Roundup: UN agency unveils alternative policy agenda to transform economies, make gender equality a reality

A major report, released Monday in seven locations globally by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), unveils far-reaching alternative policy agenda to transform economies and make women's rights, and equality, a reality.

The report titled "Progress of the World's Women 2015-2016: Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights" brings together human rights and economic policymaking to call for far-reaching changes to the global policy agenda and imagines what the global economy would look like if it truly worked for women, for the benefit of all.

The report is being published as the international community comes together to define a transformative new agenda for sustainable development, 20 years after the landmark Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, which set out an ambitious agenda to advance gender equality.

Since the Beijing Conference, significant advances have been made by many societies, particularly in advancing women's legal rights. However, as the report shows, in an era of unprecedented global wealth, millions of women are still consigned to work in low paid, poor quality jobs, denied even basic levels of health care, without access to clean water and decent sanitation.

"Our public resources are not flowing in the directions where they are most needed," said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. "For example, to provide safe water and sanitation, quality health care, and decent child- and elderly-care services. Where there are no public services, the deficit is borne by women and girls."

The report reveals that globally, on average, women are paid 24 percent less than men. The gaps for women with children are even wider: in South Asia, for example, the gender pay gap is 35 percent for women with children (compared to 14 percent for those without).

In France and Sweden, over their lifetime, women can expect to earn 31 percent less than men; in Germany 49 percent less than men; and in Turkey, an average woman can expect to earn a staggering 75 percent less than an average man over her lifetime.

Moreover, women are still under-represented in economic leadership positions, from trade unions to corporate boards, from finance ministries to international financial institutions. In 2014, across six of the most influential global economic institutions, women's representation on their boards ranged from 4 to 20 percent, according to the report. "The new economic agenda that UN Women is advocating for is not a pipe dream. Many countries, including low-income developing countries, are already implementing elements of this agenda," said Shahra Razavi, Chief of UN Women's Research and Data Section and lead author of the report. "The kind of change we need is far- reaching, but it can be done."

In its key recommendations, the report underlines that with the right mix of economic and social policies, governments can generate decent jobs for women (and men) and ensure that the unpaid care work that goes into sustaining all economies is recognized and supported.

According to the report, well-designed social services, such as health and care services, and social protection measures, such as pensions, can enhance women's income security, from birth to old age, and enhance their capacity to seize economic opportunities and expand their life options.

Macroeconomic policies can and should support the realization of women's rights, by creating dynamic and stable economies, by generating decent work and by mobilizing resources to finance vital public services. Governments need to go beyond the old metrics of GDP growth and low inflation, and instead measure success in terms of the realization of human rights, according to the report.

Governments are ultimately responsible for delivering these rights, but they cannot do it alone. International financial institutions and the private sector are among the key players that shape the economy. They all need to be held accountable by civil society and the public, to play their part, according to the report.

The changes proposed in the report will not only make the economy work for women, but also benefit the majority of men for whom the economy is not working either, as progress for women is progress for all, it said. Endite