Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Launched at the G20 G20 The Group of Twenty (G20 or G-20) is a group made up of nineteen countries and the European Union whose ministers, central-bank directors and heads of state meet regularly. It was created in 1999 after the series of financial crises in the 1990s. Its aim is to encourage international consultation on the principle of broadening dialogue in keeping with the growing economic importance of a certain number of countries. Its members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, USA, UK and the European Union (represented by the presidents of the Council and of the European Central Bank). Leaders’ Summit in 2017, We-Fi has since allocated its first round of funding, the bulk of which ($75.1 million) has gone to the World Bank Group, mostly to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the Bank. We-Fi has been criticised by civil society organisations (CSOs) questioning its contribution to achieving the Bank’s goal of ending extreme poverty, as its loans target so-called “high-growth women” entrepreneurs through financial intermediary lending, and are thus unlikely to reach the poorest women (see Observer Autumn 2017).

We-Fi is part of a larger shift at the Bank prioritising women’s entrepreneurship and skills development as “smart economics”, a key component of its Gender Strategy – 2016 to 2023 (see Observer Spring 2016). The new World Bank World Bank
WB The World Bank was founded as part of the new international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944. Its capital is provided by member states’ contributions and loans on the international money markets. It financed public and private projects in Third World and East European countries.

It consists of several closely associated institutions, among which :

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 189 members in 2017), which provides loans in productive sectors such as farming or energy ;

2. The International Development Association (IDA, 159 members in 1997), which provides less advanced countries with long-term loans (35-40 years) at very low interest (1%) ;

3. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries.

As Third World Debt gets worse, the World Bank (along with the IMF) tends to adopt a macro-economic perspective. For instance, it enforces adjustment policies that are intended to balance heavily indebted countries’ payments. The World Bank advises those countries that have to undergo the IMF’s therapy on such matters as how to reduce budget deficits, round up savings, enduce foreign investors to settle within their borders, or free prices and exchange rates.

president, David Malpass has stated that “creating job opportunities for women” is a priority, emphasising his support for We-Fi. The Bank is currently supporting women entrepreneurs through several projects in borrowing countries and houses the Female Entrepreneurship Resource Point.The IFC also runs several initiatives on women’s entrepreneurship, including a joint partnership with Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women initiative, and WEConnect International, a partnership with “big-name, global companies”.

"The real struggle for women’s power in the economy is a struggle for a just economy.”
Hakima Abbas, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development co-Executive Director

At the same time, the Bank remains committed to promoting business deregulation and low corporation taxes through its Doing Business rankings and its World Development Report 2019 (see Observer Winter 2018). Women’s rights organisations WIEGO and Womankind Worldwide have continually argued that this undermines women’s access to ‘decent work’, criticising the Bank for failing to address structural constraints for women in low-paid, informal and precarious work. Sarah Gammage, from US-based think-tank the International Center for Research on Women, emphasised the importance of expanding the scope of these initiatives “to improve the terms and conditions of employment and trade. Including initiatives that enable women entrepreneurs to overcome obstacles to childcare, obtain proper identification documents, access social protection and health care Care Le concept de « care work » (travail de soin) fait référence à un ensemble de pratiques matérielles et psychologiques destinées à apporter une réponse concrète aux besoins des autres et d’une communauté (dont des écosystèmes). On préfère le concept de care à celui de travail « domestique » ou de « reproduction » car il intègre les dimensions émotionnelles et psychologiques (charge mentale, affection, soutien), et il ne se limite pas aux aspects « privés » et gratuit en englobant également les activités rémunérées nécessaires à la reproduction de la vie humaine. and formalise their businesses and their workers´ employment status, can transform drudgery and low productivity work into decent work.”

The Bank’s focus on women entrepreneurs is part of a global trend of similar financing initiatives, including the US’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative and several other high-profile corporate projects, such as the Coco-Cola 5×20 Program, Wal-Mart’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Program and ExxonMobil’s Women’s Economic Opportunity Initiative, as well as multi-million dollar initiatives by tech giants Microsoft and Bumble.

Hakima Abbas, of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development warned, “The enormous injection of finance for women entrepreneurship programs comes amidst a global funding crisis for women’s rights and feminist movements, which receive only 1 per cent of funds promising to support women and girls, and the decline in funding for UN treaty bodies like the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The same corporations that claim to support women’s empowerment often undermine gender equality through privatisation, tax avoidance, human rights abuses and the pillaging of natural resources. These initiatives are smoke and mirrors for unfettered corporate power, which divert resources away from feminist movements that create real and lasting change. The real struggle for women’s power in the economy is a struggle for a just economy.”