Dk. Avis Jones-DeWeever
Women’s Empowerment Matters: Engaging the Global Economy by Leaving No Woman Behind
Remarks by: Avis A. Jones – DeWeever, Ph. D.
Good Morning.
I’d first like to begin with an admission of sorts.
Though, my precessional background is that of a researcher, I find that I also have a very deep love and respect for history
And as a lover of history, there is one fact that I believe to be undeniable. And that fact is that throughout the great arc of time, national dominance, either by a single governmental enity, or by a cadre of nation states is never everlasting.
There is a cyclical rythmn to international power that is undeniable.
Today, as we stand witness to so much turmoil throughout the world,
Social, political, and economic strife that at times appears insurmountable,
in my eyes, Africa stands as a shining beacon of hope.
I look to Africa and I see a great deal of unity,
I look to Africa and I see opportunity,
I look to Africa and I see spectacular growth and promise.
A Defining Moment
And I have to say, that in my eyes, we stand at a moment in history, where future generations will look back to this time and say,
This was Africa’s Defining Moment.
At a time when much of the world continues to struggle under the weight of a historically deep & sustained international financial crisis,
Africa is not only rising, but in many ways, it is indeed thriving and poised for an unprecidented emergence in the years ahead.
Poised For Growth
Now I am not the only one to notice the amazing future that awaits Africa.
The world has taken note.
As the home to 7 of the planet’s 10 fastest growing economies, significant corporate investment and engagement throughout the continent is of course, now well-underway.
But to make the most of today’s opportunities
And to build a future in which the continent generally and Tanzania specifically, is poised to become not only a major player in the global economy, but in fact, a model of resounding success,
women must be included as full and equal partners in Tanzania today,
in order to maximize the potential of Tanzania’s tomorrow.
Why Women’s Empowerment Matters
I was asked to spend a great deal of my time in your beautiful country discussing my thoughts on why women’s empowerment matters.
And frankly, I could give countless reasons:
• I could provide a moral imperative that makes the case around the human condition, and our responsibility to create conditions that are conducive to living life with dignity. (a bare minimum that each & every individual on the face of the planet deserves)
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• I could also examine that question through the lense of fairness, and point to the seeming altruistic nature of womanhood around the world.
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o The critical importance of “women’s work” to society and it’s absolutely essential role in nurturing, rearing, and meeting the daily needs of those who are incapable of caring for themselves, in particular our children.
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• I could discuss the issue of poverty, and how it far too often bares a woman’s face.
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• Or the harrowing and continuing tragedy of violence either in her own home or at the hands of strangers,
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• Or I could discuss the devastating impact of HIV on women who have little control over their partner’s sense of fidelity.
But today, I will make a largely empirical argument.
Women’s empowerment matters
because thriving economies matter.
And to maximize Tanzania’s potential in the competitive global marketplace, this nation quite simply can not afford to leave half of your valuable human capital underdeveloped.
What a Difference Women Make
We know from several examples around the world, that investing in women benefits entire nations
We know that sending a girl to school, even for just one year, increases her earnings over an entire lifetime.
We know that in those nations around the world where women’s participation in the labor force grew fastest, those nations also saw the largest reduction in poverty rates.
We know that when women farmers can access the resources that they need, their production increases, and their families are less likely to go hungry or suffer from malnutrition.
We know that when women own property and can earn money from that property independently, they have more power at home, thereby reducing their vulnerability to domestic violence or The virus that causes AIDS,
From these facts, we know:
women’s empowerment matters,
and it makes a difference on a global scale,
but I’d also like to talk about this issue from a very personal perspective.
The perspective of an African American woman and for a minute,
address the issue from the standpoint of that specific experience.
Black Women and the American Economy
African American women contributed to the birth and building of America from the very beginning.
From our earliest experiences on those shores, our labor, interpreted in the broadest possible senses of the word, has been key to the economic growth, and success of the US for centuries.
We participated not only in the production of goods during America’s original agricultural economy.
But since the institution of slavery was, in the US experience, passed down maternally, it was also quite literally black women’s labor, through the process of giving birth, that provided the ultimate means of production for American prosperity for centuries to come.
Even beyond the ugly and tragic years associated with the centuries of free labor that greatly contributed to America’s swift and successful economic growth, Black women continued the tradition of contributing to the American economy
It did not take a woman’s movement, for example, to infuse Black women into Americas’s labor market.
We were there from the beginning and we never left.
This is not to say that Black woman’s experience in the American economy has been without its challenges.
In fact, our challenges lie across the boundaries of both race and gender, what some have described as a double burden.
As a result, despite our strong attachment to the labor force, an attachment that has produced higher labor force participation rate among Black women than among all other women in the US, the problem we have faced and continue to face is that of job quality.
Far too many Black women continue to find themselves subsegregated into low-wage work that provide little in the way of benefits, job security, a career ladder, or any type of paid leave.
As a result , we find ourselves over represented in low-wage service occupations and under-represented in management-level or professional employment opportunities.
Poor job quality them, results Ina situation where Black women are among the most likely Americans to live in poverty.
The Power of Education and Entreprenuership
Yet, despite these challenges, as a nation and as a people, we are a firm believer in the power of education.
And Black women especially, have increasingly turned to education to provide a pathway to a better life.
