Latest news with #economicEmpowerment
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Dark Side Of Women's Empowerment
Written by Lauren Hendricks, President and CEO, Trickle Up Women are living through dark times. Gender-based violence kills one woman every 10 minutes, and feminist attitudes and policies—after decades of hard-won progress—are now regressing due to an onslaught of anti-feminist rhetoric in the news, on podcasts, and across social media. Younger generations are shifting to more conservative viewpoints, and anti-feminist beliefs amongst young men have been on the rise. A Trickle Up participant in Odisha, India, works on a task for her small business. These shifting attitudes make it even harder for women to navigate gender bias on their path to economic equity and empowerment. One study across 20 countries found that 40% of respondents felt it was 'natural for men to earn more than women,' 23% agreed that men should be paid more than women for the same job, and 34% believed that men make better business executives than women. What's more, another study found that 60% of Gen Z men across 31 countries believe that women's equality actually discriminates against men. In many of these countries, deeply ingrained patriarchal attitudes deny women autonomy and limit their access to education, financial resources, job opportunities, and business or property ownership—the full spectrum of economic independence. In rural regions where employment opportunities are scarce, one of the best ways for women to reach economic empowerment is through entrepreneurship, but social norms biased against women often create barriers to success. And even when women overcome these barriers, their success can prove dangerous. The Cost of Ambition The threat of women's success to the male ego is universal. Having lived and worked in developing countries, I have seen this dynamic unfold repeatedly: when women become primary breadwinners or earn more than men, it creates conflict. In Uganda, I worked with some of the most capable, intelligent women I have ever met. But many hesitated to accept high-paying international jobs that could transform their families' futures because they feared their husband's disapproval and jealousy. For rural women living in poverty, the situation is even more dire. In my work on women's economic empowerment projects across Africa and Asia, every opportunity had to earn a man's approval, requiring careful navigation around what husbands or fathers would allow. Giving a woman a smartphone could boost her income, but it could also lead to physical violence and confiscation of the phone by her husband. Women across the globe make large and small decisions based on what they believe their husbands or partners will tolerate instead of basing goals on their talents or ambitions—placing limitations on themselves that wouldn't be necessary in the face of true equality. When women step outside their carefully defined roles and succeed too much, they may risk a violent backlash. Redefining Masculinity: From Dominance to Partnership Violence against women is a symptom of a larger problem: some men's belief that they have the right to control women's behavior. Some exert control through violence, some through financial dominance, and others through the threat of divorce and social isolation. Whatever the method, the goal is the same: to keep the women in their lives under their control. The tactics needed to overcome these entrenched and dangerous attitudes require slow and painstaking work on multiple fronts. And much of this is men's work. We need more men to openly support their wives' success. We need more conversations within households about how an entire family benefits when a woman thrives. We need men to congratulate each other when their wives succeed, instead of questioning their masculinity. And we need men to model to their sons the appropriate behavior of showing women respect and decency. The bottom line is that we need to redefine manhood in a way that does not involve dominating women. Shifting harmful gender norms starts with encouraging men of households to be allies (AVSI Foundation). For any of these strategies to succeed, we must engage men and boys and transform them into allies by working at the ground level with families and communities to shift harmful gender norms. Some of this begins with early education on gender issues, while other tactics begin with including men in discussions about economic challenges and financial literacy—which has been shown to encourage joint-decision-making, joint goal setting, greater cooperation, and more equitable partnerships that redistribute household and caregiving responsibilities. Changing Gender Norms by Investing in Women's Potential Dismantling harmful social norms also requires a woman-centered approach. We've discovered that when women earn income, they reinvest in their families and communities, leading to improved health, education, and economic outcomes. Financial independence also gives women greater autonomy, enabling them to challenge oppressive social norms and participate in decision-making in their communities and households. And when men see women as equal partners in the household, we get one step closer to true equity. By providing the right resources to women in rural areas—like seed capital, savings groups, training in financial literacy, and links to local markets—we can help them start and sustain small businesses. And while a savings group may seem like a simple approach, it's more complex than it sounds: these groups are essential venues for women to gather, meet, and learn from one another how to advocate for their rights, negotiate better wages, access new economic opportunities, and build the support and self-esteem they need to take on larger roles in their households and communities. Pushpanjali Baccha of Balangir, India, works with her livelihood coach on her agricultural business. In a world where gender inequality continues to threaten the rights, safety, and potential of women, we must move beyond surface-level solutions. True change starts by recognizing the power women hold and ensuring they have the tools, opportunities, and support to claim it. At Trickle Up, we see every woman not just as a participant in our economic inclusion programs, but as a leader, a provider, and a catalyst for transformation. When women gain economic power, they shift the dynamics of entire communities and reshape the future.
