Introduction 

Women’s economic empowerment is a prerequisite for inclusive and equitable economic

growth. Women around the world and especially in the Africa and in MENA region are
resilient and innovative economic agents, overcoming persistent, gender-primarily based
obstacles to strengthen the health, training, and economic security of their families.
Evidence shows that women’s complete participation within the economy drives better
acting and more resilient organizations and supports economic growth and wider
improvement goals for economic of thier nations. Every day, women display they are able
to build companies out of very little capital, create networks to maximise restricted
sources, and shoulder disproportionate caretaking obligations, which often encompass
cooking ; growing food; and being concerned for children, the unwell, and the elderly.
Women be triumphant in spite of legal guidelines, laws, social norms, violence and
institutions that maintain them back. This coverage brief examines opportunities to create
an allowing surroundings for ladies to thrive economically.

As of 2019, fifty three economies did not have legal guidelines shielding women from
sexual harassment in the administrative center. This loss of legal safety is compounded via
the truth that a few nations have discriminatory employment legal guidelines that restrict
women participation within the group of workers. A 2017 World Bank report observed that
104 economies have laws stopping women from operating in many jobs.

However nower day women entrepreneurs now account for a quarter to a third of all
companies in the formal global economy. This confirmation factors to the reality that
women entrepreneurs are not actually redefining the function of women inside the financial
sphere, they may be setting precedence by using molding the contemporary overall
economic system. Women entrepreneurship is widely stated as a precondition for
sustainable economic growth and development in any economic system (Shava, 2018), but,
very little is understood approximately women entrepreneurial business and the key drivers
for transitioning to a green economy as allowing factors for including their business
subsistence and growth strategies.

Green economy is certainly one of tools used to reap sustainable development goals (SDG)
of stop poverty, starvation and food security, health and education, gender equality and
women´s empowerment, water and sanitation, energy, financial increase, infrastructure,
industrialization, inequality, towns, sustainable intake and manufacturing, climate
alternate, oceans, biodiversity, partnerships, and so forth. The socio-ecological and SDGs’
indicators of the green economy mentioned movements past the GDP as the
transformational notion to mesure the wellbeing. Green economy visions are relevant for
the legitimacy and worldwide green economy under the SDGs. The chapter is arranges as
follows : the next section presents the conceptual framework, followed by the second
section about empowering women policy and incentives and lastly, the chapiter provides a
benchmark and success stories and conclusion.
1- Conceptual framework

1.1 What is women’s empowerment

Empowerment may be described as a “multi-dimensional social process that allows people

advantage gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power in humans,
for use of their personal lives, their groups, and of their society, via performing on issues
that they define as important” (Page and Czuba, 1999). In other way, women's
empowerment refers to “women’s capacity to make strategic life choices where that ability
were previously denied them” (Malhotra et al., 2009). Accordingly, empowerment is
important to the approaches of keeping the benefits of women at individual, family,
network and broader levels (Malhotra et al.,2009). It involves the action of boosting the
status of women via literacy, schooling, training and raising awareness (Alvarez and
Lopez, 2013).

Yet, making sure the inclusion of women’s skills, talents, experience and energies calls for
intentional moves and planned policies. The Women’s Empowerment Principles provide a
set of concerns to assist the private sector focus on key elements critical to improve gender
equality within the workplace, marketplace and network.

Enhancing openness and inclusion at some stage in company guidelines and operations
requires techniques, tools and practices that deliver outcomes. The Women’s
Empowerment Principles, forged through a global multi-stakeholder consultative ways led
with the aid of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the
United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), provide a “gender lens” through which business
can survey and examine cutting-edge initiatives, benchmarks and reporting practices.

So, women are step by step taken into consideration to play a critical function in
transforming society with developing economies right into a green economy and reducing
poverty (Mangin 2014). Hechavarria, Ingram, Justo and Terjesen (2014) show that, in
comparison to their masculine counterparts, women have extra environmental attitudes and
are much more likely to strain environmental problems. This is regular with a studies
undertaken by Braun (2010) to determine whether females entrepreneurs may be more
concerned in green problems than their masculine conterparts. Women entrepreneurs can
be more worried in green issues than their masculine conterparts. Many studies disclosed
that women had greater environmental attitudes and determination to green
entrepreneurship than men, implying that female entrepreneurs can be more worried in
green problems than masculine businessmen (Braun, 2010). The findings of research
showed that women entrepreneurs encourage green practices. More especially, the research
consequences examined that women perform their business in ways that reduce
unfavorable environmental influences and encourage green advertising, marketing and
employment approaches (Ambepitiya 2016). Sumathi, Anuradha and Akash (2014) say
that being a green business owner can offer economically rewarding, socially accountable
and environmentally useful jobs. At the same time, it can help females with their ambitious
dedications to stability their family life.

