ECONOMICS II

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
FOR WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT
SUBMITTED TO DR. SHIVANI MOHAN
(FACULTY OF ECONOMICS)

SUBMITTED BYDEEKSHA TRIPATI

ROLL N0:-1126
4TH SEMESTER

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ACKNOWLEDMENT
I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind
support and help of many individuals. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
I am highly indebted to my economics teacher, Dr. Shivani Mohan for her guidance and
constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project &
also for her support in completing the project.
I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & my friends for their kind cooperation and encouragement which help me in completion of this project.
I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to seniors for giving me such
attention and time.
My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleagues in developing the project and people
who have willingly helped me out with their abilities.
Thanking them all !
Deeksha Tripathi.

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SR.N
O

CONTENT

PAGE

1.

INTRODUCTION

2.

THE ISSUE: WOMENS ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

3.

WHY ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT MATTERS

4.

POSITIVE OUTCOMES OF WOMENS ECONOMIC

EMPOWERMENT

5.

CAN ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT CAUSE WOMEN

EMPOWERMENT:

6.

7.

Relaxing the grip of poverty through economic

development.
Economic development, fertility, &maternal mortality.
Giving women hope by expanding their opportunities.
Economic development & womens right.
Will economic development be enough.

CAN WOMEN EMPOWERMENT CAUSE ECONOMIC

EMPOWERMENT

13-15

Women employment and changes in family outcomes.

Women as decision makers within the household.
Women as decision makers within the family.

CHANGES BROUGHT BY VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS

10-12

16-18

International Center for Research on Women.

United Nation Women.
UNDP.

8.

CONCLUSION

19

9.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

20

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INDRODUCTION
Economic empowerment is the capacity of women and men to participate in, contribute to
and benefit from growth processes in ways that recognize the value of their contributions,
respect their dignity and make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of
growth. Economic empowerment increases womens access to economic resources and
opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive assets, skills
development and market information.
Economic empowerment of women increases their access to economic resources and
opportunities. This access is often hindered by discrimination and persistent gender
inequalities. Womens economic participation and empowerment bring direct benefits to
women but also have a strong impact on poverty and growth, and are essential for achieving
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Women's economic empowerment is a prerequisite for sustainable development and
for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. And economic empowerment is also a
right. There is no quick fix: women's economic empowerment takes sound public policies, a
holistic approach and long-term commitment from all development actors. Donors can also
increase their investment.
Womens economic empowerment increases the wealth and well-being of the entire
population. Women are, however, less likely than men to have access to credit, resources, and
education. Women are also more likely than men to be in vulnerable jobs in the informal
sector, to be underemployed or without a job, in addition to carrying out unpaid work in
households.

A. Aims and Objectives

To know the correlation between economic development and women empowerment.

To understand the importance of womens empowerment.

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B. Hypothesis

There is dependability of economic development on women empowerment.

There are positive outcomes in the long run in giving empowerment to women.

C. Research Methodology
The research method used is absolutely doctrinal in nature based on available
materials and other sources and relevant information available. A comprehensive
study is made in order to arrive at analytical & critical support of the arguments. This
project has been done after a thorough research based upon intrinsic and extrinsic
aspect of the assigned topic.

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The issue: Womens Economic Empowerment

Womens economic empowerment requires bold and sustained action to advance womens
opportunities and rights and to ensure that women can participate and be heard.
To increase their economic opportunities, women need access to more and better jobs, a
business climate that supports them in starting and doing business, a financial sector that
gives them access to financial services tailored to their needs, and greater livelihood security
in times of food and fuel crises. This is especially true for women living in rural areas and
vulnerable environments.
Securing womens legal rights, especially to land and other property, and ensuring that
womens voices and priorities are heard and acted on are vital components of empowerment securing womens land rights has a direct impact on their ability to access finance, for
example. Empowering women the third of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also helps to speed progress toward other MDGs.1
Women have the potential to change their own economic status, as well as that of the
communities and countries in which they live. Yet more often than not, womens economic
contributions go unrecognized, their work undervalued and their promise unnourished.
Unequal opportunities between women and men continue to hamper womens ability to lift
themselves from poverty and gain more options to improve their lives. Research shows that
inequalities persist in the way paid and unpaid work is divided between women and men; in
the fact that women remain the sole caregivers at home, and in their limited access to
resources. What's more, these imbalances slow economic growth.
Womens economic empowerment that is, their capacity to bring about economic change
for themselves is increasingly viewed as the most important contributing factor to achieving
equality between women and men. But economically strengthening women who are half the
worlds workforce is not only a means by which to spur economic growth, but also a matter
of advancing women's human rights. When governments, businesses and communities invest
1http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/focus_areas/focus_gender_a
nd_poverty/women_s_economicempowerment.html
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in women, and when they work to eliminate inequalities, developing countries are less likely
to be plagued by poverty. Entire nations can also better their chance of becoming stronger
players in the global marketplace.2
Investing in womens economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality,
poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Women make enormous contributions to
economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing
unpaid care work at home. But they also remain disproportionately affected by poverty,
discrimination and exploitation. Gender discrimination means that women often end up in
insecure, low-wage jobs, and constitute a small minority of those in senior positions. It
curtails access to economic assets such as land and loans. It limits participation in shaping
economic and social policies. And, because women perform the bulk of household work, they
often have little time left to pursue economic opportunities.3

