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Dr. Hafez Ghanem (box), addressing guests at the launch. Hajia Samira Bawumia (arrow), Mrs. Cynthia Morrison (4th row from left to left) and some dignitaries are also on the photo. Pictures: INNOCENT K. OWUSU
Dr. Hafez Ghanem, Vice President of the World Bank, urged Ghana and African countries in general to prioritize policies that will empower women and improve their human capital.
He stressed that Ghana and African countries in general could only achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and national development aspirations if they removed barriers to women's empowerment.
Speaking at the launch of a World Bank report entitled "Leveraging Parity: Unlocking the Potential of Women's Enterprises in Africa" in Accra, Dr. Ghanem noted that African countries were poorly ranked according to the Human Development Index (HDI), which explains the last 25 countries in the rankings because a lot of attention had not been given to the empowerment of girls and women.
He added that, in addition to policies aimed at increasing investment in the provision of quality education and health care, it was also necessary to strategically invest in the areas of health care. energy, agriculture and entrepreneurship in order to harness the potential of women especially for sustainable national development.
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The report on women's enterprises in Africa showed that there was a huge gender gap in profits between the operators of the same companies.
For example, the report showed that, on average, men earned 34% more than women in the same company.
Specifically speaking of Ghana, the report indicated that at the local level, men achieved 36% more profits than women doing the same activities.
The gap, he said, has touched the widest margin in the manufacturing sector, where businessmen in the sector have made a whopping 82% more profit than women's businesses in that sector. sector.
In terms of personalization, the gap is minimal, with men working in this industry making a 20% higher profit than women.
The report drew on a wealth of household and business data from Africa to provide a more detailed picture of women entrepreneurs and the constraints on the growth and profitability of their businesses.
Nine major factors
The report highlighted nine major factors that have dampened business performance in Ghana and Africa in general.
For example, he stated that legal discrimination was one of the main obstacles to women's business development in African countries, noting that in some cases "women entrepreneurs could not benefit from equal economic opportunities because laws limited women's ability to own and run a business. "
The report also identified social norms, the risk of gender-based violence, lack of education and skills, and lack of access to networks and information as major obstacles to women-owned businesses.
Among the other constraints identified in the report, there was the lack of trust of women's businesses, the weak control of badets by women compared to men, the lack of authority over the allocation of resources and household badets, as well as lack of time for women time to do domestic chores.
Strategic investment
In her statement, the second lady, Hajia Samira Bawumia, described the report's findings as a wake-up call calling for Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa to take bold steps to turn the tide.
She noted that the continent had enormous potential to develop its human capital by investing more in women who made up the majority of the population, particularly in Ghana.
"Empowering women entrepreneurs is a smart economy, but empowering girls is an even smarter economy, so every effort must be made to remove barriers to women's empowerment," she said. she stressed.
Hajia Bawumia also urged governments in Africa and around the world to remain committed to implementing policies that would empower women.
She called on the World Bank to align its programs in the country with national policies to ensure adequate coordination and uniformity of implementation.
Balanced
Ms. Cynthia Morrison, Minister Delegate for Gender Equality, Social Protection and Social Welfare, encouraged young women entrepreneurs to work hard and cultivate the habit of independence to be able to succeed in business.
The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Henry Kerali, called on civil society organizations (CSOs) to help the government implement national strategies to improve the HDI of the country.
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