Why Women’s Economic Empowerment?
Investment in Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) initiatives has an enormous impact on poverty at the household level, as well as improving economies as a whole. Women make huge contributions to society, whether as entrepreneurs, on farms, as employees, or through unpaid work at home. However, women are also disproportionately affected by poverty, with unequal policy and legal structures resulting in women finding themselves in insecure, low-paid jobs, earning 24% less than their male counterparts for the same work (UN Women).
As women working to implement WEE initiatives, the Centre for Development Results is uniquely positioned to be able to engage our beneficiaries in ways that male counterparts may be unable to do, due to cultural or social reasons. With the growing importance of WEE initiatives, this event explores good practice in the area as well as explore how best to support and encourage women to gain the skills and experience needed to thrive in this area as practitioners.
About Women Working in Development
Women Working in Development was established in July 2017 by the Centre for Development Results (CDR) and BDO LLP in response to a concern about the lack of women’s representation at senior management level and the absence of dedicated women’s forums in the sector. Our aspiration is to provide a forum to connect women across the international development sector and to support talent development.
Nathan’s Lis Meyers will be speaking at the event and will be covering the following topics:
- Introductory remarks sharing the experience of work of working in WEE challenges faced and lessons learned.
- How can we take advantage of our unique ability to engage with female beneficiaries across cultural barriers?
- What can be done to ensure there is a large enough workforce of female development workers with the right technical skills?
- What is the role of women’s networks (e.g. business associates and creditcooperatives) in Women’s Economic Empowerment?