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| Photo: Courtesy |
The Agenda 2063
formulated in 2013 and the Agenda for 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) drafted in 2015 are basic development blueprints that systematically
outline the goals to be achieved mostly by the developing nations. The Agenda
2063 highlights the political, social and economic goals to be achieved
holistically by the African states while the Agenda 2030 on SDGs fronts for
systemic global progress.
As part of the African
and global agenda for development, these two blueprints explicitly have goals
that seek to bridge the gender gap that exists in the economic, political and
social spheres of life, most fundamentally, on building the capacity of the
female gender.
Aspiration 6 of the
Agenda 2063 envisages an Africa whose development is people-driven by relying
on the potential of the African people, especially its women and youth and
caring for the children. More specifically, goals 50 and 52 under Aspiration 6
wholesomely capture the expected status of the African women. Goal 50 states
that: the African woman will be fully
empowered in all spheres, with equal social, political and economic rights to
own and inherit property, sign contracts, register and manage businesses. Rural
women will have access to productive assets: land, credit, inputs and financial
services.
Goal 52 states that: Africa of 2063 will have full gender parity,
with women occupying at least 50% of elected public offices at all levels and
half of managerial positions in the public and private sectors. The economic
and political glass ceiling that restricted women’s progress will have been
shattered.
The global development
agenda commonly termed as the Sustainable Development Goals calls for the
continued emancipation of women and the advancement of gender equality. Goal 5
of the SDGs advocates for the achievement
of gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls.
In Africa and the whole
world, the female population is slightly over 50%. On a general scale, the
number of the women classified under the working age cohort is slightly higher
than that of the men. The existential challenge, however, is that despite the
population of women being higher, majority continue to work in the informal
sector and offering services in the unpaid economy.
According to UN Women, 74% of the women in
Sub-Saharan Africa are in the non-agricultural informal employment. The unpaid
economy which consists of unpaid work like child-rearing and other household duties
is majorly driven by the women and unfortunately such activities are never
reflected in the calculation of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to a
report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) known as Women at Work 2016, a total of 586
million women in the world were own-account or contributing family workers in
2015.
The same report
documents that 34.9% of the women in Sub-Saharan Africa contributed as family
workers while 42.5% as own-account workers.
The Socio-Economic
Front
Various research
studies that have been conducted clearly indicate that the economic empowerment
of women and the participation of the female labour force in the economy
positively contribute towards economic growth and development.
The most pertinent
issue in enhancing the economic inclusion of the women in the economy regards
their access to income/income generating activities and the
percolation/distribution of the income that has been earned.
Increased participation
of the female labour force in the economy generates other positive effects key
among them access to education, decrease in child mortality rates, among
others. Of course access to more income for the women implies that their
children largely benefit from it.
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| Photo: Courtesy |
A report known as Women Empowered: Inspiring Change in the
Emerging World written by Madeleine Albright and Phil Borges documents that
women re-invest 90% of their income in their families and communities in
comparison with the men who only re-invest 30-40% of their income. As earlier
stated, the economic empowerment of women guarantees better healthcare for the
children. A research conducted by the World Bank in 2011 reveals that if the
mother has easy access to income, the survival probability of a child increases
by approximately 20% in Brazil and in Kenya; a child would be about 17% taller
due to the fact that mothers invest more of their income in health and
nutrition.
E. Gakidou et al (2010) conducted a study using
data from 219 countries beginning from 1970 to 2009 and they established that
for every one additional year of education for women of the reproductive age,
child mortality decreased by 9.5%. In addition, the World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development
released by the World Bank in 2012 documents that increasing the share of the
household income controlled by women, either through their own earnings or cash
transfers alters spending in ways that benefit the children.
Comparatively, there
are notable differences between sources of employment of women in the developed
countries and the developing as well as the least developed countries. Research
conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that the major
source of employment for women in the high-income countries is the health and
education sector which employs 30.6% of all the women in these economies.
Research findings by
the ILO reveal that indeed the main source of employment for women in
low-income and low-middle-income countries is agriculture with Southern Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa having over 60% of all working women in the agricultural
sector. The socio-economic tragedy is that most of the activities in the
agricultural sector are informal and labour-intensive which lead to poor
remuneration or no payment at all. A similar pattern manifests itself in the
field of entrepreneurship. The 2011
Africa Competitiveness Report by the World Economic Forum notes that the
rate of women’s entrepreneurship in Africa is higher than any other region in
the world but the business units established are largely informal. This limits
the amount of income to the women who depend on such businesses.
