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Gender in VSD
SDC promotes Vocational Skills Development (VSD) that is accessible to all population groups, including women and men. However, women are still more likely to be disadvantaged when it comes to access to training and employment. One reason for this is that girls and women tend to have a lower level of education than men. Improved access to basic education and the acquisition of skills that pave the way to an income-generating occupation play a key role in the reduction of global poverty. This calls for vocational skills development options that are specifically designed to meet women's needs and are geared to gender equality.
Yet discrimination begins long before entering the world of work. Role models are imposed in early childhood and youth, with the associated impact on educational opportunities. The underlying reasons for this include the traditional division of roles within the family, gender-specific rights and obligations, and gender-specific access to resources. Therefore, when developing basic education and VSD offers, this wider social context must be considered. Taking key issues into accountA guidance sheet (see below) supports SDC staff in ensuring that gender issues are taken into account in VSD. It outlines key gender issues, particularly:
- Be pro-active in recruiting trainees: It is generally more difficult to engage women than men in VSD, particularly women who experience multiple, intersecting inequalities such as caste and ethnic-based discrimination, low income, and living in a remote geographical location. Depending on the project goal, either design training specifically for such women, or include certain courses tailored to their needs, and target them in recruitment campaigns.
- Gender-friendly teaching: Ensure that training institutes are comfortable learning environments for women, with separate toilets, possibilities for childcare, and training materials that show women as well as men in employment. As far as possible, aim to have a mixed staff of women and men trainers.
- Link training to employment: Work with potential employers to ensure that training is relevant and fits market demand and that equal opportunities for women and men are championed. Aim to link training performance to the successful subsequent employment of graduates.
A big spectrum of very specific instruments on equal participation in VSD and economic development is presented in a 2015 GIZ
toolkit (see link below).
Relevant News
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13 Apr 2022
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07 Sep 2021
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01 Nov 2019
 13 April 2022
Listen to the stories of our colleagues on how they advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in their IED projects and programmes, in this ongoing podcast-series. Find the podcasts >> here Ep. 5: Privilege & prjeudice: How to address them for a more just society and women entrepreneurship Ep. 4: Impact, leadership and business support to women in Colombia Ep. 3: Using ancestral and scientific knowledge to empower rural women in Peru for sustainable tourism.
Ep. 2: Better boxes for fruit vendors - a solution that is improving women economic empowerment! Ep. 1: How to ensure gender equality in call for proposal formulation and selection
07 September 2021
Listen to your colleagues’ stories on how they advance Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in their IED projects and programmes, in this ongoing podcast-series. Find the podcasts >> here Ep. 1: How to ensure gender equality in call for proposal formulation and selection Ep. 2: Better boxes for fruit vendors - a solution that is improving women economic empowerment! Ep. 3: Using ancestral and scientific knowledge to empower rural women in Peru for sustainable tourism. Ep. 4: Impact, leadership and business support to women in Colombia
01 November 2019
The SDC e+i and gender networks launch the learning journey “WEE Learn”. In the next few weeks we would like to deepen our exchanges on WEE. Please join us for the Webinar on the Business Case for WEE Date: Thursday 12 December 2019 at 14:00-15:00 Swiss time (convert to your time zone). 
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To the SDC, Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is beyond ticking of a box. Plenty of studies and annual financial reports of gender diverse companies give proof that it is also a business case. Women can be economically empowered as entrepreneurs, as clients, as managers and as employees. Would you like to better understand the business case for strengthening women as entrepreneurs or for improving their working conditions as employees?
Then please join us for this webinar to learn about SDC’s existing guidance on WEE and to hear about concrete experiences showcasing the business case for WEE in Guatemala and Uganda, both benefiting from support by SDC’s Social Entrepreneurship Programme:  Joseph Nkandu, Executive Director of the National Union of Coffee Agribusiness and Farm Enterprises (NUCAFE) in Uganda, will share how women’s empowerment alongside men’s has contributed to increase productivity and income in the Ugandan coffee sector as well as profitability of his company NUCAFE.  Rachel Murphy, Strategy and Innovation Coordinator at ALTERNA, a Social Entrepreneur Accelerator, will provide insight how a targeted programme helped female entrepreneurs in Guatemala overcoming biases when pitching their business idea and thereby ensuring more funding for their enterprises  Nathalie Wyser Vizcarra, Senior Policy Advisor Financial Inclusion at the SDC in Bern, Switzerland, will provide an input on SDC’s perspectives on the business case for WEE and its existing guidance on WEE.  Selina Häny, Gender Equality Policy Advisor at SDC in Bern, Switzerland, will be the webinar host and facilitate the discussions.
