SPECIAL FEATURE WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT
WHY WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT IS KEY TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Cultural norms can shift – and when they do society as a whole can gain. As the experiences of women at the OPEC Fund also demonstrate By Ramina Samii
T he story of gender equality is not a straight line – it is a long and winding journey across centuries, cultures and continents. Throughout history, women have faced barriers to participation in politics, the economy, science and the arts. “I am a free
can never benefit from the study of politics and should not be allowed to participate. Even in modern societies, patriarchal structures persist, reinforcing the notion that women’s roles are secondary. Dismantling these belief systems takes courage, time and tenacity among those who believe in the need for inclusiveness – including multilateral and development institutions such as the OPEC Fund for International Development. The OPEC Fund, throughout its 50 years of operations, has supported a broad range of gender equality policy interventions, as well as equal access to employment, financing, education and health.
human being with an independent will,” wrote the novelist Charlotte Brontë in 1847. Yet it took several more decades before women in England were allowed to vote. Ancient Greece, celebrated as the cradle of democracy, denied women a voice in the very democratic process it spearheaded. The philosopher Aristotle argued that women
Ramina Samii, Advisor to the Vice President, Private Sector, OPEC Fund
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