There has been a renaissance of industrial policies in recent years. Many countries see such policies as key to achieving a sustainable transformation of their economies. Often, countries have specific goals, such as achieving a green transformation of the industrial sector or generating good-quality employment opportunities. But do industrial policies also seek to enhance women`s economic empowerment or at the very least take gender into account when being developed?
In Tanzania, 79% of those working in manufacturing of textiles are women, whereas 94% of people working in manufacturing of wood are men. Such patterns exist in most countries. Adopting industrial or other sectoral policies that are gender-blind means not recognising such differences. But how can such differences be taken into account? Are they already considered? What can policy makers do to address these practically? What examples exist in the ACP region and beyond?
Within this context, this panel aims at initiating a discussion on the interaction between women, the industrial sector and the economy, whilst supporting a reflection on why gender seems to get lost when industrial policies are designed and what role gender-sensitive industrial policies could play to advance women`s economic empowerment in the ACP region.