Hillary: Global Economy Depends on Women

Sep 16, 2011 12:45 PM EDT

The world must match its words with its wallet and its will when it comes to women not just because it is the right thing to do, but because the ailing global economy depends on it. That is the message Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered Friday to delegates from the globe’s most powerful economies gathered in San Francisco for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC)  Women and the Economy Summit.

“To achieve the economic expansion we all seek we need to unlock a vital source of growth that can power our economies in the decades to come,” Clinton told a ballroom filled with women—and some men—gathered in the same city where the original United Nations Charter was signed in 1945. “By increasing women’s participation in the economy and enhancing their efficiency and productivity, we can have a dramatic impact on the competitiveness and growth of our economies.”

Striking themes reminiscent of her 1995 address in Beijing to the Fourth World Conference on Women in which she famously stated that “women’s rights are human rights,” Clinton urged policymakers to back up their rhetoric about the importance of women with concrete steps aimed at tackling barriers to economic and political participation they face across APEC economies. Together the APEC nations, which include the United States, Russia, Japan and China, account for more than half of global GDP and 40 percent of the world’s population.

Clinton: Women Are the Key to Economic Growth

 “When it comes to the enormous challenge of our time—to systematically and relentlessly pursue more economic opportunity in our lands—we don’t have a person to waste and we certainly don’t have a gender to waste,” Clinton said. “Here, at the beginning of the 21st century, we are entering the Participation Age, where every individual, regardless of gender or other characteristics, is poised to be a contributing and valued member of the global marketplace.”

Today women entrepreneurs face challenges obtaining capital, reaching markets and accessing networks. Fewer than 3 percent of Fortune 500 companies in the United States have a female CEO. And in much of the world laws that bar women from owning land or inheriting property keep women from accessing financial services. A 2007 U.N. report noted that the Asia-Pacific region is “losing $42 billion to $47 billion per year because of restrictions on women’s access to employment opportunities—and another $16 billion to $30 billion per year because of gender gaps in education.”

All of this, Clinton argued in her speech, is an unnecessary drag on a global economy facing the very real threat of return to recession. It is time, Clinton will say, to reverse these numbers—for everyone’s sake.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets members of the Working Women’s Forum, a grassroots network of over one million women that provides training, networking and business skills, in Chennai, India on July 20, 2011., Paul Sakuma / AP Photo

“There is a stimulative and ripple effect that kicks in when women have greater access to jobs and the economic lives of our countries: Greater political stability. Fewer military conflicts. More food. More educational opportunity for children,” Clinton said. “By harnessing the economic potential of all women, we boost opportunity for all people.”

In the past a lack of hard data was part of the problem with pushing political leaders to address the opportunity gap between men and women. Now the numbers tell the story—and more of them are needed.

“Unlocking the potential of women by narrowing the gender gap could lead to a 14-percent rise in per capita incomes by the year 2020,” Clinton said.  “For every one percentage point increase in the share of household income generated by women, aggregate domestic savings increase by roughly 15 basis points.”

But not enough is being done to measure what works and what doesn’t when it comes to tapping women’s economic potential, Clinton said.

“At the governmental level, we routinely measure unemployment, job growth, our national debt, GNP and our balance of trade,” Clinton pointed out.  “Shouldn’t we be at least as attentive to collecting, analyzing and publicizing the facts as we seek to move women into the mainstream of economic life in our nations?”

And that mainstream includes politics.

“We must support the rise of women leaders in the public and private sectors because frankly, they are more likely to have firsthand knowledge and understanding of the challenges women face,” Clinton said. “Their perspectives add value and insure that we shape policies and programs that are not just ‘window dressing’ but successfully eliminate barriers and bring women into all our economic sectors.”