne Arsht Center Senior Non-Resident Fellow Gabriel Zinny dissects how businesses, governments, and multilateral institutions can better provide goods and services to the underserved while making money.
Read this and key recommendations for accelerating the sector here:
• Formalize it. A clear, market-based legal system enforced by a solid judiciary branch is fundamental to attracting impact investments.
• Seed it. Governments should subsidize a measure of the often-lacking venture-stage capital for projects, especially when the entrepreneurs come from less-affluent communities.
• Decentralize it. Local governments should be viewed as public sector partners as they often have more flexibility to spur private social enterprise.
• Read more here…
WCA Webinar 5: Fair Trade for Women Producersccanepa
This document summarizes a webinar on the role of collective enterprises for women producers to access fair trade markets. It finds that organizing collectively offers economic and social benefits, including increased income, bargaining power, and knowledge sharing. Through case studies, it identifies success factors like strong leadership, a shared vision, and commercial success through value-addition and quality control. Challenges include women's limited participation and a lack of government support. The webinar concludes there is a need for policies recognizing women informal workers and a rights-based approach to support their enterprises.
The document summarizes the World Bank's womenx program, which aims to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries. It does this by providing business education, networking opportunities, mentorship, and help accessing financial services. The goal is to expand business opportunities for women, increase productivity and revenue of women-led businesses, and create more jobs. The program will be funded by a $100 million multi-donor trust fund and aims to reach 100,000 women entrepreneurs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the Philippine economy. GDP contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2020 and is projected to decline by 3-4% for the full year. Many businesses have been forced to close, especially in tourism and hospitality. Successfully navigating short-term challenges will not guarantee future success as the post-pandemic world will be very different. The government needs to contain the virus spread through education campaigns and travel restrictions. Changing public behaviors around physical distancing and masks is also key. International cooperation is critical to combat the pandemic until all countries are safe.
Youth unemployment and underemployment remain disproportionately high globally despite economic growth. Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people will enter the global labor market, requiring efficient policies to tackle structural unemployment and create opportunities. Education is critical to developing a skilled workforce for interconnected economies, but new strategies are needed to prepare youth for future challenges through education and training. The document discusses dimensions of the issue including education, youth unemployment, gender differences, urban migration, and international migration.
Aura Supports a Global Push for Financial Gender Equality with The Jeeranont & United Nation.
#womanempowerment,#unwoman,#aurawoman,#thejeeranontwoman,#womanthejeeranont,#ornusa,#ornusajeeranont,
Report : https://www.aurasolutioncompanylimited.com/…/aura-supports-…
Learn more : https://www.thejeeranont.com/culture-society
How fintechs can profit from the female economy finalChesca Garcia
From the Financial Alliance from Women:
This report is based on research with 168 fintechs and 30 investors and other
ecosystem actors from 43 countries. We would like to thank the research respondents
for their time in openly sharing and contributing to the survey.
The Financial Alliance would like to acknowledge Syed Musheer Ahmed and Yosha
Gupta from Finstep Asia, who conducted the research and provided sectoral insights
and the Alliance team who worked on this study: Inez Murray, Karyl Akilian, Rebecca
Ruf, Carine Fersan and Tessa Ruben. We also acknowledge Luba Vangelova, Olivia
LaBarre, and Ernie Agtarap for their role in the production of this report.
Financial inclusion and women investment in low income countries.pptxDorcasPAGAL
Présentation d'un Projet pour appel à financement à une conférence internationale organisée par le Patnership for Economic Policy. Ce projet fait aujourd'hui l'objet d'unn travail d'article qui sera soumis dans une revue à Comité d'auteur
This document provides an overview and guidance for designing programs to promote women's financial inclusion. It discusses why financial inclusion is important for growth and poverty reduction, especially for women. The key steps outlined are: 1) Scoping issues through assessments of gender inequality, barriers to access, and baseline data; 2) Designing the project vision, goals, partners, and activities; 3) Implementation considerations around governance, partners, and management; 4) Monitoring and evaluating the project through indicators and impact assessments. The overall aim is to empower women economically by enhancing access to appropriate financial services and products.
World Bank Africa Development Forum 20 in 5Chichi Osuagwu
The document summarizes the Africa Development Forum book series, which is sponsored by Agence Française de Développement and the World Bank. The series focuses on issues relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa's economic and social development. It aims to both document specific topics and contribute to policy debates. The books in the series examine a wide range of issues related to development in Africa and provide research that is useful for practitioners, scholars, and students. Some example book topics mentioned include agriculture, infrastructure, gender, youth employment, and urbanization.
Educational qualifications of entrepreneurs and performance in small and medi...ResearchWap
ABSTRACT
The study examined the effect of educational qualifications on entrepreneurs and performance of small and medium scale enterprises in Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. In this study, relevant and extensive literatures were reviewed under sub-headings. The descriptive research survey was used in the assessment of the opinions of the selected respondents with the adoption of the questionnaire and the sampling technique. A total of 100 (One Hundred) respondents were selected and used as samples for this study, the respondents were made up of (50 males and 50 females). A total of four null hypotheses were generated and used in this study using both the percentage frequency counts and the t-test statistical tools at 0.05 level of significance. At the end of the data analyses, the following results were generated: hypothesis one found that there is a significant effect of educational qualifications and performance of entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises in Lagos State Nigeria, hypothesis two showed that there is a significant gender difference in the management of small and medium scale enterprises due to educational qualifications of the entrepreneurs in Lagos State while hypothesis three indicated that the effective management of small and medium scale enterprises significantly depend on the educational qualifications of the entrepreneurs in Lagos State, Nigeria and finally, hypothesis four revealed that there is a significant gender difference in the successful management of small and medium scale enterprises in Lagos State, Nigeria
Over 300 stakeholders from 12 countries representing the private sector, government, training institutions, academia, philanthropy, and youth attended the Impact Sourcing (IS) Conference held on November 13th and 14th at the Polo Club in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The event was hosted by Rockefeller Foundation Africa regional office Managing Director Mamadou Biteye and the Digital Jobs Africa Team, and was officially opened by Dr. Edmund Katiti, director of the Africa Program for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).
The document summarizes the UN-HABITAT Youth Fund, which provides grants of up to $5,000 or $25,000 to support youth-led urban development projects. The fund aims to empower youth, alleviate poverty, support innovative ideas, and promote training and entrepreneurship. It has an annual budget of $1 million. The application deadline is April 15, 2010. Projects must involve youth ages 15-32 and be led by registered non-profit organizations in cities with over 10,000 inhabitants.
The document discusses constraints to women entrepreneurs' access to microfinance in South-South Nigeria. It identifies four main constraint factors through exploratory factor analysis: 1) Technical factors like transportation costs, lack of trust, and short payback periods. 2) Economic factors such as high interest rates and limited loan amounts. 3) Managerial factors including low loan accessibility and discretionary loan amounts. 4) Social factors such as distance, securing guarantors, and too many loan applications. The study suggests reducing interest rates, increasing access in rural areas, relaxing loan conditions, and prioritizing loans for women entrepreneurs.
The Gender Talk Group (GTG) is a program launched by MADE Nigeria to address socio-cultural constraints limiting women's participation in economic opportunities. The GTG brings together women and men farmers/entrepreneurs to discuss these issues and find solutions. Interviews with participants found that the GTG has helped empower women by providing a platform to build skills and networks, navigate barriers like limited access to resources, and gain influence over decisions. While challenges remain like access to land and inputs, women reported increased incomes, knowledge, and ability to start their own businesses from participation. The flexible discussion-based model was seen as an effective way to sustainably improve women's economic conditions.
Over the course of 2017-2019, the Ye! Community undertook a series of activities in partnership with Mastercard
Foundation. This impact report details the project activities and its outcomes.
Women’s Economic Empowerment Network A Practitioner’s GuideDr Lendy Spires
This document provides a summary of issues related to women's economic empowerment globally and in the United States. It discusses barriers women face in attaining economic potential in both developing and developed nations. These barriers include lack of access to education, credit, and difficulties balancing family responsibilities with work. The document also outlines business cases for why companies should engage in promoting women's economic empowerment, such as expanding the talent pool and enabling greater economic growth. Major areas of focus are highlighted, including poverty, education access, financial literacy, and credit access.
Africa c review meeting on beijing+20 at uneca for africa in addis ababa, eth...Dr Lendy Spires
The document summarizes a meeting of 190 civil society organizations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss progress on implementing the Beijing Platform for Action from the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. The meeting aimed to review progress made in the past 20 years, validate a draft CSO shadow report, prepare an advocacy position statement, and develop strategies for financing sustainable development and advocating for women's rights. Participants discussed ensuring women's rights and gender equality are integrated into post-2015 development and financing for development processes from a feminist perspective.
