I. Background
Globally, gender disparities in economic opportunities and outcomes continue to restrict the rights and potential of one half of the world’s population. In the last 50 years, as the so-called digital revolution irreversibly transformed the social, political and economic spheres of our new information societies, the world of work has also changed rapidly: today it is driven by increasingly younger populations, and half of them are women. This is particularly true in the context of India and Africa, which together account for 40 percent of the world’s youth and are witnessing the gradual rise of women in leadership roles despite serious, centuries-old obstacles. In such a rapidly digitised and globalised world, it is essential to address how women’s equal and active participation can be encouraged in the areas of technology, finance, energy transitions, and sustainable development—in ways that bring down, not reinforce, structural inequities.
There is immense opportunity for India and Africa to collaborate and expand their partnership beyond state-led interactions, and towards a greater, bottom-up synergy. After all, they share commonalities in various areas such as agro-ecology, socio-economy, and demographic make-up. As both regions witness a new wave of women entrepreneurs who are using technology and other resources to create opportunities in spite of stubborn social orders, India and the countries of Africa must ponder ways of enabling women with skills and other endowments to participate in challenging old norms and train them to be active agents for change.
The Observer Research Foundation, in partnership with the Indian offices of the UK government’s Department of International Development (DfID), held a flagship conference on promoting women’s economic empowerment for global change. The two-day conference, titled, ‘Unleash: Opportunities. Aspirations. Leadership’, was held in New Delhi from July 4 to 5, 2016. The conference explored prospects and opportunities for putting gender at the heart of India and Africa’s development partnership. It sought to bring together distinguished women and men from India and Africa to create a space for dialogue on women and work, connect grassroots synergy to policy, identify and address shared opportunities and challenges when running social enterprises, and effectively promote institutional collaboration to achieve mutual goals.
II. Key Lessons
-India and Africa share a long history of cooperation. However, the partnership has remained inattentive to gender issues.
– The Third India-Africa Forum Summit in 2015 recognised the potential for the partnership to go beyond political and strategic considerations.
– Ongoing conversations about trade, investment, technology transfer, knowledge exchange, innovation and capacity development across the global south need to be contextualised in a deliberate, gender-inclusive manner to ensure that they prioritise SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower women and girls.)
– There is a lack of concrete forms of financing south-south cooperation – particularly in projects devoted to women’s empowerment.
– Entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship, are growing models of global development in developing countries, where traditional aid can sometimes be prescriptive, and curtail local innovation due to its tendency for top-down solutions.
– It is important for traditional development finance, venture capital, and commercial capital to engage in synergistic partnerships to fund both the top and the bottom of the development pyramid.
– While there are examples of ‘bright spots’ – businesses that have women as integral parts of the value chain, and provide products and services for empowerment – major barriers to entry persist in both regions.
– For entrepreneurship to be an effective enabler for women, capital, business support, and access to crucial networks are vital.
– Conceptualising an entrepreneurial ecosystem for women entrepreneurs is about creating an environment where these three components exist (i.e., capital, business support, and access to networks) and they reduce vulnerabilities and increase livelihoods.
– It is estimated that by 2040, Africa will have a larger workforce than China or India. India will have seven mega-cities with a population of over 10 million people by 2030.
– The future of work is likely to be informal and urban.
– A disproportionate majority of women in African countries, as well as in India, are employed in the informal sector.
– Policies must address rapid urbanisation, and view the unorganised with a gender lens; this is crucial to build networks in the unorganised sector.
– Majority of women in both regions work in agriculture, as artisans and labourers, and are primary caregivers. Thus, women’s economic empowerment must be approached in a holistic manner.
– It is an imperative to not exclude the most marginalised; “reaching the last first” should be a mantra.
– Investments and interventions by development and finance communities should not be restricted to the grassroots; it is equally important to invest in urban women who own small and medium enterprises.
– There is a dearth of women leaders in business; studies highlight the many forms of discrimination—both implicit and explicit—faced by women in the field.
