BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Tuesday April 2, 2017 – As regional states search for ways to grow their struggling economies, a United Nations official is telling governments they have access to a resource that could help bring about strong turnaround.
Deputy Regional Director at the UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, Lara Blanco, said economic empowerment of women would lead to not only growth, but also prosperity.
“We have evidence showing that if we ensure that women enter the labour force at the same rate of the best performer of the region, which is Chile which has a 1.4 percent increase per year, in all the countries of the region you would be gaining 14 percent of GDP,” she said.
Blanco’s suggestion came at the end of her mission to Barbados to assess the impact that economic conditions have been having on women.
She said though the region experienced an important acceleration in women’s participation in the labour force between 1991 and 2013, focus must turn to some of the most vulnerable.
The UN Women representative identified those as women on “the broken ladder” who are susceptible to shocks despite being educated and having middle management positions, and those on the “sticky floors” who have less education, have had children and were in a relationship at a very age and may not be able to afford the care and services that they need.
“Despite the success, despite the innovation in social protection we have really been unable to figure out what are the specifics in terms of gender dynamics that are acting as bottlenecks to reach those women,” she said.
“We really need to start thinking about fiscal policy, macro-economic policies, about how to overcome that debt versus GDP situation in the Caribbean, also taking in to account the situation of women and also taking into account the possibilities that women can bring even for more growth and faster recovery.”
