Anjali Kaur stressed that women need access to financial education, credit, networking, mentoring and even childcare to enter formal economic structures.
“There are systemic barriers, fundamental barriers that prevent women from accessing the formal economy. Why should women be in the formal economy? Because that’s where you get a living wage, where you have safety nets, where you can live a full life in terms of a working life. So, to have access to the formal economy, you now need market linkages, you need financial education, you need access to credit, you need access to networks and mentoring, you also need access to the ability to have child care. And these are elements that not only women in India need, but women entrepreneurs and men entrepreneurs need them all over the world. So this is what we are trying to provide through the partnership and through our work at USAID specifically,” Kaur said.
Kaur continued her remarks on initiatives launched by USAID, including the Revive Alliance, which provides repayable grants, and most recently, a collaboration with Kotak Mahindra Bank for a $50 million loan that turned into a $200 million financial opportunity for women entrepreneurs. These investments, according to Kaur, demonstrate not only the capacity of women entrepreneurs, but also the immense economic value of empowering women in business.
Geeta Rao Gupta highlighted the importance of public-private partnerships to promote women’s economic empowerment. The US-India Partnership for Women’s Empowerment, which was revitalized this year, is a key platform to foster collaboration between the business sector and governments. The goal is to increase women’s employment, entrepreneurship, and participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Currently, India lags behind the global average in women’s participation in the workforce, at 37%, while the global average is closer to 50%. The Partnership seeks to address this gap by leveraging the strengths of both nations, engaging stakeholders across sectors to accelerate progress.
Gupta explained that by working together, the United States and India can address entrenched barriers facing women, such as limited access to capital, vocational training and market opportunities.
Looking ahead, Nancy Izzo Jackson expressed optimism about the future of the US-India partnership on women’s empowerment. She noted that recent discussions have generated a wealth of ideas from US and Indian companies on how to reduce the barriers women face in finding and keeping jobs. Key initiatives focus on using technology to bridge the gap between rural women entrepreneurs and global supply chains, as well as mentoring and supporting women’s career advancement to ensure they become future leaders.
Jackson stressed that these efforts go beyond simply recruiting women; they also focus on retaining them in the workforce and ensuring their professional growth. By connecting rural women with small businesses to broader economic systems, the partnership aims to ensure that no woman is left behind, regardless of her geographic location.
Below are excerpts from the discussion.
Q: If I were to ask you, what is USAID doing in relation to investments to reduce the gender gap, with raising women’s awareness about jobs and opportunities that exist to ensure that women have better access to credit? Studies have shown that women entrepreneurs do not have the same access to finance as men.
Kaur: There are systemic barriers, fundamental barriers that prevent women from accessing the formal economy. Why should women be in the formal economy? Because that is where you get a living wage, where you have safety nets, where you can live a full life in terms of a working life. So, to have access to the formal economy, you now need market linkages, you need financial education, you need access to credit, you need access to networks and mentoring, you also need access to the ability to have child care. And these are elements that are needed not only by women in India, but by women entrepreneurs and men entrepreneurs around the world. So this is what we are trying to provide through the partnership and through our work at USAID specifically.
We have some good examples of the work that we’re trying to do. One of them is that our programs have evolved over history. We’ve evolved as we’ve seen the needs of women change and as we’ve learned ourselves. One of the first things that we did through Revive Alliance was to provide returnable grants to women. The idea of returnable grants is to be able to provide women with these loans that can be used as seed capital, that can be used for small business needs. And what we found is an 85% rate of return. That tells you, first of all, that they’re capable, but it also tells you that this is a big investment. So the evolution went from doing that to working with a more formal institution, like Kotak Mahindra Bank. And so we went from providing returnable grants on a small scale to Kotak Mahindra Bank providing a $50 million loan that we’ve then been able to provide to women to use in their businesses. We know that they’re good for money. We know where they’re going to pay back these loans. And now they have established formal credit with a viable institution. And now that $50 million is turning into $200 million that we are doing, together with the International Development Finance Corporation and Kotak Mahindra Bank. This is just one great example of how we can make credit accessible and what that does for women’s dreams, aspirations and livelihoods.
Q: Could you give us some concrete figures on the kind of investments you are trying to make? Is USAID trying to make them on its own or is it trying to gather and generate them through private institutions through certain policies that will facilitate the empowerment of women and entrepreneurs in the next two or three years?
Kaur: If I talk about investments, I think about what’s left on the table. What’s left on the table when there’s a small percentage of women who are not in the formal economy? So how do we increase what Ambassador Gupta said from 37% to being able to reach at least 50% of what’s happening around the world? I think about what’s left on the table in terms of the money that could be reached. We’re saying that $2.9 trillion can be achieved if women are part of the formal economy. These are the goals that we’ve set. But also the goals of how women access services more broadly. This is what enables them, by being part of the formal economy, to access healthcare. So all of a sudden we have a healthier workforce, but we also have a healthier population. Their children are in school, so we have broader education. Those are our goals right now, to be able to improve all the boats together. And we believe that this happens when more women enter the formal economy with jobs that allow them to earn a decent salary.
Q: The US-India Partnership for Women’s Empowerment was launched more than five years ago. Could you give us a sense of how much has been achieved so far?
Gupta: In fact, this year we have reinvigorated that alliance and launched it with the goal of really increasing the number of women who are employed, who are employed, in the corporate sector, to increase women’s entrepreneurship and their access to markets, to finance, to capital, to credit, and all the things that make women entrepreneurs successful. As well as encouraging women’s participation in STEM occupations by increasing their skills in that area, but also their access to jobs. And the way we thought we would do that best is by encouraging public-private partnerships. So it’s an alliance that brings together private sector corporations with the government and with the U.S. government, as well as with the Indian government, to try to achieve the goals of accelerating women’s economic empowerment. Because India is lagging in women’s participation in the formal workforce and the Indian government has set a huge priority to increase that number. It’s currently at 37% and it should be higher because the global average is 50% or more in some countries. But there are some barriers that stand in the way. That is why the alliance is looking at how to address them by bringing together the talent, innovation and particular skills of different partners to join forces and try to generate the acceleration that is needed in this area.
Q: If I were to ask you about some of the next steps that this alliance would like to take or a message that you would like from the State Department to carry this relationship forward over the next five years, what would those be?
Jackson: We just got back from our first meeting and it was very exciting to hear all the initiatives that many of the companies, both American and Indian, are taking in this space. As Ambassador Gupta pointed out, the alliance is really focused on collaboration, on fostering collaboration between the private and public sector, on engaging universities, philanthropy, civic organizations, and getting everyone working together to really address the challenges and barriers that women face in fully participating in the workforce. So we are working with companies like Mahindra that are leveraging new technologies to reduce the barriers that prevent women from finding work. So how do we get more women into the workforce? By hiring them, but that’s not enough. How do we retain women in the workforce? How do we encourage them, mentor them, and support them throughout their career growth to see them as the next leaders in the future? And how do we leverage the many, many women who live in rural communities with small rural businesses that they own? How do we connect them to the broader supply chains so that they are not forgotten and are included in the economy? So I think as we move forward, we’ll see a lot more in that space.
Watch the attached video for the full discussion.
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