UK charity calls to close gender employment gap for disabled
A British charity for the disabled, citing World Bank data, says the world could gain trillions annually in Gross Domestic Product if women were employed at the same rate as men. Failure to close gender employment gaps reduces a country's economic growth by 20% on average, according to the data.
In many countries, women face multiple challenges when seeking employment or starting a business. Gender discrimination alone can drive women into poverty, but the risk increases if paired with disabilities.
In recognition of International Women's Day, Sightsavers International, a British nongovernmental agency that aims to prevent avoidable blindness and ensure equality for the visually impaired, cited the World Bank's figures showing that global GDP would increase from $106 trillion to $127 trillion if women were employed at the same rate as men.
Michelle Madau, a 41-year-old beautician from Zimbabwe, is living with osteogenesis imperfecta, a brittle-bone disease. Despite her disorder, she helps people like her learn how to run a business.
"I am mentoring the upcoming beauticians who are disabled and I am availing myself, making sure I am there when needed, speaking to them, helping them build up their own businesses," Madau said. "Of course, not all of them are in the beauty industry; whichever line of business I am familiar with, I am always there to assist them because I also want to see them win, just like I am winning right now."
Lydia Rosasi, 29, works at the office of the Kenyan government spokesperson, where she assists people living with blindness, deafness and other disabilities in accessing government communications.
She says she bettered herself to stand out in the job market.
"For me, one of the greatest pillars in terms of navigating this double bias has been education and skills development. This has been the crucial thing that has kept me afloat as I go through these challenges," Rosasi said. "For example, in 2021, I joined the IT Bridger Academy and at that time the digital skills were gaining a lot of prominence in the job market. So it gave me confidence and the capabilities that opened my doors. And then I have found supportive mentors and leaders who have been very important."
Many African women struggle to get jobs, either because they were married off or became mothers at a young age, leaving them unable to finish their studies. Others encounter discrimination or sexual violence in their workplaces.
Experts say empowering girls with education and allowing them to finish school is one way to reduce the gender employment gap.
Lianna Jones works on economic empowerment at Sightsavers. She says closing the gender gap requires policy reforms and cultural change.
"In terms of closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship, this requires coordinated interventions at multiple levels," Jones said. "At the policy level, we need to eliminate discriminatory laws and regulations that restrict women's economic participation. Women with disabilities need specialized approaches that address both gender- and disability-related barriers simultaneously, and lastly, we need to challenge social norms to engage with community leaders, men, and boys."
According to Equal Measures 2030, a coalition of national, regional and global leaders from feminist networks, civil society and international development, women in at least 77 countries are prohibited from working in the same jobs or sectors as men. In Africa, only five countries have a full set of laws mandating workplace equality for women.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Voice of America
14-03-2025
- Voice of America
Botswana hunting revenues almost double amid UK opposition
Botswana has made $4 million from the sale of licenses to hunt wild animals, the highest figure since lifting a hunting ban in 2019. The hunting season, which ended in November, was held amid growing opposition from some European countries that want a ban on the importation of African wildlife trophies. Botswana issues around 400 elephant licenses annually, with most purchased by overseas hunters. Wynter Mmolotsi, minister of environment and tourism, told Parliament Thursday that millions of dollars were generated through the sale of mostly elephant licenses in villages in wildlife areas. "In order to manage the wildlife population, the country is implementing a combination of both consumptive and nonconsumptive utilization of our wildlife resources to derive optimum economic benefit, particularly for our communities," he said. "For the 2024 hunting season, the community quotas generated the sum of 42,863,423 pulas. Further, a total of 15,633,950 pulas was realized from the sale of special elephant quotas to support elephant conservation and community-led projects within the elephant range." In 2023, Botswana earned $2.7 million from hunting licenses. Mmolotsi, however, says the hunts face increasing Western opposition. Canada and Belgium are among countries that have recently banned importation of wildlife trophies. "The country is facing opposition from animal rights organizations to our policy of sustainable wildlife utilization of using hunting as a tool and empowerment to our local communities. The ministry, working with the hunting industry and affected community trusts stepped up efforts to counter this growing opposition to sustainable hunting through engagements carried out in the U.K. and Germany," he said. Siyoka Simasiku, director at the conservation coalition, Ngamiland Council of Non-Governmental Organisations says communities will be the hardest hit if the U.K. imposes restrictions. He has been to Europe to campaign against trophy import bans. "The U.K. ban is going to be bad on community benefits as the U.K. is an economic superpower and might influence other countries to actually follow suit and then communities might lose the market that already exists as more hunters will not be coming to Botswana to hunt in community concessions due to the trophy bans," he said. Oaitse Nawa of the Elephant Protection Society is among those who want the hunts to be stopped. He also argues, revenue accrued from hunting does not significantly benefit Botswanans. "They are giving us figures of the money that they made from hunting, but also let us look at the compensation that they give the people. And also the result of hunting, what does hunting bring to the local people because the animals that experience hunting, they tend to change their behavior and they kill people. That is why we are saying there should be proper research in that regard,' said Nawa. Botswana, with the world's largest elephant herd at more than 130,000 elephants has recorded an increase in human fatalities, while crops are damaged.
