The Managing Director’s Remarks to the UN Security Council

IMF News, March 8, 2022

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Crises—be they pandemics, conflicts, or more traditional economic and financial crises—threaten to set back years of progress in gender equality and, thus, development.
Pandemic impacts cited:
- Globally, twice as many women as men lost their jobs due to the precarity of their employment, lower social protection, and often the burden of childcare and unpaid work.
- 20 million girls in developing countries may never return to school, suffering potentially significant labor earning losses.
- The pandemic saw a dramatic rise in gender‑based violence, with serious socio-economic consequences.
Effects are even more harmful to women and girls in situations of fragility and conflict.
Example of potential gains from reducing gender-based violence:
- If sub‑Saharan African countries reduced gender-based violence closer to the world average, they could see long-term GDP gains of around 30 percent.

Improving gender equality can:
- raise economic growth,
- strengthen resilience,
- enhance financial stability,
- reduce income inequality.
Societies with more gender equality tend to be more resistant to violence and conflict.
Equal participation of women in socio-economic life is essential to prevent conflict and help transition out of fragility.
When women participate in peace and state-building processes, chances for building resilience, enduring peace, and inclusive and prosperous societies significantly improves.
Persistent problem: women remain under-represented and excluded from decision-making processes.

Collective action required: international partners, national institutions, and private actors all have an important role to play to bring peace, reduce fragility, increase resilience, and close gender gaps.
IMF focus areas:
- Helping countries design and implement macroeconomic and financial policies to ensure greater resilience and growth.
- Ensuring that social spending is efficient and can last, supported by sustainable fiscal policies.
- Developing country-tailored approaches in new strategies on gender and on Fragile and Conflict-Affected States.
Fragile and Conflict-Affected States strategy (as presented to the IMF Board tomorrow) proposes:
- Develop and implement tailored Country Engagement Strategies to better identify drivers of fragility such as gender inequality, climate change, forced displacement, or food insecurity.
Commitment to scale up engagement with humanitarian, development, peace, and security actors—including UN agencies—to support transitions from fragility to stability.

Women and girls are described as powerful agents of change who help societies transition from fragility to stability and build a better future for all.
Examples cited where women contributed to peace processes: Northern Ireland, Colombia, Liberia.
Direct appeal to women and girls: "believe in yourself. Dare to reach your full potential. You have the power to forge a brighter future for our societies, our economies, our world. Believe in yourselves because we believe in you."

The Managing Director’s Remarks to the UN Security Council — March 8, 2022.