The imperative to foster gender economic equity | Dr. Margo Thomas Ph.D. | TEDxSantaBarbaraSalon

“Women’s economic empowerment is not just a moral imperative, it is an economic no-brainer.” Women make significant contributions to economic growth, wealth creation, innovation, employment, and human capital. Yet, their participation is constrained by structural impediments and biases – lower wages, fewer employment options, non-payment for care work within families, poor health care and benefits, under-valuation of economic contributions. As a result, we all lose! If the economic pie is bigger and more equitably distributed we will all be better off.
As Founder and CEO of the Women’s Economic Imperative, Dr. Thomas serves as a catalyst for initiatives aimed at increasing opportunities for the economic empowerment of disadvantaged and under-represented groups globally. Specific milestones include;

• At the World Bank Group, Dr. Thomas provided policy advice to over 50 national and sub-national governments.
• UN: Chief of Secretariat for the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment.
• T20 Argentina: Co-Chair, Task Force on Gender Economic Equity
• T20 Japan: Co-Chair, Task Force on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
• T20 Saudi Arabia: Social Cohesion Task Force.
• Fellow, Global Solutions Institute
• Associate Fellow, Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, in the • Global Economy and Finance practice