Women can contribute $12 trillion to global growth: UN

by Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya

Women can contribute an additional $12 trillion to global growth by 2025, the Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Mukhisa Kituyi told Anadolu Agency on Monday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the International Forum on Women in Business held in Nairobi on Monday, Kituyi said that many economies are driven by women.

“It is the women that are always on the farms, it’s they that you find at the market, Kituyi said.

“The majority of the poor in the developing world are women, and economic opportunities, financial empowerment, access to technological capabilities is critical if women are going to realize the agenda of inclusive prosperity,” Kituyi said.

“It is the aim of this conference to bring more than 1 million women to the market by the year 2020,” he added.

Also present at the conference was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia, who called on African States to empower women in business.

“Today the challenge is to move women into business, to move them from the farm and the marketplace so they can get the benefit of participation in the everyday life of the economy, and this is why this conference is vital today.”

The International Forum on Women in Business was hosted by the government of Kenya and the International Trade Centre, in conjunction with the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi. Policymakers, the business community and representatives of Women Business Organizations will convene to discuss actions to increase the participation of women in the economy.