In fact to strengthen the presence of women and their role in developing the green
economy, we must resolve the inequality between women and men. The United Nations
Development Programme states that women are often disproportionately susceptible to the
impacts of climate change (United Nations Development Programme, 2012). This is due to
a variety of factors, which consist of sociocultural limitations and socio-political
discrimination. In addition, women’s reproductive role go away them dependent on climate
sensitive livelihoods and sources. Research by the United Nations (2011) and the World
Bank (2013, 2018) show that focusing on women in development assistance and poverty
reduction strategies leads to faster economic increase than gender impartial processes
(United Nations, 2015). The green economy considers that gender equality and the
empowerment of women are preconditions for overcoming poverty, inequality, and other
socioenvironmental issues.

Growing structural demanding situations, such as sustainable developement and green

economy, have been matched by way of sobering evidence on the continued persistence of
gender inequality. A current version of the Global Gender Gap Index ranking a 144
countries by business opportunities, education, political participation and health, published
by the World Economic Forum (2017), suggests that a few components of the gap seem to
have worsened in latest years. The gap in estimated earned income (US$, PPP) accelerated
appreciably after the worldwide financial crash of 2008. The report estimates that,
projecting from 2017, it's going to take 217 years to close the gender gap in place of job
equality, and a 100 years to close the gap. While gender inequality in health and education
appears much more likely to narrow, the economic and political inequalities between males
and females appear to be hardy perennials which are getting worse.

The evidence from research and reports like the World Bank reports (2013, 2017) and
others provides a major stumbling block to the courageous vision and the goals, targets and
indicators (GTI) laid out by means of the United Nations’ submit-2015 agenda through the
sustainable development goals (SDG). It factors to the difficulties besetting the path closer
to greater equality. At the same time, the depth of the gender inequality issues suggests that
treating the success of the gender equality GTI as a largely technical workout might be
completely insufficient. To achieve momentum and to conquer the prevailing tendencies
towards retrogression and backlash will need political mobilization on an important scale.
But the attempt to protect, promote and improve gender equality and women’s human
rights through worldwide norms and quantitative measures raises a crucial challenge can
deeply embedded social inequality be conquer via a focal point on quantifiable measures
and related guidelines.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2008) states that bridging
the gender gap hinges at the ability of governments to come up with open-minded
guidelines that take gender dimensions into consideration. The full participation and
utilisation of women skills and qualifications within the green economy is critical in
fostering sustainable economic growth. The notes that, despite the fact that first-rate
progress has been registered as a ways as gender equality is involved, in recent years, vital
gaps continue to persist among males and females. Against this backdrop, there's a need to
provide an enabling policy framework that protects males and females similarly. Gender
parity remains a cherished dream to many and can remain so for some time in the close
future. The USAID (2016) studies on gender and development continues to develop at the
policy level. Much of this studies is normative in its approach, emphasising why gender
inclusion is vital for development results. From the USAID (2016) studies, what emerges
is that an improvement in gender inclusion is required for women to leverage their
competencies and decision making in all spheres of public and personal life. For countries
like north africa or MENA region, this implies that active women involvement and
participation should be seen in all fields of governance.

Webb (2015) recollects that advanced gender analysis and gender mainstreaming has led to
an important understanding of gender inequality in relation to climate change. However,
much gender-associated research and plenty of tasks, suggestions, and guidelines are based
totally on generalised perceptions of gender dynamics and gender stereotypes. Smith and
Musango (2015) advance that the idea of a green economy transition has inspired
numerous ideological, geopolitical, and institutional responses. However, all of the
strategies have proven that the informal financial system has been largely alienated in
many countries in africa and MENA region. The participation of women can only be
powerful via the transformation of gender power family members and the supply of know-
how and capability guide to them. Past techniques within the development of green
economies have marginally looked at the differentiated implications for women and men.
Gender equality is a key element inside the evolution to a green economy (Webb, 2015).
More importantly, social fairness is on the center of the green economy.

1.2. Empower women, sustainable development and green economy

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2011) defines the green economy as
« to improved well-being and social equity by alleviating environment risks and ecological
scarcities ». The success in the adoption of a green economic system hinges on investing in
areas that stimulate economic development, even as fostering useful resource efficiency
and environmentally friendly habits. This involves that green economy policies must take
into consideration poverty reduction and women empowerment, specifically in encourage
sustainable development. Godwell and Mukonza (2019) Shows that for green economic
system transition to be effective, there is a need to deliberately come up with propoor rules.
Such lows should consciousness on rural development, land reform, and the availability of
social help for such green economy policies. Furthermore, green economy policies have to
bring about identical access to resources for both men and women.

One essential justification why we must work so hard towards women’s empowerment and
gender equality is economics. Economic development, as one component of sustainable
development, is unthinkable without the involvement of women (Solomon and Memar,
2014 ; OECD, 2008). However the women’s labour force has now not been well utilized.
Despite positive enhancements following efforts from goverments, the economic
possibilities for and participation of women are nevertheless low. This is due to
maleoriented development projects and the exclusion of women from the formal
employment sector (Solomon and Memar, 2014), confining women to unpaid, tiresome
household work. Moreover, women still suffer from lack of adequate access to training,
extension and credit services, economic support and new technology. Furthermore,
inadequate access to training has excluded them from jobs requiring special talents and
qualifications. All of this leads women to remain passive observers in the economic sector
of the country.

