Involve women in post-pandemic recovery, says accountants body

An accountants’ body wants more women to benefit from resources being channeled towards economic recovery out of Covid-19 to enhance equality.

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) also urged more governments to adopt the use of United Nation’s Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) to bridge gender inequality gaps.

“According to the UN’s global Covid-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, while 164 countries have GRB in some form, just 25 - such as India, New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago - have demonstrated a holistic approach by applying measures that span across unpaid care, violence against women and women’s economic security,” ACCA said in a statement to mark International Women’s Day this week.

The global body, which boasts 227,000 members based in 176 countries, also urged governments to rethink their economic recovery policies.

To guide them, ACCA has issued a toolkit on how accountants can place GRB into their everyday roles and responsibilities.

ACCA’s call for action follows a recent report published by research company McKinsey, which shows that although women account for 39 per cent of global employment, they also account for 54 per cent of total job losses as a result of the pandemic.

Helen Brand, chief executive of ACCA says women should be prioritised as equality is sought.

“The evidence is clear: women have suffered disproportionately as a result of the pandemic and GRB can help ensure these inequalities are considered to ensure a more inclusive recovery,” she said.