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Empowering 50 million women

Empowering 50 million women
Women face many barriers when it comes to entering the workplace, especially in developing countries. Societal norms in developing countries often prevent girls and women from pursuing an education. When women do not have an education, they cannot enter the labor force as easily and help cultivate the economy. This cultural practice hinders a developing country’s ability to procure economic growth and reduce poverty rates. The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative is empowering 50 million women.

The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative

The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP) is an initiative committed to delivering tangible results concerning women in developing countries. The three pillars of the initiative are: women prospering in the workforce, women succeeding as entrepreneurs and enabling women in the economy. It has been proven that when women have economic empowerment, there is a multiplier effect throughout the region. They invest more in their families and communities, which then promotes economic growth.

United States President Donald Trump established the W-GDP Initiative in February 2019 as the first total government movement to promote the economic empowerment of women across the globe. Funding for the initiative began in July 2019.

14 W-GDP Projects

This introduced 14 new projects and around 200 private-public partnerships from across more than 20 countries. The partnerships consist of foreign governments, multilateral donors, non-government organizations, the private sector and universities. These partnerships will allow the W-GDP to influence more than 100,000 women. The 14 projects are throughout developing countries.

In Papua New Guinea, Cardno Emerging Markets leads its partners in working to grow 40 enterprises led by women. It also plans to reform any discriminatory laws in the region that affect some 50,000 businesswomen. In Indonesia, Cargill and its partners are working together to increase the salaries for 2,000 enterprises led by women.

In the Philippines, UPS and its partners are increasing the salaries of 3,800 women and are working to remove obstacles that block full economic participation. In Chile, Brazil, Peru, Mexico and Colombia, big-name companies such as Citi and Google have formed a partnership within the private sector in order to provide efficient training for some 8,700 women.

In Liberia, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique, Landesa and its private sector partners work to change any laws that limit women’s property rights. In Côte d’Ivoire, the International Rescue Committee and partners work to give job training to around 750 women in the solar energy industry.

In Benin, the Management Sciences for Health and its partners work together to reintegrate more than 170 female victims of gender-based violence into the workforce. This is going to happen via entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.

Ivanka Trump and the U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator (USAID), Mark Green, are going to run the initiative. Green strongly supports investing in women. He will oversee that the resources of the U.S. government will go towards helping women as much as possible.

The Future

By 2025, the W-GDP wishes to help in empowering 50 million women in the developing world. The plan is to achieve this through a new fund, private-public partnerships and U.S. government activities. The W-GDP will focus its resources on these five main points.

  1. Traveling Freely: Limit restrictions on passports and movement for women.
  2. Accessing Institutions: Limit restrictions for women on legal documents.
  3. Removing Restrictions on Employment: Prohibit restrictions on women and their tasks, hours and jobs.
  4. Owning and Managing Property: Prohibit restrictions on women owning or managing property.
  5. Building Credit: Do not allow gender discrimination in accessing credit. Level the playing field for women including equal access and capital.

With these ambitious objectives, empowering 50 million women will be observable. It is propitious that in the coming years, women living in developing countries will enjoy abundant access to the economic sector.

– Nyssa Jordan
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Ivanka Trump Spearheads Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative

Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative
Ivanka Trump recently spearheaded the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative to enable and support women entrepreneurs around the globe. The Initiative’s goal is to train women, give them access to capital, advocate for anti-discriminatory laws and provide women with connections in the business world. The World Bank oversees the program, but it retains funding from many organizations, individuals and countries.

The initiative raised over $325 million in pledges from numerous sources. The United States was a major investor, pledging $50 million. However, the first countries to make commitments were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, giving a combined $100 million after President Trump and Ivanka visited the nations.

Numerous other campaigns and projects have attempted to do what the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative is doing, but none of them has achieved on such a large scale. The Initiative will facilitate loans to women entrepreneurs ranging between several hundred and thousands of dollars. It will pay for business training for women, which will result in relationships with their mentors and more connections. Finally, the Initiative will work with local communities, government officials and lawmakers to change law and policy involving women. Through this, Ivanka Trump and the World Bank hope to achieve gender equality in the business world.

Women in business face many challenges globally. Women own roughly 30% of businesses worldwide. Meanwhile, 70% of small businesses with female owners are shut down due to government laws and regulations. According to the International Property Rights Index, about 25 million women worldwide do not have equal rights.

Another problem is the lack of networks and business connections for women. Studies show that men have more social and business connections, giving them better access to jobs and capital. Moreover, women are very poorly represented in the construction, manufacturing and technology sectors. Instead, they primarily own businesses in the retail and service sectors, both of which experience much slower growth than other fields.

At the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, world leaders praised Ivanka and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative. Ivanka served a lead role in getting the Initiative started, even advocating for the Initiative to her father, President Donald Trump, several months prior.

If the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative is successful, it will be a major step for global women’s equality. With the ownership of successful businesses, women can hold more influential positions in society and better advocate for women’s rights. Discriminatory laws will be eliminated, improving women’s lives everywhere.

– Bruce Edwin Ayres Truax

Photo: Flickr