Stressing the environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development in the

absence of economics neglects the financial capital had to pay for progress. Building up
the economic and social pillars of sustainability even as neglecting the environment
degrades the natural capital needed for growth. Focusing on economics and the
environment without attention to social elements can lead to green development for a few.
Given gender gaps international, these few tend to be frequently men (Stevens, 2010).

Therefore Sustainability relies upon on paying equal attention to social, economic, and
environmental factors and their harmonisation through sustainable development strategies.
Green economy initiatives, a sustainable development strategy aimed at creating more
environmentally-sound economies may not fully consist of fundamental and important
social requirements consisting of job quality, income equity, and gender equality.
According to (Stevens, 2010), quite some of research based totally on Sweden emphasise
that women commit more time than men looking for information on sustainable
consumption lifestyle options which include purchasing green, eating organic ingredients,
and recycling at a better fee than men. In the equal vein, research show that Japanese
women are extra eager to pay more for sustainable products, therefore showing more
concern than men on environmental issues.

Nhamo (2013) shows that green economy transition takes the world on pathways toward
different methods of doing things. It is a brand new technology that works towards useful
resource inefficient economic and international structures. Importantly, green economy
transition recognises that economies are guided by many goals, which might be to be
sustained thru many activities to obtain the desired results. As such, there may be no
everyday dosage toward green economy transition. To promote gender mainstreaming in
environmental sustainability and climate change, inside a green economic system, concrete
and effective measures should be adapted. Such measures include using gender-specific
approaches to achieve gender specific environmental data, indicators, gender budgeting,
and gender-specific monitoring and assessment (Schalatek, 2009). Furthermore, the green
economy policy framework have to create sustainable jobs that not only offer social and
gender equity however also have to obtain environmental justice and enhance the well-
being of each women and men (Energia, 2011). In Africa and MENA region, which suffer
from many shortcomings such as inequality, poverty, and unemployment, the green
economy have to offer some considerable enhancements.

Nhamo and Mukonza (2020) shows that in South Africa there is many opportunities for
women in green economy and environmental sectors. They show that 63.5% of
respondents concurred that the environment enabled advanced women participation in
decision making processes as well as negotiations associated to environmental and green
economy issues. Those that believed that there are opportunities for women indicated that
women have been empowered to occupy choice-making posts in all spheres of governance,
which includes the environmental sector. The green economy in Africa and MENA region,
focusing on the agricultural sector, become highlighted as installing more of an attempt to
empowering women and the youth, particularly within the rural areas.

2- Empowering women : policy and incentives

Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) is an economic and national security priority.

Donors and implementers recognize that women are key to building sustainable
livelihoods, reducing poverty and building peace

Women typically invest up to 90% of their income in their families, compared to 30-40%
for men. Women's spending is usually focused on improving the well-being of their
 children. As a result, families of working and entrepreneurial women tend to be well-
nourished, healthy and educated. When an empowered woman participates in the peace
process, she is 35% more likely that the resulting agreement will last at least 15 years. In
addition, women own nearly 10 million of the world's small and medium enterprises
(SMEs), providing her with nearly 80% of jobs worldwide across SMEs. Therefore,
increasing the profitability of women-owned businesses promotes job creation.

Implementers recognize that simply implementing WEE at the population or household

level is not enough. Until we create an inclusive environment for women in business,
change will be gradual rather than catalytic. These include policy reforms to expand
women-controlled economic resources in the wider community, such as those developed
by women and men entrepreneurs, which can provide a basis for collective action and
problem-solving. In fact, scholars increasingly acknowledge that empowered women often
form the basis of many reform movements.

2.1. The role of government policies for women empowermen :

Women's empowerment is a global issue that determines the status of women. There is an
ongoing debate about the status of women and women's rights. Leader in formal and
informal campaigns worldwide in 2001 Japan's declared year of active participation by
women. Empowerment is a multidimensional process that makes it possible. Recognize
their full identity powers, potentials and abilities to own rights and opportunities
development in all areas of life. So, it's the process of acquire the ability to make strategic
decisions in life.

Articles1 2 and 23 declare that there can be no distinction or discrimination based on ,

including the right to equal pay for work.

The concept of gender equality is embedded in the United Nations Core Guiding
Principles and clearly reflects our commitment to equality between men and women in all
aspects of human endeavor. More specifically, the Charter2 of the United Nations (Articles
8 and 101) states that there shall be no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to
participate in any capacity and on the terms of equality in their principal and subsidiary
organs.

Platform for Action 

Presented in 1995 at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing,
Strategic Goal (Section "Women in Power and Decision-Making") states that the United
Nations will ensure women's access to equal rights. states that action must be taken to
ensure Full participation in power structures and decision-making.

