Investing in women should be non-negotiable

As the world marks another International Women's Day, we will hear the familiar refrains: calls for empowerment, pledges of support, and declarations of solidarity. Yet, lurking beneath many of these statements is a persistent and damaging narrative, that investing in women and girls is a charitable act. It is framed as a benevolent gesture extended by governments and institutions to the less fortunate, a favour to be bestowed when budgets allow.

This framing is not only patronising; it is economically illiterate and morally bankrupt. The reality is far simpler and more urgent: investment in women is non-negotiable. It is not a concession, but a fundamental prerequisite for a just, prosperous, and sustainable society, especially here in Africa. Women are not asking for permission to exist or to contribute. Women are demanding what is deserved.

The economic case: Returns that cannot be ignored

When we speak of investing in women, we are speaking of the highest-return investment available to developing economies. The data is unequivocal. Studies have consistently demonstrated that women reinvest up to 90% of their income back into their families and communities. This directly fuels poverty reduction, better nutrition, improved health outcomes, and higher educational attainment for the next generation. This is not a ripple effect; it is a tidal wave of positive, intergenerational impact.

Globally, the McKinsey Global Institute has projected that advancing women's economic participation could add a staggering $13 trillion to global GDP. Yet, despite this overwhelming evidence, we continue to treat gender equality as an optional addendum to national budgets.

In the private sector, the story is the same: women-owned businesses deliver more than twice the revenue per dollar raised compared to their male counterparts. Private equity and venture capital funds with gender-balanced teams generate returns 10 to 20% higher than those dominated by a single gender. This is not charity, it is the most rational economic strategy available.

The stark reality of underinvestment

While the case for investment grows stronger by the day, the funding gap grows wider. UN Women estimates that developing countries currently face a staggering $420 billion annual shortfall in the funding needed to achieve gender equality.

This means that life-changing programmes and services for women and girls remain chronically underfunded, perpetually pushed to the margins of budget lines rather than placed at the heart of public policy.

Consider what this gap means in human terms. Three-quarters of countries lack systems to track how public funds are allocated to gender equality. Without this information, governments are effectively flying blind, unable to plan, budget, or deliver on their commitments to half their populations. The money simply is not reaching the women and girls who need it most.

Moving beyond fragmented interventions: Lessons from Zambia

We have seen what works when investment is intentional and sustained. In Zambia, the Girls' Education and Women's Empowerment and Livelihoods Project (GEWEL) stands as a powerful testament to transformative change.

Through its second phase, launched in May 2025 with $157 million in financing, vulnerable girls receive bursaries to stay in school, young mothers pursue nursing certificates, and women entrepreneurs access training, seed capital, and mentorship.

The results are tangible and deeply human. Girls who once faced dropping out due to lack of uniforms and sanitary supplies, or school fees now attend school regularly and plan for futures as nurses. Women are transforming uncertain vending income into thriving, formal enterprises.

These are not isolated feel-good stories; they are evidence of what becomes possible when a nation decides that its women are not an afterthought, but a central pillar of its development strategy. Don't make a mistake, because a lot still remains to be done in Zambia to make sure no girl child, no woman feels like an afterthought.

The catastrophic cost of inaction

We must also reckon with the cost of continued neglect. The UN Population Fund estimates that gender-based violence costs the global economy approximately $5 trillion annually, roughly 5% of global GDP. This is the price we pay for failing to protect and empower women.

When we underinvest in sexual and reproductive health services, when we fail to keep girls in school, when we deny women access to capital and markets, we are not saving money. We are incurring catastrophic long-term liabilities.

The International Monetary Fund has found that in Sub-Saharan Africa, for every 1% increase in the share of women affected by gender-based violence, economic activity falls by up to 8%. This decline is driven predominantly by drops in female employment. The connection between women's safety, women's participation, and economic prosperity could not be clearer. Violence and exclusion are not just social ills; they are economic self-sabotage.

A matter of justice, not generosity

Let us be clear about what is at stake. This is not about doing anyone a favour. It is about building the just society we claim to want. As Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, rightly stated: "Gender equality takes money. It takes reform. And it takes leadership that sees women not as a cost, but as a future."

The double standard must end. When boys receive opportunities, we call it development. When girls receive the same opportunities, some still call it charity. This is a cognitive dissonance that Africa, with its burgeoning youth population and vast potential, can no longer afford.

The path forward for Africa and the world

What would serious, non-negotiable investment look like?

First, it requires expanding gender-responsive budgeting. Every allocation of public funds must be examined through a gender lens and rigorously tracked for its impact on women and girls. We cannot manage what we do not measure.

Second, it demands urgent and comprehensive debt relief for developing nations. Many of our countries are so burdened by debt servicing that they are structurally unable to dedicate resources to advancing gender equality. This is not merely an economic crisis; it is a systemic injustice that perpetuates inequality.

Third, we must invest in public care systems — childcare and eldercare infrastructure that enables women's full participation in the workforce. Investing just 10% of national income in care services would reduce poverty, increase household incomes, and create millions of decent jobs, unleashing a multiplier effect across the entire economy.

No more negotiations

The evidence is in. The arguments are settled. The time for pilot projects, tentative commitments, and performative solidarity has passed. Investment in women and girls is not a negotiation, it is a necessity. It is not a concession, it is a strategy.

As we mark this World Women's Day, let us remember that every gap in investment represents not just a missed economic opportunity, but a human tragedy. The woman who dies in childbirth for lack of quality maternal care. The girl who drops out of school for lack of sanitary supplies. The entrepreneur who cannot access capital to grow her business. These are not abstractions. They are the real-world consequences of treating women's lives and potential as optional.

We can choose differently. We must choose differently. Because when women thrive, economies flourish, communities strengthen, and nations prosper. And that future should never have been negotiable in the first place.

The author, Kennedy Chileshe, is the Executive Director of Jubilee Leaders Network in Zambia.