The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO)

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is back with an all-new season. This time, all our stories are about something that has been getting a lot of media attention lately: girls. What do they really need to succeed right now? And how can we work with them to get there?

For this first episode, we focus on an often hidden aspect of girls’ economic lives that has a significant impact: period products. According to the World Bank, as many as 500 million people every month lack access to menstrual products or facilities. This cuts across all countries, including big pockets of the United States and the United Kingdom. 

The inability to afford period products is often called “period poverty.” Not only does period poverty make many girls’ lives harder; it also affects their ability to stay in school. Many miss school days during their period, and it can contribute to them leaving entirely. In India, for example, around 23 million girls drop out of school every year because they do not have a bathroom at school where they feel comfortable managing their period. 

On today’s show, we look at solutions to period poverty and how truly transformational they would be for girls. First, reporter Elna Schutz talks to activists who have successfully advocated for affordable period products in South Africa, including students. Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Sia Towo, director of the nonprofit Femme International, about how to end period poverty. Her organization offers menstrual health education, conducts research, and distributes period products in East Africa.

Family planning is one of the most economically important strategies for women and girls. Access to contraceptives can help women and girls get an education and participate in the workforce. Furthermore, it could reduce maternal deaths by as much as three-quarters, according to the United Nations Population Fund. But nearly 10 percent of women of childbearing age around the world have unmet contraceptive needs, and teenage girls report less access to contraceptives than other age groups.

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we look at the most effective ways to increase family planning services. First, reporter Elodie Toto travels to the West African country of Benin, which recently expanded abortion access. Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Samukeliso Dube, the executive director of the global partnership FP2030, which works with governments, NGOs, civil society, and the private sector to mobilize investments in family planning.

Program note: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports this podcast, is one of the funders of FP2030. 

The battle against child marriage around the world seems to be gaining some traction. According to the latest UNICEF data, about 1 in 5 young women between the ages of 20 and 24 were married as children. This represents a 5 percent decrease from a decade ago. 

The negative impact of child marriage is widely documented. Child brides suffer domestic violence more often, drop out of school in greater numbers, and are more likely to experience poverty. Curbing child marriage is a United Nations sustainable development goal.

India accounts for some of the progress. While Indian girls still account for one-third of child brides in the world, the prevalence of child marriage there has declined about 7 percent in the past eight years.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we’ll hear how India has been able to reduce its child marriage rates. First, host Reena Ninan revisits a conversation she had in Season 2 with Mabel van Oranje, the founder of Girls Not Brides and the global movement VOW for Girls. 

Then, journalist Ayushi Shah reports on a girls’ support group organized by the Indian nonprofit Child Rights and You (CRY) in the village of Tondar—and specifically how members of the group help girls resist pressure from their families to marry young. 

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University.

Homosexuality is illegal in Kenya, as it is in more than half of African countries. But public attitudes have begun to shift. According to Pew Research Center data from 2002, only 1 percent of Kenyan respondents said society should accept homosexuality. As of 2020, 14 percent believed homosexuality should be accepted.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we follow the key people driving this change. Reporter Eunice Maina interviews women and nonbinary LGBTQ activists such as Marylize Biubwa, the co-founder of Queer Republic, and Ivy Werimba, a communications officer at Galck+, a coalition of 16 membership-based LGBTQ+ organizations from across Kenya. Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Eric Gitari, the co-founder of the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in Kenya. His litigation has helped bring recent LGBTQ policy victories.

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University.

Education is one of the most important enablers of girl power all over the world. And in a lot of ways, girls’ education has improved. The percentage of girls in school is on the rise globally compared to two decades ago. But there are still significant gaps, particularly in areas with high levels of conflict. 

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, host Reena Ninan speaks with Julie Mwabe, the team lead at the global advocacy and public policy program at Global Partnership for Education. She leads efforts to mobilize political support at the highest levels for education, including from heads of state. They talk about the state of girls’ education and what the international community can do to close learning gaps, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we are closing out our special season on girls with inspiring stories about girl power. First, we go to Peru. Reporter Jimena Ledgard interviews Wendy Sulca, a former child pop star who is finding a new voice as an advocate.