The UN-specific target states:

1
See the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
United Nations
2
See United Nations Charter, Page not found | United Nations
  Implement current employment policies and measures as well as adopt new ones
in order to achieve overall gender equality, particularly at the Professional level
and above, by the year 2000, while taking into consideration the significance of
hiring staff on a wide geographical basis in accordance with Article 101,
paragraph 3, of the United Nations Charter;
 Create procedures for recommending female candidates for top positions in the
UN, specialized agencies, and other institutions and organs of the UN system;
 Continue to gather and disseminate quantitative and qualitative data about how
men and women make decisions, analyze how these differences affect decision-
making, and track advancement toward the Secretary-goal General's of having
50% of managerial and decision-making positions held by women by the year
2000.

In accordance with the Platform for Action, the United Nations and other international
organizations must take action to remove barriers to women's progress within their
organizations.

The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women – UN

Women :

The mandate and functions of the Entity (UN Women) shall consist of the combined
mandates and functions of the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and
Advancement of Women, the Division for the Advancement of Women, the United
Nations Development Fund for Women and the International Research and Training
Institute for the Advancement of Women, with the additional role of leading,
coordinating and promoting the accountability of the United Nations system in its
work on gender equality and the empowerment of women, and that any new mandates
shall be subject to approval by intergovernmental process.

The functions of the entity about the improvement of the status of women are
presented in the Secretary-General’s Report, on which the Resolution of creating the
new entity.

Functions and structure of new entity:

The composite entity, as mentioned in the Deputy Secretary-General’s papers of

August 2007 and July 2008, have the following functions: Monitor and report on
system-wide compliance with intergovernmental mandates on gender balance and
decision-making levels.

At Headquarters, the composite entity will provide support to inter-governmental

processes. In addition, it must support regional and country-level activities.
The composite entity must Monitor and report on United Nations system compliance
and efforts to develop and apply internal United Nations gender equality policies,
including achieving gender balance, eliminating harassment and promoting work-life
balance.

2.2. Empowering women in a Green Economy in the context of Sustainable

Development:

The central needs of poor women in communities, who stand to risk the most and to
gain the least from the policy reforms and the financial instruments presently being
formed in efforts to grow the green economy. There are multiple risks that
disempowered women face as of today’s politics and business at the local and global
levels.

Conceptual Framework of the Green Economy: Principles and Values

Organizations and institutions working with the poor will need to address the
following macro governance parameters and priorities – which in sum formulate a
green equity strategy framewor :

Priority 1: Roles and impacts of market mechanisms need to be critically reassessed,

reformulated and regulated at the international, national and community levels.

Priority 2: Roles of the state and national institutions in ensuring water, food, rights
and livelihood security for their population/citizens must be strengthened and
transparent.

Priority 3: Innovation and investment strategies need to focus on decentralized local

solutions, social capital and social contexts and invest in people.

Priority 4: At the local level roles need to be determined around who will monitor
consolidated international commitments and national policy implementation. It is the
people at the local level who will have a vested interest to operationalize, monitor and
keep a check on the equity and development impacts of the green economy (not just an
international policing system) – women have an important role to play here.

Priority 5: At the global level, defining the green economy in an environment,

development and equity framework is more likely to meet the interests and priorities
of poor communities in low-carbon, climate-friendly and sustainable development
models.

The promise of a Green Economy

A balance between the economy, society and environment is essential to achieving
equitable and sustainable development according to the UNEP. Thus defined, the
green economy embodies the concept of sustainability while offering scope to debate
the limits to growth – a debate held in both the industrialized and emerging
economies. This gives the impression of a socially and environmentally friendly
economy, sensitive to the need to restore and conserve natural resources; one that
minimizes pollution, emissions and waste that damage the environment in the
production process; and one that produces products and services the existence and
consumption of which do not harm the environment.

A green transformation will not materialize if all that takes place is a retrofitting of the
prevailing economic system to secure the ‘green’ interests of the powerful few while
serving the poor with supplemental social policies. The litmus test of the green
economy will be whether it considers the interests of poor communities, especially the
interests of women, to establish an equity stake.

There are real perils and risks for women if natural resources are brought into an
economic value system that negates the value systems and priorities of the poor.

Green Economies: Women’s Vested Interests

Green economy policies and processes could benefit the planet and move the equality
bar upwards.

Select sectors categorized under the UN’s Green Economy Initiative (the centrepiece
of the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development) as:
 Natural capital – which includes agriculture, forests, fisheries and water;
 Energy and resource efficiency – which includes waste, renewable energy,
buildings and tourism;
 Transition to a global green economy – which includes enabling conditions and
financial instruments.

Enabling Factors for Women’s Full Participation in Green Economies

Poor women will want access to more options – in the form of physical and virtual
infrastructures, information sources and channels of communications – and more
collaborative ways of working within the nexus of their vested interests in water,
food, fuel and ecosystems. Capacity building and social learning can be used to deal
with cross-sectoral challenges. Better education and training for poor women and
men is indispensable.

