WPSP Institute Day 6

Economic Agency and Women’s Leadership

The evidence has never been clearer in the words of the Economist Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen that “nothing is as urgent today in the political economy of development as the recognition of political, economic and social participation and leadership of women”. The flagship World Bank Development Report, 2012 defines Women’s empowerment as the moral and economic imperative of our times. Women’s agency is important for women’s individual well-being; the well-being of women’s families; and for the well-being of their communities. Countries that create better opportunities and conditions for women and girls can raise productivity, improve outcomes for children, make institutions more representative, and advance development prospects for all. Women’s leadership in public service cannot take place in a vacuum. Unless women have equal access to financial resources; property; land; employment; training; vocational services; credit, equal tax provisions, private/public partnerships, the playing field for women will not be level.

8:30 a.m. Delegates Arrive at Clapp Library

9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Panel Discussion

• Henrietta Holsman Fore – served as the Administrator of the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and
Director of United States Foreign Assistance, holding the
equivalent rank as Deputy Secretary of State. Ms. Fore was the
first woman to serve in these roles. She will discuss the North
Africa Partnership for Economic Opportunity – a network of
U.S. and North Africa business leaders, entrepreneurs and civil
society leaders with a mission to foster job creation and
entrepreneurship and a focus on youth. Local Advisory Boards 37
have been established in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia and are
currently being formed in Libya and Mauritania.

• Patricia Sulser – IFC Chief Counsel. IFC provides advice on
designing and implementing public-private partnership (PPP)
transactions to national and municipal governments to
improve infrastructure and access to basic services such as
water, power, health and education.
Moderator: Dr. Inyang Ebong Harstrup, Associate Director of the
United Nations Development Group Office in New York

10:30 – 11: 30 a.m. Q/A
Issues to be discussed:

Unequal access to economics opportunities and incomes, whether in the labor market, public service, agriculture, or entrepreneurship; Equal pay for equal work; wage gaps; and productivity gaps between men and women; Increasing decision making in the family and in the public sphere;

Gender unequal child care policies including social norms around care work that perpetuate wage disparities between men and
women; lack of power in households and in society and the perpetuation of gender inequality across generations;

Women’s equal access to property and land including joint land titling; access to credit;

Substantive gender equality in the public and private sector;

Disparities in girls’ schooling across regions; Increasing women’s voices at all decision-making levels;

The importance of public/private partnerships: How can governments harness the potential of the private sector to
increase access, enhance quality, and improve efficiency in public services

11:30 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch- Brackett Reading room (Library)
Luncheon Keynote Speaker:
Professor Craig Murphy, M. Margaret Ball Professor of International Relations at Wellesley College

Realizing the Millennium Goal (MDG) Goal 3 and Advancing Women in Public Service

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women:
• Target 3A: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary
education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015
• Ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education
• Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector
• Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament

Moderator: Dr. Susan Bailey, Former Executive Director of the
Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College

1:00 – 4:30 p.m. Afternoon Session
Refer to Materials in Session 6 (1-4)

1:30 – 2:00 p.m. Group discussions
Moderated by two Delegates

2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Role Play before Plenary
3:30 – 4:00 p.m. Plenary Discussions
Delegates will break into five groups and discuss innovative
strategies that their countries need to adopt to reach the 2015
MDG deadline. Groups can focus on one or more of the MDG Goals:
1) Eradicate extreme poverty or hunger; 2) Achieve universal
primary education; 3) Promote gender equality and empowerment 39
of women; 4) Reduce child mortality; 5) Improve maternal health;
6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other disease; 7) Ensure
environmental sustainability; Develop a global partnership for
development.

Returning from group discussions, representatives from each group
will roleplay /simulate an address or panel discussion before the
Rio +20 Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil or at the
2015 MDG Conference in 2015 on the unfinished agenda that a
post- 2015 agenda should build on.

5:00 – 8:00 p.m. Dinner: Tishman Commons
Civic Leadership, Community Service and Social Entrepreneurship

Women in particular have used the vehicle of social
entrepreneurship as an avenue for economic and social
empowerment and as a way of galvanizing communities to harness
the resources and power of disenfranchised communities.
Refer Materials Session 6 (4)

“Social Entrepreneurship is about innovative leaders who provide
new ideas to solve intractable social problems and who can
transform societies.”
– Echoing Green

Dinner Keynote Speakers: Introduced by delegates

• Dr. Alan Lightman – Professor at MIT and the author of the
international bestseller Einstein’s Dreams. He was the first
professor at MIT to receive a joint appointment in the sciences
and the humanities. He founded the Harpswell Foundation, a
nonprofit organization; whose mission is to empower a new
generation of women leaders in Cambodia through leadership
training.40
• Stacey Lucchino- Red Sox Foundation; Chair of the Board of the
Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency (PEAR) at
Harvard University; and Chairwoman of the Board of YMCA,
Boston.

Delegates will share experiences of community service and
women’s social entrepreneurship initiatives in their communities.