Browse by Theme: Women's Economic Empowerment

The World Bank Group has been consulting on its plan to update its Gender Strategy.  We decided to focus our response to the consultation largely on women’s economic empowerment as a critical component of women’s empowerment and gender equality, and within women’s economic empowerment, at financial inclusion. 

The Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa last week (13-16 July) got rather tepid and mixed reviews.  Surprisingly, for a conference on financing, the outcome document contains very few numbers, and many NGOs are unhappy about the lack of funding commitments (including CARE), lack of a commitment to a new intergovernmental tax body, and a concern about the prominence of private financing (Oxfam, CAFOD, Christian Aid). 

The event included an overview from facilitator Louise James (Global Programs Director, Accenture Development Partnerships), who introduced new research by CARE and Accenture which uncovers key trends in the role of banks in furthering financial inclusion in developing countries, with a particular emphasis on women living in poverty. 

The real challenge for the new Sustainable Development Goals is what happens after they are agreed.  Deciding on the goals and targets is only the first step; backing them up with the commitment to implement them is crucial.  The emerging consensus between the private sector, civil society, governments and multilateral agencies on the need for progress on economically empowering women is a positive sign.  But how can business help make this ambition a reality? 

Financial inclusion has been a key part of CARE’s work for over 20 years.  We’ve learned from an enormous number of programmes in dozens of countries that giving women access to savings is an essential first step in their economic empowerment.  The next step is accessing formal financial services – a win-win that banks the unbanked while opening up new markets and providing new customers for banks.  But are banks making the most of this opportunity? 

Post-war Sri Lanka (since 2009) has much to offer tourists, and the country is relying on the hospitality and tourism sector to drive up economic gains and create a positive ripple effect on related social factors – such as meeting the employment needs of several million young Sri Lankans on the look-out to secure a job.  But why is it that so many women in the sector are not being supported in their careers – and why, in some cases, is it so hard for women to even enter the workforce? 

Many of us dream of a world free from poverty, but how can this be realistically achieved, especially for smallholder farmers who make up the majority of the world’s poor? 

One important answer to this question is found in our new book, Making markets more inclusive: Lessons from CARE and the future of sustainability in agricultural value chain development.  In it, we highlight lessons from one of the most intensely developed agricultural value chain initiatives in the world: CARE’s work in the dairy value chain in northwest Bangladesh. 

CARE works around the world to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.  We put women and girls in the centre because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities.