Breaking down the barriers: Macroeconomic policies that promote women’s economic equality

May 2016

This GADN briefing argues that the achievement of women’s economic equality and empowerment (WEE) is pivotal to the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights, yet it has received inadequate attention to date. The ground-breaking Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) called for the promotion of “women's economic rights and independence, including access to employment, appropriate working conditions and control over economic resources.”1 In the subsequent two decades, however, most gender equality work shied away from the economic sphere. When WEE has been discussed, too often it is in relation to generating economic growth rather than gender equality and the fulfilment of women’s rights.