Then, host Reena Ninan speaks with Bogolo Kenewendo about how her childhood shaped her into the political leader she has become. Kenewendo is just in her late 30s and is a special advisor and Africa director to the United Nations Climate Change High-Level Champions.

This season on the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, host Reena Ninan and reporters across Africa will meet courageous women holding leaders accountable in various sectors, including healthcare, startups, and government. Specifically, we are looking at promises made about gender equality – and seeing if they have been delivered. For example, the government of Kenya pledged to end gender-based violence by 2026. And the ministry of health in Uganda is trying to eradicate yellow fever. It is ambitious to make these kinds of pledges. But are these leaders really delivering on these promises for women and girls?

For this first episode, we decided to cover a surprising program: a reality TV show. On Ms President, women compete to become the next “president” of Kenya, where they get training to become politicians – leaders we can hold accountable. This wasn’t a typical reality TV production. In fact, a nonprofit called Media Focus in Africa launched the show with the support of the EU and the Canadian government. Reporter Eunice Maina interviews contestant Nereah Amondi Oketch to find out how she fared on the show and whether Ms President was successful at getting more women into elected office.

Nigeria is increasingly important on the global stage. It is the sixth-most-populous country and has the biggest economy in Africa. It is also home to one of the world’s largest film industries and is a major oil exporter.

Despite these achievements, gender parity in its political leadership has declined. As of last year’s elections, women make up less than 4 percent of Nigeria’s parliament. Now, Nigeria ranks among the bottom 10 countries for female representation in national government.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, host Reena Ninan speaks with Nichole Grossman from American University about her ongoing research on female political candidates in Nigeria. Grossman shares what she learned from dozens of interviews about what would be needed to increase the number of women in office. Then, reporter Yecenu Sasetu talks to a Nigerian woman and politician, Kate Raymond Mamuno, about how she got elected. Her successful campaign was largely due to assistance from a nonprofit called Connected Development.

Despite a global downturn for tech, 2022 was a record year for African start-up funding. According to data from Partech Partners, African tech financing in 2022 was 4.5 times larger than it was four years prior. And Nigeria is one of the continent’s main tech hubs.

However, underneath this success story are less convenient truths—including a culture of widespread gender discrimination and financial impropriety.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we will look at Nigerian tech leaders’ accountability efforts. We begin with a story from reporter Nelly Kalu about tech entrepreneur Chioma Agwuegbo’s efforts to increase the number of women in Nigerian tech through her organization TechHerNG—and the backlash that she has faced because of it. Then, host Reena Ninan talks to Nigerian entrepreneur and angel investor Ada Osakwe, who shares what she thinks is needed to achieve real accountability in Nigerian tech.

The level of press freedom in Kenyan media outlets is among the highest in East Africa, according to the most recent World Press Freedom Index. And according to Reuters’s research, trust in the news grew by 6 percentage points last year in Kenya, following the 2022 election.

However, there is still much work to be done when it comes to making newsrooms a safe place for Kenyan women. According to a survey from Women in News in early 2022, about 90 percent of women working in Kenyan media reported that they were likely to be sexually harassed while on assignment. And for both women and gender-nonconforming respondents, more than half said they expected to face sexual harassment in the workplace. Thankfully, leaders in Kenyan media have started to take meaningful steps to address this issue.

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we will look at what actually works when it comes to ending sexual harassment at work. First, reporter Sharon Kiburi talks to Judie Kaberia. During her tenure as executive director of the Association of Media Women in Kenya, Kaberia helped Kenyan media outlets develop policies and procedures to tackle sexual harassment.

Then, host Reena Ninan speaks with Alexandra Kalev, a Tel Aviv University associate professor of sociology and dean of the sociology and anthropology departments. Kalev and her colleague Frank Dobbin recently wrote a book together called Getting to Diversity. Among other workplace inclusivity topics, Kalev and Dobbin conducted groundbreaking research about how to decrease sexual harassment in the workplace. According to Kalev, most of the well-intentioned programs that they analyzed actually backfired.