Women are pragmatists when it comes to securing assets and natural resources as
well as capital and markets for the livelihoods of their communities because they are
keen to get information but also swift to apply what they learn.
Women at the community level can help build the solidarity needed to tackle the
larger paradoxes and negotiate the terms of costs and benefits sharing in a green
economy. Money and time are required to support women's involvement and peer-to-
peer learning in all aspects of community development.

Key positions are held by women at household, local and community levels. Women
need to be involved in decision-making and management of sustainable development
processes and governance at local, national and international levels.

2.3. Empowering women in the Digital Age:

There are opportunities for more equal female participation in labor markets,
financial markets, and entrepreneurship as a result of digitalization. Female labor
force is less likely to be replaced by machines than male labor force.

Women have a comparative advantage in the digital age when social skills are
combined with higher education and advanced digital literacy.

Many countries have barriers and deficits that impede women's advancement in the
digital age. The governments need to invalidate the barriers. Rendering women better
access to the new digital technologies seems to be a promising starting point for
achieving the goal of gender equality.

Proposal:

Policy is needed to pave the way for a successful adoption of the new digital age
opportunities by women. The potential for gender gap persistence to undermine any
future gains to women from digitalization and to overcome the barriers preventing
the full economic and social participation of women is given.

Recommendations for policy action have already been made after analyzing the
challenge of digital gender equality. Providing universal, affordable, secure and open
broadband internet access, fostering female digital literacy, encouraging more
women to enter tertiary education, and facilitating web-based female
entrepreneurship are some of the policies included. Many governments have taken
steps to achieve these goals. Progress is slow.

The recent study by Sorgner et al. (2017) suggests that the G20 should additionally
take action in the five following areas:

 There should be an early warning system for potential adverse effects on gender
equality. Changes in female employment prospects should be monitored by the
G20. An early warning system can be triggered by a cross-country initiative.

The G20 should not only focus on the impact of technology on the female
workforce in developed countries. Since emerging and developing countries may
 be vulnerable to digitalization, the G20 should consider high-profile research for
them.

 Women's economic and digital inclusion can be fostered by redesigning existing

government programs. G20 should launch an initiative to use existing
government programs in developing and emerging economies for further female
empowerment. Social welfare programs can be restructured to address women's
economic and digital inclusion in addition to their primary objectives. Women
may be targeted by these programs as beneficiaries of financial transfers to their
families or communities. Modifications will enhance women's economic
inclusion but also improve program effectiveness by actively exploiting the
women's strengths regarding their social and family responsibilities to the
advantage of the program's primary objectives.

The programs may enhance the digital inclusion of women as well as reduce the
cost of program delivery by using digital technologies more extensively for
payment, management or monitoring.

 Higher education and advanced digital skills are needed for women to
complement their social skills. The G20 should more actively encourage the
participation of women in higher education and research as well as the
acquisition of advanced digital skills by women. Digitalization is likely to
promote jobs that will strongly rely on complementarities between social and
emotional intelligence and abstract (or cognitive) skills that can be acquired
through higher education, such as creativity and critical thinking. Furthermore, a
high proficiency in digital skills will become a fundamental requirement in the
digital age.

Since many women possess stronger social skills than their male counterparts,
they could benefit from exploiting these complementarities. However, the current
gender gaps in higher education and digital literacy that are particularly strong in
emerging economies may deprive women of these opportunities, and they may
hinder them to occupy those high-profile jobs in management, STEM
occupations or entrepreneurship that are expected to flourish best in the digital
age. Many G20 countries have launched various initiatives to promote advanced
digital literacy and increase interest in STEM fields among girls and young
women, for example, in the form of hackathons, coding workshops or mentoring.

 Support high-quality online platforms to foster women’s entrepreneurial skills.

The G20 should support high-quality online platforms that provide training to
novice female entrepreneurs and facilitate knowledge exchanges with
experienced female entrepreneurs.
 New opportunities for entrepreneurship are likely to be created by digitalization.
Women often lack sufficient entrepreneurial skills and role models, which
hinders them (compared to their male peers) from recognizing and pursuing more
promising entrepreneurial opportunities in the digital age. Higher education,
work experience, and frequent interactions with entrepreneurial peers can be used
to acquire entrepreneurship-relevant human capital.

Internet platforms lead to disseminating entrepreneurial skills among women and

making them available through an interface with mentors and role models. High-
quality online training and mentoring platforms for women entrepreneurs should
be particularly beneficial for women in regions where there are few or limited
access to entrepreneurial role models.

 Innovative web-based instruments that improve female entrepreneurs' access to

financial capital are popular. The G20 should promote innovative instruments
based on web for women-led businesses. It should popularize high-quality digital
platforms for angel investors, venture capital investors or equity crowdfunding
that bring together female entrepreneurs and female investors. Innovative ways of
risk assessment should rely on transaction histories and other Big Data instead of
relying on traditional forms of securities.

