Editorial / Opinion Piece / Blog Post

Making It magazine issue on the economic empowerment of women

Charles Arthur's picture

Fourth quarter of 2011 issue of UNIDO's Making It magazine is devoted to the issue of women's economic empowerment. Articles by Michelle Bachelet, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, Zoe Elena Horn, Jan O'Sullivan, and many more.

‘Women hold up half the sky’ is a Chinese proverb affirming women’s equal contribution to the human experience but it is an aspirational, rather than a factual, claim. In developed and developing countries alike, gender gaps persist in education, health, work, wages and political participation. For this issue of Making It, the theme is gender equality and the economic empowerment of women.

As Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, pointed out, “There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women”.

Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours but women earn only 10% of the world’s income, and women own less than 1% of the world’s property. Women lag far behind men in access to land, credit, and decent jobs, even though a growing body of research shows that enhancing women’s economic options boosts national economies.

women in politics | pacific islands

avaiki's picture
Delegates submissions, some reportage, and photos from the PIF SPC Women In Politics conference, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 2006.

A Golden Age for Women's Participation in Ghana?

This paper is a comparative commentary on the situation of women’s political leadership in Ghana. The paper highlights progress made in the country, draws attention to areas of retrogression and proposes some immediate strategies for greater representation of women in political leadership.

Increasing Gender Justice in Democratic Governance

The document that is part of the magazine Maria Maria, presents women's political participation as one of the most important goals for UNIFEM even though women's participation continues to be extremely limited around the world.

FSM Bill Designates 4 Seats in Congress for Women

On November 27th- day 2 of the 5th Special Session, Speaker Isaac V Figir and Vice Speaker Resio S Moses co-sponsored a bill that if passed, may forever change the landscape of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. Congress Bill 15-169 which proposes four designated seats in the FSM Congress for women. The bill's stated purpose is for "increasing the representation of women in parliament by increasing the number of at-large seats and reserving said seats for women". The bill inspired a healthy discussion of views among members of the parliament and they collectively applauded its introduction. As an amendment to the Constitution of the FSM, should the bill be signed into law, it would be placed for referendum. I think it is a very progressive notion and a few Pacific Island countries have adopted it into their regime or are planning to use a similar system. PNG and Cook Islands have it, and it is commonly refered to as the "qouta system". it simply reserves seats exclusively for women in parliament. Now we can truly expect women to be elected to a congress comprising of only 14 seats representing over 115,000 people. In FSM, women represent less than one percent in state legislatures and 0% in Congress. The core idea behind qouta systems is to recuit women into political positions and to ensure that women not only a few tokesn in political life, or that women are not islolated in political life. The bill is directly consistent with current trends of the qouta systems because it represents a system that constitutes a critical minority of women representatives or at least 28% of Congress membership.

Women and 2008 Elections: Challenges and Opportunities for Strengthening Ghana's Democracy

This article highlights opportunities and challenges for a greater participation of Ghanaian women in this year’s historic election. It describes how the government, political parties, civil society and the media in Ghana are challenged to do more to advance the interests and representation of Ghanaian women in the electioneering process.

How to Handle Online Criticism

This op-ed describes how an organization, political candidate or office-holder should handle online criticism and describes some ways to address it.

Women as Catalysts for Peace and Stability

Mariam Almahdi's picture
This opinion piece discusses why women are still far from being treated equally, despite the numerous efforts at the national, regional and international levels. This piece was presented at the World Women Laeders Forum under the theme of Defining Leadership and Success.

Democracy & Political Participation in the Context of UNR 1325

Mariam Almahdi's picture
This opinion piece describes UN Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security and the role of women in conflict zones. It also discusses challenges faced by women running for elections in post-conflict countries.

Legislated Gender Quotas or Voluntary Party Quotas?

This opinion piece describes electoral gender quotas around the world and how they function in different political systems.