Uganda’s health ministry has launched a campaign to end the yellow fever epidemic in the country by 2026. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Contol and Prevention, about 30,000 people die from yellow fever each year, with approximately 90 percent in Africa. Infants and older people are most at risk. So the impact of this disease is more heavily felt by women, who are most often burdened with caregiving. 

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we visit Uganda, one of 27 high-risk countries in Africa working with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to try to end the yellow fever epidemic by 2026. First, reporter Leah Kahunde helps us better understand the state of yellow fever in Uganda. She speaks with health journalist Beatrice Nyangoma, whose investigative reporting forced officials to confront flaws in their vaccination procedures. Then, host Reena Ninan talks to two WHO experts about Uganda’s current yellow fever vaccination campaign: Pamela Bakkabulindi, an immunization consultant in Uganda, and Kwame Amponsa-Achiano, the deputy director for disease control and program manager for the immunization program at the Ghana Health Service.

This season, host Reena Ninan explores the importance of male allies in advancing women’s rights and economic freedoms. The topic came up at FP’s 2022 Her Power Summit. There, Hana Brixi, the global director of gender at the World Bank, shared an anecdote from research the World Bank had conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. It found one group to be particularly effective in changing men’s and boys’ attitudes toward gender equality: local religious leaders.

In the first part of this episode, reporter Eunice Maina travels to central Kenya, where she meets with a pastor involved in a movement that advocates for gender equality and works to get more women into elected positions.

Then, in the second half of the episode, host Reena Ninan speaks with Prince Adeleke Adeleye of the Oka-Okoko Kingdom in Nigeria. He is on the executive steering committee of the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa. He talks about the hands-on work he leads with men to overcome gender stereotypes.

Finally, we are conducting a listener survey to better understand what you like about the podcast and what you’d like to hear in future episodes. All participants in the survey who provide their email will be placed in a raffle to win a $100 Amazon gift card. To participate, follow this survey link. Thank you very much for your time and feedback.

Lesotho, a small, landlocked country located within South Africa, was ambitious about reaching gender parity at the turn of the century. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili in the 2000s and early 2010s, the country passed a number of gender equality reforms, addressing inequities in land ownership and marriage rights, among others. 

Mosisili’s administration also imposed gender quotas in a rather unique way. In 2005, it implemented a randomized gender quota at the local level to allocate 30 percent of electoral seats to women candidates. And then in 2011, it tried to implement another gender quota for national parliamentary seats. However, both these measures had mixed results. 

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, reporter Pascalinah Kabi explores why Mosisili was so passionate about gender equality and what could have made his efforts more successful. Then, host Reena Ninan speaks with University of California, Berkeley, political science professor Amanda Clayton, who has studied the impact of gender quotas around the world—including in Lesotho. 

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LISTENER SURVEY NOTE: 

We are conducting a listener survey to better understand what you like about the podcast and what you’d like to hear in future episodes. All participants in the survey who provide their email will be placed in a raffle to win a $100 Amazon gift card. This is the final week to participate, so follow this survey link if you’d like to enter the raffle. Thank you very much for your time and feedback.

South Africa has the ignominious reputation of being the rape capital of the world and continues to battle an epidemic of gender-based violence. It is devastating for women and girls both physically and psychologically—but also economically. South Africa’s Mail & Guardian reports that the country lost about $2 billion in 2019 from the estimated costs of gender-based violence, including hospital bills, loss of productivity, and judicial costs.

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we talk to two groups of male allies in South Africa influencing fellow men in unique ways. First, reporter Elna Schutz talks with men from Sonke Gender Justice, including a man whose life changed because of a Sonke program he participated in while in prison. Then, host Reena Ninan speaks with Christopher Isike, a professor of political science at the University of Pretoria. He has conducted 10 years’ worth of qualitative research with men about why they are violent toward women and how to change their thought patterns.

