Social protection as a powerful tool for gender equality: Act Church of Sweden’s new policy brief
There is growing evidence that social protection is a powerful tool to promote women’s economic empowerment and that it reduces gender based violence. Depending on the design, social protection programs can either reinforce or transform stereotypical gender norms. Today, there are still far too many social protection programmes that do not take gender into account, with the clear risk of exacerbating the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination women and girls face.
This policy brief published by Act Church of Sweden together with The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation highlights the importance of social protection in the work towards gender equality. It introduces social protection, describes why it is important for women and girls and summarises the main evidence of the impact of social protection on gender equality. It ends with recommendations on how to develop gender responsive social protection systems.