2 http://www.icrw.org/what-we-do/economic-empowerment
3http://www2.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2013/12/
un%20women_ee-thematic-brief_us-web%20pdf.ashx?v=3&d=20141013T121456
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Why Womens Empowerment Matters

Economic empowerment is the capacity of women and men to participate in, contribute to
and benefit from growth processes in ways which recognise the value of their contributions,
respect their dignity and make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution of the benefits of
growth. Economic empowerment increases womens access to economic resources and
opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive assets, skills
development and market information.4 Womens economic participation and empowerment
are fundamental to strengthening womens rights and enabling women to have control over
their lives and exert influence in society. It is about creating just and equitable societies.
Women often face discrimination and persistent gender inequalities, with some women
experiencing multiple discrimination and exclusion because of factors such as ethnicity or
caste.5
The economic empowerment of women is a prerequisite for sustainable development, propoor growth and the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Gender
equality and empowered women are catalysts for multiplying development efforts.
Investments in gender equality yield the highest returns of all development investments. 6
Women usually invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and communities
than men. A study in Brazil showed that the likelihood of a childs survival increased by 20%
when the mother controlled household income.7

4 As seen in Eyben, R and others (2008), Conceptualising empowerment and the implications for propoor growth, Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, Brighton as cited in
https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/47561694.pdf
5 As seen in Sweden, Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2010), On equal footing: policy for gender
equality and the rights and role of women in Swedens international development cooperation 2010
2015, MfA, Stockholm as sited in https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/47561694.pdf
6 As seen in OECD (2010), Accelerating progress towards the MDGs through pro-poor growth:
policy messages from the DAC Network on Poverty Reduction, OECD, Paris as sited in
https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/47561694.pdf
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Positive outcomes of Womens Economic

Empowerment

Where women's participation in the labor force grew fastest, the economy
experienced the largest reduction in poverty rates.

When women farmers can access the resources they need, their production increases,
making it less likely that their families are hungry and malnourished.

When women own property and earn money from it, they may have more bargaining
power at home. This in turn can help reduce their vulnerability to domestic violence and
HIV infection.

When women have access to time-saving technologies such as a foot-pedaled water

pump or a motorized scooter economic benefits can follow. ICRW research has found
that technology helps women increase their productivity as well as launch incomegenerating pursuits and entrepreneurial ventures. Those kind of outcomes empower
women to become stronger leaders and to more effectively contribute financially to
their families, communities and countries.8

When more women work, economies grow. If womens paid employment rates were
raised to the same level as mens, the USA gross domestic product would be an estimated
9 per cent higher, the Euro zones would climb by 13 per cent and Japans would be
boosted by 16 per cent. In 15 major developing economies, per capita income would rise
by 14 per cent by 2020, 20 per cent by 2030.

An analysis of Fortune 500 companies found that those with the greatest
representation of women in management positions delivered a total return to shareholders
that was 34 per cent higher than for companies with the lowest representation.

7 As seen in Extracted from World Bank President Zoellicks speech at the MDG3 conference,
Copenhagen, 25 March, 2010as sited in https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/47561694.pdf
8 http://www.icrw.org/what-we-do/economic-empowerment

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Evidence from a range of countries shows that increasing the share of household
income controlled by women, either through their own earnings or cash transfers, changes
spending in ways that benefit children.9

