Ashoka Changemakers and GE reveal winners of the Women Powering Work competition

Ashoka Changemakers and General Electric have announced winners of their Women Powering Work: Innovations for Economic Equality in MENA competition today, naming a bus service, a healthcare marketplace, and a telecommuting platform as the three finalists.

Economic gender equality is far from a reality on the planet today, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, where labor participation is only 21 percent for women over the age of 15, one of the lowest rates in the world, says Marzena Zukowska, Ashoka Changemaker’s Lead Media Manager and Strategist.

Social and financial barriers to employment and economic rights are still high enough for women that, of almost 6,000 companies surveyed across 10 countries in the MENA region, only one in seven were owned by women. However, the barriers women face, including discrimination and a lack of access to good jobs, skills, and capital, aren’t specific to the Arab world. “Women currently make up half of the world’s population, work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half the world’s food, but only earn 10 percent of the income and own less than 2 percent of the world’s property,” says Ashoka Fellow Ben Powell of Agora Partnerships.

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Ashoka Changemakers and GE reveal winners of the Women Powering Work competition