Three L s of Women Empowerment : Christine Lagarde

The 3 Ls of Women Empowerment

Christine Lagarde

 

Women and Economy

The global economy is struggling to generate the growth that can provide a better life for all, and all can contribute, yet women remain blocked from contributing their true potential.

This has a huge cost: In some countries, per-capita incomes lag significantly because women are denied equal opportunity.

They represent half the world’s population, but contribute far less than 50 percent of economic activity.

What is needed to change this picture is a concerted effort to open the door to opportunity with what I call the “3 L’s” of women’s empowerment: learning, labor and leadership.

First, learning:

Education is the foundation upon which change is built.  Education is both an elevator and a springboard. 

Learning helps women to help themselves and break the shackles of exclusion.

There is an African adage that goes: “If you educate a boy, you train a man. If you educate a girl, you train a village.”

Women are more likely to spend their resources on health and education, investing up to 90 percent of their earnings in this way compared with just 30-40 percent for men. This spending creates a powerful ripple effect throughout society and across generations.

So, we must carry the banner for women’s education. Women’s education is not a threat, it is a blessing. We must make it a global priority, because it is one of the leading causes of our day.

This is why girls like Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan, who faced down Taliban assassins to demand the right to an education, are admirable.

 

If learning is just the first step, Work is the Second:

 

Labour enables women to flourish and achieve their true potential.

But at present, when women participate in the workforce, they too often tend to get stuck in low-paying, low-status and low-security jobs — many in the informal sector of developing countries’ economies.

Globally, women earn only three-quarter as much as men — even with the same level of education and in the same occupation.

Surely one of our most basic norms should be “equal pay for equal work”!

Eliminating gender gaps in economic participation can bring increases in per-capita income.

How can we promote more opportunity for women in the workplace?

Sometimes it is about changing laws — for example, ensuring that property and inheritance laws do not discriminate against women.

 It also means policies that encourage education and health care and provide greater access to credit so that women can achieve greater economic independence.

Investment in education is mission critical is in the developing countries, where girls and women can make a huge difference.

Women are more likely to spend their resources on health and education, creating a powerful ripple effect across society and across generations.

One study suggests that women invest up to 90 percent of their earnings this way, as opposed to just 30-40 percent for men.

 

Leadership:

 

The third “L” is leadership: enabling women to rise and fulfill their innate abilities and talents.

When women lead, they tend to do as good a job, if not a better job.

 They are more likely to make decisions based on consensus-building, inclusion and compassion, with a focus on long-term sustainability.

 

Women Issues Today:

 

Gender inequality refers to health, education, economic and political inequalities between men and women.

a.     Gender Inequality in the Family and Society

b.     Lack of Opportunities for Education

c.      Issues related to Marriage and family

d.     Issues Related to Job and Work Places

e.     Is not paid Equal Pay for Equal Work

f.       Health Care Related Problems

g.     Religious, Cultural and Social Environment is hostile to them

h.     Limited opportunities to come forward in Social and Political Leadership

i.        Domestic Violence

j.        Child Marriage

k.      Female infanticide and selective abortion

l.        Discrimination in Land and Property Rights

m.  Honor Killings

n.     Gender inequalities, and their social causes, impact India's sex ratio, women's health over their lifetimes, their educational attainment, and economic conditions.

o.     Gender inequality in India is a multifaceted issue that concerns men and women. Some argue that various gender equality indices place men at a disadvantage.

p.     However, when India's population is examined as a whole, women are at a disadvantage in several important ways. In India, discriminatory attitudes towards either sex have existed for generations and affect the lives of both sexes. Although the constitution of India grants men and women equal rights, gender disparities remain.

q.     Research shows gender discrimination mostly in favour of men in many realms including the work place.

r.        Discrimination affects many aspects in the lives of women from career development and progress to mental health disorders.

s.      While Indian laws on rape, dowry and adultery have women's safety at heart, these highly discriminatory practices are still taking place at an alarming rate, affecting the lives of many today.

 

SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS

 

1.     Ensuring Compulsory and Quality Education to Girl Children.

2.     Enacting Laws for the safety of women at home and in work places.

3.     Changing and implementing laws of inheritance.

4.     Organizing Awareness campaigns for the empowerment of women.

5.     Providing Quota for women in Employment and Parliamentary Elections.

6.     Providing Better health care for women.

7.     Eradicating Social taboos that are against women.

8.     Speeding up changes in religious and social freedom for women.

9.     Ensuring strict punishment for crime against women.

10.Ensuring Equal Pay for Equal Work through legislation.

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