Over the past century, The Rockefeller Foundation has remained true to the pursuit of health access for all mankind. We have helped to build and develop schools of medicine and public health, contributed to new medicines and treatments that helped cure patients and advanced the field of health. Our long history has given the foundation a unique place in the field of global health. We have the ability and privilege to convene great minds, catalyze new initiatives, identify new opportunities and increase global health and wellbeing.
This document presents a consultation draft of a proposed International Public Sector Governance Framework developed by CIPFA and IFAC. It aims to promote good governance in the public sector by establishing benchmark principles. The framework takes a whole-system approach and defines seven principles for good governance: strong commitment to integrity and ethical values; openness and stakeholder engagement; defining outcomes in terms of sustainable benefits; determining interventions to achieve outcomes; developing capacity; managing risks and performance; and transparency and reporting. The document provides commentary and examples for applying each principle. It seeks public comments on the framework.
This presentation, given at the 6th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF6), discussed a recent paper by Elisabeth Pruegl (“Neoliberalism with a feminist face: Crafting a new hegemony at the World Bank,” Feminist Economics, 2016) on the World Bank’s approaches to gender equality. Starting in 2001, empirical attempts to establish that economic growth and gender equality (and poverty reduction) were positively correlated produced mixed results: some studies supported the correlation, others contradicted it or gave ambivalent answers. The Bank then turned to micro-level studies, e.g., of institutions such as markets that had failed women. Should women be changed or markets and other social institutions be changed? The presentations at GAF6 reflected some of the possible answers to these questions. If women are considered unequal because of their different endowments, overcoming the gender gap with interventions to help women to compete can help, as illustrated by the participatory projects described by Supaporn Anuchiracheeva in the Earth Net Foundation, Thailand, and the Myanmar agribusiness skills training described by Ram Bhujel. Many presentations also addressed giving women greater voice, rights and negotiating power. Roel Bosma concluded that mass media communication needs to be used to enhance profound changes in norms, values and attitudes of men, before gender equality can be reached. Conversely, GAF6 participants often talked about markets and the economy as absolutes, e.g., lamenting but not challenging the low prices women receive in wages, and accepting the fish price as a financial fact, rather than as a constructed negotiable factor. Pruegl concluded that the World Bank’s emerging “modified kind of neoliberalism produces substantial openings” because it starts to address also the “coercively gendered institutions” previously treated as private, such as the family and care giving. In the new approach, the actors may become more embodied, less abstract. Susana Siar’spresentations on Costa Rica cockle harvesters and Amonrat Sermwatanakul’s social media marketing of Siamese fighting fish both revealed the embodied power of women’s agency. As fisheries and aquaculture are certainly about markets, and many at GAF6 stressed the need for a fish value chain approach, making markets for fish, for labor, enterprises, etc., work for women appear as worthwhile spaces for research and action in achieving gender equality.
The solutions for socioeconomic development are no longer only in the public sector. Latin America has changed dramatically over the last decade, and the private sector can play an increasingly important role in the region’s progress. That’s where social impact investing comes in—a way that investors can make money while doing social good.
The White House has appointed a social innovation czar and the Inter-American Development Bank is doing work every day in this expanding arena. Is social impact investing one of the keys that will finally unlock the region’s intractable inequality?
In this new Latin America Center analysis, released today, Adrienne Arsht Center Senior Non-Resident Fellow Gabriel Zinny dissects how businesses, governments, and multilateral institutions can better provide goods and services to the underserved while making money.
Read this and key recommendations for accelerating the sector here:
• Formalize it. A clear, market-based legal system enforced by a solid judiciary branch is fundamental to attracting impact investments.
• Seed it. Governments should subsidize a measure of the often-lacking venture-stage capital for projects, especially when the entrepreneurs come from less-affluent communities.
• Decentralize it. Local governments should be viewed as public sector partners as they often have more flexibility to spur private social enterprise.
• Read more here…
WCA Webinar 5: Fair Trade for Women Producersccanepa
This document summarizes a webinar on the role of collective enterprises for women producers to access fair trade markets. It finds that organizing collectively offers economic and social benefits, including increased income, bargaining power, and knowledge sharing. Through case studies, it identifies success factors like strong leadership, a shared vision, and commercial success through value-addition and quality control. Challenges include women's limited participation and a lack of government support. The webinar concludes there is a need for policies recognizing women informal workers and a rights-based approach to support their enterprises.
The document summarizes the World Bank's womenx program, which aims to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries. It does this by providing business education, networking opportunities, mentorship, and help accessing financial services. The goal is to expand business opportunities for women, increase productivity and revenue of women-led businesses, and create more jobs. The program will be funded by a $100 million multi-donor trust fund and aims to reach 100,000 women entrepreneurs.
The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the Philippine economy. GDP contracted by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2020 and is projected to decline by 3-4% for the full year. Many businesses have been forced to close, especially in tourism and hospitality. Successfully navigating short-term challenges will not guarantee future success as the post-pandemic world will be very different. The government needs to contain the virus spread through education campaigns and travel restrictions. Changing public behaviors around physical distancing and masks is also key. International cooperation is critical to combat the pandemic until all countries are safe.
Youth unemployment and underemployment remain disproportionately high globally despite economic growth. Over the next decade, 1.2 billion young people will enter the global labor market, requiring efficient policies to tackle structural unemployment and create opportunities. Education is critical to developing a skilled workforce for interconnected economies, but new strategies are needed to prepare youth for future challenges through education and training. The document discusses dimensions of the issue including education, youth unemployment, gender differences, urban migration, and international migration.
Aura Supports a Global Push for Financial Gender Equality with The Jeeranont & United Nation.
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Learn more : https://www.thejeeranont.com/culture-society
How fintechs can profit from the female economy finalChesca Garcia
From the Financial Alliance from Women:
This report is based on research with 168 fintechs and 30 investors and other
ecosystem actors from 43 countries. We would like to thank the research respondents
for their time in openly sharing and contributing to the survey.
The Financial Alliance would like to acknowledge Syed Musheer Ahmed and Yosha
Gupta from Finstep Asia, who conducted the research and provided sectoral insights
and the Alliance team who worked on this study: Inez Murray, Karyl Akilian, Rebecca
Ruf, Carine Fersan and Tessa Ruben. We also acknowledge Luba Vangelova, Olivia
LaBarre, and Ernie Agtarap for their role in the production of this report.
Financial inclusion and women investment in low income countries.pptxDorcasPAGAL
Présentation d'un Projet pour appel à financement à une conférence internationale organisée par le Patnership for Economic Policy. Ce projet fait aujourd'hui l'objet d'unn travail d'article qui sera soumis dans une revue à Comité d'auteur
This document provides an overview and guidance for designing programs to promote women's financial inclusion. It discusses why financial inclusion is important for growth and poverty reduction, especially for women. The key steps outlined are: 1) Scoping issues through assessments of gender inequality, barriers to access, and baseline data; 2) Designing the project vision, goals, partners, and activities; 3) Implementation considerations around governance, partners, and management; 4) Monitoring and evaluating the project through indicators and impact assessments. The overall aim is to empower women economically by enhancing access to appropriate financial services and products.
5 Role of coops in economic development.pptxjo bitonio
This document discusses the important role of cooperatives in promoting economic development and reducing poverty. It notes that cooperatives provide microfinance services and access to credit for small businesses and farmers. This helps stimulate rural economies and supports the success of micro, small and medium enterprises. The document also emphasizes that cooperatives empower communities and represent an alternative economic model that places people and social goals over profit.
5 Role of coops in Economic Development.pptxjo bitonio
This document discusses the important role of cooperatives in promoting economic development and reducing poverty. It notes that cooperatives provide microfinance services and access to credit for small businesses and farmers. This helps stimulate rural economies and supports the success of micro, small and medium enterprises. The document also emphasizes that cooperatives empower communities and represent an alternative economic model that places people and social goals over profit.
Women Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Viet NamTri Dung, Tran
The document summarizes the women's entrepreneurship ecosystem in Vietnam. It discusses how the ecosystem is growing, with policymakers like Vietnam's Women Union and Agency for Enterprise Development working to promote women's economic participation and businesses. Other stakeholders provide services like training, mentoring, and access to markets and financing to help women entrepreneurs and small business owners. While services are available nationwide, most private providers are located in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The ecosystem sees opportunities for improved collaboration between government agencies, non-profits, and private sector organizations to better support women entrepreneurs in Vietnam.
Local government practices and approaches towards the informal economyDr Lendy Spires
Over the last decade, both national and local governments have realised that the informal economy has become a crucial factor in economic development, particularly in developing and emerging countries, and that it offers significant job and income generation opportunities. Therefore, policy frameworks and strategies aimed at the informal economy must be developed, without hampering the potential of the sector for economic growth.