Can Economic Empowerment cause Women

Empowerment
Gender inequality is often greater among the poor, both within and across countries. Recent
research suggests that economic growth, by reducing poverty and increasing opportunity, can
indeed have an important positive impact on gender equality.
Relaxing the grip of poverty through economic development
The first way by which economic development reduces inequality is by relaxing the
constraints poor households face, thus reducing the frequency at which they are placed in the
position to make life or death choices. Because these tragic choices are often resolved at the
expense of womens wellbeing, increasing the resources available to families, as economic
development does, reduces the excess vulnerability of women. Even in the countries where
the preference for boys is strongest, the evidence that girls systematically receive less care
than boys under normal circumstances is not as clear-cut as one might guess. When a child is
born, the household, in effect, becomes poorer, since there is now one more person to feed
one who will remain unproductive for a long while. This means that the adult members of the
household need to cut down on their own consumption to make room for the new
expenditures. Observing the extent to which the household consumption of adult goods,
such as cigarettes, alcohol, or adult clothing drops when a child is born, provides us with an
indirect estimate of the cost of the child. If families spend fewer resources on girls, for
example, if girls are given less to eat than boys, then the adults will cut their consumption of
adult goods by a smaller amount when they have an extra girl than when they have an extra
boy. The differential treatment is observed when either children or parents face extreme
circumstances. India has one of the largest discrepancies in gender-specific mortality rates.
9http://www2.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2013/12/
un%20women_ee-thematic-brief_us-web%20pdf.ashx?v=3&d=20141013T121456
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If facilities were closer and easier to reach, parents would likely be bringing boys and girls
more often, and they would then be equally treated. Some also argue that, mechanically,
improvements in water and sanitation conditions, as well as the better control of infection,
may also be more beneficial to girls than to boys, because boys are more susceptible to
congenital deformation, and their disadvantage compared to girls, is lower for infectious
diseases.
As households become richer, they will also be less likely to face choices at the margin of
subsistence. Thus, by reducing the vulnerability of poor households to risk, economic
development, even without specifically targeting women, disproportionately improves their
well-being.
Economic Development, fertility, and maternal mortality
Other than pre-birth and in early childhood, women are most likely to be missing relative to
men in childbearing years. This, of course, is not the result of active discrimination, but due
to the fact that women carry children and give birth, and that in itself is a dangerous activity.
Other than directly affecting the welfare of women (and not men) in a significant way,
maternal mortality is potentially a source of lower parental investment in childhood: if
parents expect girls to be much more likely to die as young women than boys, they may be
more inclined to invest in boys.
Giving women hope by expanding their opportunities
The fact that women have fewer opportunities in the labour market may contribute to their
unequal treatment in the household. Parents have lower aspirations for their daughters than
for their sons, and teenagers themselves have lower aspirations. Many parents believed that
educating girls is not necessary, since girls are only expected to marry and take care of their
households. If part of the motivation for educating children is to enhance their employment
opportunities, then improving the opportunities available to women in the labour market
would provide a strong catalyst for the treatment of women to change for the better.
Economic development leads to a change in the nature of work that is more conducive to
womens work. The entry of India into the world economy provides another example of
economic development leading to improved gender equality, even reversing the fortunes of
boys and girls as the traditional segregation of schooling options turned against boys.
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When India liberalized its economy in the 1990s, and its software and service industries grew,
the economic returns to education in English increased dramatically. The new sectors, such as
outsourced telemarketing, also provided labour market opportunities for women who had
traditionally been shut out of the labour market, leading to a rapid increase in English-based
education for both boys and girls. Among the lower castes, the increase was much faster for
girls than for boys: the proportion of lower-caste girls instructed in English almost caught up
to that of upper-caste girls, but for the boys, the increase was not any faster compared to other
castes. All these examples show that gender-blind policies that improve the economic welfare
of households can improve gender equality, and that diversifying the economy and increasing
womens options in the labour market can cause households to adjust their behaviour, moving
them towards gender equality.
Economic Development and womens rights
Empirically, there is a strong correlation between economic development and womens legal
rights, in areas as diverse as property rights, access to land, access to bank loans, violence
against women, abortion policy, etc. Is there a reason to design policies specifically targeted
towards improving the condition of women? Or is it sufficient for improving womens
condition to fight poverty and to create the conditions for economic growth in poor countries?
In a word, will economic development be enough? Womens rights positively affects their
empowerment. More the rights better the empowerment.
But will economic development be enough?
There is evidence that growth will not be enough to overcome discrimination in the home and
in a number of domains. Sex ratios remain skewed in favour of boys. The gap between girls
and boys is closing for primary and secondary schooling, but for tertiary education, the ratio
of females to males has not improved overall, even though participation has risen for both
boys and girls. In the labour market, even in developed countries, women who are equally
qualified continue to earn less than men at all levels of qualification. The persistent difference
in sex ratios at birth illustrates the fact that economic development, and the availability of
new technologies, can have perverse effects on gender equality if it decreases the cost of
discriminating against girls. In the long-run, there is no trade off between helping women

