In June 2023, Dr Richard Sezibera, a prominent Rwandan diplomat, cut straight to the core of modern macroeconomics: “Empowering women is not an act of charity; it is the fundamental strategy for inclusive growth”, writes pharmacist and member of the ICPA board of directors, Dr Sham Moodley.
As we step into Women’s Month under the banner of ‘Building Resilient Economies for All,’ his words serve as a sharp reality check. No society can claim true economic resilience when more than half of its population is systematically locked out of the market.
Yet, for generations, our fiscal policies and corporate cultures have operated in a blind spot. We have tolerated a persistent gender data gap, designing entire economic architectures as if the male experience were the universal baseline. If we genuinely want an economy capable of absorbing global shocks, we have to radically alter how we value, support, and resource women. It starts with a simple correction: injecting the biological, societal, and economic realities of women directly into the data set so our macroeconomic models stop lying to us. Look at care work – childcare, eldercare, the daily machinery of running a household. This is the invisible infrastructure keeping the formal workforce alive.
Yet we relegate this crushing labour to the informal sphere, shouldered almost entirely by women and girls, and completely ignored in GDP calculations. True resilience means integrating the care economy into national planning. That means concrete workplace support, paid family leave structures, and a collective acknowledgment that caregiving is a societal pillar, not a personal burden. We see the exact same friction in the financial sector. Building a shock-resistant economy requires decentralising financial power, especially for women in marginalised or informal sectors. Historically, women-owned businesses have faced a wall of barriers – from discriminatory credit access to exclusionary procurement networks. Reforming these systems and expanding risk-sharing guarantees allows women entrepreneurs to move from mere survival to true scale.
We experience the power of this shift vividly within the community pharmacy space. Pharmacies are often the frontline of defence in local economies, acting as both critical healthcare hubs and commercial anchor points. When women-led pharmacies are given the right tools and financial backing, their impact multiplies. These entrepreneurs consistently prioritise broader societal well-being – investing in local health education, securing community supply chains, and heavily reinvesting profits back into the neighbourhood. This community-first model of business is exactly what makes local economies capable of navigating severe economic downturns and health crises.
But let’s be honest: we cannot build a resilient economy while gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) continue to terrorise our homes and workplaces. Safety, security, and bodily autonomy are not secondary social issues; they are the absolute prerequisites for economic participation. A woman who fears for her safety cannot trade freely, climb the corporate ladder, or confidently scale a business. Economic empowerment is an illusion without the uncompromising eradication of GBVF.
The path forward isn't complicated, but it requires courage. Accelerating women's representation in leadership and providing targeted, gender-responsive trade training is how we finally unlock our demographic dividend. The market is waiting at our doorstep. We can either stick to business-as-usual and watch inequality deepen, or we can embrace the transformative power of women’s economic leadership.
Imagine launching a dedicated, low-interest risk-sharing fund specifically designed to help female pharmacists scale their community pharmacies from survivalist healthcare storefronts into fully integrated, well-resourced primary care hubs. True economic resilience can be built on the pharmacy floor, inside the research lab, and across the local supply chain. The country and industry have the capital; it is time to deploy it intentionally.
*References available on request
