Putting gender back in the picture: Rethinking women?s economic empowerment

Existing commitment to empowering women economically offers an enormous opportunity for making major strides towards poverty reduction, economic growth and gender equality goals. Initiatives to this end are an important step but they are not the solution. Rather, the complex social factors that prevent some women from benefiting from economic opportunities, or from being empowered despite access to these opportunities should be kept into the mind. The women's economic empowerment, health, well being, and dignity have been restrained by various barriers. Finally, it needs to be remembered that economic growth is not the panacea of development. Development should also fundamentally be about well-being, rights and justice. As such, it is imperative that initiatives to empower women aim not only at bringing about financial gain, but also, critically, at ensuring women's rights, equality and dignity.