No fewer than 60 participants comprising policy makers of ECOWAS member states, civil society organizations, intergovernmental organisations as well as technical experts, gathered in Saly Portudal, Senegal, to identify the opportunities to support women’s participation in the green economy in West Africa.
The transition to a green economy is expected to create thousands of new jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities in West Africa. But will this transition enable women and girls to participate and equally benefit from the opportunities that will emerge in the next 50 years?
There is a risk that women and girls will be left behind in this important socioeconomic process unless the right analyses are conducted, and the right policies are put in place.
UN Women’s Regional Policy Advisor for Economic Empowerment, for West and Central Africa, Elena Ruiz, said: “We need to act now to ensure that appropriate public policies and programmes are in place to ensure that women can access green jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities arising in the next decades”.
During the three days of regional dialogue, participants identified opportunities as well as key barriers that constrain women’s access to green jobs including social norms deeming certain jobs in infrastructure, transportation or energy as inappropriate for women; lack of skills, legal barriers (women’s limited access to land due to discriminatory inheritance practices, laws that limit women’s access to specific jobs); as well as gender segregation in education and the labour market, or women’s unpaid care work, or the situation of insecurity that exacerbates violence against women.
Commissioner for Human Development and Social Affairs from the Economic Commission of Western African States, Pr. Fatou Sarr Sow, said: “In the long-term, policies need to ensure that women and girls can access decent – jobs in the green economy as a result of an enabling policy environment. Enabling women entrepreneurs to access green finance opportunities is a priority and a step to the right direction.”
Knowledge exchanges, of political actors’ capacities and sharing of good practice examples on gender-responsive green economy transition from West Africa and beyond were part and parcel of the workshop.
Discussions have culminated in the development and adoption of a Regional Action Plan, with key priority in the areas of research, advocacy and policy reform, capacity building, and access to finance, to support a gender transformative green transition in the region.