Mail & Guardian
29-05-2025
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Elon Musk and the irony of calling black economic empowerment racist
For Elon Musk, to call broad-based black economic empowerment 'racist' is to eat at the table apartheid set for you and complain when someone else is finally offered a chair. Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest African-born man and, arguably, its most confident beneficiary of generational advantage, recently called South Africa's broad-based black economic empowerment (broad-based BEE) policy 'racist' — a sentiment increasingly echoed by some local South Africans who view redress through the distorted lens of personal grievance rather than historical responsibility. It's a statement so steeped in irony that even the ghosts of apartheid must be laughing — if not weeping. That is, the architects of apartheid — men like Hendrik Verwoerd, BJ Vorster and PW Botha who designed a nation around racial exclusion, the systems they built that still shape land ownership, education and capital, and the moral stain they left on South Africa's collective conscience, might themselves find it darkly amusing that a billionaire born into their system now claims to be a victim of the modest policies intended to redress their legacy. For context, broad-based BEE is a constitutional corrective measure aimed at broadening economic participation in a country where, until 1994, economic exclusion was state policy, not an unfortunate oversight. In contrast, apartheid's architecture was unapologetically and systematically racist: the Population Registration Act, Group Areas Act, Bantu Education Act and job reservation laws didn't merely discriminate; they surgically engineered white economic dominance. That dominance is precisely what broad-based BEE seeks to rebalance. Musk's claim is not only historically tone deaf, it is philosophically disingenuous. To cry 'racism' in response to redress is to mistake rebalancing for reversal. And it reveals a more unsettling truth — when you've been standing on a platform your whole life, equality can feel like a step down. One wonders whether Musk, who is never short on opinions or ambition, has ever considered the ancient logic of Aristotle or, more pointedly, whether he and others are inclined to understand it. Writing in Nicomachean Ethics , Aristotle argued that 'equals should be treated equally, and unequals unequally in proportion to their inequality'. In South Africa, we are not grappling with parity, but with the structural residue of engineered inequality. Redress, then, is not discrimination, it is moral logic. Put simply, treating equals equally means giving everyone the same treatment when they are in the same position. But when people have been treated unequally for generations, justice requires a different approach — one that corrects the imbalance. That's why fairness doesn't always mean treating everyone the same, it means helping those who've been disadvantaged to reach the same starting line. And what of those South Africans comfortably situated, well-educated and often beneficiaries of generational advantage who argue that 'it wasn't our generation' who created apartheid, so why should 'they' be burdened with its legacy? To them, the question must be returned — if you did not build the house, but you live in it, benefit from it and defend it against renovation, are you not still responsible for its condition? Historical accountability is not about guilt, it is about participation in repair. Justice is not a backward-looking punishment, it is a forward-looking commitment to shared dignity — our collective dignity. To be clear, the failure of broad-based BEE to deliver broad-based empowerment lies not in its intention, but in its execution. The ANC-led government bears responsibility for allowing elite capture, fronting and narrow enrichment to undermine what was meant to be a structural rebalancing. Instead of building inclusive economic capacity, it too often reinforced patronage networks. But if the ANC eroded trust through dysfunction, the Democratic Alliance is deepening public suspicion by challenging the constitutionality of the broad-based BEE Act in court. Rather than proposing viable alternatives for redress, the party's actions risk signalling that any attempt to correct historical injustice is, by default, unjust to those who benefited from it. Yet, in typical Musk fashion, his intervention in South African discourse lacks nuance and arrives via tweet. One moment, he decries broad-based BEE, the next, he tweets an old video of Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, as if to say: ' S ee? This is the real threat.' It's a lazy pivot, to be honest. Shifting the conversation from the facts of structural injustice to the spectacle of populist provocation. Malema's often incendiary 'kill the boer' rhetoric is indeed unhelpful, especially in a country still healing from generational trauma. It risks reinforcing fear and feeding narratives that sidestep the