CHAIRMAN Mao Zedong of the People’s Republic of China famously once said, “Women hold half up the sky,” in his argument for equality and the right of women to become party members and political officers.
In many countries in Asia and Africa, however, holding up half the sky still means remaining uneducated, getting married very young, staying home and raising children, instead of making value-added contributions to their home economy via entrepreneurship.
At the recent seminar on “Breaking Barriers: Women Entrepreneurs in Asia and the Pacific,” during the 51st Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting, women panelists discussed their successes in their field, as well as the continuing challenges of women entrepreneurs.
Rokia Afzal Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, started extending collateral-free loans to women, who borrowed small but later on, as they built up their businesses, tapped larger loans. She noted that women were more likely to repay their loans compared to men, who had a high rate of default.
Yumiko Noda, president and representative director of Veolia Japan KK, observed that her country continues to be “behind” in terms of gender parity. “In the private sector, it’s hard to be a female president,” although improvements seem to be under way with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategies to jump-start Japan’s economy. Under “Abenomics,” he is promoting policies to help women remain in the labor force.
Fransiska Hadiwidjana, founder and CEO of Prelo, an online shopping portal in Indonesia, said that one of the drawbacks to women becoming entrepreneurs is having to choose between career and marriage. “Raising a child and running a business is a challenge that most women want to overcome.”
Graeme Buckley, director of a regional office of Decent Work at the International Labour Organization, noted that “100 countries have restrictions on the types of work women can do.” He also prescribed strategies to boost women entrepreneurship. Among them: making more people aware of the opportunities for women and legislative action to promote well-paying jobs and organization of women. He observed in many instances, having children has kept women from the workplace, with culture or a country’s society norms dictating a mother’s place at home.
For his part, ADB President Takehiko Nakao said gender bias is one of the things that “must be addressed as a society.” He pushed for an educational system “that prioritizes scientific education for women.”
On a personal note, Nakao shared his experience as husband to a journalist. He said back in Japan, still working in the finance ministry, “I would go home, do the shopping and cooking…it’s not about helping, it’s part of my work [as a husband].”
The panelists agreed that while there’s a long road ahead to full gender equality, policies supporting women’s entrepreneurship can help ignite momentum for this effort, together with access to information, government services and credit. The seminar discussed various ways in which women entrepreneurs can overcome the multiple barriers they face, and how the public and private sectors can help accelerate support for women startups and entrepreneurs.
Trade Undersecretary Zenaida C. Maglaya said in the Philippines, women have made great strides in the boardroom and have become successful entrepreneurs, aided in part, by progressive laws, such as the Magna Carta for Women, and the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Of some 900 MSMEs in the country, half are owned by women, she pointed out.
One of the outcomes of these “purposive” laws, she pointed out, are the Go Negosyo Centers, now numbering 827, which have been set up all over the country. “[The project] expands government presence [in the countryside] and engages and encourages more entrepreneurs.” She added that local banks are now “more open” in lending money to women, who have higher repayment rates than men. Also, “[women] are very diligent in attending training seminars,” she noted. Nakao said, “Women’s entrepreneurship is important because it helps us move closer to the goal of achieving a more gender-equal Asia and the Pacific.” He added, “Under our new Strategy 2030, the ADB will pay increased attention to generating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for women.”
In the theme chapter of the Asian Development Outlook Update 2015, the ADB estimated that closing the existing gender gaps could generate a 30-percent increase in the per-capita income of an average Asian economy in one generation, or 30 years, and 70 percent in two generations.
Nearly half of ADB lending already has strong gender design elements. The ADB under Strategy 2030 will place an even stronger emphasis on women’s economic empowerment. Infrastructure projects will maximize women’s access to markets and opportunities for skilled jobs. Through enhanced technical and vocational education and training programs, the ADB will enable women’s access to quality jobs in nontraditional, higher-paying sectors. The institution will also expand integrated support for women entrepreneurs through better access to finance, the adoption of new technologies, and policy and institutional reforms.
Nakao also mentioned the ADB’s ongoing efforts to improving gender balance within the ADB, with representation of women among international staff increasing to a record high of 35 percent in 2017—a step closer to the bank’s target of 40 percent by the end of 2022.