Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities at large. Many bodies are indeed key to advance gender equality and empower women though a lot remains to be done.
Cognizant of the fact that promoting economic empowerment for women is crucial in achieving gender equality, The Ethiopian Herald had a stay with Yetinayet Fasil who graduated in Gender Studies from Addis Ababa University, to have detailed facts and elaboration about the firm tie between economic empowerment and gender equality.
She said, “Women’s empowerment is a means of increasing women’s access to opportunities and control over their lives. It’s a sociocultural, economic, and political process that aims at improving women’s quality of life. It also helps the nation eradicate poverty, can help promote inclusive economic growth, create gender equality by investing in women’s economic empowerment and ensuring women’s health, safety, and well-being as well as treating women and men fairly at work.”
As to Yetinayet, establishing high-level corporate leadership for gender equality and working together to make the path easier for women are the viable means to bring about change in all aspects.
“The government is working to promote women’s economic empowerment thereby bringing about gender equality and sustainable peace by of course preventing violence and promoting social cohesion in the country. Obviously, women’s empowerment and social cohesion are linked, as empowering women can help build more inclusive and resilient communities,” she stated.
Responding to the question, of how women’s empowerment and social cohesion are linked, Yetinayet stated that of the various ways to foster the issue it is better to reduce violence against women, which pronounces social, economic, political, and psychological empowerment of women that can help reduce the risk of violence against women.
As to her, the next means for fueling women empowerment can definitely be community resilience. Yes, empowered women can contribute to more resilient communities by supporting families and participating in the social, economic, and political fabric of their communities.
According to Yetinayet, women can play a role in achieving and sustaining peace and stability at all levels. Women’s empowerment can help achieve gender equality, which is a fundamental aspect of social cohesion.
She said that it is quite important to dismantle systemic barriers that hinder women’s progress, such as discrimination, unequal pay, and limited access to education and financial services. If this is so, promoting women’s economic participation, political representation, educational attainment, and social inclusion would be very fruitful. In so doing, it would be viable to make women become active agents of change in their communities, to advocate for human rights and gender equality.
No doubt, gender inequality prevents girls from receiving education and acquiring skills, which limits their access to decent work. In Ethiopia, women are constrained to work in the informal sector with meager income. Some even say women are caregivers, with sole responsibility for taking care of the family. Such a discriminating aspect has to be well altered thereby helping the nation to make a difference.
As to her, there are a number of gender gaps that have to be well bridged such as inaccessibility to resources, lack of information, technologies, and services; and harmful gender and social norms that continue to compromise women’s rights. As indigenous women, people with low incomes, and those living in marginal areas are often left out of policy processes, it is high time to entertain an encompassing and comprehensive way of addressing all sorts of women’s problems.
“Integrating gender equality in program design, implementation, and evaluation, including the development and scaling of tools to measure women’s empowerment is quite important to bring about real change. Despite significant progress, women continue to face systemic barriers to economic participation, education, and leadership opportunities. Empowering women is not only necessary for individuals but it is also a crucial driver of economic growth and better for the community as a whole,” she underlined.
As to her, based on the rulebooks that women differ from men in their social positions and that those differences consist of asymmetric, unequal power relations between the genders, women’s empowerment boosts to the process of increasing women’s access to control over the strategic life choices that affect them and access to the opportunities and realize their capacities. Women’s empowerment as an economic, political, and sociocultural process challenges the system of sexual stratification that has resulted in women’s subordination and marginalization in order to improve women’s quality of life.
Yes, coordinated actions to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment are informed by real-life business practices and input gathered from across the continent and the entire region. They also reflect the interests of governments and civil society and serve to support interactions among stakeholders, as achieving gender equality requires the participation of all actors at all levels, she said.
According to Yetinayet, women’s empowerment is a vital catalyst for achieving gender equality and fostering economic development by prioritizing financial inclusion, leadership development, and tailored financial products for women, values-based banks drive systemic change that benefits entire communities. True, empowering women in this way equips them with the financial tools and resources needed to achieve their full potential, leading to more resilient families and stronger, more inclusive economies.
Besides, the significance of women’s economic empowerment transcends finance plays a key role in advancing women’s rights and achieving gender equality regionally, continentally and even globally, she added.
Since women living in rural areas, in particular, are often especially vulnerable due to limited access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, these challenges make them more susceptible to poverty. Here, she said empowering women is about creating a world where half of the global population has the freedom to make choices and take control of their lives, contributing equally to the social, economic, and political fabric of their communities and society. This includes offering leadership development programs specifically designed to support women’s progression to senior roles within the bank.
She said, “By providing specialized training, mentorship, and leadership development opportunities, the step boosts women’s confidence and equips them with the skills to succeed in leadership roles. By supporting women entrepreneurs, homemakers, students, and senior citizens, women empowerment fosters social, financial, and political independence and economic empowerment. It’s an example of a more inclusive and sustainable form of banking that assists women to manage their finances better and provides the necessary tools for personal and professional growth.”
The transformative impact of empowering women underscores the profound potential for creating a more equitable world, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed and contribute meaningfully to economic and social progress, she said.
Needless to say, women can be the main drivers of social cohesion among communities. At the same time, they are more likely to be excluded, reducing their access to decent work, education, and health care, as well as exposing them to risks of violence and trafficking, she added.
As supporting the effort geared towards empowering women to develop improved resilience-building for the young generation is quite vital, it needs to be well reinvigorated, she underscored.
In sum, the social, economic, psychological, and political empowerment of women is a shielding factor in reducing the risk of violence against women. Obviously, women’s sense of self-worth, their right to have and to determine choices, to have access to opportunities and resources, to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home as well as the ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally should be well underlined. To this end, education, training, building self-confidence, expansion of choices, and increased access to and control over resources, among others should be well strengthened.
BY MENGESHA AMARE
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 13 MARCH 2025