Women entrepreneurs face challenges in accessing the financial capital needed to

start and grow their businesses. Many women don't have enough money to pay
their bills because they don't have enough money to pay for traditional financial
institutions. Angel and venture capital networks prefer funding male-led
businesses. More web-based platforms like the Next Wave Ventures program in
the United States are needed that provide training programs and mentoring for
novice female investors by their more experienced peers.

Innovative risk assessment methods like those used by the Goldman Sachs’
internet-based 10,000 Women program help to overcome the lack of collateral
available to lenders from women by using the online transaction and behavior
histories to determine customer creditworthiness.

2.4. Policy barriers for WEE:

The CIPE3's approach to policy reform consists of introducing new public

policies and removing policy barriers. The CIPE is a world leader in working
with private sector groups on policy reform, and as an innovator in women's
economic empowerment, effective policy reform involves bridging policy gaps
and silences and building on women's policy assets. Barriers to women
entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses may include formal policies such as
Legal restrictions that limit women's economic rights and autonomy as well as
3
CIPE : Center for International Private Entreprise
 the lack of national equality programs and policies. These political obstacles can
be understood to include not only formal legal barriers, but also informal political
silence and policy gaps.

Figure x.1: CIPE approach to policy barriers affecting WEE

Source: Barbara Langley, Srujana Penumetcha Huerter , “Empowering women through
policy reform : Five key lessons, CIPE Insight”, 2019

2.5. key lessons for effective policy reform:

Based on CIPE's experience designing and implementing WEE programs in over

60 countries, five key lessons have been identified for effective evidence-based
policy reform.

 Use a Gender Lens:

Gender neutral policies and gender equity can fail to empower women because they
ignore the fact that men and women lead different lives. These policies are based on
the principle that women will be autonomous and free individuals. In contrast, gender
reform is locally owned, helps to see what is not seen, to properly value what is seen,
and to equalize what can change due to gender change; roles and standards. In other
words, a gender lens can help in assessing different expressions of power which
include power over (hierarchies, control, discrimination), power to (individual
agency), power within (personal assets and self-confidence), and power with
(women`s groups and collective action). In addition to considering factors such as
violence against women, legal and policy barriers, or acts of discrimination, a gender
lens also considers how women may approach things differently or receive them
differently than men do in a society. Women may have different perceptions of how
gender can structure their roles and opportunities.

 Address Policy Gaps:

Formal policies are either distorted by institutions that do not include women, where
there is a gender gap in policies that treat men and women equally, or where poor
 policy design, bureaucracy, and policy impair implementation and enforcement. Gaps
can exacerbate inequalities. Incompetence or corruption of public services. Policy
gaps are also evident when there are disparities in access to health, education and
general well-being between men and women. These gaps mean that women face
structural disadvantages in their lives: Low literacy rate. This undermines the ability to
function in society and be an entrepreneur. Many developing countries have adopted
national equality policies, but implementation gaps remain. Enabling regulations may
not be passed, resources may not be budgeted, and those responsible for
implementation may not have the necessary skills, training, or interest. Governments
may take a carrot-and-stick approach to implementation, and there may be gaps at
different levels of government or in different regions, depending on local cultural
norms.

 Address Policy Silences:

Formal politics can exacerbate inequalities by ignoring women's life contexts (such as
domestic violence and family responsibilities) through political silence. These include
sacrifice and violence, restricted access to markets, credit and resources, unpaid care
and restrictions on movement.

 Build on Women’s Assets:

Personal and business assets build resilience for budding entrepreneurs and enable
them to overcome adversity. Personal wealth may include self-reliance and
entrepreneurial risk-taking, while business wealth may include membership in
business organizations that enable collective action. Organization and collective action
improve access to institutions.

 Promote Business Resiliency:

Business resilience is essential to community resilience. For communities to recover
from disasters and other crises and thrive, companies must be able to continuously
create jobs and serve their communities.

The key is to ensure that women entrepreneurs have the right market-driven business
plans and strategies and access to resources that enhance their entrepreneurial
resilience. These five keys to women's economic empowerment and political reform
are essential to leveling the playing field for all women. Entrepreneurs, both women
and men, have a passion for innovation and problem-solving, and are adept at bringing
their own business and her resources to the table of political change. Women's equal
participation in the economy provides important support to policy makers, including
elected women, strengthens free markets and strengthens democratic institutions by
organizing and amplifying the voice of the private sector.

3- Women empowerment: benchmark

3.1. Women entrepreneurship empowerment in countries in Africa:

Africa is the only region in the world where the number of women in entrepreneurship is
greater than the number of men.
 Data on African women entrepreneurship is scarce. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
reports only cover 194 of the 54 African countries over the 2012-2017 period. Indeed,
infrastructure supporting entrepreneurs – such as accelerators, incubators or venture
capital funds – is limited on the African continent.