Relevant Events
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30 Jan 2024
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28 Sep 2021
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02 Jun 2020
Online
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08 Feb 2016
Bogota
30 Jan 2024
30 January 2024
30 January 2024
30 January
Following the DC dVET BarCamp series on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in dual VET, we’re pleased to invite you for another round of discussion to dive deeper into practical application of GESI in VET and enterprises. The upcoming webinar & expert consultation we will focus on how GESI is implemented in dual VET in development cooperation. We will particularly assess and discuss the importance of targeted and sensitive approaches in programming and an inclusive culture within partner organisations. The format contains the following two elements: - Webinar, Tuesday 30th January 2024, 11:00 – 12:00pm CET: During the webinar, GESI expert, Ms Sandra Rothboeck, will engage with representatives from BRAC Bangladesh and Enable India on how they have developed a GESI culture in their own organizations. This discussion will be framed by an input from the GIZ global project ‘Inclusion of people with disabilities’ on the recent developments and trends and their newly launched marker on inclusion.
- Expert Consultation & Exchange, Tuesday 6th February 2024, 11:00 – 12:30pm CET: The webinar will be followed by an expert consultation and exchange. During this session, you can exchange with the experts from the webinar around your own challenges and discuss them with them and the other participants.
Registration: Please register for the webinar and/or the expert consultation: Register here
28 Sep 2021
28 September 2021
28 September 2021
28 September
(time: 9-9.45 am EDT/ 3-3.45 pm Swiss Time) The path to women's financial inclusion has been made difficult by the persistent, but often misguided idea that women tend to have uniform wants and needs. However, women are not a monolith and meeting their financial needs requires developing a nuanced understanding of their preferences and behaviors, which are shaped by age, life stage, location, and contexts, among many other factors.
Join us on September 22 and September 28 for our deep dive conversations with two leading Financial Service Providers that are using innovative ways to respond to women's differentiated needs and preferences as a key to growing their market share and achieving business goals. Access Bank – one of the largest commercial banks in Africa, recognized the potential growth opportunity of the women’s market fifteen years ago and in 2014 formalized this focus through their signature W- Initiative. Using rigorous market research across Nigeria, Access Bank identified three distinct priority segments of women and created specialized customer value propositions that included adapting existing products along with tailored non-financial services. This conversation will be an opportunity to pull back the curtain on why Access Bank choose to focus on the women’s market and how they developed and rolled out the W initiative in their quest for becoming the bank of choice for women in the markets they serve. >> more
02 Jun 2020 in Online
02 June 2020
02 June 2020
in Online
02 June in Online
The Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Working Group and FinEquity are delighted to cohost a 90-minute virtual roundtable discussion on COVID-19 and Women’s Economic Empowerment, with a focus on employment and entrepreneurship. The discussion will explore the impact of COVID-19 in these areas of women’s economic empowerment and how projects and organizations are responding to these challenges in practical ways. The virtual roundtable will serve as an opportunity for members to share actionable insights that can inform the work of others in this space. See here for more information.
08 Feb 2016 in Bogota
08 February to 13 February 2016
08 February to 13 February 2016
in Bogota
08 February in Bogota
Relevant Pages
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Women's economic empowerment (WEE)
Women's economic empowerment (WEE)
Promoting gender equality and empowering women remain among the greatest challenges and a priority for all development partners. Women's economic empowerment (WEE) and their access to markets and services are widely recognised as being essential to economic growth and poverty reduction. SDC's Economy network and Gender network have taken the opportunity to revisit the topic of WEE, focusing on the growing experience of Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P)/Market System Development projects. ![]() On this page you will find key and relevant documents, as well as references to important webpages and events on gender.
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Women’s Financial Inclusion
Women’s Financial Inclusion
Women’s Financial Inclusion is about providing low-income women with effective and affordable financial tools to save and borrow money, make and receive payments, and manage risk for both women’s empowerment and poverty reduction. Increasing women’s financial inclusion is especially important as women disproportionately experience poverty, stemming from unequal divisions of labour and a lack of control over economic resources.
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Gender
Gender
Image - UN Women
Gender parity in economy and employment is critical for economic growth and societal cohesion. The World Economic Forum estimates that at the current rate of progress, it will take 267.6 years to close the economic gender gap. The World Bank calculates that the gender pay gap costs the global economy USD 160 trillion, and that countries are losing 14% of their wealth, on average, simply because of gender inequality.
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