However, the main challenge is to develop innovative, inclusive and supportive policies that recognise the value of the informal economy and the people working in this field. This report presents six learning examples from Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania on how local governments are engaging with the informal economy in different ways, using different approaches and methods. Although not every initiative is a success story right from the beginning, the presented case studies clearly illustrate that municipalities and city councils across the continent have started to recognise the importance of the informal economy and that its negation is often impeding economic growth and sustainable livelihoods.
Both successful and less successful initiatives provide valuable lessons for local governments across the continent dealing with the informal economy. The case of Muthurwa Market in Nairobi, Kenya This case examines the Muthurwa market in Nairobi, a USD 9 million project anticipated to be the largest market in East and Central Africa at the time of its construction. It assesses the potentials and challenges of the common approach of constructing markets as a solution for the hawkers ’problem’. The case study concludes that although building markets for street vendors is a good approach, it is not an end in itself.
Muthurwa shows that government planners and implementers need to ensure the participation of all stakeholders throughout the process of construction as well as management of a market. Delegating the management of markets to informal traders - The case of Bamako, Mali The implementation of the delegated management of markets approach in the Commune I of Bamako in Mali led to increased tax collection and established a dynamic and fruitful partnership between informal traders and the municipality. It has also helped improve the working environment of traders significantly (hygiene, sanitation, access to water etc.) in the markets where the approach was implemented.
This experience shows that it is possible to develop win-win partnerships between local authorities and the informal economy. In the case of countries such as Mali, where the whole economy is virtually informal, these types of partnerships can be catalysts for real development of the national economy because they directly contribute to the improvement of the informal economy productivity through a greater consideration of the challenges facing the sector.
This document presents six case studies that examine how local governments in various African countries are engaging with and managing the informal economy. The case studies cover initiatives in Kenya, Mali, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tanzania that showcase different local government approaches to better support the informal economy. Key lessons from the cases include the importance of stakeholder participation, developing partnerships between local authorities and informal businesses, and moving beyond evictions to more inclusive policies that recognize the value of the informal economy.
The developmental state: the nature of statal policy and institutional reformCosty Costantinos
1. The document discusses the concept of developmental states and their applicability in Africa. It analyzes the experiences of developmental states in Asia and their differences compared to African states.
2. It examines Ethiopia's potential to establish a developmental state through policy and institutional reforms. Key recommendations include enhancing the state's role in economic transformation through disciplined planning, building democratic developmental states, and ensuring state interventions avoid rent-seeking.
3. The author argues that for Ethiopia to nurture a developmental state, it needs political will and capacity for policies derived through consultation, a competent bureaucracy based on merit, and a developmentalist coalition between leadership, private sector, and civil society.
The document discusses strategies for promoting economic inclusion through entrepreneurship and market-based approaches. It defines economic inclusion as providing equal opportunities for all members of society to participate in the economy as entrepreneurs, employees, consumers and citizens. The key strategies discussed are:
1) Promoting youth entrepreneurship through reforms to education to teach entrepreneurial skills and linking training programs to actual market opportunities.
2) Supporting women's entrepreneurship, which empowers women economically and creates new sources of growth.
3) Engaging underrepresented groups like women and youth in the design of inclusion policies and programs, and ensuring they have advocacy skills and access to networks and resources.
Encouraging women entrepreneurs for jobs and development Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Today, more and more women entrepreneurs are starting businesses and they now account for a quarter to a third of all businesses in the formal economy worldwide. However, the great majority are very small or micro enterprises with little potential for growth. Otherwise, women entrepreneurs are under-represented in enterprises of all sizes, and the bigger the firm the less likely it is to be headed by a woman. Societal attitudes and social beliefs inhibit some women from even considering starting a business, while systemic barriers mean that many women entrepreneurs stay confined to very small businesses often operating in the informal economy. This not only limits their ability to earn an income for themselves and their families but restricts their full potential to contribute to socio-economic development and job creation. The World Bank’s World Development Report 2011 suggests that productivity could increase by as much as 25% in some countries if discriminatory barriers against women were removed. Removing these barriers, such as discriminatory property and inheritance laws, cultural practices, lack of access to formal financial institutions, and time constraints due to family and household responsibilities, will create greater opportunities for sustainable enterprises run by women. This in turn will contribute to women’s economic empowerment and gender equality as well as helping to generate sustainable growth and jobs. While removing barriers is essential, investment is equally vital. Investing in women is one of the most effective means of increasing equality and promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Investments in women-specific programmes can have significant knock-on effects for development, since women generally spend more of their income on the health, education and well-being of their families and communities than men do. While targeted measures can bridge the gap for women, it is also essential to remove discriminatory aspects of economic and social policies and programmes that may impede women’s full participation in the economy and society.
Trade-Winds-of-Change_Women entrepreneurs South AsiaYumiko Yamamoto
This document summarizes a study on the rise of women entrepreneurs in South Asia and barriers they face in business and trade. It finds that while micro, small and medium enterprises led by women are increasing in the region and important for economic growth, women face numerous challenges including lack of access to finance, information, markets and support networks. The study recommends gender-responsive trade policies and better access to resources and training to help women-led businesses in South Asia expand and participate more in regional and international trade.
The role of microfinance institutions in the development of small and medium ...Alexander Decker
- The document discusses the role of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ethiopia, using the Amhara Credit and Savings Institution (ACSI) as a case study.
- It aims to investigate whether ACSI helps its members develop their businesses and if members have reasonable access to microfinancing.
- The literature review covers concepts like microfinance, SME growth and development, types of microenterprises, how MFIs supply services, and factors that influence business capital structures.
Impact investment is a strategy to align the power of private markets to the social and environmental development needs of society at-large. From 2012-13, the Rockefeller Foundation, through its Impact Investing initiative, funded research in five Sub-Saharan African countries with the aim of understanding the barriers for impact investing across Africa, as well as recommending national policies to encourage the growth of the industry. This report synthesizes the findings of that work, examining the potential of impact investing as a ‘strategy of choice’ for African policymakers.
The document discusses approaches to promoting women's economic empowerment through development cooperation. It outlines barriers women face including accessing skills training, business services, and overcoming unpaid care responsibilities. Arab and DAC providers can support partner countries by addressing these challenges, such as increasing access to finance, public services, and skills training for formal employment. The document also recommends areas for Arab-DAC collaboration, including conducting joint studies, policy dialogue, and ensuring development systems track financing to support women's economic empowerment.
Unsgsa annual report 2013 knowledge and commitment into actionDr Lendy Spires
Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands has been the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development since 2009. As the leading global voice on financial inclusion, her central message is that access to financial services enables progress toward goals like job creation, equitable growth, poverty alleviation, and empowerment. In her role, Queen Máxima advocates for universal access to a variety of affordable financial products and works with stakeholders globally to share knowledge, inspire commitments, and take meaningful action to expand inclusion.
Role of business in economic developmentM S Siddiqui
Policy makers need to create structured long term funding schemes with extended moratorium periods to support young entrepreneurs in the start-up stage and smooth run of business under self-regulations with minimum bureaucratic control. The bureaucratic control is expensive and regressive of creation of new business and development of entrepreneurship.
This document discusses gender mainstreaming within the United Nations and other international organizations. It outlines how the UN has promoted gender equality and the advancement of women since the 1970s. A key milestone was the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, which established gender mainstreaming as a global strategy. The Platform calls for analyzing policies and programs from a gender perspective to understand their impact on gender inequality, poverty, and women. Mainstreaming gender into all economic and development policies and strategies is seen as critical to achieving both gender equality and other goals like the Millennium Development Goals.
2. The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for
the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). UNCDF uses its capital mandate to help LDCs
pursue inclusive growth. UNCDF uses ‘smart’ Official Development Assistance (ODA) to unlock and
leverage public and private domestic resources; it promotes financial inclusion, including through
digital finance, as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth; and it demonstrates how
localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote
sustainable and climate resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities.
Using capital grants, loans, and credit enhancements, UNCDF tests financial models in inclusive
finance and local development finance; ‘de-risks’ the local investment space; and proves concept,
paving the way for larger and more risk-averse investors to come in and scale up.
UNCDF's Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT) is a financial market facilitation,
technical assistance and funding facility for the ASEAN region. SHIFT aims to facilitate the transition
of low-income people’s—especially women’s—use of financial services from informal mechanisms
to formal, regulated and higher value services.
About SHIFT
About UNCDF
SHIFT works with key stakeholders including Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
governments, intergovernmental working groups, financial service providers to micro, small and
medium enterprises, and development partners dedicated to expanding financial inclusion in the region,
particularly in least developed countries.
