Women’s economic empowerment becomes possible only when actual conditions in microenterprises in both formal and informal sectors are improved. .
With the spawning of informal work, women dominate the informal sector which account for unregistered, below-capital livelihood and microenterprises. Women microentrepreneurs suffer from lack of capital, increasing dependence on lenders, overwork, limited supply of raw materials due to their inability to purchase in bulk, and limited access to the market, among others. Women workers in the informal sector also suffer from low productivity, low pay, poor working conditions and long working hours. Women workers and microentrepreneurs have to deal with unpaid work, such as home-care activities that contributes to work overload.
The GREAT Women Project supports the implementation of the Magna Carta of Women, which requires gender mainstreaming in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic, and societal spheres in all levels. The PCW treats Magna Carta of Women as an important guide in furthering laws and policies on entrepreneurship at the local level.