Insights

Women are central to economic progress, community well-being, and long-term stability. They run businesses, lead households, drive innovation, and contribute to industries worldwide. Yet, too often, barriers rooted in gender inequality prevent them from claiming their human rights and reaching their full potential. Women’s access to education, employment, and leadership opportunities is a fundamental human right, while also building the resilience of entire societies.

At Cowater, we have seen firsthand how prioritizing women’s empowerment in key sectors unlocks economic potential and strengthens communities. Ensuring women have a voice in decision-making, supporting skills development, and expanding job opportunities supports women’s agency and promotes positive change that extends beyond individuals, creating ripple effects that promote inclusion and benefit entire economies.

Women’s rights and economic transformation

A competitive economy is an inclusive economy. Societies that fully engage women experience higher productivity, stronger innovation, and greater resilience to economic shocks. According to the World Bank (2024), closing gender gaps in employment and entrepreneurship could increase global GDP by more than 20%.

Why does this matter? Because in a global economy, underutilizing 50% of the population is not only inequitable; it’s a missed opportunity. Supporting women entrepreneurs, expanding access to finance, and integrating women into high-growth sectors, such as technology, renewable energy, and green industries, are important steps towards more inclusive and sustainable economies.

Across the globe, Cowater is supporting women in accessing jobs and starting businesses, contributing to more inclusive and dynamic economies.

• In the West Bank, the recently-concluded Generating Revenue Opportunities for Women (GROW) project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, demonstrated the impact of centering women’s agency while supporting women entrepreneurs and addressing the challenges women face when entering male-dominated sectors. By helping female engineers refine their skills and access employment in the renewable energy sector and supporting women entrepreneurs’ ability to increase their profit and reinvest in their business growth through the installation of renewable energy, women created opportunities for themselves and other women in an emerging sector which directly benefited women, families, and communities.
• In Colombia, Expert Deployment Mechanism for Trade and Development (EDM), funded by Global Affairs Canada, is supporting a number of initiatives to promote inclusive tourism. This includes enhancing women’s participation in community-based tourism for Indigenous and ethnic communities in Colombia. Action plans recommended to the local authorities and community-based operators include creating safe spaces for Indigenous women, providing childcare support to enable training access, offering financial education to help women manage earnings from tourism-related activities, and delivering reproductive and sexual health education.
• In Vietnam, Gender-Responsive Equitable Agriculture and Tourism (GREAT), funded by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, promotes women’s economic empowerment in the ethnically diverse provinces of Son La and Lao Cai, Vietnam, by increasing their participation in agriculture and tourism markets. Through inclusive business partnerships, policy improvements, and evidence-based planning, the project enhances incomes, strengthens market systems, and fosters transformative change for ethnic minority women at the household, community, and policy levels. Read more about GREAT’s impact on their website.

Women’s leadership a key driver of economic and social progress

Beyond representing the fulfillment of human rights, gender equality is a foundation for social stability. When women are economically empowered, communities become healthier, education levels rise, and poverty declines. Every dollar invested in women’s education and entrepreneurship produces significant multiplier effects: women reinvest up to 90% of their income into their families and communities (compared to 30/40% for men). This leads to improved healthcare, better education outcomes for children, and reduced dependence on social safety nets. Investing in women is investing in stronger families and communities.

• In Bangladesh, our ProNurse project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, is a clear example of how investing in women’s skills strengthens both economic and social outcomes. By professionalizing the nursing sector and expanding opportunities for women in healthcare, the project is improving workforce quality, raising incomes, and enhancing healthcare services for communities nationwide.
• Similarly, programs like SCOFI, Promoting Girls Education in Mali, funded by Global Affairs Canada, have shown that when women’s earnings rise, children, especially girls, are more likely to stay in school, illustrating the far-reaching social gains of women’s economic empowerment.

Together, these examples demonstrate that investing in women’s economic empowerment not only enhances individual livelihoods but also creates a ripple effect—strengthening families, improving public services, and fostering more resilient communities.

Building climate resilience through women’s inclusive solutions

Climate change is one of the greatest economic, social, and security threats of our time. Building resilience is a necessity for national and global stability.

Women, particularly in agriculture, water resource management, and disaster response, play a central role in climate adaptation and sustainability. However, their contributions are often underfunded, undervalued, and overlooked in policymaking and mainstream investment strategies.

• Through our SEED project, Sustainable Energy and Economic Development in Jordan, funded by Global Affairs Canada, we engage women in sustainable energy, water conservation, and community-driven climate initiatives. This approach lowers environmental risks while creating economic opportunities, ensuring women actively shape solutions that help communities adapt to climate stresses.

By recognizing and investing in women-led climate solutions, we not only enhance resilience and sustainability but also unlock innovative approaches that drive economic growth and strengthen community adaptation efforts.

Women’s roles in the private sector

Companies with more women in leadership roles experience up to 15% higher profitability, while businesses and investors are increasingly recognizing that gender-smart investments generate strong financial returns.  Investors, financial institutions, and corporations that integrate gender-responsive approaches into their business models are better positioned for long-term success (World Economic Forum).

But the inclusion of women in business is about more than financial returns.  Diverse teams drive better decision-making, enhance risk management, and fuel innovation, but ensuring women’s leadership is about equity and inclusion.

• The Cambodia Australia Partnership for Resilient Economic Development (CAPRED), funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia, advances gender equality and women’s economic empowerment to drive prosperity for all Cambodians. Through initiatives like CNai, a gender-inclusive business incubator, the program helps SMEs grow into sustainable and impactful businesses, creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs like Kong Neam, who transformed her backyard in Siem Reap into a thriving farm. Supplying produce to Cam Agro Food, a woman-led agro-processing company and CNai accelerator winner, Neam’s increased income is now supporting her children’s education and strengthening her role in family decision-making.
• In Nicaragua, the Technical Assistance to Support the Cooperation of the European Union project, funded by the EU, enhances the effectiveness of EU cooperation strategies in Nicaragua by integrating gender equity and conflict sensitivity across priority sectors. Through technical assistance, policy analysis, and capacity strengthening, the project supports inclusive economic growth, climate resilience, and civil society engagement, particularly through promotion of women’s leadership and enabling the empowerment of groups in vulnerable situations.

These examples underscore that when businesses and development programs invest in women, they create more inclusive and resilient economies that benefit entire communities.

A Pathway to Stronger Economies and a Sustainable Future

On International Women’s Day, we celebrate the remarkable contributions of women worldwide, as leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and change-makers.

The evidence is undeniable: enabling women’s empowerment is not only critical to the fulfillment of women’s human rights but is one of the most effective ways to build stronger economies, reduce poverty, and enhance resilience to global challenges. The countries and businesses that will thrive in the coming decades are those that fully harness the potential of their people, ensuring that women have equal opportunities to contribute and lead.

At Cowater, we are working alongside women’s organizations, civil society organizations, governments, the private sector, and development partners to remove barriers to gender equality, and create opportunities for women to succeed. Whether in workforce development, entrepreneurship, or climate resilience, we see time and time again that investing in women is not only the right thing to do, but one of the smartest economic choices a country can make. Enabling women’s empowerment is not a compromise. It is an investment in human rights, prosperity, security, and a more sustainable future for all.