– Mainstreaming gender in business must not be reduced to affirmative action; investments in bigger ideas and strategies are required to enable women entrepreneurs to strategically position themselves to not only compete but lead.
– Technology has created newer models of engagement that enable more women who may have otherwise been unable to break traditional barriers to the market.
– At the same time, technology can also increase barriers. The digital gender gap is too wide to be ignored; ‘skill bias technical change’ could have a gendered impact on labour markets in developing countries.
– Men and women play distinctly gendered roles in the production, distribution, and utilisation of energy in households and markets.
– Women are left time-poor and disproportionately exposed to the health risks associated with some forms of energy production.
– Gender-inclusive development of the renewable energy sector can help reduce energy-poverty, and empower women economically by reducing time-poverty.
– The India-Africa experience indicates that financial inclusion is inextricably linked to education, other socio-economic indicators, and technology, where socio-economic indicators often cause exclusion.
– The Third India-Africa Forum Summit in 2015 recognised the potential for the partnership to go beyond political and strategic considerations.
– Ongoing conversations about trade, investment, technology transfer, knowledge exchange, innovation and capacity development across the global south need to be contextualised in a deliberate, gender-inclusive manner to ensure that they prioritise SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower women and girls.)
– There is a lack of concrete forms of financing south-south cooperation – particularly in projects devoted to women’s empowerment.
– Entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship, are growing models of global development in developing countries, where traditional aid can sometimes be prescriptive, and curtail local innovation due to its tendency for top-down solutions.
– It is important for traditional development finance, venture capital, and commercial capital to engage in synergistic partnerships to fund both the top and the bottom of the development pyramid.
– While there are examples of ‘bright spots’ – businesses that have women as integral parts of the value chain, and provide products and services for empowerment – major barriers to entry persist in both regions.
– For entrepreneurship to be an effective enabler for women, capital, business support, and access to crucial networks are vital.
– Conceptualising an entrepreneurial ecosystem for women entrepreneurs is about creating an environment where these three components exist (i.e., capital, business support, and access to networks) and they reduce vulnerabilities and increase livelihoods.
– It is estimated that by 2040, Africa will have a larger workforce than China or India. India will have seven mega-cities with a population of over 10 million people by 2030.
– The future of work is likely to be informal and urban.
– A disproportionate majority of women in African countries, as well as in India, are employed in the informal sector.
– Policies must address rapid urbanisation, and view the unorganised with a gender lens; this is crucial to build networks in the unorganised sector.
– Majority of women in both regions work in agriculture, as artisans and labourers, and are primary caregivers. Thus, women’s economic empowerment must be approached in a holistic manner.
– It is an imperative to not exclude the most marginalised; “reaching the last first” should be a mantra.
– Investments and interventions by development and finance communities should not be restricted to the grassroots; it is equally important to invest in urban women who own small and medium enterprises.
– There is a dearth of women leaders in business; studies highlight the many forms of discrimination—both implicit and explicit—faced by women in the field.
– Mainstreaming gender in business must not be reduced to affirmative action; investments in bigger ideas and strategies are required to enable women entrepreneurs to strategically position themselves to not only compete but lead.
– Technology has created newer models of engagement that enable more women who may have otherwise been unable to break traditional barriers to the market.
– At the same time, technology can also increase barriers. The digital gender gap is too wide to be ignored; ‘skill bias technical change’ could have a gendered impact on labour markets in developing countries.
– Men and women play distinctly gendered roles in the production, distribution, and utilisation of energy in households and markets.
– Women are left time-poor and disproportionately exposed to the health risks associated with some forms of energy production.
– Gender-inclusive development of the renewable energy sector can help reduce energy-poverty, and empower women economically by reducing time-poverty.
– The India-Africa experience indicates that financial inclusion is inextricably linked to education, other socio-economic indicators, and technology, where socio-economic indicators often cause exclusion.
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