Currently I'm reading Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen, the Nobel-prize winning economist. It's a book from 1999, but a real classic so still an important read. In chapter 8 he writes about the importance of development of women. Something closely related to what I try to do in Malawi through my colleagues at the foundation and with the local women. Their empowerment and development influences the whole social structure around them. It gives them a voice, and not just that. Health, child care, decision making in the family and around the family, education levels of the whole family, improved food access etcetera.
Sen writes:
These different aspects (women's earning power, economic role outside the family, literacy and education, property rights and so on) may at first sight appear to be rather diverse and disparate. But what they all have in common is their positive contribution in adding force to women's voice and agency- through independence and empowerment. For example, working outside the house and earning an income tend to have a clear impact on enhancing the social standard of a woman in the household and in society.
All this is very important for a sustainable, equal future.
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