Topic:
Country: Estonia
Delegate Name: Audrey Bricker
UN Women
Women’s Economic Empowerment
Estonia
Audrey Bricker
The fact that women worldwide make almost only ¾ of what men make is a troubling statistic that needs to be remedied immediately. There is a direct positive relationship between the number of economically empowered women a country has and it’s GDP. Women have the power to help countries develop but often are pushed into traditional gender roles which usually make them unable to pursue higher education or professional jobs.
Although Estonia currently has the highest gender wage gap in the European Union at over 29% in certain economic sectors, the number has been decreasing, with help from multiple recent legislations. The 2004 Gender Equality Act and the 2008 Equal Treatment Act made gender discrimination in workspaces illegal. Because of this, the gender wage gap overall has decreased by more than 9% in the past eight years. Estonia exceeds in including women in the labor forces, though. The World Bank estimates that in 2019 4.07% of the male labor force was unemployed and 4.84% of the female labor force was unemployed in Estonia. This means that women and men hold almost the same amount of presence in the Estonian workforce, and is a sign of improving economic empowerment.
Estonia will support a resolution that promotes the education of women and girls, actions that reduce the gender wage gap, and the promotion of a woman’s place in society into higher level jobs. As President Toomas Hendrik said, “Estonia has taken upon itself to concentrate on women’s human rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women also in development cooperation.” Empowering women economically is of the utmost importance.
Works Cited:
Unwomen.Org, 2021, https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/Headquarters/Attachments/Initiatives/StepItUp/Commitments-Speeches/Estonia-StepItUp-CommitmentSpeech-201509-en.pdf. Accessed 23 Nov 2021.
Sm.Ee, 2021, https://www.sm.ee/sites/default/files/content-editors/Ministeerium_kontaktid/Valjaanded/gender_pay_gap_estonia_recommendations.pdf. Accessed 23 Nov 2021.
“Estonia’s Gender Pay Gap Narrowed Again Last Year”. ERR, 2021, https://news.err.ee/1608185428/estonia-s-gender-pay-gap-narrowed-again-last-year. Accessed 23 Nov 2021.
“Unemployment, Female (% Of Female Labor Force) (National Estimate) – Estonia | Data”. Data.Worldbank.Org, 2021, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.FE.NE.ZS?end=2019&locations=EE&start=1991&view=chart. Accessed 25 Nov 2021.