Voice of America
10-03-2025
- Voice of America
VOA Uzbek: Empowering Central Asian craft makers and artists
The Central Asia Program at George Washington University recently had a special exhibition for Central Asian women and art during the International Women's Day celebrations. Carpets and other items woven by Afghan women at home sell well in U.S. markets, businesspeople who spoke to VOA said. One vendor said online sales aren't bad. Click here for the full story in Uzbek.
Voice of America
10-03-2025
- Voice of America
UK charity calls to close gender employment gap for disabled
A British charity for the disabled, citing World Bank data, says the world could gain trillions annually in Gross Domestic Product if women were employed at the same rate as men. Failure to close gender employment gaps reduces a country's economic growth by 20% on average, according to the data. In many countries, women face multiple challenges when seeking employment or starting a business. Gender discrimination alone can drive women into poverty, but the risk increases if paired with disabilities. In recognition of International Women's Day, Sightsavers International, a British nongovernmental agency that aims to prevent avoidable blindness and ensure equality for the visually impaired, cited the World Bank's figures showing that global GDP would increase from $106 trillion to $127 trillion if women were employed at the same rate as men. Michelle Madau, a 41-year-old beautician from Zimbabwe, is living with osteogenesis imperfecta, a brittle-bone disease. Despite her disorder, she helps people like her learn how to run a business. "I am mentoring the upcoming beauticians who are disabled and I am availing myself, making sure I am there when needed, speaking to them, helping them build up their own businesses," Madau said. "Of course, not all of them are in the beauty industry; whichever line of business I am familiar with, I am always there to assist them because I also want to see them win, just like I am winning right now." Lydia Rosasi, 29, works at the office of the Kenyan government spokesperson, where she assists people living with blindness, deafness and other disabilities in accessing government communications. She says she bettered herself to stand out in the job market. "For me, one of the greatest pillars in terms of navigating this double bias has been education and skills development. This has been the crucial thing that has kept me afloat as I go through these challenges," Rosasi said. "For example, in 2021, I joined the IT Bridger Academy and at that time the digital skills were gaining a lot of prominence in the job market. So it gave me confidence and the capabilities that opened my doors. And then I have found supportive mentors and leaders who have been very important." Many African women struggle to get jobs, either because they were married off or became mothers at a young age, leaving them unable to finish their studies. Others encounter discrimination or sexual violence in their workplaces. Experts say empowering girls with education and allowing them to finish school is one way to reduce the gender employment gap. Lianna Jones works on economic empowerment at Sightsavers. She says closing the gender gap requires policy reforms and cultural change. "In terms of closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship, this requires coordinated interventions at multiple levels," Jones said. "At the policy level, we need to eliminate discriminatory laws and regulations that restrict women's economic participation. Women with disabilities need specialized approaches that address both gender- and disability-related barriers simultaneously, and lastly, we need to challenge social norms to engage with community leaders, men, and boys." According to Equal Measures 2030, a coalition of national, regional and global leaders from feminist networks, civil society and international development, women in at least 77 countries are prohibited from working in the same jobs or sectors as men. In Africa, only five countries have a full set of laws mandating workplace equality for women.