UNCDF’s SHIFT programme is jointly co-funded by UNCDF and the Australian Department of Foreign
Affairs and Trade (DFAT). The Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO) provides earmarked
funding to UNCDF’s Making Access Possible (MAP) programme in Cambodia.
UNCDF is grateful for the in-kind support from UN Women and for providing their invaluable
comments to this paper. The ThinkShop participants from the below organizations also provided
invaluable comments.
Partnering for a Common Purpose
3. UNCDF would like to acknowledge with thanks the many experts interviewed for this study in addition
to ThinkShop participants who made their own substantial contributions, as listed below.
Acknowledgements
NAME TITLE/ ORGANIZATION
Dennis Fischer Microfinance Advisor, Microfinance in Rural Areas—Access to Finance for the Poor
(AFP), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Dominique Boyer Chief Operating Officer, Sevis Finansye Fonkoze
Francisco Cos-Montiel Policy Advisor, Women’s Economic Empowerment—Regional Office for Asia and
the Pacific, UN Women
Maria Lee Program Coordinator, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural
Resource Management
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Minh Chairwoman, Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council and Chair of ASEAN Women
Entrepreneurs’ Network
Nomsa Daniels Executive Director, New Faces New Voices
Ratih Rachmawaty Deputy President Director, BTPN Syariah Indonesia
Samnida Ung Deputy Section Chief, Off-site Supervision Department, National Bank of Cambodia
Selima Ahmad President, Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Serey Chea Director General, National Bank of Cambodia
Tomohiro Hamakawa Director of Strategic Initiatives, Kopernik
Veronique Salze‐Lozac’h Senior Director, Economic Development, Chief Economist, The Asia Foundation
Special thanks also to Megan Cossey for editorial support, and QUO Bangkok for layout and design.
5. EMarkets at Full Speed
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 01
Women’s economic empowerment in markets 04
Women and Markets: The issues of agency and access 07
How specific country contexts influence 13
and shape the relationship between women and markets
Riding the global waves of change for women 15
What can be done? Catalysing women’s economic 19
empowerment through inclusive finance
A summary of SHIFT’s programmes for improving 21
women’s economic empowerment
References 24
6. F Markets at Full Speed
Abbreviations and Acronyms
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
GSMA Groupe Speciale Mobile Association
IFC International Finance Corporation
IMF International Monetary Fund
IOM International Organization of Migration
MAP Making Access Possible
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
SHIFT Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations
SME Small- and medium-sized enterprises
UN United Nations
UNCDF United Nations Capital Development Fund
7. 1Markets at Full Speed
Harnessing women’s full economic potential in
markets brings socio-economic benefits not
only to women, but also to their families,
communities, societies and the markets
themselves. Nevertheless, while there is abundant
evidence and sound arguments on how equal
opportunities for women in economies could
provide dividends for everyone, levelling the
playing field for women remains an arduous quest.
In South-East Asia, the region projected to be the
world’s ninth largest economy and Asia’s fourth
largest by 2020, women must still take a backseat
in driving the growth of economies.
Women in the region are often held back from
establishing businesses, climbing up a career
ladder or making wise purchasing decisions
because they are bound by discriminatory social
norms or legal barriers. Women’s needs and
preferences for products and services—from
consumer goods to financial services—have
yet to be strategically explored by markets.
This study explores the nexus between real
economy markets and women’s economic
empowerment in South-East Asia, and the role
played by financial services and institutions
in advancing women’s inclusion in these
markets. This report aims to synthesize the
central themes and lessons captured in the
study process, drawing on insights from
interviews and a workshop held for experts
and practitioners on a wide range of
women’s empowerment initiatives.
As developing countries work to expand their
domestic markets by creating investment-
friendly policies and regulations; establishing
critical infrastructure; improving people’s
access to health and education; and taking
advantage of new technologies, the profile and
needs of women must be an explicit part of any
conversation about such initiatives.
UNCDF seeks to advance women’s economic
empowerment by integrating women-centric
strategies into initiatives meant to grow inclusive
enterprises. UNCDF does this by providing
innovative financing mechanisms and collaborating
with financial service providers in developing
countries. In South-East Asia, UNCDF will focus
on policy advocacy, data and research, capital
incentives and capacity development to accelerate
women’s economic empowerment.
Executive Summary
Key findings
• Women help to drive local and national economies through their roles as entrepreneurs,
employees and consumers. In particular, the profile and market potential of women
consumers remains mostly unexplored in South-East Asia, even though they represent
a significant market opportunity.
• Women must have a certain level of freedom and agency if they are to penetrate and
fully interact with markets, and if markets are able to include them.
• A country’s legal frameworks, culture, infrastructure, economic structure and levels
of inequality determines women’s agency and their ability to access markets.
• Global changes taking place across countries and regions, driven by such factors as
technology, demographics and climate change, influence a country’s contours.
• The ability to access financial services has a strong potential to play a catalytic role
in advancing women’s inclusion in real economy markets. As a market on its own, greater
access to and better use of finance improve women’s economic agency. Providing capital
financial services also stimulates other markets’ inclusion of women.
8. Strategies and initiatives to include women’s market participation should address both
the demand side (women’s agency to optimally interact with market) and supply side
(markets’ ability and interest to provide equal access to women), while taking into
account the opportunities and boundaries within countries, as well as anticipating
the global changes for women’s inclusion in markets.
• Expand the avenues and mediums for empowerment
Advancing women’s economic empowerment does not need to be limited to direct
interventions. Economic empowerment initiatives can be channelled instead through
organizations and enterprises that are led or owned by women, that predominantly
employ women or that have products or services that substantially benefit women.
• Strengthen broad-based collaborations from grassroots to policy level
As women’s economic empowerment is dependent on surrounding systems and
structures, it is critical that national and local governments, private sector companies
and civil society organizations work together to tackle legal barriers and social norms
in addition to making market improvements.
• Aim to create an all-encompassing value web
Finance can be used to support women’s economic roles as producers, employees and
consumers, as well as to facilitate women’s access to better health, education and overall
quality of life.
• Include men
Do not target only women. It is more effective to design programs that reach
both men and women, taking gender-differentiated roles and opportunities into account.
• Bank on leadership
Promote women’s leadership and championship at all levels, from the household
to the international sphere.
2 Markets at Full Speed
9. UNCDF’s Regional Office for Asia and the
Pacific organized a two-day ThinkShop
workshop on 20-21 January, 2015, held at the
Australian Embassy in collaboration with the
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade (DFAT), and titled “Enhancing the Role of
Finance in Expanding Equal Opportunities for
Women to Access, Use and Benefit from Real-
Economy Markets.” The event was held as
part of of UNCDF’s Shaping Inclusive Finance
Transformations (SHIFT) programme, which aims
to improve the level of financial inclusion in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
region1
by facilitating the transition of low-
income2
people’s use of financial services from
informal mechanisms to formal, regulated and
higher-value services.
UNCDF invited practitioners from a range of
development disciplines, and from countries
that include Bangladesh, Cambodia and Haiti,
to discuss empowering women economically
through financial markets specifically, and real
economy markets generally.
The ThinkShop workshop was particularly
important for UNCDF’s SHIFT financial
inclusion programme since women make up
around half of the region’s population, making
them an integral component of ASEAN’s
economic growth engine. Additionally, the
ThinkShop contributed to evolving UNCDF’s
global approaches to women’s economic
empowerment in least developed countries.
The discussions revolved around assessing
the current state of women’s economic
empowerment, understanding women’s
empowerment or lack thereof in the market,
exploring links in financial markets, exploring
market inclusiveness for women and sharing
pertinent stories from the field and beyond.
ThinkShop: Enhancing the Role of Finance in Expanding
Equal Opportunities for Women to Access, Use and
Benefit from Real Economy Markets
3Markets at Full Speed
1
ASEAN countries include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
2
Meaning people who make less than US$1.25 a day.
10. 4 Markets at Full Speed
Markets: Determining lives
People’s livelihood and welfare are dependent
on markets, hence market systems substantially
dictate people’s lives. The impact of markets is
more keenly felt where the reach of the state is
limited. Men and women interact with markets to
source and to consume products and services
to fulfil needs and wants. To gain the exchange
power that is needed to take and consume goods
and services in a market, men and women must
trade in their tangible and intangible assets, thus
assuming the role of producers, entrepreneurs or
employees. Markets, however, are not equally
favourable for everyone. Poor people, in
general, are in a disadvantaged position when
engaging with markets, given their lower level
of education and poorer health situation, as well
as their lesser social capital and smaller access
to financial capital. All these factors lead to a
weaker exchange.
Women in markets:
A vast, untapped opportunity
In addition to the risk of being exposed to market
failures, women face additional structural and
normative hurdles because of their identity as
women. These factors lead to an uneven playing
field, from both the demand and supply sides
of markets.
