Is Ivanka Trump’s We-Fi initiative for women just for show?
Neglecting the structural issues underpinning gender inequality means the impact of financial interventions cannot be realised, writes Chelsea Markowitz
As part of the Group of 20 (G-20) initiatives last week, the World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or We-Fi, was launched. This was an idea initiated by Ivanka Trump at the April "Women 20" meeting in Germany. We-Fi seeks to avail more than $1m to empower female entrepreneurs in developing countries through access to finance, mentorships and technical training, as well as public-policy advocacy and reforms on gender equality. We-Fi garnered much praise at the G-20, including from world leaders such as Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and Germany’s Angela Merkel, as well as World Bank president Jim Yong Kim. However, it is critical to consider We-Fi in greater depth. Is the initiative just for show, or can We-Fi make a tangible difference in female empowerment in developing countries? We-Fi targets a real global challenge of enabling women to access financing for their businesses. Less than one third of businesses worldwide are owned by women, and in the dev...
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