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Centering the dignity, agency, and empowerment of women and girls at every stage – from policy and program design to delivery and implementation – is critical to harnessing the transformative potential of social protection. UN Women’s new report provides key insights and promising examples of how this can be done.
1. Close gender gaps in routine systems
A first critical step is making routine social protection systems more inclusive of the world’s 740 million women in informal employment – including those in feminized occupations such as domestic services or market trading.
In Mexico, a 2018 Supreme Court ruling mandated social security for domestic workers. Between 2020 and 2022, registered workers doubled, giving them access to healthcare, unemployment benefits, pensions, childcare services, and more.
Social protection policies also must do more to recognize and support women’s disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work across the life course. In Mongolia, maternity benefits now cover all women, regardless of their employment status or nationality – including herders and informal workers. Paternity leave was expanded too, promoting shared caregiving.
2. Make crisis responses work for women
Social protection becomes particularly urgent in times of crisis. As the climate emergency intensifies, some countries are taking promising steps.
In Northern Senegal, women farmers whose livelihoods have been profoundly impacted by climate change raised the need for health insurance and paid sick leave to reduce the income losses they incur when spending time away from work to care for themselves or sick family members. In response, the national health insurance scheme has extended and adapted its services, resulting in over 1,300 rural women gaining access to health insurance for the first time, covering themselves and nearly 7,000 household members.
Linking humanitarian aid and social protection systems – especially by partnering with women-led organizations – can improve reach, relevance, and resilience during conflict and crisis.
3. Integrate with public services and employment policies
Social protection doesn’t work in isolation. To be truly transformative, it must be linked to quality public services and decent employment – especially in the care economy.
In the Dominican Republic, the Supérate cash transfer now includes community-based care services as well as extra support for survivors of gender-based violence through cash, skills, and jobs.
Gender-responsive school feeding programs can also yield triple dividends: improving girls’ education and nutrition, while creating decent jobs for women. In Cambodia, women now serve as formalized food suppliers and school cooks.
Investment in the care economy – education, health, childcare, and elder care – could generate 300 million jobsglobally by 2035. These are low-carbon jobs, predominantly held by women, and essential for a just, inclusive transition. Countries like Cape Verde, Kenya, Singapore, and Uruguay are leading the way in developing integrated care systems.
4. Prioritize women’s agency in delivery systems
The design of social protection means little without effective delivery. Unfortunately, women face significant barriers here too – from digital exclusion to discriminatory norms.
Digital payments may seem efficient, but many women lack access to phones, internet, or digital literacy. That’s where frontline workers and community organizations play a crucial role. In Argentina, during COVID-19, local workers ensured women received digital family emergency income support – reaching nearly nine million informal workers.
But those delivering benefits also need support. In Uganda, cash and in-kind transfers helped women health workers cope with risks in conflict zones. In Brazil, universal health reforms improved conditions and wages for community health workers – many of them women.
Empowering women as both recipients and providers of social protection builds trust and accountability from the ground up.
5. Fill the USD 1.4 trillion financing gap
The current global shortfall for basic social protection in low and middle-income countries is USD 1.4 trillion annually – or 3.3% of their combined GDP. But the returns far outweigh the costs. This year, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development and the Second World Summit for Social Development are two pivotal moments to agree on policies that will help close both financing and coverage gaps.
At the national level, a new generation of fiscal pacts is needed to deliver long-term, sustainable financing for gender equality, sustainability, and social justice by increasing both tax revenue and the progressivity of social security and tax systems.
At the global level, we need urgent reforms to ensure that social spending is not crowded out by spiraling debt interest payments, tax evasion, and avoidance. Official Development Assistance to support social protection system strengthening also needs to be increased – or at least protected against ongoing cuts.
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