Legal frameworks and cultural norms often condition
market behaviour and create closed markets in
which women operate and interact, making their
position less favourable relative to men. Demand-
side shortcomings from women in markets do
not incentivize the supply side to actively cater
to the female population, leading to the stunted
development in entry to and expansion of
markets for women. In least developed country
settings, as countries battle nationwide poverty,
non-existent or failing infrastructure, and
high economic vulnerability, women are put
in an even weaker position in executing their
economic agency.
Women who are active economic agents become
driving forces of economic growth through their
role as producers or entrepreneurs, employees
or consumers. Often, empowering women
economically has led to better investments
and improved socio-economic outcomes for
households and societies. Countries with more
equal access to employment and education for
women benefit from lower rates of child mortality,
as well as more thriving businesses and faster
economic growth (World Bank, 2011).
Greater empowerment of women in markets is
a crucial step in expanding the frontiers of all
markets. Addressing the demand (usage and
access) and supply (entry and expansion) issues
of markets for women could offer pathways
to new or additional market opportunities that
could lead to the growth of economies as
a whole.
Women play various economic roles as they
engage with markets, and they frequently
assume multiple roles simultaneously, ranging
from producers and entrepreneurs to employees
and consumers. Among these economic roles,
the economic profile and potential of women
as consumers has been the least explored,
even though women consumers represent a
significant market opportunity.
Women’s economic empowerment in markets
Women’s Main Economic Roles
Entrepreneurs Employees Consumers
11. 5Markets at Full Speed
Women as entrepreneurs
Women as employees
Women-owned small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) represent 30 percent
to 37 percent of all in emerging markets
(IFC, 2011). These 8 to 10 million women-
owned SMEs have unmet financial needs
of US$260 billion to $320 billion a year
(World Bank, 2014). Women are relatively
better represented in small informal
businesses found in low value-added
and low capital-intensive sectors, such
as traditional service and retail sectors,
and they tend to operate more home-
based businesses. In addition, although
women entrepreneurs have higher levels
of education than men, women have less
managerial experience and business
connections when starting their business
(World Bank and OECD, 2013).
Since women entrepreneurs face more
limitations to where and how they can
network, it is particularly important to
provide a means for them to gain social
capital through building networks.
This could lead to higher aspirations and
better long-term planning that result in
growth, improved business skills and
new ideas, credibility, access to funding
and emotional support.
The Asia Foundation, for example, found
that women in Malaysia, the Philippines
and Thailand who used established
networks and associations were 24 percent
more likely to plan for growth than women
who did not use such resources; and 38
percent grew larger in size. The same
research, however, found that a higher
percentage of female business owners
than male business owners in these
countries never interacted with business
associations (Blomqvist et al., 2014).
Increasing women’s employment rate
boosts economic performance in many
ways. Employment of women on an equal
basis with men provides companies with
a larger talent pool, potentially increasing
creativity, innovation and productivity.
In advanced countries, a larger female
labour force can help to counteract
the effect of a shrinking workforce and
mitigate the costs of an aging population
(Lagarde, 2013).
A 2013 International Monetary
Fund study found that despite some
improvements, progress toward levelling
the playing field for women has stalled
(Lagarde, 2013). Globally, female labour
force participation makes up only half
of the male labour force. In South Asia
and the Middle East and North Africa,
the gaps are even more striking: while
three-quarters of the male population
are in the workforce, only a quarter of
working-age women are represented
(Ray, 2014). Inequality persists even
within America. In 2015, there are
fewer large companies run by women
than by men named John; among chief
executives of Standard Poor’s 1,500
firms, for each woman there are four
men named John, Robert, William and
James (Wolfer, 2015).
If women were represented equally in
the workforce, it would amount to a
9 percent increase in Japan’s gross
domestic product (GDP); a 12 percent
increase in the United Arab Emirates’
GDP; and a 34 percent increase in
Egypt’s GDP (Alter, 2015). In 2012,
the International Labour Organization
(ILO) estimated that reducing the
gap in employment between women
and men globally could generate
an additional $1.6 trillion in output.
Moreover, ActionAid calculated that
unequal participation in the labour
market could be costing women in
developing countries potential earnings
that amount to more than $6 trillion—
roughly equal to the GDP of all of
Africa and the Middle East in 2013.
Further exacerbating the situation,
a large proportion of current female
employment falls under the category of
vulnerable employment, with the figure
reaching up to 80 percent in South Asia
(World Bank, 2012).
12. 6 Markets at Full Speed
Women as consumers
Regional Labor Force Participation, by Gender
% of adults participating in workforce, among total adult population, ranked by
deficit
Men Women Deficit
Global 75% 49% -26
South Asia 70% 23% -47
Middle East and North Africa 70% 27% -43
South-East Asia 82% 57% -25
Latin America and
Caribbean
76% 52% -24
Non-European Union (EU)
Europe
66% 44% -22
Former Soviet Union 75% 59% -16
European Union 68% 54% -14
East Asia 78% 66% -12
Northern America 75% 63% -12
Sub-Saharan Africa 78% 67% -11
Source: Gallup, 2013
Globally, women controlled about
US$20 trillion in annual consumer
spending in 2009, increasing to $28
trillion in 2014; they were projected to
have made $5 trillion in incremental
earnings within the same period
(Silverstein and Sayre, The Female
Economy, 2009). Women represent a
commercial opportunity bigger than
that of China and India combined.
Women want ways to save and free up
their time. Yet, businesses do not often
cater to these particular needs. When
women find a product or a service that
meets those needs, they can become
‘brand apostles’ (Silverstein and Sayre,
Women Want More, 2009). Businesses
that can respond to women’s unmet or
underserved needs can enjoy breakaway
growth, customer loyalty and category
dominance. Take, for example, how
women are driving the growth of Internet
businesses. In e-commerce, women
make up 70 percent of the customer base
of the Gilt Groupe site, driving 74 percent
of revenue; at Groupon, 77 percent of its
customers are female. Facebook says
that women are not only the majority
of its users, but drive 62 percent of its
activity in terms of messages, updates
and comments, and 71 percent of daily
fan activity (Lee, 2011).
Despite the significance of women’s
role as consumers, women’s economic
position and potential are still vastly
underestimated. Female consumers
are generally dissatisfied with the
limited offerings in financial services,
health care and consumer durables
(Silverstein and Sayre, Women Want
More, 2009). Although women control
household spending decisions in
most categories of consumer goods,
companies continue to make poorly
conceived products, offer services that
take up too much of women’s time and
serve outdated marketing narratives
that stereotype women (Silverstein and
Sayre, The Female Economy, 2009).
13. 7Markets at Full Speed
As stated previously, women face an array
of barriers to accessing markets, including a lack of
resources, capacity and social and political freedom.
Additionally, structural and social barriers,
ranging from discriminatory legal frameworks or
cultural norms to environmental issues, condition
market behaviour and create ‘bounded’ markets
within which women operate and interact. In
many instances, these factors are much less
favourable for women than for men.
For example, women’s traditionally assigned
role as a household’s primary caretaker limits
their time and ability to pursue economically
productive activities beyond the home. Similarly,
in their role as producers or entrepreneurs,
women often have to deal with issues ranging
from legal discrimination in asset ownership and
control to social and cultural norms that limit their
opportunities to lead a business or to network.
As employees in the labour markets, women,
including those in developed countries, face
persistent issues of gender pay gaps in their work.
In many societies, a woman’s socio-economic
class dictates her access to career opportunities.
As consumers, women often lack information
on options and product features that could help
them make better purchasing decisions and help
drive greater market growth. Consequently, these
demand side shortcomings do not incentivize
the supply side to actively cater to the female
population, leading to a stunted development in
entry to and expansion of markets for women.
Women and Markets:
The issues of agency and access
14. Structural and social barriers that
range from discriminatory legal
frameworks or cultural norms
to environmental issues also
condition market behaviour.
Market’s access
for women
8 Markets at Full Speed
Barriers
Women’s agency
Capacity
Lack of Connections
Lack of Resources
Perception
15. Women have lower levels
of education and skills
A long history of gender inequality in terms of health
and education means that, on average, women around
the world have lower levels of education and skills
compared to men. While progress in this area has
occurred globally, large disparities remain persistent in
certain regions and countries. Only 66 percent of girls in
sub-Saharan Africa completed primary school in 2012,
and in three countries this figure was under 35 percent
(Khokar, 2015). This shortage of capacity put women in
a weaker position when engaging with markets.
Women lack time
The ability of women and girls to access productive
and remunerated activities, as a route out of poverty,
is often limited by their responsibility for daily, unpaid
household and care activities. For poor women
and girls, this burden could be even greater due to
underinvestment in public infrastructure or the effect
of wars and conflicts on infrastructure, leading to
greater inefficiency, insecurity and lower productivity.
