4 minutes read
After Melinda French’s recent announcement of USD 1 billion dollars in funding for women and girls, it is a good time to take stock of how far we have come and how far we still have to go.
Formally, gender equality has been on the global agenda for almost ten years now. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Gender equality is SDG 5, but is also central to achieving many of the other SDGs, including no poverty, quality education, and good health and wellbeing.
Unlocking smart philanthropic capital is an important part of the solution; however, a recent report by The Bridgespan Group revealed that in 2021-2022 just 16% of grants made by US donors named gender as an explicit focus. Bridgespan also concluded that for social justice programming to be successful, gender must be embedded across all topic areas.
From my time in the region, learning from foundations, local organisations, and directly from young people themselves, here are some priority areas of focus in terms of urgency and effectiveness:
- The gendered digital divide. Addressing this is critical to educating and empowering girls and young women in the digital age. Currently there is an intra-house digital divide that prevents women and girls from equitably accessing digital devices. For example, the latest National Family Health Survey in India shows that over 60% of women in 12 states and union territories have never used the internet.
- Engaging with men and boys. This focus area has been identified by adolescent girls and young women in emerging market countries, in particular those which operate on patriarchal norms. Men and boys in their families and community exercise control over girls and women and play a key role in decisions related to girls’ lives. According to UNICEF’s Gender Equality Overview, gender disparities become more pronounced in adolescents between 10-19 years of age as boys and girls develop gender attitudes and gender norms consolidate. It is important to educate men and boys on gender equity and patriarchy, so they see other genders as equals.
- Sexual reproductive health and rights. Adolescence is recognised as a critical stage in one’s life, during which many behavioural patterns that can determine future health and economic outcomes are established. An estimated 14% of girls and women globally give birth before the age of 18, which often devastates their lives and jeopardises their status at home and in communities. It is critical to provide access to sexual and reproductive health care and information.
- Non-traditional livelihoods. Women are typically the most distantly located from profit in any value chain, often at the beginning of the chain where they perform piecemeal work, with low profit margins and in low paid jobs. Organisations like EMpower aim to transform this story, through skilling, building agency, and financial awareness so that women can be seen and heard in formal work. And I have seen this first hand: EMpower grantee partner Azad Foundation trains women to become commercial drivers in India and Passerelles Numériques provides women with vocational training in IT skills so they can secure jobs in the digital industry in the Philippines.
Not only does gender equality make social sense, it also makes economic sense. The World Bank’s recently released South Asia Development Update reports low employment ratios for women as one of the primary reasons South Asia’s employment ratio is lower than that of other developing regions. Factors limiting employment of South Asian women include a lack of education, lack of childcare options and deep-rooted social norms.
Women also have restrictive access to capital. Research from Acumen reveals that women-led small and medium-sized enterprises are facing a funding gap of USD 1.4 to USD 1.7 trillion and the cost of capital is not only higher, but prohibitive – in the first half of 2023, women-only African founding teams raised just USD 1 out of every USD 50 in equity finance.
I would like to conclude on a positive note, with an opportunity. There is a new era of women’s leadership in philanthropy – alongside Melinda French, MacKenzie Scott is also answering the call to action. The greatest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history is close at hand, and women are expected to gain control of most of that wealth – at least USD 30 trillion – and much of it by 2030. This is an opportunity for transformative change in philanthropy and to truly move the needle on gender equality.
Many funders are now incorporating a specific gender lens into their grants and investments – Global Fund for Women, Mama Cash, Frida Foundation and Kering Foundation to name a few – and I encourage other funders to do the same.