The valuation of women entrepreneurship in Africa [Bn USD; 2016, Estimates] is

presented in the following figure:

Figure x.2: The valuation of women entrepreneurship in Africa (2016)

The Total Entrepreneurial Activity rate (TEA)
Source: “Women in Africa-Entrepreneurship study : Women in Africa Entrepreneurship :
A path to women empowerment”, Produced by Roland Berger, 2018,

The significant impact of women entrepreneurship on the continent is not only shown through
this impressive value creation but is also in the populations' daily lives. Indeed, women create
their own jobs in response to market failures that prevent them from accessing employment.
This stands in stark contrast to OECD countries, where the majority of women hold wage
jobs. This trend is strongly supported by the data: as our analyzes show, the delta between
female entrepreneurship rates in African countries and those in the OECD is estimated at
around 17 percentage points.
The average employment participation and TEA rates [% of adult pop.(1) ; 2012-2017 (2) ]
are shown in the following figure:

4
Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lybia, Egypt, South Africa, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Angola, Cameroon, Malawi,
Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.
 Figure x.3: The average employment participation and TEA rates [2012-2017]
Source: “Women in Africa-Entrepreneurship study : Women in Africa Entrepreneurship :
A path to women empowerment”, Produced by Roland Berger, 2018,

A more detailed analysis of the startups created indicates that women mainly operate in the
informal sector. African women entrepreneurs are usually mothers who take care of large
families and start their businesses in countries with poor business-friendly infrastructure and
low rates of education. Their entrepreneurial instinct is oriented more by constraint than by
envy because they do not find other opportunities.
In general, female entrepreneurship covers sectors such as agriculture, energy (e.g. rural
electrification project, projects focused on improving access to water), education and health.
These women-led businesses have a positive effect on societies.
Solutions to develop women entrepreneurship empowerment in countries in Africa:
While both male and female entrepreneurs face constraints such as lack of capital, women are
particularly affected by a number of obstacles, such as discrimination and lack of collateral.
As a result, female-owned businesses have monthly profits that are 38% lower on average
than male-owned businesses. Three factors partly explain this underperformance: lack of
capital, choice of business sector and business practices.
Conditions governing access to capital
According to data gathered from ten African nations, male-owned enterprises often have six
times more capital than female-owned businesses. The fact that women have less access to
assets has an influence on both the expansion of their businesses and their capacity to get
medium-sized loans. There are two methods to combat this issue: by giving women more
control over their assets, such as by establishing shared property rights (as is the situation in
Rwanda) or by doing away with the requirement for collateral. As demonstrated by a World
Bank initiative involving a cooperation with one of the nation's financial institutions,
psychometric tests measuring honesty and readiness to repay loans in Ethiopia offer a
promising alternative.
The choice of sector
Because of a lack of knowledge (women frequently are unaware that they earn less than
males), social constraints, and not a lack of talents or access to financing, female
entrepreneurs in Africa tend to focus on the traditionally female areas. According to a study
done in Uganda, women are more likely to enter traditionally male-dominated fields if they
had male mentors who encouraged them to pursue them when they were younger. Programs
that encourage women to enter traditionally male-dominated fields by giving them the right
information and offering them mentoring opportunities, among other things, are being trialled
in Guinea and the Republic of Congo.
More relevant training
Training in Togo that focuses on encouraging proactive attitudes among entrepreneurs rather
than teaching them fundamental business skills has made a big difference. The goal is to
instill in small business owners the virtues of initiative, proactivity, and tenacity. The female
trainees have witnessed a rise in their revenues of an average of 40%, demonstrating the
outcomes of this training. An illustration of this is a female business owner in Togo who,
before the training, only rented wedding gowns. She made the decision to increase her
clientele after completing the personal initiative training by selling clothes and providing
accessories like veils and gloves. She now has boutiques in three different African nations.
This type of entrepreneurial education was so effective in Togo that eight other nations have
also decided to implement it.
3.2. Women entrepreneurship empowerment in countries in Asia:
In Central Asia, the reduction of the gender gap stagnates at 69.1%. At this rate, it would take
151 years to close the gap. In 2022, Central Asia had the fourth highest regional score among
the eight regions, just after North America, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Moldova (78.8%), Belarus (75%) and Georgia (73.1%) are the three highest ranked countries
in this region. Azerbaijan (68.7%), Tajikistan (66.3%) and Turkey (63.9%) rank at the bottom.
Six of the 10 countries in the region saw their scores improve. Armenia (69.8%, +2.5
percentage points), Moldova (78.8%, +2 percentage points) and Kyrgyzstan (70%, +1.9
percentage points) are the three Central Asian countries that have made the most progress.
 Figure x.4: Gender Gap closed to date by region (%)
Source: “Women’s Economic Empowerment in Asia”, ADB Institute, Policy Brief,
N°2021-8.

Solutions to develop women entrepreneurship empowerment in countries in Asia:

Several challenges for women in business are diagnosed from the attitude of all women in
standard and girls entrepreneurs mainly. For businesswomen in general, a lack of financial
access is the most common and critical challenge, because of low financial literacy and lack
of relative skills training.
Financial inclusion in the context of gender aims at women's access to useful and affordable
financial products and services that meet their needs. Despite an increase in global financial
inclusion as well as an increase in the number of adults holding bank accounts at financial
institutions or through mobile money services, gender inequality in bank account ownership
persists. While 72% of men have a bank account.

