EDITORIAL - Invest in women, accelerate progress

The international community marks Women’s Day today with governments enjoined to invest in the empowerment of women. Much progress has been made in gender equality over the past decades, but UN Women has warned that the gains are being eroded by geopolitical conflict, climate change and polarizing societies.

By 2030, UN Women estimates that over 340 million women and girls worldwide will still be living in extreme poverty. This gives urgency to women empowerment under the 2024 theme for International Women’s Day: “Invest in women, accelerate progress.”

To achieve Sustainable Development Goals related to gender equality, the UN estimates that an additional $360 billion a year is needed in developing countries alone. UN Women is urging governments to increase women’s access to financing, but the requirements can be daunting. By the UN’s estimates, micro, small and medium enterprises owned by women around the world are underfunded by a whopping $1.7 trillion. But closing this gap can raise annual incomes by an average of 12 percent by 2030.

Economic empowerment, UN Women points out, reduces gender-based violence, allows women to increase participation in politics and social activities that impact their lives, and even boosts disaster risk reduction and mitigation. Women who are economically empowered or financially independent also typically have greater awareness of their rights. The Philippines has enacted numerous laws to protect and empower women, but enforcement has been spotty, mostly because many women are unaware of the laws, and partly because even those tasked to enforce the laws are unaware of the provisions or ignore them.

Globally, nearly 60 percent of women work in the informal economy, but the figure is a high 90 percent in low-income states. Equal pay for work of equal value is still missing or weak in many countries. While glass ceilings have been broken even in fields long dominated by men such as the military, women still need greater participation in the fields of science, technology and engineering, according to UN Women.

It points out that women spend approximately three times more time than men on unpaid care and domestic work, with the monetary value of this unpaid work placed at $10.8 trillion. UN Women estimates that gross domestic product can increase by 20 percent by closing gender gaps in employment. That should serve as sufficient encouragement for governments seeking to push national progress to invest in women.