Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. Well, this is International
Speaker 1: Women's Day comes at a tense time on the global stage. Now.
Speaker 1: I recently got the chance to sit down with Kursey
Speaker 1: Maddie you Want, Assistant Secretary General and You and Women,
Speaker 1: Deputy Executive Director for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships, asking
Speaker 1: her about the UN's latest report, Ensuring and Strengthening asks
Speaker 1: Access to Justice for All Women and Girls. Here's part
Speaker 1: of that conversation.
Speaker 2: The most challenging situation, the most difficult place for women
Speaker 2: to live today is in Afghanistan, There's no question about that.
Speaker 2: But I think we need to always be looking at
Speaker 2: the opportunities focus still trying to make progress, and I
Speaker 2: think there's a lot of progress that is being made.
Speaker 2: And I think this is why also looking at women's
Speaker 2: economic empowerment is absolutely critically important. And it's important to
Speaker 2: remember that gender equality is not just it is a
Speaker 2: human right, but it's not only a human right. It's
Speaker 2: not only the right thing to do. It's also smart business.
Speaker 2: And I think we are very very clearly seeing that
Speaker 2: when we have, for example, companies and businesses which are
Speaker 2: investing in gender equality, equal opportunities for well, men and women,
Speaker 2: they have stronger governors. They also have strong and longer
Speaker 2: term economic performance. So we have a lot of good
Speaker 2: arguments also from the economic side to make sure that
Speaker 2: companies and businesses and the public sector are investing in
Speaker 2: gender equality.
Speaker 1: Well, how does the cost of childcare, for example, factor
Speaker 1: into that, because you know, for better or worse, women
Speaker 1: often fall into the role of being the default caretaker
Speaker 1: for children. And you know, it's one thing for businesses
Speaker 1: to invest, but if it doesn't make economic sense for
Speaker 1: you know, one of the partners to not stay home
Speaker 1: given the cost of childcare, I wonder you know how
Speaker 1: that sort of devils those efforts.
Speaker 2: That's a really important point. I'm so happy that you
Speaker 2: raise that. We actually have a staggering number of over
Speaker 2: seven hundred million women who are working age who are
Speaker 2: out of the labor market because of the uneven care responsibilities,
Speaker 2: and the care responsibilities of course, be childcare bid elderly
Speaker 2: care is extremely important. The economy would come to and
Speaker 2: the society would come to halt without it. But because
Speaker 2: women are carrying this proportionate portion of the care responsibility,
Speaker 2: they often are not able to finish their studies and
Speaker 2: progress in the same way assume leadership positions as fast
Speaker 2: as we would like to see. So in some sense,
Speaker 2: it's actually really a very huge untapped potential that we have,
Speaker 2: and I think there would be a huge benefit globally
Speaker 2: and at the national level in all the different countries
Speaker 2: if we would invest in creating jobs in the care
Speaker 2: sector so that women are also able to get into
Speaker 2: the economic empowerment and get their own jobs. Everybody would
Speaker 2: benefit from that.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about some of the progress that you mentioned,
Speaker 1: because also in the Secretary General's report, the stat also
Speaker 1: stuck out eighty seven percent of countries have an acted
Speaker 1: domestic violence legislation, and more than forty countries have actually
Speaker 1: strengthened constitutional protection for women and girls over the past decade. Now,
Speaker 1: I know the report also goes on to say that
Speaker 1: laws alone are not enough, but in terms of a
Speaker 1: starting point, I mean, how important are some of these figures.
Speaker 2: It's very important because the starting board, we need to
Speaker 2: have the legal changes, legiative changes, we need to have
Speaker 2: the policy changes, but of course then we also need
Speaker 2: to have the accountability to make sure that they are implemented.
Speaker 2: And we've been clearly able to see that countries which
Speaker 2: have introduced legislation, for example, against domestic violence, we have
Speaker 2: seen reduced levels of domestic violence. So it is very
Speaker 2: important to see that these policy measures and legal measures
Speaker 2: really have a real concrete impact in women's lives. And
Speaker 2: if I may just share with you, I think it's
Speaker 2: a shocking fact that we also have every ten minutes
Speaker 2: somewhere in the world, a woman or a young girl
Speaker 2: is killed, either by their family member or by their
Speaker 2: current or former partner. These are shocking figures. These are
Speaker 2: on top of all the women and girls who are
Speaker 2: killed as part of conflicts, so it's really an area
Speaker 2: where we need to also. Similarly, as looking at the
Speaker 2: women's economic empowerment, we really need to have a very
Speaker 2: strong focus ensuring that there is justice for women, that
Speaker 2: women are protected and they are given an opportunity, they
Speaker 2: have an opportunity to live in a safe environment.