World Bank pledges to accelerate women equality and empowerment 

The World Bank Group has undertaken to accelerate its commitment to equality and empowerment of women globally. The pledge was made as the International Women’s day 2023 approached.

Here below are two grafted short stories issued by the Group about the subject. On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2023, we at the World Bank Group will celebrate women’s achievements and contributions with a series of events and engagements – we look forward to your participation!

The UN theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.

This theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67), “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

Gender equality and empowerment remains a priority for the World Bank Group – both in our operations and in the organization.

To drive transformative change, the World Bank Group’s yearlong Accelerate Equality initiative throughout 2022 explored the important progress made and lessons learned over the last 10 years since the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development (WDR2012), and developed ideas and a momentum for the future while strengthening partnerships with a diverse group of stakeholders.

In 2023, the World Bank Group is transitioning to the preparation of the 2024-30 WBG Gender Strategy Update, to be launched in early 2024. We at the World Bank Group are working with our clients to find innovative solutions to help women and girls unleash their human capital and become leaders, entrepreneurs and agents of change for green, resilient and inclusive development.

Engaging women is key to development, including climate action. Women’s economic empowerment, in conjunction with girls’ education, family planning, reproductive and sexual health and reduced child marriage, can facilitate the transition to low-carbon economies, help improve resource use, and assist in lowering environmental damage and land fragmentation, as well as increase resilience.

There is more work to do; so, together, let us accelerate gender equality and empowerment today for a more sustainable tomorrow!

INCLUDING DISABLED WOMEN IN WORLD BANK OPERATIONS

While women with disabilities experience the same obstacles as nondisabled women, they also encounter multiple types of discrimination and environmental barriers that prevent their socio-economic participation.

As a result, women with disabilities are more likely to have unmet healthcare needs and be excluded from education opportunities. Further, women with disabilities experience gender-based violence at much higher rates than nondisabled women.

On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2023, the World Bank’s Social Sustainability and Inclusion Global Practice is launching a toolkit on Including Women with Disabilities in World Bank Operations.

The document lists World Bank Group commitments to women with disabilities, examples of law and policy reform, key barriers and solutions across several World Bank sectors, as well as a checklist for World Bank project teams.

The toolkit on Including Women with Disabilities in World Bank Operations aims to support World Bank task teams to design disability- and gender-inclusive operations.

It also provides many useful examples and guidelines for other stakeholders, such as international development organizations and human rights advocates.