Today, Black women make up fully 2/3 of all African Americans enrolled in college at the undergraduate level.
And while education does provide a pathway to improved job quality, wage gaps persist across every level of education.
This, has perhaps been one factor that has led to a great explosion of African American women as entrepreuners
Between 1997-2006, while overall business-ownership in America grew by 24%, among African American women, business ownership grew by a whopping 147%.
A pace unmatched by any other demographic group in the nation.
And by 2008, African American women-owned businesses had generated some $29 billion in sales nationwide.
The Power of Women’s Entreprenuership
But of course, in America, Black women’s entrepreneurship is only part of the story.
Overall, we have some 8 million women-owned businesses throughout the nation.
These firms create or maintain nearly 23 million jobs, and have an economic impact of $3 trillion annually.
In fact, If U.S. based women-owned businesses were their own country, they would have the 5th largest GDP in the world, trailing closely behind Germany and ahead of places like France, Italy, and Great Britian.
These businesses, of course, are not only important to each individual female businesses owner
they sustain families,
they Buttress communities;
And they make the US a stronger nation.
Stated more starkly, without the contributions of women, in the workforce and as business owners in their own right, the US would not be the economic powerhouse that it is today in the global context.
**So How Do We Take These Lessons and Apply Them To The Tanzanian Experience**
The people of Tanzania must see the issue of Women’s Empowerment as a priority.
Your work can provide the information necessary to make this issue a national imperative,
something worthy of the nation’s focus,
investment,
and persistent action
This is an idea that can not and frankly, should not be imposed, imported, or implemented from afar.
Instead, it is an idea worthy of good old-fashioned, home-grown activism.
You can fill that role.
This is a goal that’s worthy of the concerted action of each and every one of you in this room and countless others beyond these wall who love Tanzania, and want to see this great nation grow and blossom into its fullest potential.
If you remember nothing else of what I’ve told you today, you must leave here knowing that you have the power to create the change that this nation needs to become a global leader.
Be The Change
Now the challenge will be to push the boundaries of tradition just far enough to create an avenue towards that change
And as we all know, changing tradition is much more difficult than empiricle persuasion.
That type of change takes real work
It takes patience and persistence,
It takes a willingness to move beyond what is comfortable, move beyond the dis-ease in order to create a new reality on the other side.
Now the first thing that we need to remember moving towards this goal is that women’s empowerment is not synonymous with women’s equality.
Though the two concepts are indeed related, we need to be clear about the change that we seek, right?
And “empowerment” speaks to a woman’s ability to control her own destiny.
This implies that women should have not only equal access to opportunity, such as
• Education
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• Access to health care, including health care services excusive to the needs of women
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• Access to employment opportunities
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• Land ownership
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• Participation in political institutions at the very highest levels
True empowerment would mean that women would not only have access to all of these examples and more,
but in addition, would have the individual ability to make her own decisions around these issues and act on these opportunities without fear of coercion, violence or cultural backlash of any sort.
It would mean each individual women would be free to develop and pursue her unique talents and abilities to her full potential.
An outcome from which, I assure you, we would all benefit.
But to get there, all of Tanzania needs to work together.
We must remember, work on behalf of women’s empowerment IS NOT exclusively women’s work.
Though women need to have the agency to push for change on their own behalf,
The reality is that men too need to be engaged in this work and actively push for both the formal and informal changes that are necessary to improve outcomes for women.
Without this dual responsibility and buy-in, true change will not come.
I am convinced that when the people of Tanzania work together toward this goal, you will meet with success.
And when all of the sons and daughters of this great land have both the autonomy and the opportunity to contribute their unique abilities to the betterment of this nation, you will create the great future to which Tanzania is destined.
CONCLUSION
I know the ideal that I have put before you today is not a simplistic matter.
I know that what I am calling for, among some would mean a radical cultural shift if not in some circumstances, the complete disavowing of centuries of tradition.
It would mean a Tanzania where every girl would be an educated girl.
It would mean a Tanzania where no childhood is truncated by a forced marriage or premature motherhood.
It would mean a Tanzania where all women and girls in every corner of this nation would be
valued,
validated,
respected,
and live a life free of violence,
A Tanzania where every girl would be equipped with the knowledge and tools that she needs to lead a life free of preventable diseases and have the power to plan and space her children as she so desires.
Yes, for some, this would mean radical change
However, how many of you here would have believed a couple of years ago that we would see the type of radical change that we have all witnessed in northern Africa, in places like Tunisia, Lybia, and Egypt.
Who would have believed that such a dramatic shift was possible?
Who would have thought that years of tradition and entire governments would come tumbling down within a matter of months?
And who would have believed that in my nation, after centuries of forced servitude, followed immediately by the oppression of the Black Codes,
decades more of Jim Crow Segregation,
and after a hard fought Civil Rights movement,
in little more than four decades since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, we would have an African American by the name of Baraak Husein Obama serving as the 44th President of the United States.
I’m here to tell you what seems impossible on one day, with effort and over the course of the great arc of time is indeed within your grasp.
The future of Tanzania is in your hands.
What will you do with it?
How will you mold it?
History will judge your stewardship.
Now make Tanzania the best that it can possibly be, by leaving no woman behind.