real work of transformation. But, to conflate Malema's performance politics with the foundational purpose of broad-based BEE is to mistake smoke for fire. It's not justice Musk is afraid of, it's the rebalancing of power. And all of this plays out while Starlink, Musk's satellite internet venture, is reportedly making renewed efforts to gain access to the South African market. But, instead of partnering with black-owned enterprises, as required under broad-based BEE regulations, the strategy seems to favour proxy arrangements and regulatory pressure. It's the familiar formula — enter the economy, but avoid transformation. Musk's approach to broad-based BEE appears to mirror his business logic — reach the underserved, but on his terms, not the country's. The irony is staggering — decrying exclusion while resisting the very instruments designed to ensure inclusive access. broad-based BEE does not criminalise whiteness. It does not confiscate. It does not exclude based on race, it includes based on disadvantage. It offers no favours, only a fairer footing in a race some were never allowed to enter. To call that 'racist' is to eat at the table apartheid set for you and complain when someone else is finally offered a chair. Yes, broad-based BEE is imperfect. Its implementation has suffered under the weight of bureaucracy, political opportunism and elite capture. But, its necessity remains unquestionable unless, of course, one believes that justice should come without cost or inconvenience to those who benefited from injustice. Ultimately, this moment calls for a different kind of leadership; one that is not afraid of complexity, discomfort or delayed gratification. South Africa does not need leaders who weaponise redress for political capital, nor those who reduce structural injustice to soundbites. We need leaders who are historically literate, morally grounded and publicly accountable. We need leaders who understand that economic transformation is not a populist slogan nor a corporate box-tick, but a long-term act of national repair. In the face of inherited inequality, true leadership demands not defensiveness but responsibility. Elon Musk's wealth may well fund the future. But his view on broad-based BEE reminds us that history has a peculiar way of repeating itself, especially when the powerful feel discomforted by equality. Justice in South Africa was never going to be comfortable. But if the price of transformation is that a few billionaires feel momentarily uneasy, it is a price well worth paying. Dr Armand Bam is head of social impact at Stellenbosch Business School.
LBCI
19-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
PM Salam discusses education, aid, and governance reform in series of meetings at the Grand Serail
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received Levon Amirjanyan, the regional representative of the International Organization of La Francophonie for the Middle East, at the Grand Serail. Following the meeting, Amirjanyan said they discussed implementing various initiatives in Lebanon across several sectors, including education, training, and women's economic empowerment. 'We explored different avenues to promote the French language in Lebanon and support projects that strengthen the presence of French and uphold the values of La Francophonie,' he added. Prime Minister Salam also met with Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon Marion Weichelt, accompanied by Romain Grandjean, regional director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and the center's senior adviser, Khaldoun Al-Sharif. The meeting focused on the center's activities in Lebanon. Salam received a delegation from Lebanon's Court of Audit in another meeting led by Judge Mohammad Badran. Badran presented the Prime Minister with a copy of the court's special report on Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and discussed several requests, including strengthening security around the court's premises and organizing a recruitment round for new judges. Salam also welcomed a delegation from Caritas Lebanon, headed by Father Michel Abboud and accompanied by Bishop Paul Abdel Sater, the association's supervising bishop, along with board members. After the meeting, Father Abboud noted that they briefed the Prime Minister on Caritas' work across Lebanon over the past 53 years, particularly its cooperation with various ministries, including Social Affairs, Health, and Finance. He also requested the government's help in releasing funds owed to Caritas so it can continue its mission, and asked for support in facilitating the delivery of aid from abroad. The Prime Minister also met with a delegation from the Policy Advisory Platform for Government Agencies at the American University of Beirut, including Dr. Fadi El-Jardali, Joseph Bahout, and Zeina Salim. Discussions focused on potential collaboration between the university and public institutions and making the university's academic and research resources available to support government work.