Because of the
prevalence of the female labour in the informal economic activities, the rates
and levels of social protection remain relatively lower. This implies that
access to schemes and programmes that cater for health and the general social
welfare is limited. Statistics from the ILO show that 40% of women in wage
employment in the world do not contribute towards social protection programmes.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 63.2% of women in wage employment don’t contribute to
social protection while in Southern Asia the figure stands at 74.2%.
As a result of the
existing gap in the contributions towards social protection, then the
well-being/welfare of the dependents especially the children is jeopardized,
with looming uncertainties of accessing better healthcare, education, and
housing among others.
Representation &
Leadership
In most of the
countries in Africa and the world in general, progress has been made with
regards to the number of women in leadership positions in the political sphere
and in organizations although several countries have not paid keen attention on
this issue.
Across the board, the
perception is that having a significant number of women in leadership positions
promotes economic inclusivity. This may be very effective especially in the
political arena whereby having a significant number of women in legislatures
may lead to the formulation of laws that counter some of the retrogressive
traditional/cultural customs that propagate male chauvinism and limit women’s
access to economic opportunities.
Some African countries
have made progress on women representation while others have at least done
something about it. In Rwanda’s Lower House, women make up 63.8% of the total
number of Parliamentarians. In Senegal, there is the Parity Law which requires
political parties to ensure that at least 50% of their candidates for any
elective post are women. Senegal’s legislature is made up of 42.7% women.
Ethiopia’s legislature women’s composition is at 38.8%. Research conducted
jointly by the World Bank Development Research Group and Columbia University
reveals that having more women in the legislatures equals less corruption.
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| Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma the outgoing chair of the AUC. Photo: Courtesy |
The Women Matter research report published
by McKinsey & Company in 2014 documents that the institutionalization of
economic equality for women is good for business, detailing that companies
which increase leadership opportunities for women largely benefit through an
increase in organizational effectiveness.
Existential &
Underlying Challenges
There are several
hillocks that continue to work against the reduction of the gender gap in
various dimensions. These bottlenecks are common in Southern Asia, the Middle
East, Northern Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and they stem from the prevailing
cultural and/or traditional customs. In some of the countries in these regions,
various pieces of legislations have been enacted but unfortunately, their
formulation is skewed towards the traditional customs.
Such legislations and
the traditional customs have largely hindered the women from accessing economic
opportunities which on a large-scale inhibit the progress of the respective
economies. This limits women from establishing businesses, registering
property, engaging in contractual enforcement and participating in the labour market.
In the recently
released Doing Business report
compiled by the World Bank, 23 economies in the world impose more procedures
for women than men to start a business, 16 economies limit women’s ability to
own, use and transfer property. In 17 economies, civil counts do not value a
woman’s testimony the same way as a man’s.
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Furthermore, the report
documents that in 17 economies a married woman must seek for permission from
his husband before leaving the house. In 3 economies, according to the report,
there is a different process for men and women in obtaining official
identification which is a necessary requirement in starting a business. In 4
economies, the publication reveals that a woman requires her husband’s explicit
permission to establish a business, for instance, in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, the law requires a married woman to seek for the authorization of her
husband to incorporate a business.
Women,
Business and the Law, a publication of the World Bank,
denotes that married women have more restrictions when it comes to property
ownership. This is a reflection of the existing customary laws which are
patriarchal in nature and peg property ownership on the men.
Policy & Legal
Prescriptions
In overcoming these
challenges that deny women access to economic opportunities, the formulation
and implementation of relevant policies and pieces of legislations is
inevitable. The implementation phase is the most crucial one because it largely
depends on the political will. Laws that freely allow women to own property
especially land, establish businesses, representation in leadership positions,
access to education among others are necessary especially in the developing and
least developed countries in Africa, Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean.
Evidence suggests that
changing the laws increases access to economic opportunities. Hallward and
Hassan (2012) note that after a reform to the family law in Ethiopia that
fronted for more equitable property rights over marital property between
spouses, there was an increase in the female labour force participation and in
more productive sectors. Deininger et al
(2010) reveal that after changes were made to the Hindu Succession Act improving inheritance rights for women in
India, there was an increase in the education for girls. Ali et al (2014) document that the changes
to Rwanda’s land tenure regularization system largely benefited the women.
Perhaps this is because of the relatively higher number of women in Rwanda’s
legislature.
The empowerment of
women economically, socially and politically in general, benefits the whole
economy/society as detailed above. Therefore, as the developing and least
developed countries seek to grow and develop, it is fundamental that the
concerned authorities establish mechanisms to empower women on all the three
facets; economic, social and political.
This article was first published on savicltd.wordpress.com
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