Welcome Remarks from Karen Kerrigan
Chairman, Center for International Private Enterprise

Welcome to this conversation about women’s empowerment globally!

CIPE is a core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy and an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We work at the intersection of democratic and market reform – engaging the private sector (not just large companies but most importantly small businesses, individual entrepreneurs and the millions of people stuck in the informal sector) in public policy. We work to empower people to advocate reforms that ultimately make democracies stronger and economies more robust. To do so, our work addresses corruption, securing property rights, strengthening the rule of law, ensuring the protection of basic rights and freedoms, reducing barriers to entrepreneurship and engaging civil society in governance.

Over the years we have held more than 1,100 programs in more than 100 countries. Through these experiences we have learned several important lessons. The most important one, perhaps, is that there is an inherent link between building open, transparent democratic societies and creating an economic foundation to lift people out of poverty. In other words, democratic governance and economic progress are inseparable. That is the idea that underlies all CIPE programs.

Why are we organizing this event? The theme of Democracy that Delivers for Women is that you cannot have a just and equitable society without including women. For democracy to truly deliver tangible benefits to all members of society, women must have an equal share in all aspects of life. Women are not a special-interest group – they are half of society and a force for progress.

Look around the world today: Women comprise half of the world’s population, perform 66 percent of the world’s work, produce 50 percent of the food and constitute between 60 and 80 percent of the manufacturing workforce in developing countries. Further, women comprise the majority of entrepreneurs in the informal sector and a large share of the microenterprise sector as business owners. Despite this, they continue to be marginalized in most countries around the world. So often they do not have a seat at the table where decisions are made, yet they have to live with those decisions every day of their lives. They take on a disproportionally higher set of responsibility in societies, but are too often denied opportunities to shape how those societies are governed.

But we are not here to talk about the problems. We are here to talk about the solutions and successful strategies for reform. We are here to talk about women leaders and role models. We are here to talk about programs that are successful in removing barriers to participation, ensuring women have a voice, and supporting women as leading forces for change and reform.

How do we view women’s empowerment at CIPE? We view it holistically. It is not just about reforming education systems, political participation, or economic status – empowerment requires removing barriers in all spheres of life to make sure women have an equal chance.

Throughout our programs we underscore that women’s rights and empowerment are not things that should be given to them, because something given can just as easily be taken away. We believe that women should be proactive in organizing themselves through associations and other means to demand and take ownership of their interests. Women must make sure that political and economic institutions allow them the same opportunities as anyone else.

For example, until CIPE partner advocacy efforts in Pakistan a few years ago, women could not form women’s chambers of commerce. It took several years of work from a coalition of chambers throughout the country to reform the national law and remove a provision that barred women from starting their own chambers. Now, women chambers throughout the country are helping entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses with training programs and public policy advocacy.

Democracy that Delivers for Women will cover a variety of themes, but they all come together as one. In fact, we want to make sure that participants working on different aspects of women’s empowerment have a conversation with each other and see each other as working together towards a common goal – removing barriers to participation.