Gender Budgeting (financial inclusion

5. RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the review of legal, policy and institutional reforms and best practices during the AWD, analyses of challenges/ gaps and inputs from CSOs, this report presents the following recommendations for advancing women’s rights and gender equality.

5.1.Fighting Poverty and Promoting Economic Empowerment of Women and Entrepreneurship and Finance and Gender Budgeting (financial inclusion)

■ Repeal any laws or legal provisions that discriminate against women in obtaining equal opportunities in employment, equal pay and access to financial resources, and that thus prevent women from realising their economic rights and opportunities for entrepreneurship. ■ Adopt and promote programmes and projects that support female entrepreneurs and help them develop and grow small and medium enterprises. These efforts must also cover women in the informal sector and women in vulnerable and marginalised groups, such as women in rural and remote areas, women with disabilities, older women and widows. ■ Implement laws and services that enable women to participate equally in the workforce and reduce the burden of care placed on female workers. These measures should include providing paid maternal and paternal leave and childcare. ■ Entrench innovative, participatory, targeted and decentralised approaches to effectively address women’s economic empowerment through entrepreneurship and export-led manufacturing and gender budget initiatives as a vehicle for economic diversification and employment creation. ■ Support the development of opportunities and capacities for networking possibilities for female entrepreneurs to help mentor young women and to promote better access to financial services and other resources, including collaboration.