Women In Inclusive Development: An Overview

The first objective of this paper is to review the benefits of women’s empowerment for inclusive development. In reference to Sen’s capability approach, human development is an expansion of capability, including women’s better functioning and opportunity. Reducing gender inequality therefore contributes both to social justice and to human development. Another argument lies on positive productivity gains, irrefutable intergenerational benefits and better institutional outcomes which overall improve GDP growth, poverty reduction and inclusive development. The second objective is to analyse gender gaps in different spheres and to demonstrate that some countries face particular challenges when it comes to tackle gender inequality. Even indicators of school enrolment in primary education and number of seats in parliament where major progress has been registered at the global level, sometimes show very low levels. More worrisome, women’s participation in the labour market and in decision-making process within and outside the household is generally unsatisfacto-ry. This implies a discussion on whether women’s well-being should be measured in comparison to men’s well-being or as a separate measure including reproductive health indicators. The third objective of this article is to provide policy recommendations in order to expand women’s opportunity, to address women’s institutional constraints and to enhance women’s voice and agency.