Limited skills and capability in
understanding and designing for
women’s market segment
For many market actors, women remain an elusive
target market. Many attempts to cater to the segment
result in failure, because they come across as poorly
considered, disingenuous or unaware of women’s
distinct needs (Ackerman-Brimberg, 2012).
Understanding women’s distinct needs and incorporating
them into positive market opportunities is a challenging
task for many organizations, particularly as it requires
a substantial moving away from how business has
historically been done.
9Markets at Full Speed
Women’s Agency Issues Market Access Issues
Type of Barrier:
Capacity
16. Women have limited ownership
and control of assets
Across the world, women tend to be disadvantaged
regarding ownership and control of assets due to
longstanding norms or legal barriers. While women
are centrally involved in agriculture and producing, they
own only 1 to 2 percent of individually titled land. Women
commonly access land only through their husbands,
fathers, brothers or sons. In all 15 countries in sub-
Saharan Africa, only the husband’s family (not widows
or children) inherits assets in most cases (Bird, 2010).
These constraints on women’s ownership and control of
assets thus limit their ability to make decisions, increase
their vulnerability to falling into or further into poverty
and limit their ability to access credit to invest in
livelihood activities (Bird, 2010).
There is limited funding and data on
including women
Markets are constantly challenged to maximize the
return on investment of their resources. Without a
compelling ‘business case,’ market actors often face
constraints in allocating resources to drive efforts
on including women in markets, particularly if it is
a new venture for them. Lack of available gender-
disaggregated data further hampers markets from
tapping into women’s economic potential.
10 Markets at Full Speed
Women’s Agency Issues Market Access Issues
Type of Barrier:
Lack of Resources
$
17. Women lack networking opportunities
due to cultural norms
Cultural norms and traditions that restrain women’s
social and political mobility limit women entrepreneurs’
opportunities to build social and economic capital.
Distance from information
Illiteracy, cultural constraints and immobility have all played
a role in creating gender asymmetries in women’s access
to information. The difficulties women face, particularly
in developing countries, in accessing information means
many resources remain untapped, such as information
about job vacancies.
11Markets at Full Speed
Women’s Agency Issues Market Access Issues
Extensive effort is required to
deliver goods and services to,
or to employ, women
Women’s greater constraints in terms of mobility
as well as access to information make it more
challenging and costly for markets to set up
new ways to engage and transact with women.
There exists a gap between markets,
sectors and stakeholders
Greater inclusion of women in market systems
requires a concerted approach across sectors,
particularly because the inherent challenges and
barriers faced by women are complex and intertwined.
However, market actors rarely address underlying
structural and social barriers when working on women’s
economic advancement, as they shy away from
addressing issues that are beyond their expertise.
Successful collaborations between corporations
and women’s rights organizations, for example,
are still a novelty due to different points of view.
This translates into missed opportunities for these
different stakeholders to work together on improving
the economic status of women.
Type of Barrier:
Lack of Connections
18. 12 Markets at Full Speed
Women are often unable to recognize
their own economic potential
The extent of women’s economic contribution to the
economy is regularly undervalued not only by society
but also by women themselves. A Women’s World
Banking study in Latin America found a disconnect
between a woman’s economic contribution to the
household and her perceived role. Although their
financial contribution to the household economy is
important, women themselves rarely perceive it as
such (Women’s World Banking, 2014).
Women are also often found to have less confidence,
compared with men, in building businesses or accepting
services like loans and business training. They believe
their assets aren’t good enough, or they fear that building
a business will come at the cost of their contributions to
the household (Women’s World Banking, 2014).
Perceptions and assumptions that women are less
economically productive than men create a vicious
cycle, limiting investments in women’s education or
economic capacity.
Women are often faced with situations where they feel
intimidated when interacting with markets, as many
parts of market value chains are dominated by men. Men’s
traditional role as the breadwinner in the family could also
deter women from fully exerting their economic potential
from the fear of contravening norms.
Women are perceived as a riskier, less-
profitable part of the population
Within markets, women are still generally perceived
as being the less profitable or higher risk clients for
businesses. This leads to their poor treatment or a lack
of effort to carefully cater products or services to meet
women clients’ needs and preferences. Employers assume
women are less productive due to the demands of their
traditional roles, and that women employees will take
maternity leave, work fewer hours in the day and take
more days off to deal with household matters.
Markets often practice ‘gender washing’
There is an assumption that many of the world’s
products and services, ranging from mobile to financial
services, can be gender neutral—that there are not
distinct behaviours or preferences that set women
apart in interacting with markets and that little tweaks
will go a long way. This leads to a practice called
‘gender washing.’
‘Gender washing’ has two defining traits: a failure to
acknowledge women’s distinct needs and a belief that
marketing to women simply means offering a “female”
version of men’s products (Darroch, 2014). In reality,
women exercise different behaviours from men and
have different preferences on offerings, particularly
regarding services. For example, women may not be
attracted to features that appeal to men, and make
decisions differently, often consulting friends or family
members before trying a new service (Bernard, 2015).
A product designed for women will often attract men,
but the converse is usually not true (Women’s World
Banking, 2014).
Women’s Agency Issues Market Access Issues
Type of Barrier:
Perception
19. 13Markets at Full Speed
How specific country contexts influence and
shape the relationship between women
and markets
In many countries, national laws still
remain key barriers to women’s full
participation in economic activities,
whether in getting jobs or starting
businesses. Discriminatory rules bar
women from certain jobs, restrict access
to capital for women-owned firms and
limit women’s capacity to make legal
decisions. Almost 90 percent of the
143 economies analysed by the World
Bank report Women, Business, and the
Law 2014 have at least one law that
restricts women’s economic opportunities.
Moreover, in 15 economies husbands can
refuse to let their wives work and accept
job offers (World Bank, 2013).
A country’s macroeconomic policy
framework sets the pace at which
women’s economic empowerment
can progress at a national level.
It is important to advocate for the
right policies to create conditions
for advancing women’s economic
empowerment. Policies encouraging
women to join and remain in the labour
force are associated with less income
inequality (World Bank, 2013). In 1993,
the Government of Peru implemented a
new constitution that guaranteed equal
opportunities for men and women to
work. Customary law (traditional rules of
practice) was invalidated if it contradicted
these rights. Subsequently, women’s
labour force participation increased by 15
percent within five years (Lagarde, 2015).
In many countries, particularly in
developing countries, culture dictates
men’s and women’s places in a society.
Societal perceptions and discrimination
also restrict women’s upward mobility
and opportunities for advancement. For
example, in paternalistic or machismo
cultures where men are considered
the head of the family, women are
often assumed to lack leadership or
management abilities, or it may be
considered culturally inappropriate for
them to exhibit such qualities (Semavi,
2011). Often, cultural norms around
gender that are actually harmful to
women, such as acceptance of domestic
violence against women, affect women’s
ability to participate in markets.
Challenging discriminatory cultures
and social norms within countries
should be sensitive to long-standing
practices. Grassroots initiatives play an
important role to ensure that macro-level
interventions are properly integrated
locally. There is also a need to challenge
assumptions that cultural changes are
achieved only over generations since
including women in markets will often
quickly accelerate the process.
Policies and legal framework
Prevailing cultural norms
20. 14 Markets at Full Speed
The state of a country’s infrastructure
heavily determines women’s abilities
to engage in economic activities.
In low-income countries, where basic
infrastructure such as water, sanitation,
energy and transportation are deficient, it
is harder for women to be economically
productive when they are spending long
hours in tedious and labour-intensive
work tending to their families.
Investments in infrastructure and
time-saving technologies are essential
to alleviate women’s poverty in many
developing countries.
Poor women are often the most
vulnerable when a country undergoes
an economic transformation. For
example, land conversion that takes
place when a country shifts the
majority of its citizens’ livelihoods from
agricultural to industrial activities affects
women the most as they tend to get
left behind with limited opportunities to
initiate alternative activities.
Rural-urban disparities in a country’s
economic and social development have
long been a cause of concern
for policymakers. Development that
disproportionately benefits urban societies
would significantly limit opportunities
for rural societies, particularly for
rural women. For example, when job
opportunities are concentrated in
cities and rural men shift to urban
employment, women tend to bear the
burden of taking over farming activities
while having to maintain their household
responsibilities. The rural poor, the majority
of them women, mostly have access only
to inefficient sources of energy; as a result,
rural women are disproportionately less
likely to access clean, efficient, reliable,
safe and affordable energy service
options (Gill et al., 2010). In addition,
women in urban areas tend to have
better access to health and education
services than women living in rural areas.
Policy solutions must take into account
these gender disparities between rural
and urban populations, especially in
countries where the divide is significant.
