Gender and private sector development in German development cooperation

Gender parity is a driver of growth

Narrowing the worldwide gender gap in employment could double women’s contribution to the global economy over the next years. A report of McKinsey Global Institute, published in 2015, finds that in a full-potential scenario in which women play an identical role in labour markets to men, as much as USD 28 trillion, or 26%, could be added to global annual GDP by 2025. This illustrates the close correlation that exists between economic growth and harnessing the economic potential represented by women. Despite broad consensus on this point for some time now in the academic community, the international donor community and among a wide range of economic fora, genuine progress at global level remains modest. In 2014, for instance, only 60% of the gender gap had been closed in terms of economic participation and opportunity. Almost every economy in the world maintains at least one gender-based barrier that restricts women in their exercise of an occupation or in entrepreneurship and that does not exist in the same form for men.

Integrating women's economic empowerment in private sector development programmes

As an implementing agency, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH carries out projects in the field of Women’s Economic Empowerment on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). GIZ has recently published a study on “Women’s Economic Empowerment in Technical Assistance Programmes – Examples of good practice in private sector development”. The study aims to identify selected examples of good practice in terms of gender-specific approaches and instruments used in private sector development, as well as to look at the gender impacts achieved and putting the lessons learned into an easily accessible form. The seven case studies included involve interventions in eight countries and covers the following issues: 

• Transforming Gender Roles in Working Life
• Gender Mainstreaming through Policy Advice
• Gender-Sensitive Analysis and Promotion of Value Chains
• Gender Unit within Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Labour and Social Standards in the Garment and Textile Industry
• Promoting Women in Green Economy
• Female- and Family-Friendly Corporate Policy

“When women work, economies win” - Gender diversity management in the MENA region 

Since 2010, the GIZ programme Economic Integration of Women in the MENA Region (EconoWin) has successfully improved the conditions for the economic participation of women in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. In order to promote the employment of the ever-growing pool of qualified and educated women, EconoWin is introducing Gender Diversity Management (GDM) in the region. Through business competitions and the development of new business tools, the programme has supported 20 private companies to enhance their recruitment, retention and career advancements for women. GDM measures include the introduction of flexible working hours, implementation of gender policies and family-friendly working conditions. In order to achieve sustainability, EconoWin has enabled local associations of HR managers, entrepreneurs and employers to provide GDM-services to business. The programme has therefore greatly contributed to the now widely accepted view that gender-diversity enhances the competitiveness of a business and thereby directly contribute to economic growth in the region.

Integrating women's economic empowerment in private sector development programmes

German development cooperation sees gender equality as a major possible key to unlocking the development of democratic societies based on human rights, social justice and sustainability. With its most recent strategy paper on gender, the BMZ is pursuing a new, three-pronged approach to achieving gender equality: (i) gender mainstreaming ensures that a gender perspective is applied to every step taken by development cooperation, (ii) empowerment identifies targeted measures against gender-based discrimination and disadvantage an specific activities to strengthen women’s rights, and (iii) political dialogue covers the systematic embedding of women’s rights and gender equality in high-level bilateral and multilateral development policy dialogue, in sector policy dialogue and in policy advice.

In order to increase the number of development programmes that support women’s economic empowerment, the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development, in cooperation with GIZ and on behalf of BMZ, has development the “Synthesis Document: How to Integrate Gender and Women’s Economic Empowerment into Private Sector Development Programmes”. The report is linking proven tools and resources on how to integrate PSD, Gender and WEE considerations across the project cycle. The document reviews existing guidelines and project examples that were available and that are both practical and proven in their approach. Additionally, as the demand for more complex results is increasing, GIZ has developed a Rapid Assessment Tool to measure projects impact on household-level results.

Photo credits: (1) GIZ/ Thomas Imo; (2) GIZ; (3) GIZ/ Claudia Wiens

This blog is a part of the September 2017 series on Empowering women, in partnership with SPRING.

Read the full series for insights on business models that empower girls and women, a new analysis of gender impacts of value chain interventions, tips on gender-lens investing and many inspiring personal stories from women.