Figure x.5: Regional performance 2022, by Subindex

Source: “Women’s Economic Empowerment in Asia”, ADB Institute, Policy Brief,
N°2021-8.
Financial inclusion aims to benefit the general public, especially underserved groups and
small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). However, in practice, the application processes
are frequently too intricate for the target population, such as the poorest women in rural areas,
to comprehend and adhere to.
With $22.1 million earmarked for micro, small, and medium-sized firm beneficiaries, ADBI
(Asian Development Institute) has conducted gender-designed projects that promote women
entrepreneurs through knowledge-sharing campaigns, training programs, and trade finance. At
the national level, the government has partnered with banks to create loans specifically for
women to support women entrepreneurs. The Philippines has made it easier for women to get
loans to expand their businesses through, among other measures, an online application
process (during the COVID-19 lockdowns) and the exclusion of collateral for women-owned
businesses. Additionally, the Philippine government offers financial literacy training.
Local nongovernmental groups have been acting as a median in Malaysia to bridge the gap
between accessible money in the rural community. Local business owners can use the funding
to open provision stores and hire women who are eligible for the funds to shop there for their
needs. This eliminates the hassle of opening bank accounts and going to ATMs, allowing
local women to have access to inclusive finance. Additionally, encouraging greater gender-
responsive governmental and commercial procurement will encourage gender-inclusive
entrepreneurship. Gender-disaggregated data must be created for the complete procurement
framework, together with an alignment of definitions for precision and a shared understanding
of its application (UN Women 2021). Systems for gender-responsive procurement must be
implemented as a strategy to achieve gender equality in business.
4- Key messages to reach WEE:

 Gender-neutral entrepreneurship is key to women's economic empowerment. To create

inclusive ecosystems for women entrepreneurs, they must have access to finance and
gender-responsive procurement must be considered and to develop inclusive finance
and solve the financial dilemma of women, governments and multilateral
organizations have launched initiatives corresponding financial assistance programs.

 Information technology has become an essential tool for successful application and
access to funding. Mobile phones and the Internet have become alternative means for
financial transactions through mobile banking, debit and credit cards, which can make
payments. The digital divide and the inability to own a mobile phone exacerbate the
plight of poor and poorly educated women.

 Women can play a central role in influencing sustainable consumption and production
patterns, in protecting the natural environment, and in managing and monitoring the
adequate and sustainable resource allocation within the household and community.
Fulfilling this potential would require improvements in their societal status, their
access to environment-related resources, and increased education and training of
women and girls, including in environmental science and technology. To reach the
most marginalized sections of society, deliberate action is needed.
 Women need to identify and support those individuals within local and municipal
government organs and institutions and women's national machineries who understand
and champion their green economy interests. The policy context, while still evolving,
needs strong and vocal advocacy from and for women and girls.

 For progress and success in women's economic empowerment, international

commitments are key. This can be done through agreements, initiatives and guidelines
developed by organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labor
Organization, the World Bank,...

Conclusion :

This chapiter offers an analysis of the key drivers that are necessary in transitioning toward
a green economy inside the context of women empowerment. This chapiter similarly gives
a foundation for enhanced focus on training and development of the entrepreneurial
capabilities of women green entrepreneurs. It makes a significant contribution to the green
economy literature by means of systematically exploring the impact of digitalisation
transition, performance and effectiveness within the context of women empowerment.

Also sustainable development is greater of a political concept as it essentially places

emphasis on excellent governance that allows you to be difficult to perform until there's
closeness to gender parity. Thus, achieving sustainable development implies reconciling
economic, environmental, and social concerns and goals. All sustainable improvement
policies and outlines at the local, national and global levels have to include an explicit
obligation to gender equality and the belief of women’s human rights and competences.
This necessitates redressing gender inequalities and discrimination, and addressing their
reference to different inequalities. The inclusion of women in more productive roles,
women’s collective action and same participation in all components of choice-making
related to coverage development might be an confident way of moving faster towards to
sustainability in the social, economic and environmental sense.

Women’s empowerment is a process that embraces the formation of an permitting

environment for women devoid of discrimination, in addition to reinforcing women’s
capacity to count on manage over their very own lives and make a contribution absolutely
in the direction of ushering the desired adjustments in the society. The empowerment
process consequently wishes to be pursued vigorously via concerted efforts and
commitment of government, civil society and the corporate sector. Furthermore, identical
participation of men and women in decision-making, an unbiased involvement of men and
women in all policy sections and implementation levels will assure that women and men
take equal responsibility for truthful distribution of sources.

Governments should take away obstacles that make it difficult for women to work and
offer different incentives to increase women’s presence inside the labour force. Also the
role of digitalization and the technologies related to the net of things have been discussed
for their capacity to solve large challenges inside improving social wellness, and reducing
the consequences of climate change. Also big data and digitalisation play an essential rôle
in meeting gender equality and sustainable development with green growth.

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