Lynn Gitu is a program leader in Uganda for the nonprofit IMPACT, which seeks to help decrease conflicts around natural resources in Africa and enable communities to benefit more from their local resources, rather than them getting stolen, for example, by armed militias. According to IMPACT research, artisanal mining—or small-scale mining—accounts for about 90 percent of the minerals produced on the continent, and approximately 30 percent of artisanal miners in Africa are women.

Gitu asserts that mining is much more profitable than other fields for African women: “Our research with women directly has shown us that when they are supported, they often earn 300 times more from the mining sector than from any other sector.” However, if women are not supported well, they reap fewer rewards.

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, reporter Leah Kahunde visits female artisanal stone miners in Uganda as well as male allies helping these women to advance in the industry. Then, host Reena Ninan picks up her conversation with Gitu.

Kenya passed a number of gender reforms after a new constitution passed in 2010. It’s one thing to get the laws passed. But it’s another to get them implemented, especially in male-dominated sectors such as fishing.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we’re looking at how Kenya’s legal reforms have created new opportunities for women in the fishing industry, such as the Fisheries Management and Development Act of 2016. However, women still face significant barriers in the fishing sector, including many reports of gender-based violence.

Reporter Thurea Mwadzaya visits a fishing community to see how policy developments are starting to take hold there, including talking to female leaders and male allies from Coastal Women in Fisheries. Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Margaret Gatonye, former CEO of the Aquacultural Association of Kenya. She helped advise the Kenyan government about the Fisheries Management and Development Act. Gatonye is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in global governance at the University of Massachusetts, focusing in part on women in fishing in Kenya.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 200 million girls and women alive today have experienced female genital mutilation, or FGM. That’s about 5 percent of women and girls around the globe. How can the world finally end FGM?

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women—our first of Season 3—reporter Eunice Maina explains how financial factors incentivize women to perpetuate this practice and interviews a group of girls who are tackling it head-on.

Later in the episode, host Reena Ninan speaks with Caroline Lagat, a program officer at Equality Now. Lagat works largely on legal ways to end FGM.

On today’s episode, we look at how Nigerian women are changing social norms through the film industry. First, reporter Yecenu Sasetu profiles the Girls Voices Initiative’s Girl Nation Academy and how it is increasing access to women looking to break into film. For deeper analysis, host Reena Ninan then speaks to Ojoma Ochai, managing partner of the Creative Economy Practice at CC Hub, which helps support film and other creative projects in Africa.

A lot of shea butter, which can be found in moisturizers and chocolate, originates from West and East Africa. According to the Global Shea Alliance, shea exports from African countries increased about 600 percent in the first two decades of this century.

Most shea nut collectors are rural women. So this should be great news for them. But because of the way the shea nut supply chain operates, most women are at the bottom of the power structure, oftentimes squeezed out by middlemen.

On this episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (HERO), reporter Nelly Kalu visits a Nigerian nonprofit called Initiative for Gender Empowerment and Creativity. The initiative has innovated the shea nut business to enable women to earn more as shea nut producers.

Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Sybil Chidiac, a senior program officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Chidiac focuses on women’s economic empowerment initiatives in Africa and shares her thoughts on this program and others to Ninan. (For transparency, HERO is funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.)

Close to 20 percent of all domestic workers are migrant workers, according to the International Labour Organization. Most of these domestic workers are women, and they are particularly common in Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Kenya sends a lot of domestic workers to Gulf countries. More than half of the over 87,784 Kenyans employed in the Middle East since 2019 have been domestic workers.

But many women returning from this work describe horrific circumstances, particularly in Saudi Arabia. And in an alarming number of cases, death.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, reporter Pauline Ongaji talks with Kenyan women who have returned from domestic work in Saudi Arabia. Then host Reena Ninan speaks with Caroline Kasina from the Solidarity Center in Kenya and Ruth Khakame from the Kudheiha domestic workers union about their efforts to organize Kenyan domestic workers in Gulf states.

One silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its resulting child care crisis, is that an increasing number of countries have passed legislation supporting the child care sector. These include Vietnam, Peru, Argentina, and Bangladesh.