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more and helping everyone, because increasing the share of resources going to women will
increase the amount of resources so much that everyone will be better off.10

Can Women Empowerment cause Economic

Empowerment
There are two rationales for supporting active policies to promote women. The first is equity
as valuable in and of itself: women are currently worse-off than men, and this inequality
between genders is repulsive in its own right. For example, in the United Nations 2005
report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of
the United Nations, writes: The full participation of women to all levels of decisionmaking is a basic human right. The second, a central argument in the discourse of
policymakers, is that women play a fundamental role in development. The gender gap in
education, political participation, and employment opportunities should therefore be reduced
not only because it is equitable to do so, but also because it will have beneficial consequences
on many other society-wide outcomes. It should be done, in other words, to increase
efficiency. The stance that women empowerment is desirable for efficiency shapes both the
policy debate and the resultant economic policies the world over. More education for girls
will also enable more and more women to attain leadership positions at all levels of society:
from health clinics in the villages to parliaments in the capitals. This, in turn, will change the
way societies will deal with problems and raise the quality of global decision-making.
Women empowerment and changes in family outcomes
A substantial literature has studied these issues and found clear evidence of a correlation
between mothers education and earnings, and child welfare, particularly child health.
Moreover, the correlation with mothers education and earnings is almost always found to be
stronger than the corresponding correlation with fathers education and earnings. However,
10 http://www.nber.org/papers/w17702.pdf
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correlations are often misleading. In this instance, there are two fundamental problems with
the interpretation of the results. First, a womans education, earnings, or political participation
may be correlated with unobserved dimensions of her ability, family, or community
background. To the extent that these unobserved factors directly determine child health, the
correlation does not indicate the causal effect of raising a womans education, earnings, or
political participation. It is important to recognize that the very fact that women are typically
less likely to get an education, earn an income, and participate in political decisions is likely
to make this bias stronger for women than for men. Education can have a range of benefits
within the households: if more educated women command higher outside wages, and it is
easier for them to get a job, then investing more in educating women, rather than in men, may
indeed have a more positive impact on child health than when the investments are spread
evenly if women bargaining power in the household leads to better outcomes for children. In
addition, if women are the primary caregivers for young children, then more education may
help them provide better care.
Therefore, many believe that a special effort is needed to educate girls, and that educating
girls would have tremendous spill over effects. Unfortunately, the evidence for this is not as
strong as is commonly believed.

Women as decision makers within the household

If women were powerless, then the money would be immediately appropriated by their
spouses, and we would see no impact of distributing the money to women rather than to men.
Conversely, if households were harmonious entities where everyone had the same preferences
and desires, then the nominal ownership of money would not matter within the household. It
would all go to a common pool and channeled towards the best uses for the families.
When women are decision makers within the household, how much they bring to the table
can have an important impact on ultimate choices. Empirically, a large literature has tested
whether income in the hands of women of a household has a different impact on intrahousehold allocation than income in the hands of the men. The evidence suggests that,
compared to income or assets in the hands of men, income or assets in the hands of women is
associated with larger improvements in child health, and larger expenditure shares of
household nutrients, health, and housing.

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Women as decision makers within the community: Women as policy makers

We have seen that women and men have different preferences, and that the household does
not efficiently bargain to choose the actions that maximize the households utility, suggesting
that women and men will have different policy preferences.
First, women will prefer policies that better reflect their own priorities. Since they are
particularly concerned about child health and nutrition, they should prefer policies that will
help them achieve these objectives.
Second, women should be in favor of policies that will increase their bargaining power within
the household, that is, policies that improve their situation in cases of divorce, and policies
that increase their productivity in everyday work or improve their chances to access the labor
market. 11

11 http://www.nber.org/papers/w17702.pdf
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Changes brought by various Organisations

International Center for Research on Women

Since the founding more than 30 years ago, ICRW's work has expanded
understanding of women's economic contributions as well as the hurdles that prevent
them from being successful. Their efforts focus on how gender affects economic
development efforts related to assets and property rights as well as employment,
enterprise development and financial services.