Infrastructure readiness
Changing of economic structure
Levels of urban-rural divide
21. 15Markets at Full Speed
Riding the global waves of change
for women
Major cultural, demographic and economic changes in the world bring both opportunities
for and risks to women’s economic empowerment. Domestic and international migration,
demographic transition, the proliferation of new technologies, significant changes to
the economic structures of countries and entire regions and improvements in human
development indicators are strongly influencing the economic growth trajectory of countries
and societies. All of this makes the inclusion of women in markets even more critical.
Income inequality
Inequality between and within
countries has been rising. Oxfam
reported that since 2010, the
richest 1 percent in the world has
been increasing its share of total
global wealth. Eighty individual
billionaires now own the same
wealth as the bottom half of the
world’s population (Hardoon, 2015).
In 2012, 71 percent of the world’s
population lived in countries where
income inequality is increasing
(KPMG, 2014).
Income inequality compounds the
issues faced by those at the bottom
of the pyramid in participating in the
economy and in accessing education
and health services. This leads to
stunted productivity and growth, as
opportunities are concentrated on
those with more capital. Rising income
inequality within countries also harms
social cohesion and security.
Evidence suggests a strong
link between gender equity and
economic equality. In countries with
more equitable wage structures,
women enjoy a narrower gender
pay gap and higher level of labour
participation (Clinton Foundation
Technology Migration
The proliferation of technology
substantially impacts the ability of
women to fulfill their needs. The
ubiquity of Internet and mobile
phones is minimizing information
asymmetry and the constraints
of physical mobility for women,
while the use of new products
and technologies, ranging from
vacuum cleaners to solar lights,
free up more time for women
to be engaged in economically
productive activities. Greater access
to technology helps women to
improve their economic participation,
digital citizenship, access to
jobs and health care and more.
When women in the developing
world go online, 30 percent use
the connection to earn additional
income, 45 percent use it to search
for jobs and 80 percent use it to
improve their education (Geier et
al., 2014). Technology also presents
women with business opportunities
within the market sector itself.
In spite of the potential benefits of
technology, women’s access to and
use of technology is still lagging
compared with that of men. Women
on average are 14 percent less likely
Almost 60 percent of the world’s
population will reside in cities by 2030,
an increase from 50 percent in 2013.
Eighty percent of all urban growth over
the next two decades will take place
in Africa and Asia.
Migrant women represent 48 percent
of all international migrants today
and they are finding jobs in multiple
sectors and disciplines or starting
their own businesses. The proportion
of female to male migrants significantly
varies by country and can be as high
as 70 to 80 percent in some cases.
Whereas men have historically
migrated to industrialized economies
for both manual labour and technical or
professional jobs, female workers today
are migrating to countries with strong
service-based economies where they
will have greater opportunity (Western
Union, 2015).
With the increasing feminization of
migration, labour mobility is also
impacting gender equality within the
household and the broader society
(Bester, Saunders and Hougaard, 2015).
Migrant women contribute to the
economic development of their
cont. on page 16 cont. on page 16 cont. on page 16
22. 16 Markets at Full Speed
Increased labour mobility
for women requires sound
infrastructure, platforms
and channels so they can
connect back to the homes
they left as they integrate
into their new environment,
thus capitalizing on potential
economic and social gains.
The gender divide in technology
needs to be narrowed so that
technology can help unlock
women’s economic opportunities:
• Focus on technologies
that can bring rapid and
substantial benefits to women
in developing countries.
• Put women’s needs and
preferences at the centre
of technology design and
deployment (Bester, Saunders
and Hougaard, 2015).
The global rise of income
inequality could compound
pre-existing inequalities
faced by women in accessing
economic opportunities; thus
it is important to identify and
bridge these gaps caused by
unequal growth.
and Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, 2015). In this sense,
growing income inequality could
become a major drawback for
women’s economic advancements.
to own a mobile phone than men
(Santosham and Lindsey, 2015). An
average of 23 percent fewer women
than men have Internet access in the
developing world (Clinton Foundation
and the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, 2015).
Financial and other structural barriers
deter women from using, renting or
purchasing technologies that could
help them advance economically.
Groupe Speciale Mobile Association
(GSMA), a global private sector
organization representing the interests
of mobile providers, noted that cost,
security, service delivery, technical
literacy and social norms are barriers
to women using and accessing
mobile phones. Women also use
mobile services differently than men
because their daily patterns and
preferences differ, implying that a
one-size-fits-all approach to mobile
services can discourage women from
using them (Santosham and Lindsey,
2015). Despite the fact that most
low-income women in developing
countries are primarily employed in
agriculture, technological innovations
in that field have been designed
specifically for men. As a result,
women continue to use traditional,
more labour-intensive methods,
undermining their agricultural
productivity (Gill et al., 2010).
countries of destination through
their competencies and skills, and
to that of their countries of origin
through their remittances and their
increased experience when they
return to those countries.
Remittances play a big role in the
income of households and countries.
Remittances are now nearly three
times the size of official development
assistance and exceed the foreign
exchange reserves in at least 14
developing countries. Excluding China,
remittances significantly exceeded
foreign direct investment flows to
developing countries in 2013 (World
Bank, 2014). They can therefore be
an important driver of growth (Bester,
Saunders and Hougaard, 2015).
According to the International
Organization of Migration (IOM)
female migrants send approximately
the same total amount of remittances
as their male counterparts, and what
women send is a higher proportion
of their income, even though they
generally earn less. Both men and
women primarily send remittances to
women (about two-thirds of recipients
are women), reinforcing the important
role these women play as financial
decision makers in the household.
23. 17Markets at Full Speed
Demographic shifts
Many developing countries will be experiencing a ‘youth
explosion’ in the coming years. Currently, 90 percent
of the global youth population resides in developing
countries (KPMG, 2014).
Youth in developing countries will play an increasingly
central role in driving economies, particularly if countries
can successfully reap so-called ‘demographic dividends,’
a term that refers to the accelerated economic growth that
results from a rapid decline in a country’s fertility and the
subsequent change in the population age structure. With
fewer births each year, a country’s working-age population
grows larger relative to the young dependent population
(Population Reference Bureau, 2013).
Demographic dividends, however, can be fully harnessed
only when countries successfully integrate younger
citizens into the workforce. Youth unemployment has
already become a major concern globally. In 2012, 15 to
24 year-olds made up 40 percent of the total unemployed
population (Bond for International Development, 2015).
Improving the well-being of girls is the first key step to
reaping the demographic dividend. A rapid decline in birth
number can be achieved only through family planning,
improving rates of child survival and educating girls.
Secondary education helps girls delay marriage and
their first pregnancy and opens up new opportunities
for women beyond their traditional roles in the home
(Population Reference Bureau, 2013).
While most nations protect girls’ access to primary
education, few protect girls’ rights to attain secondary-
level schooling. Cost is also a significant barrier to girls’
education. Though nearly all countries have made
primary school free, a quarter of countries still charge
tuition for secondary school (Clinton Foundation and the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2015).
Climate change and
resource pressure
Human-induced climate change is leading to environmental
disruptions around the world, which cause food and
water insecurity and disasters like droughts, floods and
devastating cyclones.
People seriously affected by climate change are expected
to more than double by 2030, and lives lost every
year are expected to increase by at least two thirds
to about 500,000 per year, which is equal to those
who die annually of breast cancer. Over 90 percent of
people affected by climate change will be in developing
countries, of whom a disproportionate number will be
children, women and the elderly (Global Humanitarian
Forum, 2009).
Disasters might not discriminate, but their effects are
felt the hardest by women. Today, the majority of the
world’s poor are women. Poor women are more likely
to be malnourished and less educated, factors that
only exacerbate their vulnerability in a disaster. After
a disaster, women become vulnerable to violence,
trafficking and forced marriage due to the breakdown
of societal mechanisms, distress and lawlessness. For
example, during the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa,
families began marrying off their daughters in a rush to
obtain dowries to ensure their survival (Lacson, 2015).
At the same time, women take on more roles and
responsibilities in the wake of a disaster. The notion
of women as the primary caregivers in society often
becomes accentuated in a disaster situation. Women often
find themselves becoming the head of their household if
the previous head perished in the disaster.
Human capital investments (secondary
education, improved health) for girls are key to
reaping a demographic dividend that leads to
the acceleration of economic growth.
Ensure infrastructure and systems are favourable
for women in adapting to and reducing the risks of
climate change.
24. 18 Markets at Full Speed
Key findings
• Expand the avenues and mediums for empowerment
Advancing women’s economic empowerment does not need to be limited to direct
interventions for women. Economic empowerment initiatives can be channelled through
organizations and enterprises that are women-led or women-owned, that predominantly
employ women or whose products or services substantially benefit women.
