Women’s economic leadership

About

Relative to their works on food and livelihood issues in the World, the International NGO Oxfam, developped the program of Women’s Economic LeadershipWomen Economic Leadership. Policy Practice. This policy point of Oxfam aims to empower women economically and socially, as a way to get them out of poverty. Gender inequality is an impediment to economic growth and as such, giving women equal rights is a good way to promote development.In fact, a study by Ernst and Young showed that “the level of development in a country and gender equality have been shown to be significantly correlated” Women for Economic Leadership and Development By putting the focus on Women’s rights, the Women Economic Leadership strives to:

• Secure economic resources for Women

• Favorize the access and gain of power of women in the markets.

• Change cultural attitudes and practices that discriminate women in economic decision-making.

Women Economic Leadership in Agriculture

In the agricultural sector, Women Economic Leadership focuses mainly on enhancing smallholder women to access markets independently and equitably. The SOFA Report 2011: “Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development” showed that in spite of women being the main agricultural force in the farms, they comprise fewer than 10 percent of the farmers involved in smallholder contract-farming schemes in he Kenyan fruit and vegetable export sector The SOFA Report 2011: “Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development”. Page 13. Other areas of focus in the agriculural sector is the enhancement of women’s ability to decide how resources get invested in agriculture at household level and more widely, the highlighting of the significant economic contribution of women smallholders to agricultural development and the incorporation of a long-term strategy for facilitating systemic change with many value-chain stakeholders by transforming gender roles and relations in agricultural markets and raising women’s share of the benefits from agricultural development.

The Knowledge Hub on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Agriculture

The Knowledge Hub on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Agriculture’s wee.oxfam.org platform is an online community where Oxfam and other stakeholders share knowledge and experiences on Women’s Empowerment in the agricultural sector.

See also

• The SOFA Report 2011: “Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development”
• Women and Agriculture
• World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development

References

External links

• Women for Economic and Leadership Development
• Women Leaders and Gender Parity
• Promoting Women’s Empowerment, Global Private Sector Leaders Forum, World Bank, Gender Action Plan.
• Poor Women’s Economic Leadership Toolkit
• Women’s Work and Economic Empowerment