{"id":68094,"date":"2022-06-07T17:51:56","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T21:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=68094"},"modified":"2022-06-16T17:50:21","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T21:50:21","slug":"womens-economic-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/womens-economic-empowerment\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Economic Empowerment\u2014The Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the economic reasons behind empowering women? What benefits do women gain through basic human rights and education?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Development as Freedom<\/em>, Amartya Sen claims that a bias against women is holding developing countries back from growing socially and economically. By giving women the freedom to pursue an education and have a job, they have the power to change communities or nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at the importance of women’s economic empowerment in any part of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Agency<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sen identifies bias against women as a major obstacle to growth in developing countries. This bias deprives women of basic rights in areas such as political participation and family planning. It also harms economic development by failing to tap into the productive capacity of women by excluding them from education and the workforce. By increasing women’s economic empowerment<\/strong>, Sen argues, not only are women better off, but their communities become safer and more prosperous<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen says the fix to gender bias<\/a> is to improve women\u2019s agency (their ability to make their own decisions in pursuit of their goals).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When women are free to choose whether to pursue an education, enter the workforce, or have children, they usually make choices that benefit not only themselves but their families and communities.<\/strong> This is because they are better equipped than the government to understand the implications of these choices on the people around them. When afforded the same opportunities as men, Sen contends that women become agents of change who can transform communities and societies for the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prioritizing Women\u2019s Rights<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sen argues that higher incomes don\u2019t necessarily lead to advances in women\u2019s rights. Research from the Word Bank group supports Sen\u2019s belief and indicates that higher incomes were not associated with more women\u2019s rights<\/a> in the areas of property ownership or legal agreements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, two social factors were associated with improved women\u2019s rights. Adopting international human rights agreements and having more women in the political office<\/a> were linked to women\u2019s rights of other kinds. These findings appear to corroborate Sen\u2019s view that proactive measures must be taken to expand freedom for women, rather than relying on economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Economic Empowerment and Child Welfare<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sen argues that the most effective way to support women’s economic empowerment is to increase literacy. Research shows that increases in female literacy<\/a> are strongly associated with a reduction in child mortality. <\/strong>This is because the knowledge women gain through education allows them to better care for their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to reducing overall child mortality, female literacy (and female labor force participation) is also associated with closing the gap in mortality rates between boys and girls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other factors, such as male literacy and urbanization, weren\u2019t associated with such reductions. This dynamic highlights Sen\u2019s point that traditional methods of development don\u2019t always lead to the desired results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this case, overall economic development was not enough to reduce child mortality, but women\u2019s literacy was.<\/strong> For example, one study in India showed that a 50% reduction in the overall poverty rate made almost no difference in under-5 child mortality rates, but an increase in female literacy from 22% to 75% reduced child mortality rates from 156 per thousand births to 110 per thousand births.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Economic Empowerment and Fertility Rates<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The benefits of female literacy and labor force participation have a similar positive effect on fertility rates. <\/strong>Around the globe, according to Sen, greater recognition of women\u2019s rights usually leads to a reduction in fertility rates (the average number of children born per woman).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many developing societies, women have little choice in family planning. Education gives women greater knowledge about family planning, and work outside the home often gives them more options, too.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What are the economic reasons behind empowering women? What benefits do women gain through basic human rights and education? In Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen claims that a bias against women is holding developing countries back from growing socially and economically. By giving women the freedom to pursue an education and have a job, they have the power to change communities or nations. Let’s look at the importance of women’s economic empowerment in any part of the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":60161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,20,24],"tags":[636],"class_list":["post-68094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-ethics","category-society","tag-development-as-freedom","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen's Economic Empowerment\u2014The Benefits - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Women's economic empowerment means respecting their right to pursue opportunities that men have. The economy grows as a result. 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