They strive to increase women's ownership, use and control of assets and property. We
want to empower women as economic agents and better their ability to access markets
on competitive and equitable terms. And with their partners, ICRW aims to integrate
gender perspectives into program and institution activities. We believe such an
approach improves the likelihood that efforts to strengthen women economically are
successful.12

United Nations Women

In all economic empowerment programmes, UN Women reaches out to women most in need,
often by engaging with grass-roots and civil society organizations. Particularly marginalized
groups include rural women, domestic workers, some migrants and low-skilled women. Their
aims are higher incomes, better access to and control over resources, and greater security,
including protection from violence.
12 http://www.icrw.org/what-we-do/economic-empowerment
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Morocco: A UN Women partnership with the Democratic Association of Moroccan

Women trains Soulalyates women, traditionally excluded from land rights, on
leadership and community mobilization. The project helped raise unprecedented
attention to their plight in the media and the broader public. In 2012, the Government
ruled that Soulalyates women should enjoy equal rights in land transfers.

Nepal: UN Womens long-standing work with migrant women workers in Nepal has
yielded concrete results, such as the creation of a network of returning migrant
women workers, legislation that has cemented rights, and regulations that provide
protection for the countrys 2.7 million migrant workers. Most recently UN Women
supported preparation of the Foreign Employment Policy, adopted in 2012, which
includes a separate section focusing on the rights of women domestic workers.

Tanzania: UN Women has helped the Ministry of Trade review key trade and
enterprise development policies from a gender perspective. New mechanisms are
being put in place to protect women from exploitation, improve access to
opportunities under the East African Customs Protocol and support the formation of
enterprises.

Globally: In 2012 292 companies in 17 countries signed the Womens Empowerment

Principles on corporate social responsibility for gender equality, developed by UN
Women and the UN Global Compact, bringing the total number to 594 companies.

UN Women is creating an open global community for womens economic empowerment on

the web portal www.empowerwomen.org. This Knowledge Gateway provides opportunities
for its members to find and share resources and learning tools; connect with peers and
experts; and to discuss, generate new ideas and advocate for womens economic
empowerment. It brings together a diverse range of partners, networks and members from
international organizations, private sector, governments, academia and civil society.13

UNDP
13http://www2.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library
/publications/2013/12/un%20women_ee-thematic-brief_us-web%20pdf.ashx?
v=3&d=20141013T121456
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UNDP advances womens economic empowerment by:

Advocating for increased recognition, reduction and redistribution of womens unpaid
care work;
Supporting research of customary law to help women gain access to land and
participate in decision-making form;
Supporting womens entrepreneurship through training in production skills and
techniques, business management and functional literacy;
Helping to certify businesses that adhere to equality standards in the workplace;
Supporting efforts to strengthen womens legal rights to property.14

14http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/focus_a
reas/focus_gender_and_poverty/women_s_economicempowerment.html
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Conclusion
Womens empowerment and economic development are closely interrelated. While
development itself will bring about womens empowerment, empowering women will bring
about changes in decision-making, which will have a direct impact on development. Contrary
to what is claimed by some of the more optimistic policy makers, it is, however, not clear that
a one-time impulsion of womens rights will spark a virtuous circle, with womens
empowerment and development mutually reinforcing each other and women eventually being
equal partners in richer societies.
On the one hand, economic development alone is insufficient to ensure significant progress in
important dimensions of womens empowerment, in particular, significant progress in
decision making ability in the face of pervasive stereotypes against womens ability.
On the other hand, womens empowerment leads to improvement in some aspects of
childrens welfare (health and nutrition, in particular), but at the expense of some others
(education).
This suggests that neither economic development nor womens empowerment is the magic
bullet it is sometimes made out to be. Equity between men and women is only likely to be
achieved by continuing policy actions that favor women at the expense of men, possibly for
for a very long time. While this may result in some collateral benefits, those benefits may or
may not be sufficient to compensate the cost of the distortions associated with such
redistribution.

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Bibliography
Books referred:

Dr. Millicent Lownes, The Economic Empowerment of Women: A Global Perspective

(7th Edition), Informing science Press, 2012.

Sushma Sahay, Women and Empowerment: Approaches & strategies (27 th Edition),

Discovery Publishing House, 1998.

M Kumar, Women Health, Empowerment & Economic Development(5th Edition),

Deep & Deep Publications, 2009.

J. Sujatamalini, Economic Empowerment of Women, (16 th Edition), Discovery

Publishing House, 2008.

Ajit Kumar Sinha, New Dimensions of Women Empowerment, (2 nd Edition), Deep &
Deep Publications, 2008.

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http://www2.unwomen.org/~/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publica
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v=3&d=20141013T121456.
http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/46877843.pdf.
http://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-

development/economicempowermentandfinance.htm.
http://www.unwomen.org/en.
http://www.icrw.org/what-we-do/economic-empowerment.
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/focus_areas/fo
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