"When a woman is empowered and able to live free of coercion, discrimination and violence - and to participate on equal footing in society - the benefits extend far beyond the woman herself - to her family, community and nation." Ms. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director, UN Under-Secretary General.
The above quote by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid confirms the title above, which headed an article in the Arizona Republic on October 18, 2008, written by Jodi Beckley Liggett, director of Research and Public Policy for the Arizona Foundation for Women.
In it, she builds a strong argument that what she says is true: "When women and girls are afforded equal opportunity, the results in terms of economic advance are striking."
She goes on to cite statistics from The Women's Funding Net work. According to the Millennium Campaign 2007, 7 out of 10 of the world's hungry are women and girls. Two-thirds of the world's children denied a primary education are girls, and 75 percent of the world's 876 million illiterate adults are women.
The World Economic Forum 2005 noted that in some regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, women provide 70 percent of agricultural labor, produce over 90 percent of the food, and yet are nowhere represented in budget deliberations. Even the UN Food and Agricultural Organization decades ago recognized that money contributed to many of the developing nations did not trickle down to the women and children, who did most of the work to produce the food in the countries. FAO therefore began to funds grassroots agricultural projects administered by the women in villages. The results were astounding.
The United States is no exception to inequality in the workplace and poverty with regard to women. In the US women in the workplace earn 23 percent less than men, and they are far more likely to be poor. Ms. Beckley's article goes on to state that the Economist called women "the most powerful engine" of global economic growth, estimating that over the past decade they have contributed more to such growth than China. A powerful example of the contribution of women to spur economic growth and reduce poverty occurred in East Asia from 1965 to 1990. Called the ‘economic miracle,' "gender gaps in education were closed, women were able to delay childbearing and marriage while more work opportunities increased their participation in the labor force. So it seems that those who are most affected by economic downturns, women also hold the greatest potential to end it."
The Women's Learning Partnership has another set of statistics that illustrate how educating girls contribute to the overall good of society. They estimate that "for every year beyond fourth grade that girls attend school, wages rise 20 percent, child deaths drop 10 percent and family size drops 20 percent. A Catalyst study analyzing the Fortune 500 companies found that "companies with the highest representation of women in management positions delivered 35.1 percent more return on equity and 34 percent more total return to shareholders than companies with the lowest representation.
In an era when domestic, and elder, violence throughout the world seems to be skyrocketing, in the U.S. alone it is estimated by the American Institute on Domestic Violence that it "costs the U.S. almost $1.8 billion each year, and victims lose nearly 8 million days of paid work per year, the equivalent of more than 32,000 full-time jobs. Multiply those figures by those in other countries around the world and the total is a truly staggering loss to the global economy, not to mention the devastating physical and psychological effects on the battered spouse, child, elder and those witnessing the violence.
The empowerment of women in the current global economic crisis, coupled with the climate of change just over the horizon, could do much to launch a worldwide recovery. Wall Street, are you listening? World leaders, are you listening? Women, are you speaking up?
For Jodi Beckley Liggett's article in full, go to http://www.azfoundationforwomen.org
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