The Urban Institute, in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre, invites you to a discussion on the barriers to and enablers of women’s economic empowerment. We will consider how evidence is used for policymaking in the Global South and ways stakeholders can support women’s economic empowerment.

Greater participation of women in economic activities stimulates economic growth, improves firms’ productivity, and improves children’s education and health outcomes. Women face significant barriers to achieving economic empowerment, such as the threat of violence and norms regarding traditional roles in society. But economic growth can increase women’s labor force participation and other measures of women’s empowerment, and enabling policies, such as improved child care services and legal reforms to improve control over assets, are showing promise, particularly in countries where gender gaps are largest.
 
How can broad-based development policies, combined with specific interventions targeting women, foster greater economic empowerment for women? What factors determine women’s ability to work in more productive economic sectors?

event speakers

• Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Senior Adviser, Development Research Group, The World Bank
• Arjan de Haan, Program Leader, Employment and Growth, International Development Research Centre, Canada
• H. Elizabeth Peters, Institute Fellow, Urban Institute
• Fauzia Viqar, Chairperson, Punjab Commission on the Status of Women, Pakistan
• Charles Cadwell, Vice President, Urban Institute (moderator)

materials

• Event Agenda
• Speaker Biographies

Event registration is at 10:45 a.m., and the program will begin promptly at 11:00 a.m. A networking lunch will follow at 12:30 p.m. For inquiries regarding this event, please contact [email protected].

Support for this event is provided under the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women (GrOW) initiative. GrOW is a multifunder partnership with the UK Government’s Department for International Development, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. For more information on the Urban Institute’s funding principles, go to http://www.urban.org/about/funding-and-annual-reports.

Photo caption: Women attend the horticulture lecture in Bangladesh funded under the Northwest Rural Development Project. Photo via Asian Development Bank/Flickr Creative Commons