Empowering women in the EU and beyond: Economic and financial resources

Briefing 02-03-2017

Ensuring that women have equal access to economic and financial resources and benefit equally from economic opportunities and growth has been recognised as a vital contribution towards gender equality, poverty eradication and sustainable development. This principle is embedded in numerous international instruments, including the current UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are binding on the EU and its Member States. The first report from a new United Nation (UN) high-level panel, created to find concrete ways of implementing the SDGs related to women’s economic empowerment, has identified a number of interconnected areas where action is needed. One priority is to ensure that women have access to and control over finances and assets, both for their economic security and for building wealth. Other priorities include: securing decent jobs and equal pay and creating an enabling environment by investing in public services and infrastructure (including child and elderly care); changing business practices and discriminatory laws; and developing gender-sensitive (macro)economic and social policies. Women’s participation in economic decision-making through leadership and collective action is also vital to allow equal opportunities to shape economic structures. Measures must therefore address factors linked to women’s experiences and to the wider structural conditions that determine them, particularly the value given to women’s unpaid work.