By Christine Lagarde
This International Women’s Day is bringing new calls to press for progress on gender parity. Giving women and girls the opportunity to succeed is not only the right thing to do—it can also transform societies and economies.
Unlocking this transformative potential means pushing for more equal opportunities: for example, equality in legal rights for men and women, and equality in access to education, health, and finance. Just as important is the fundamental issue of ensuring a safe environment for all, including protection against harassment.
Our message is clear: Providing legal protection against sexual harassment creates an environment in which women are more likely to be economically and financially active.
In fact, new IMF staff research “What is Driving Women’s Financial Inclusion Across Countries?” finds a link between financial access and protection against harassment. We look at this connection empirically in surveys of 1,000 individuals in each of more than 140 countries.
Legal safety and financial inclusion
Women are less likely than men to gain access to financial services. That is especially so in emerging and developing markets, where financial inclusion scores are about 14 percent lower for women than for men.
Our research therefore looked into what drives access to financial services for women in particular. We found that women who live in countries with stronger protection against harassment, including at work, are more likely to open a bank account, borrow and save, and make use of financial services such as mobile payments.
These links are strong. Financial access for the average woman living in an emerging market or developing country is almost 16 percent deeper—that is, financial inclusion scores are higher—when legal protection is granted. For the average sub-Saharan African woman, the figure is almost 25 percent higher. Eliminating harassment and increasing women’s access to financial services can transform lives.
But the benefits don’t stop there. Promoting equality in opportunities can be an economic game changer. Increased financial access means more economic activity by women, including as entrepreneurs. This translates into higher economic growth and productivity, a more equal income distribution, higher profits for businesses, and greater economic stability.
Significant gaps in legal protection
Our study clearly shows that protecting women against harassment can ignite economic benefits across several dimensions. It is also a moral issue as highlighted by the #metoo movement, which has shown sexual harassment to be pervasive in many countries. Outrage has understandably erupted in many parts of the world.
These discussions are important and overdue, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. A detailed database and reports by the World Bank show that:
• In 2017, almost 290 million adult women were not legally protected from sexual harassment, and more than 360 million women were not shielded from harassment in employment.
• Legal gaps extend to the home. In almost a quarter of countries, there is no protection against domestic violence.
• The lack of legal protection affects girls at an early age. In some countries the legal age of marriage is different for women than for men, and almost 100 million girls are not sufficiently protected legally from being married as a child.
Changing laws is not sufficient—it needs to be complemented by enforcement. Other policies also matter, and governments can act today. For example, fiscal policy can play a larger role through investments in transport safety and sanitation facilities for women and girls, and in support for victims of gender-based violence.
Continue the engagement
Together with our partners, the IMF is committed to working with governments around the world to identify policies that help women realize their potential. Aside from analytical work on the macroeconomics of gender, the IMF is expanding its country-level analysis and advice in this area. So far, we have studied and provided advice on gender equality issues in about one-sixth of our 189 member countries. The issues are multi-faceted, so the policies to address them should be too.
Just this week, we will publish a study on Nigeria showing that reducing gender inequality could increase real GDP growth by an average of 1¼ percentage points annually. We recommend a range of measures, such as strengthening and enforcing legal rights; increasing investment in infrastructure, health, and education; and policies to help reduce violence against women. Our advice to advanced economies also emphasizes the need for policies to help women participate in the economy, including well-designed parental leave, affordable and high-quality childcare, and tax policies that do not penalize secondary earners. And IMF-supported programs in Egypt and Niger include measures to empower women economically, such as investments in public nurseries and better public transport safety.
It is not enough to talk about gender equality on International Women’s Day. We need to continue to work to address this issue and keep it at the top of the policy agenda throughout the year.
We promise we will keep playing our part.
The Writer is the President of IMF

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By Pinkreal Ninsiima

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, there is need to look at the nation and world without women. A world without women would be like an empty beautiful house. Women are beautiful creatures always referred to as ‘Mothers of the Nation’. They do sacrifice a lot in their lives to make nations better places to live in.

In Genesis 26, after God created a man, he saw that he was incomplete, lonely and lifeless; He saw something was missing he then decided to create someone different from a man who would bring life and meaning to the otherwise lifeless and meaningless man that looked incomplete.

However much women are considered weak, one should always know women are the strongest and great people and God’s special creation; created for a special purpose. So women deserve to be handled with care, not to be abused and harassed.

The responsibility of nurturing a human being rests on the women’s shoulders. The pain of bringing up a baby into the world after nine months pregnancy, breast feeding, raising the baby from a tender age into an adult are all a woman’s responsibility.

The Constitution of Uganda under Article 33(1) reflects on the purpose of which God created a woman and it provides how women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of the person with men. Under Clause 2 it provides on how the State shall provide facilities and opportunities necessary to enhance the welfare of women to enable them to realize their full potential and advancement. It’s from this Article that women have been granted equal opportunities to serve in different areas of development.

The woman’s movement in Uganda made an unexpected swift and visible entrance onto the political scenes shortly after National Resistance Movement (NRM) took power in 1986, and there’s a popular view that without the NRM the current women’s movement in Uganda would not have been strong as it is today. Others claim that the advances made by women are due to bureaucratic or paternalistic concessions by the NRM administration rather than victories attained through the struggle for emancipation.

As Michelle Bachelete said that, ‘a better Democracy is a democracy where women don’t only have the right to vote and elect but to be elected’, it is evident that women are involved in politics and now hold big positions in Parliament of Uganda and other sectors.

The most powerful woman in Uganda is the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda Rebecca Kadaga, who is the third in line of authority in government, and needless to say, the number of women in politics has increased tremendously since Kadaga was enjoined in the campaign to get women out of the kitchen to the boardrooms.

Women’s participation is essential to gender-responsive governance where women’s voices are heard, policy better reflects their lives and where under representation women interests persists are repeatedly ignored.

In Uganda and Africa as whole, women are the backbone of society and the economy, with many the sole providers for their families. However, they are constantly struggling to gain a seat at decision-making table yet the central role of shouldering the economy and social burden is on them.

Most women have succeeded where men have failed; these women run powerful personal business ventures and most of them are executive directors, managing directors while others are thriving entrepreneurs. Among them is Jenifer Musisi, the Executive Director Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Allen Kagina, the Executive Director of UNRA, Tracy Hawthorn, the operations manager at Ambrosoli International School, Damalie Nagitta, the Dean of Studies at Law School Makerere University and Joyce Tamale, the Managing Director of Uganda Health Marketing Group.

As this year’s theme ‘press for progress’ calls for strong action, let’s look out for those women who are still illiterate about their rights and whose work goes unrecognized. These women work long hours at home that leaves them with little time for income generating activities. They don’t always make decisions about their own employment but rather men encourage them to take long paying jobs or at times prevent them from working.

I, therefore, congratulate all women upon reaching this milestone, and as we celebrate this year’s Women’s Day let us reflect on our past, present and the future.

The writer is a Volunteer at Inter Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU).

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