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we hear about Bangladesh’s efforts to increase access to child care, particularly for working parents. Bangladeshi lawmakers passed the Child Daycare Centre Act in 2021, and last year, they proposed implementation guidelines.

In the first part of the show, host Reena Ninan speaks with Marina Elefante, a lawyer with the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law Project. Ninan asks Elefante about the World Bank’s involvement in increasing child care in Bangladesh and what this law did to support day cares.

Then, senior producer Laura Rosbrow-Telem talks with day care managers in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital and largest city, to gauge their opinion of the law. Producer Alvah Amit Halder provided reporting and production assistance from Dhaka.

This week, we are also conducting a listener survey to better understand what you like about the podcast and what else you’d like to hear in future episodes. All participants in the survey who provide their email will be eligible to win a $25 Amazon gift card. To participate, follow this survey link. Thank you very much for your time and feedback.

On today’s episode of HERO, the last of the season, we look at how a Women for Women International program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo worked with families to try to overcome long-standing cultural barriers to women owning land. We hear from a mother, father, and son who participated in this program. Also, Women for Women International’s country director in Congo, Rachel Boketa, explains how this project attempted to change men’s and boys’ opinions about female property ownership. Special thanks to Francis Shok Mweze, who acted as our field producer for this segment.

Boketa’s program was supported with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The United States currently gives more money to international development than any other country in the world, largely through USAID.

In the second part of the episode, host Reena Ninan talks to Isobel Coleman, the deputy administrator of USAID. Coleman explains why the Biden administration is doubling funding toward gender programming and how USAID plans to invest that financing. This conversation first took place at FP’s Her Power Summit, an annual gathering all about women’s leadership.

Finally, we are conducting a listener survey to better understand what you like about the podcast and what you’d like to hear in future episodes. All participants in the survey who provide their email will be placed in a raffle to win a $25 Amazon gift card. To participate, follow this survey link. Thank you very much for your time and feedback.

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates and Nobel Prize economist Esther Duflo talk with host Reena Ninan about the best ways to empower women economically post-COVID-19 on the premiere episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women’s (HERO) second season. French Gates is the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports this podcast. French Gates is also the founder of Pivotal Ventures and author of The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World about her work on gender equality. Duflo is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and won the Nobel Prize for economic sciences in 2019 for her experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Duflo is the author of Good Economics for Hard Times and Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty.

This season on HERO, we will delve deeper into all the obstacles blocking women from their full financial potential and interview women breaking these barriers down. Listeners will hear from people reforming marital laws in South Africa and property rights in Kenya—and what victories in both places would mean for unlocking women’s financial potential. We will also look at which micro-finance strategies work best and why better lending practices could be huge for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a Foreign Policy podcast made possible through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

On this week’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we look at how reforming marital rights could be the biggest first step toward gender equality. We found the idea for this show from the World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) project, which ranks 190 economies every year for how well their policies are for gender equality. According to the WBL, South Africa has made the third-most progress regarding gender equality of any country in the world over the last 50 years, largely due to the women’s movement being interconnected with the fight to end apartheid. During the late 1980s and early ’90s, many reforms passed in South Africa propelled women’s rights, particularly in expanding married women’s ability to sign legally binding contracts, register businesses, and open bank accounts without their husband’s consent.

But decades after apartheid ended, one law remained on the books that continued to plague Black women, particularly ones seeking a divorce. We talk to Agnes Sithole, whose divorce case shook her country’s legal system. We also speak to Sharita Samuel, the lawyer who brought Sithole’s case before the Constitutional Court, South Africa’s highest court.

Special thanks this week to Nisha Arekapudi and Natalia Mazoni Silva Martins from the WBL, who wrote the case study about South Africa’s gender equality gains and spotlighted Sithole’s legal fight. And big thanks to producer Elna Schutz, who flew out from Johannesburg to Durban just to record the interview with Sithole and Samuel.