• Strengthen broad-based collaborations from the grassroots to policy level
Acknowledging the dependency of women’s economic empowerment on surrounding
systems and structures, as well as effectively collaborating between national and local
governments, the private sector and civil society organizations, is needed to ensure
legal barriers and social norms are properly addressed alongside market improvements.
• Aim to create an all-encompassing value web
Use finance to support women’s economic roles as producers, employees and
consumers, as well as to facilitate women’s access to better health, education and
overall quality of life.
• Include men
Do not target women exclusively. Men’s support is critical to ensuring an enabling
environment for women. Moreover, efforts to economically empower women should aim to
benefit the broader society as well.
• Bank on leadership
Promote women’s leadership and championship at all levels, from the household to the
international sphere.
Beware of generalizations:
Women play diverse and dynamic roles
The need exists to design market approaches and
interventions that understand women, particularly
poor ones. Within that category, women may
have different needs and experience different
vulnerabilities when interacting with markets.
For example, women in ‘survival mode’ could
be largely engaged in hand-to-mouth economic
activities, while micro-entrepreneurs are facing
difficulties in taking out bigger loans for their
businesses.
Female population
Economic activity
Mother/daughter/sister
Consumer of energy/
food/goods
Student/housewife/retiree
Illiterate/college graduate
Urbanite/villager
Affluent/middle class/ poor
25. 19Markets at Full Speed
What can be done?
Catalysing women’s economic
empowerment through inclusive finance
Financial markets are enablers for real economy
markets as they provide the needed capital
to fuel growth and drive innovation. In this
sense, financial markets have the potential to
improve the status of women as entrepreneurs,
employees and consumers.
While gender inequality still exists in accessing
financial services, many proven solutions show
that women’s financial empowerment is central
to improving the socio-economic conditions of
societies, underlining the importance of financial
inclusion for women’s overall agency. Beyond
ensuring greater access to and better use of
financial services for women, there is also a need
to leverage finance to create pathways for women’s
empowerment in other markets. Improved access
to financial services can also be used to improve
the health, education and quality of life for women.
The enterprise development approach for
women’s economic empowerment
UNCDF, through its past and current initiatives
in advancing inclusive finance and building
inclusive markets, recognizes the importance
of including women to achieve the greatest
impact. UNCDF seeks to identify the
opportunities provided by finance to improve
women’s inclusion in real economy markets.
In particular, UNCDF works on initiatives that
provide financing to enterprises that are owned
or managed by women, predominantly employ
women or else produce goods and services that
substantially benefit women. This way, it hopes
to accelerate the inclusion of greater numbers of
women in real economy markets.
UNCDF embraces an integrated approach
to develop markets for women. In addition
to working with financial providers, UNCDF
collaborates with policymakers, private sector
actors, development partners and civil society
organizations to accelerate market growth in
developing countries and to ensure that the
benefits are being shared by women, particularly
those at the bottom of the pyramid. Additionally,
UNCDF seeks to demonstrate women’s leadership
and the success of women-centred enterprises.
Improving women’s access to financial services can lead
to their greater involvement in real economy markets
Markets
Labour
markets
Financial
markets
Goods and
services
markets
26. 20 Markets at Full Speed
Currently, governments in the South-East Asia
region are placing women’s inclusion in finance
and markets at the centre of discussions on
improving women’s economic empowerment.
As the chair of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2014, the Government of
Myanmar articulated the need to systematically
enhance women’s economic empowerment at
the ‘ASEAN Financial Inclusion Conference:
Enhancing Access to Finance for Unbanked
People in the ASEAN Region,’ held in Yangon,
Myanmar on 29-30, October 2014. The
Conference’s outcome document included
a recommendation for special measures to
assist women in accessing and using financial
services. Such measures would be part of an
ASEAN-wide campaign to make economic growth
more equitable and stable as the region works
toward greater financial integration between its
member countries.
Noting this commitment and interest from the
ASEAN nations, UNCDF SHIFT aims to provide a
space for further discussion and work on women’s
economic empowerment in South-East Asia. By
providing capacity development, policy advocacy,
capital, technical assistance funds, and financial
inclusion data and research, SHIFT is working
to overcome barriers to women’s economic
empowerment and the growth of markets.
Weaving women’s economic empowerment into UNCDF’s
Shaping Inclusive Finance Transformations (SHIFT) programme
C
apacity
Resources
Perception
C
onnections
SHIFT
Financial inclusion
data, research
and analysis
Policy
Advocacy
Capacity
development
Capital
incentive
and technical
assistance
fund facilities
The designations employed and
the presentation of material on this
map do not imply the expression
of any opinion whatsoever on the
part of the Secretariat of the United
Nations or UNCDF concerning the
legal status of any country, territory,
city or area or its authorities, or
concerning the delimitation of its
frontiers or boundaries.
27. 21Markets at Full Speed
Capacity development
Policy advocacy
Capital incentive and
technical assistance
Data, research and analysis
Initiatives to enhance
women’s agency
Initiatives to enhance
women’s access to markets
• Support and advocate financial
literacy programmes through
women-centric enterprises.
• Develop a hub for business
development services for
women entrepreneurs.
• Support the building of social
capital for women through
business networking and
mentoring opportunities.
• Provide business development
services to women entrepreneurs.
• Support civil society organizations in
advocating for government policies
and incentives across ASEAN that
help women find time to start and
run businesses, such as maternity
leave and childcare infrastructure.
• Invest in the development and use
of technology, infrastructure and
innovations that allow women
to save time and money, open
employment and education
opportunities, improve access to
quality-of-life enhancing products
and services and improve access
to information by developing
efficient and effective channels.
• Developing and implementing data
indexes or standards that allow for
a better understanding of women’s
economic behaviour across ASEAN.
• Support the development of financial
products and services tailored to
the needs and profiles of women
clients; gender sensitivity training
to reinforce the business case for
serving women through leadership-
building, peer-to-peer learning
platforms and design incentives.
• Design formal systems of
reinforcement, including key
performance indicators.
• Support financial service providers to
begin collecting sex-disaggregated
data. Capturing this information will
provide a better understanding of
women clients and their needs.
Capacity Building
A summary of SHIFT’s programmes for improving
women’s economic empowerment
28. 22 Markets at Full Speed
• Support and advocate for a
financial literacy programme.
• Create a hub for business
development services for women.
• Advocate for regulations and
practices on asset ownership that
do not discriminate against women
in ASEAN countries.
• Collect sex-disaggregated
statistics and indicators; design
and deploy qualitative and
quantitative analysis to better
understand women’s financial
usage behaviours and their
surrounding contexts.
• Support the development of financial
products and service offerings that
take into account the needs and
profile of women.
• Advocate for financial sector
regulations that encourage
business practices and provide
incentives for including women in
real economy markets.
• Crowd-in product/service/marketing
development for women by using
capital financing for grants, loans and
credit enhancement to de-risk and
‘prove concept’ so that others gain
confidence to make investments.
• Invest in infrastructure such as
transportation and telecommunications
systems and energy generation and
distribution channels; these will pull
in greater private investment by
lowering the costs of doing business,
particularly those aimed at benefitting
women in rural areas.
• Collect sex-disaggregated statistics
and indicators related to women’s
financial behaviour to build a
compelling business case for
women’s market inclusion.
Capacity development
Policy advocacy
Capital incentive and
technical assistance
Data, research and analysis
Resources
$
Initiatives to enhance
women’s agency
Initiatives to enhance
women’s access to markets
29. 23Markets at Full Speed
Capacity development
Capacity development
Policy advocacy
Policy advocacy
• Support and advocate for a
financial literacy programme.
• Create a hub for business
development services for women.
• Invest in the facilitation of
networking and mentorship/
championship of women.
• Support the building of social
capital for women through business
and mentoring.
• Provide business development
services and market linkages.
• Promote ‘champions’ for women and
create a space for successful women
and men to serve as role models and
mentors, while also advocating for
the increased participation of women
across all sectors.
• Conduct gender-specific market
analysis and gather evidence on
women’s economic potential as a
way to shift cultural perceptions.
• Conduct gender-specific market
analysis and gather evidence on
women’s economic potential as
a way to shift cultural perceptions.
• Facilitate knowledge exchanges
and collaborations between actors
in the women’s market.
• Advocate for financial sector
regulations that encourage
business practices and provide
incentives for including women in
real economy markets.
• Support the development of financial
products and services tailored to
the needs and profiles of women
clients; gender sensitivity training
to reinforce the business case for
serving women through leadership-
building, peer-to-peer learning
platforms and design incentives.
• Conduct gender-specific market
analysis and gather evidence on
women’s economic potential as
a way to shift cultural perceptions.
Data, research and analysis
Making Connections
Perceptions
Initiatives to enhance
women’s agency
Initiatives to enhance
women’s access to markets
30. 24 Markets at Full Speed
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26 Markets at Full Speed