‘Access to productive assets key to women empowerment’

Prominent economist Debapriya Bhattacharya has said relocation of female labour from agriculture to non-farm activities is essential for raising their linkages to the market, productivity and income, reports UNB.
This will facilitate the breaking of ‘gender segmentation’ in the labour and product markets, said Debapriya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
“Thus women should have full access to productive assets - finance, technology, market intelligence and capacity-building inputs - through acquisition and inheritance and public policy support,” he said.
Debapriya made the remarks while presiding over a ministerial roundtable titled ‘Women as Agents for Economic Change’ in Nairobi on Tuesday at the 14th conference of UNCTAD, according to a message received yesterday. UNCTAD, the lead agency of the United Nations promoting trade and development in the developing countries, meets every four years to review its strategy and work plan. It is currently having its quadrennial conference in Nairobi that will end on July 22.
Debapriya mentioned that 26 out of a sample 143 countries have statutory legislation discriminating women against men regarding access to productive assets.
He recalled that the new global development framework 2030 Agenda has called for doing away with such anti-woman provisions through legislative and regulatory reforms for women’s economic empowerment.
Earlier, in his opening remarks Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the UNCTAD pointed out that three-quarters of employed women in the least developed countries (LDCs) work in agriculture and play a central role in ensuring food security and nutrition.
However, they face gender-specific constraints leading to low productivity and low income. The roundtable was also addressed by Zenebu Tadesse, Ethiopian Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Jayanta Chand, Nepalese Minister for Commerce, Fayaz Siddiq, Fijian Minister for Trade and Tourism, Amelia Kyambadde, Ugandan Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, and Willy Bett, Kenyan Minister for Agriculture and Livestock.

Access to productive assets key to women empowerment

Prominent economist Debapriya Bhattacharya has said relocation of female labour from agriculture to non-farm activities is essential for raising their linkages to the market, productivity and income, reports UNB. This will facilitate the breaking of gender segmentation in the labour and product markets, said Debapriya, a distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). Thus women should have full access to productive assets - finance, technology, market intelligence and capacity-building inputs - through acquisition and inheritance and public policy support, he said. Debapriya made the remarks while presiding over a ministerial roundtable titled Women as Agents for Economic Change in Nairobi on Tuesday at the 14th conference of UNCTAD, according to a message received yesterday. UNCTAD, the lead agency of the United Nations promoting trade and development in the developing countries, meets every four years to review its strategy and work plan. It is currently having its quadrennial conference in Nairobi that will end on July 22. Debapriya mentioned that 26 out of a sample 143 countries have statutory legislation discriminating women against men regarding access to productive assets. He recalled that the new global development framework 2030 Agenda has called for doing away with such anti-woman provisions through legislative and regulatory reforms for womens economic empowerment. Earlier, in his opening remarks Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary-General of the UNCTAD pointed out that three-quarters of employed women in the least developed countries (LDCs) work in agriculture and play a central role in ensuring food security and nutrition. However, they face gender-specific constraints leading to low productivity and low income. The roundtable was also addressed by Zenebu Tadesse, Ethiopian Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Jayanta Chand, Nepalese Minister for Commerce, Fayaz Siddiq, Fijian Minister for Trade and Tourism, Amelia Kyambadde, Ugandan Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, and Willy Bett, Kenyan Minister for Agriculture and Livestock.