Women continue to face economic disadvantage – whether through low wages, insecure and unsafe jobs, unequal access to social protection or a heavy unpaid care and domestic workload. Attempts to promote women’s economic empowerment are taking place in the context of significant changes in the world of work – including the emergence of the gig economy, the increased spread of technology, and a rise in informal work. Progress is further limited by economic policies which reinforce the undervaluation and marginalisation of women’s paid and unpaid work. 

What would a 21st century economy that empowers women look like? Can new trends such as the gig economy provide the kinds of jobs women need? What does it take to lift women’s unpaid care burdens?

Ahead of the 61st Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), we joined with the Gender and Development Network to organise this webinar exploring what needs to change to make the economy work for women. It seeks to identify concrete proposals for government action which can be taken to the CSW in March in New York.

Key topics for discussion included:

• Changing work patterns and their implications for women
• The role of governments in creating an enabling macroeconomic environment
• Unpaid care and domestic work
• Identifying concrete proposals for priority action by governments at international and national level