Ivanka Trump and World Bank President Jim Kong Kim on Monday blasted the world labor force for its exclusion of women and said women’s economic empowerment must become a global priority if nations are going to curb the trend.
“Only 55 percent of women participate in the paid labour force globally and they continue to be an untapped source of growth. This is an invaluable asset with proven returns, but we have not invested the resources to unleash women’s full potential. The evidence is overwhelming that supporting women’s economic participation has enormous dividends for families, communities, and whole economies,” the co-authors wrote.
The op-ed comes a week after Trump and Kim attended the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund’s spring meetings, which focused on accelerating sustainable, inclusive economic growth.
Trump and Kim left the meeting with the same conclusion, that “a large part of the formula for growth and stability is undervalued: the economic empowerment of women.” Kim’s organization has found adding more women to the workforce would add billions to the international economy and make national economies more competitive.
However, addressing the gender wage gap and even getting more women into the job force, is no overnight project, the op-ed explained.
“Yet despite overwhelming evidence of the benefits of investing in female entrepreneurs and women in the workplace, progress has stalled. The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Global Gender Gap Report estimated that achieving economic parity between genders could take 170 years. That is unacceptable,” Trump and Kim wrote.
“We know what works. We need to increase access to finance, redistribute care work, accelerate progress to financial inclusion, and offer programmes that train female entrepreneurs and help them access higher value markets. We need to develop new legal and regulatory frameworks to boost women’s growth and productivity. The right skills training enhances women’s capacity to manage their businesses,” the op-ed continued. “And mentorship opportunities and access to networks bring learning opportunities and connections to capital and markets.”
It comes one day before Trump travels to Berlin, where she will speak at a panel and attend the Women20 (W20) Summit, a global dialogue with women non-government officials, entrepreneurs and scientists.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel invited Trump to speak at the “Inspiring Women: Scaling up Women’s Entrepreneurship” summit.