Access to property is arguably one of the most important paths for women’s income security. But for many, there are not only economic barriers to owning property but also legal obstacles. For example, there are approximately 75 countries where women still do not have the same rights as men to inherit property.

On today’s episode of The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we follow the story of Rachel Korir. Her legal battle to get her fair share of her father’s property in Kenya revealed gaps in the country’s recent constitutional reforms, which aimed to make property rights equal among men and women. We also speak to Cardiff University professor Ambreena Manji, who specializes in East African land, law, and development. Two years ago, Manji also wrote a book titled The Struggle for Land and Justice in Kenya.

Special thanks this week to Dominic Kirui, who first reported about Korir and helped us produce our interview; Olivia Bitanihirwe, who provided Korir’s voice-over; and Mary Ellen Iskenderian, the president and CEO of Women’s World Banking. An early conversation with Iskenderian got us thinking more about property rights.

In its simplest definition, microfinance refers to small loans usually worth less than $1,000 for people with low incomes. Microfinance is a widely discussed idea in development circles, particularly surrounding women’s empowerment. But how effective is it?

On this episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we look at why microfinance has had mixed results and learn about the best ways to distribute these kinds of loans. First, we talk to a Turkish Grameen Foundation/Kiva microcredit recipient named Kudret about the impact microfinance has had on her personally. Then, Roshaneh Zafar speaks with host Reena Ninan about her experiences launching the Kashf Foundation, the first microfinance institution in Pakistan and the largest loan provider to women in the country.

Special thanks this week to Stephen Rasmussen from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, who recommended FP talk to Zafar. Also, thanks to Aslıhan Köksal and Brit Heiring from Kiva, Andrée Simon from FINCA, and a number of others who spoke to us for this episode. The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a Foreign Policy podcast made possible through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the World Bank, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) comprise about 90 percent of the global economy. But these kinds of businesses—too big for microfinance and too small for commercial bank loans with favorable rates—face many hurdles to borrowing money. On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we delve deeper into the “missing middle” credit gap and what can be done to improve SMEs’ access to financing. Also, we look at specific barriers to women business owners, such as how low property ownership rates hinder their ability to qualify for small business loans.

Host Reena Ninan talks to Ada Osakwe, founder of Nuli Juice, about the various obstacles she overcame to expand her business, including her first store almost getting destroyed in Lagos, Nigeria. Then, World Bank financial inclusion expert Mahesh Uttamchandani shares the financial solutions he is most excited about for SMEs.

Special thanks this week to the International Finance Corporation’s Jessica Schnabel, who recommended we talk to Osakwe, and Mary Ellen Iskenderian from Women’s World Banking. The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a Foreign Policy podcast made possible through funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

As FP Analytics highlights in its new report, “Elevating Gender Equality in COVID-19 Economic Recovery,” there’s a dire global child care shortage, which the pandemic only worsened. But increasing COVID-19 recovery plan investments in care work—especially the child care sector—would deliver greater and more sustainable stimulus than other measures, such as construction-oriented funding. Still, even if more governments better support the care sector, how does one launch high-quality, affordable child care centers in the near future?

On the premiere episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women (or HER♀ for short), host Reena Ninan speaks with Kidogo co-founder Sabrina Habib about how she created a new approach to franchising affordable child care centers that has changed the lives of low-income mothers and female day care owners in Kenya. Habib describes how almost stepping on a baby in a day care center was a “moment of obligation” for her to make a difference. Then, Ninan hears about the state of early childhood development in Kenya from African Population and Health Research Center associate research scientist Patricia Wekulo.

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we’re headed to Uganda, where a group of women are saving money—and participating in a pilot program called “Household Dialogues” from the nonprofit CARE, where they’re attending a form of couples counseling. Host Reena Ninan speaks with Namara Eve, who participated in the Household Dialogues, and Julia Arnold, senior research director at Accion’s Center for Financial Inclusion.

