DFID Ghana Deputy Country Director's Closing Remarks at the Global launch of the Africa Gender Innovation Lab’s new flagship report

Your Excellencies Ladies and Gentlemen…

I am delighted to be here today to give the closing remarks at the global launch of the Africa Gender Innovation Lab’s new flagship report – Profiting from Parity- Unlocking the potential of women’s businesses in Africa. I would like to start by congratulating the World Bank for launching this report.

This landmark evidence-based report is the latest research published by the Africa Gender Innovation Lab – partly funded by DFID - to identify and increase our understanding on what works (and what does not work) to unlock the economic potential of women in Africa.

Today, we have not only learnt why it is so much harder for women to become entrepreneurs, but equally important, we have also learnt how we can eliminate barriers to women’s economic empowerment. This report presents robust evidence and practical costed interventions that can unlock the potential of millions of women so that they can take advantage of existing market opportunities and gain access to jobs. This in turn will support more sustainable and equitable growth in Africa.

DFID believes that unlocking the potential of women and girls is critical not only to Africa but for all of us, to achieve inclusive growth - so collaborating in this research with the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab is something we are immensely proud of.

As our Secretary of State has stated:

No country can achieve sustained economic development if half of its population is locked out of economic opportunities”.

Women’s economic empowerment is fundamental for the full realisation of human rights and for gender equality. It has positive impacts on economic growth and human development outcomes. It is DFID’s goal that every woman has the ability to succeed and advance economically and to has the power to make economic decisions.

So what is DFID doing to promote Womens’ Economic Empowerment?

In 2017, the UK was the first country to implement the gender pay gap report requiring all businesses with 250 or more employees to publish details of their pay gap. This requirement is bringing greater accountability and transparency to the issue, stimulating compliance by smaller companies regarding the closure of the pay gap. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day - #Balance for Better – called for collective action and shared responsibility in creating a gender-balanced world.

At the policy level, the International Development (Gender Equality) Act 2014 requires all UK Aid spend to pay due regard to gender equality. The UK was a leading force behind the UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment in 2017. In relation to addressing the gender gap in the business sector, the panel made 4 recommendations to encourage change within business culture and practice. The UK has made significant steps to implement the recommendations through DFID’s Economic Development Strategy (launched in 2017) and DFID’s new Strategic Vision for Gender Equality which both place the economic empowerment of women and girls at the heart of DFID’s work.

For example, DFID promotes Women’s Economic Empowerment through a range of global programmes - these include:

• The Work and Opportunities for Women (WOW) programme -working with businesses in some of the poorest countries to improve job opportunities and working conditions for at least 300,000 women in global supply chains.

• The UK’s Development Finance Institution, CDC, co-sponsored the first Global Gender Smart Investment Summit, hosted in London – bringing together investors to put gender-smart investing on the map. In addition, the Board Room Africa – CDC’s partner organisation, aims to double female representation in Africa’s Board rooms from the current average of 14 per cent women to at least 28 per cent by 2028.

• In April 2018 the UK’s Prime Minister launched a £7 million programme – She Trades - to increase economic growth and job creation in Commonwealth countries through increased participation of women-owned business in international to be delivered in targeted country-level interventions in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana.

What is the situation regarding gender equality and women economic empowerment in Ghana and how is DFID working with Ghanaian stakeholders to address these challanges?

Looking at global rankings, Gender equality remains an area which needs further attention. Although gender equality is mandated by Ghana’s Constitution, with the Government creating a Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, women in Ghana still face widespread discrimination and inequality and lag behind in most areas of public life. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gap Report 2018 ranks 149 countries on their progress towards gender parity across their four thematic dimensions.: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment. Ghana is ranked as the 89th most gender-equal country in the world according to the Global Gender Gap Index, out of 149 countries.

On the positive side, Ghana ranks 25th out of 149 countries on economic participation and opportunity and is one of the few countries in the world where the start-up rate for businesses is the same for men and women. Nonetheless, social and cultural norms continue to prevent women’s access to work in some sectors e.g. the extractive, timber, manufacturing industries and caring duties carried out by women are a significant impediment to their active participation in the workforce.

DFID is working closely with the GoG and other stakeholders to address these challenges through a variety of interventions, e.g.:

• Market Development in Northern Ghana (MADE) – works to improve incomes and resilience of smallholder farmers and rural entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana. It works with agricultural businesses and smallholder farmers to support access to better inputs, markets and business services. The programme has supported over 20,000 women smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs to increase their incomes.

• Our ENGINE programme also promotes women’s economic empowerment – e.g. the programme has provided women with jobs and created a multiplier effect by improving the livelihood of women, their families and communities in Ghana.

• DFID’s new Leave No One Behind programme, in collaboration with the WB, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), will also work to enable women to access financial services and opportunities for productive activities – which will contribute towards removing barriers to economic empowerment for some of the poorest and most vulnerable women in Ghana.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Last year, the UK Prime Minister visited the continent engaging with business and policy makers, women entrepreneurs and young people. During her visit, she announced a radical expansion of the UK Government’s presence in Africa, bringing in trade and investment specialists to deliver our shared interests through a strengthened partnerships for mutual prosperity and inclusive development.

Africa is a continent alive with opportunity. Five of the world’s fastest-growing economies in Africa and by 2050, a quarter of the world’s consumers will come from this continent and the UK stands ready to provide support. For example, last year we organised a major Investment Summit in Ghana attended by over 50 British companies.

Together we can harness these opportunities, but we are much more likely to succeed, if we put gender equality and women economic empowerment at the heart of our collective efforts.

Profiting from Parity breaks new ground in uncovering new evidence on the underlying constraints to growth and profitability and also highlights the key factors necessary in supporting female entrepreneurs as they run and grow their businesses.

DFID will continue to work closely with the GoG, the WB and civil society actors to promote policies which empower female entrepreneurs by providing them with the necessary capital and skills to establish businesses in order to contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. In doing so, Ghana will begin to reap the many benefits and multiplier effects on families, communities and the economy - leading to greater prosperity for all.