Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698927072594.pdf (South Africa)
International Women’s Conference: August 2017 Executive Summary1 An overview of challenges, achievements, legislative mechanisms and programmes TOWARDS WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: Women’s economic empowerment is essential for the full, effective and accelerated implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Without it, the global economy will not yield inclusive growth that generates decent work for all, eliminates poverty, promotes equality — foremost, gender equality — and improves wellbeing and livelihoods.
Achieving women’s economic empowerment and realising women’s human and labour rights constitute a sustainable development solution for people, planet and prosperity that equally benefits paid and unpaid, formal and informal workers.2 Women’s equality and socio-economic for domestic development and growth and are a vital part of sustained development and democracy.
Women’s access to resources, both social and economic, has implications beyond women as individuals – women’s access to education, skills development and economic resources will result in access to credit, information and technology and benefits society as a whole.

independence are important Women in Southern Africa form one of the fastest growing markets with great purchasing power.
As such, the composition of organisations and institutions involved in supplying, designing, and marketing goods and services should reflect this market.

Women invest upwards of 90% of their earnings in their families' health and education as well as in their communities.
Yet women continue to be sidelined in accessing opportunities for significant economic empowerment and continue to largely exist on the periphery of economic decision- making.3 The labour force participation of both women and men has decreased over the last two decades, but women’s labour force participation continues to be less than men’s worldwide.

Women’s global labour force participation declined between 1995 and 2015 from 52.4 percent to 49.6 percent, and men’s from 79.9 percent to 76.1 percent.
Global averages, however, mask significant variations among regions.
In the Middle East, Northern Africa and South Asia, less than one-third of women of working age participate, whereas in Sub- Saharan Africa and Eastern Asia, it is nearly two-thirds.4 A recent International Labour Organisation report on non-standard employment5 highlights that gaining access to decent work remains a challenge for women throughout the world and provides some reasons for the disparity in employment between women and men in non- standard/ informal employment.
The report indicates that women’s outcomes in the labour market are often a reflection of their position in the home.

Throughout the world, women work fewer hours in paid employment, while performing the vast majority of unpaid household and care work - on average, women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work than men.
In addition, the greater domestic and care 1 Compiled by C. Levendale, Research Unit, Parliament of RSA 2 Report of the Secretary General, Commission on the Status of women, 61st session, December 2016, E/CN.6/2017/3, page 16 3 SADC Gender Protocol Barometer 2011 4 Report of the Secretary General, Commission on the Status of women, 61st session, December 2016, E/CN.6/2017/3 5 International Labour Organisation, 2016, Non-standard Employment around the World responsibilities of women influence their choice of occupations, so that when they do participate in the labour market, their care responsibilities in their family and community impact on the jobs that they can take on.
Traditionally, their participation has been “at the margins” of the labour market, often in non-standard employment.

While women make up less than 40 per cent of total employment, globally their share amongst employees working part-time hours is 57 per cent.
In 2014, more than half of women worked part-time hours in the Netherlands and Switzerland; similarly high numbers were found in India, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, reflecting the high incidence of underemployment and casual labour in amongst women in developed and developing countries - women are also more likely to be found in jobs with very short hours (less than 15 hours per week).6 Women face an array of challenges to becoming economically empowered and independent.
Creating an environment conducive to women’s participation requires the elimination of structural barriers and discriminatory laws and social norms to create equal economic opportunities and outcomes.

Among the barriers which affect women’s participation to developmental opportunities are access to education; unfavourable economic structures including limited access to credit facilities and financial skills training, traditions and the disregard of women’s unpaid care work.
In addition, women are also often exposed to incidents violence in the home and the workplace that could affect their ability to enter and/or remain in the labour market.

Women who work in vulnerable sectors of the economy, such as domestic workers or temporary workers, are disproportionately affected by violence at work, where unequal power relations, low pay, precarious working conditions and poor access to labour rights expose them to violence.
Incidents of violence against women should not be not viewed as isolated events, but as an effect of systemic and structural gender inequality.

Overall, women therefore continue to experience difficulties in entering the labour market, as well as being employed in sustainable occupations and positions.

There is no simple solution to ensuring that women are economically empowered.
It requires a multi-faceted approach that deals with the barriers to entering the labour market, barriers to remaining in secure employment, and addressing structural inequalities at a grassroots and political level.

To this end parliamentarians, as representatives of their constituents also have the platform to create awareness and work towards removing the structural and social barriers to women’s empowerment.
Through their powers of oversight, parliamentarians have an important role to play in overseeing the actions of government and ensuring the implementation of international and regional commitments undertaken to protect the rights and freedoms of women.

They are also able to advocate for and introduce legislation to ensure economic empowerment of women.
Through international participation, parliamentarians are able to network with other countries, and to learn from best practice that is happening in women’s economic empowerment around the world.

Parliamentarians are also strategically placed to ensure that local government bodies include gender mainstreaming as a focus, and pursue policies such as affirmative action in the awarding of opportunities, employment, and tenders.
Where transformation for the advancement of women does not occur, Parliament also has an opportunity to conduct oversight in this regard – interrogation of annual budgets and expenditure frameworks, by parliamentarians should ensure that a gendered lens is pursued.

6 Aleksynska, M, 2016 http://ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_538695/lang--en/index.htm