Topic:
Country: United Kingdom
Delegate Name: Clare Cowen
Country: United Kingdom
Committee: ECOSOC
Topic: Women’s Economic Empowerment
Delegate: Clare Cowen
School: Williamston High School
It is extremely important in today’s society that women are economically empowered. Women should be equally included in existing markets, their access to resources, control over their time, and beneficial participation in decision making. By investing in the economic empowerment of women, a path is set towards gender equality. Despite the fact that women make enormous contributions to the economy, they remain largely affected by poverty, and often end up in low-wage jobs and financial insecurity. Over 2.7 billion women are restricted from having the same job choice as men, and 104 economies globally prevent women from holding certain jobs and professions, fueling the inequality between men and women. In eighteen economies, husbands can prevent their wives from working, limiting a woman’s independence and assisting the idea that women are dependent upon men. Globally, women earn about 77% of what men earn. 63% of women aged 25-54 are in the labor force, while 94% of men aged 25-54 participate in the labor force, which is unfortunate because when women work, productivity is boosted and economic diversification and income equality are increased.
The United Kingdom is deeply concerned with the matter of the economic empowerment of women. In 2010, the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee conducted an inquiry on gender inequalities in the economy, and found that existing gender inequalities in the economy have been much ignored by Parliament, so Parliament has been working in the past eleven years to fix gender inequality in the economy. The government is currently encouraging women to start their own businesses, specifically businesses related to technology. There have also been recent movements sponsored by Parliament to help women get jobs with high productivity and wages. The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee is assisting the government in funding organizations to increase the number of women in STEM apprenticeships and jobs, establish quotas for women in the Kickstart scheme, and train JobCentre Plus coaches on supporting applicants into gender ‘atypical’ jobs.
The United Kingdom is currently a part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. They are working with Australia and the Netherlands to close the wage gap and economically empower women. The British Parliament has written a plan to help empower women economically, including actions such as securing debates on women’s economic empowerment and highlighting the issue during related debates and engaging in oversight and scrutiny of National Action Plans and budgets that have an effect on women’s economic opportunities, such as the UK National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security, and the UK National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.