But before we get into the Household Dialogues project, let us first explain a bit about women’s savings groups. Informal savings groups operating outside of a bank, where around a dozen individuals from a local community band together to save their money collectively, are a common practice in Uganda. One estimate showed that around two-thirds of all adults in Uganda save money that way, including a large number of women’s only groups. And during the pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, FP Analytics notes that households with a member in an informal savings group have been more likely to have savings and less likely to experience food insecurity.

Women’s informal savings groups, however, can only do so much. To access larger sums of capital, the women need to join a bank, and oftentimes own a smartphone. And for many of these women, their husbands have the only smartphone in the household—which can be a barrier to the women’s economic advancement. So, in the Household Dialogues project, CARE financial counselors met seven times with women and their spouses to help the husbands be more actively supportive.

To hear more about the Household Dialogues project, listen to our latest episode on this page or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

According to the International Labor Organization, 81.8 percent of women’s employment in India is concentrated in the informal economy—that is, work that is not taxed or is under the table. On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we examine why India has one of the highest rates of women in the informal sector and what can be done to get them more rights, income, and support. Host Reena Ninan first speaks with Deepa, a domestic worker and union member of the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), which has more than 1.5 million women informal worker members. Then Ninan speaks with SEWA’s Punjab state coordinator Harsharan Kaur, who describes how SEWA advances the rights and economic empowerment of women informal workers. After that, Ninan talks to Institute of Social Studies Trust research fellow Monika Banerjee, who specializes in women informal workers in India, and, finally, the chief economist for South Asia at the World Bank, Hans Timmer.

To hear more about women informal workers in India, listen to our latest episode on this page or subscribe on your favorite podcast app—and thank you to Apple Podcasts, which just listed HERO as a New & Noteworthy Podcast! The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is a Foreign Policy podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

When we use the phrase “remarkable women” for this podcast, Letty Chiwara definitely fits the bill. She is the current U.N. Women Representative to Ethiopia, the Africa Union Commission, and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa. Although these are broad titles, one major part of her work is helping others get better data on the lives of Ethiopian women, including their full financial contributions to society.

On today’s episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we explore how getting better data on gender disparities is uncovering hidden truths in Ethiopia and elsewhere. Host Reena Ninan first speaks with Chiwara, who spearheaded a major gender data effort in Ethiopia. Then, Ninan talks to Emily Courey Pryor, executive director of the nonprofit Data2X. Her organization partners with entities like U.N. Women, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and individual countries to improve their collection and analysis of gender data.

To hear more about the movement to improve gender data, listen to our latest episode on this page or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. Also, for the real nerds out there, you can sign up to get a policy brief on gender equality. This is content that’s normally behind a paywall at Foreign Policy, but we’re offering special access to our podcast listeners. It’s a great resource for understanding the big picture on what’s happening globally to try and tackle gender inequality.

The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is an FP podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Violence between cow herders and farmers has killed more people in recent years in northeastern Nigeria than the Boko Haram insurgency, according to the International Crisis Group. One solution to this conflict is creating a better environment for dairy producers so cattle herders do not need to travel as far to get feed for their cows. This would impact not only the country’s security but also the livelihoods of many rural Nigerian women.

On this episode of the Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women, we look at the Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria (ALDDN) program. It is focused on smallholder female dairy producers, who make the majority of milk products in the country. ALDDN is primarily supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which also supports this podcast.

First, we hear from Rakiya Dalhatu, a dairy producer who participated in ALDDN. Then, we talk to Ndidi Nwuneli, the co-founder of Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Ltd., which leads the ALDDN program. And finally, we speak with Cornell University’s Ed Mabaya, who focuses on global development, agriculture, and food security issues in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.

To learn more about how the ALDDN program is trying to empower women, mitigate the effects of climate change, and decrease conflict in Nigeria, listen to our latest episode on this page, or subscribe on your favorite podcast app. The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women is an FP podcast supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Finally, we are still offering a new policy brief on gender equality to our listeners! This is content that’s normally behind a paywall at Foreign Policy, but we’re offering special access right now. It’s a great resource for understanding the big picture on what’s happening globally to try to tackle gender inequality.