Addressing Gender-Based Violence through Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiatives in the Northern Triangle and Beyond: Why Is it Important and What Does it Mean in Practice?

By Paula Rudnicka

To mark 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), ABA ROLI’s Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) team engaged its colleagues from the research office and all regional divisions in an internal discussion about proven and innovative approaches to preventing and responding to GBV online and offline. During the event I shared WAGE’s efforts to address GBV through women’s economic empowerment (WEE) initiatives and pointed out that eliminating GBV is a business imperative, necessitating thoughtful and intentional engagement from the private sector. In response, one of our colleagues remarked, “But why? Isn’t addressing GBV fundamentally a human rights issue? Why do we need an economic lens?”

These are valid questions. GBV is prohibited under major human rights treaties and I wish everyone would simply take a moral stand against it. But in reality, GBV is widely normalized, rarely reported and punished, and has a profound impact not only on survivors, their families, and communities, but also on national and global economies. Estimates show that the economic cost of GBV amounts to 2% of the global gross domestic product, i.e., approximately 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars. There are multiple reasons behind this staggering number, including increased employee absenteeism and turnover, productivity loss, and of course, high costs to healthcare systems, justice institutions, and social service providers.

GBV is also a major barrier to WEE, affecting women’s business relations with employers, clients, vendors, suppliers, financial institutions, and government agencies. Women who experience physical or psychological trauma may be forced to abandon their income-generating activities, keep their businesses small and informal, and divert productive resources toward other uses. They may also face delays in repaying their loans and resist taking reasonable risks. In turn, WEE initiatives, if not done right, may increase the risk of GBV because income generated by women leads to shifts in power dynamics in their households. To compensate for the perceived loss of power, men may prevent women from making independent decisions about their business operations or the disposition of their income. In the most extreme cases, this may lead to increased levels of intimate partner violence, including economic violence. Thankfully, approaches that are sensitive to these risks, such as an integrated financial and non-financial service provision, have been shown to mitigate and lower these risks.

Accounting for these dynamics is pivotal in WAGE’s strategic initiatives, including its pilot program Reducing Barriers to Women’s Economic Empowerment in El Salvador and Honduras led by one of WAGE’s core partners, Grameen Foundation. The initiative takes a holistic view of the challenges that female entrepreneurs face in starting and growing sustainable businesses, including linkages between financial inclusion, GBV, and conflict. Together with local microfinance institutions (MFIs) and Kiva—an online loan platform that connects lenders to indigent entrepreneurs across the globe to alleviate poverty—WAGE provides financial support to women microentrepreneurs and is designing a series of technical assistance interventions to improve women’s economic participation in both countries. These interventions are informed by comprehensive in-country assessments, which illustrate that El Salvador and Honduras are perceived to be among the most dangerous places to be a woman. Both countries suffer from a devastating epidemic of gang violence, widespread machismo, and some of the highest rates of violence against women in the world, including brutal femicides. Our study participants emphasized that doing business in El Salvador and Honduras is complex and challenging for women and men alike. However, because of these and other manifestations of patriarchy, women face a considerably more hostile economic environment than men, particularly given the fact that they often work in the informal sector and in insecure places, for example as street vendors or small shop owners. Some are even forced to shut down or relocate their businesses.

Under the Reducing Barriers Initiative (RBI), WAGE plans to address GBV both as a barrier to entrepreneurship and as a potential unintended negative consequence of WEE programming in several ways. First, WAGE intends to build the capacity of its MFI partners in developing gender-sensitive and GBV-informed services and products through the Social Performance Management support and Gender, Power Dynamics, and Conflict trainings. Second, WAGE plans to facilitate dialogue and networking between the MFIs and civil society organizations which provide specialized and trauma-informed services to GBV survivors. Finally, WAGE plans to include a module on GBV in its “Resilient Life, Resilient Business” curriculum for women entrepreneurs to educate them on applicable laws, available services, and on the development of personal safety and business continuity plans in case they experience violence.

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WAGE is a global programming consortium to advance the status of women and girls, led by the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) in close partnership with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), Grameen Foundation, and Search for Common Ground (Search). WAGE works to strengthen the capacity of civil society organizations (CSOs) in target countries to improve the prevention of and response to GBV; advance the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda; and support WEE. The RBI, and other initiatives with a significant WEE component, fall under WAGE’s WE RISE brand: Women Empowered—Realizing Inclusive & Sustainable Economies. WAGE is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI).

Rudnicka is a Legal Advisor at the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) and Technical Advisor to ABA ROLI-led Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE) consortium.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABA ROLI.