A joke making the rounds in Rwanda a couple of years back went like this: (roughly translated from Kinyarwanda) "In Rwanda, a poor man’s address is a rich man’s: when you ask a poor man where he lives he will tell you to take him to General so and so’s house, if you ask where he is going, the likely answer will be kwa Rubangura, kwa Makuza, Chez Lando, kwa Mushimire ...

Have you noticed that there are no bus stops at kwa Kankindi, kwa Nyirambuguje, kwa Marie Rose, and not too many women generals whose homes are landmarks to our addresses?

But this is no laughing matter.  The economic and prosperity gap between women and men is real, not just in Rwanda or Africa, but globally. Among the Fortune 500 companies, women make up only 3 per cent of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) only 6 per cent of top managers and only 15 per cent of board members. I can bet that there are no women among the top ten wealthiest people in Rwanda, in East Africa, may I hazard! A recent World Economic Forum report showed that the gap between women and men in terms of economic participation is up to 58 per cent and that at the current rate of change, it will take another 217 years to close.

What is the reason behind this inequality?

I am no believer in the victim mentality and I am not going to recount the litany of the wrongs done to the female gender historically. However, we are all familiar with discriminatory norms and traditions that have denied women access to productive resources and opportunities. In many cultures, tradition bars women from inheriting land, livestock or other resources considered as wealth. They are considered almost as a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder in order to increase the family or clan wealth. But some forms of discrimination come as a great surprise. I was flabbergasted to learn that up to today in many so-called developed countries such as the United States and Germany, women are still being paid less than men for the same job, with the same skills and qualifications; the so called "wage gap”.  The unconscious bias, social perceptions and expectations have also contributed to this persistent economic gender gap. While men and boys are expected to go out, brave the world, make a lot of money or accumulate wealth, women and girls tend to be judged more on how well they care for and keep their families. Globally, the burden of "unpaid care work” for children, the elderly and the sick falls mainly on the shoulders of women.

This socialisation seems to extend to the choice of jobs and careers. Women appear to be predominantly found in the social and care sectors such as education, health and social services. A study by the American Association of University Women found that there is a glaring gap between men and women in uptake of careers in the Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sector.  Yet, this is the sector of the future which is expected to shape the 21st Century. There are more jobs emerging in this sector and they pay much better! So women are losing out yet again?

Economics of gender equality

We are used to gender equality being discussed mainly in terms of rights and moral obligations. We rarely address the development implications of the tendency to exclude or discriminate against more than half the population of the nation. Women’s economic empowerment is not just a rights and social justice matter, that it is an economic and development imperative.

The 2017 World Economic Forum report on the global gender gap shows that women’s economic empowerment and inclusion could produce an additional US$1750 billion to the United States GDP, $250 billion to that of the United Kingdom, $550 billion to that of Japan, $320 to that of France and $310 billion to that of Germany. The global GDP could see a $5.3 trillion increase from closing the economic participation gap. A McKinsay Global Institute report shows that equality for women in the labour force would add up to US$28 billion to the global economy by 2025.

Rwanda’s leadership has demonstrated unwavering commitment to the empowerment of women and full recognition of women as equal partners in development. The government takes women’s economic empowerment seriously. This commitment has been demonstrated through law reform, development programmes such as Vision 2020 and successive government seven year programmes, such as the requirement of a gender budget line for all ministries and districts.

As H.E President Kagame has said, it is time to rethink our economics and stop, "shooting ourselves in the foot” by missing out on more than half the nation’s talent, skills and innovation.

 "The truth of the matter is that societies that recognise the real untapped socio-economic, cultural and political power of women thrive. Those that refuse to value and leverage women’s talent, energies and unique skills remain development misfits.” H.E. Paul Kagame.

 "Those will succeed best who understand to integrate women as an important force into their talent pool”. Klaus Schwab, founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

Resources:

World Economic Forum:  Global Gender Gap 2017