Modern slavery is 71% female. Eighty per cent of the earth’s farmable surface is owned by men. UK women lose £140 billion a year in wages to the gender pay gap – the equivalent of £10,000 each.

Allowing women farmers the same resources as men would reduce the number of chronically hungry by up to 150 million. Giving female entrepreneurs in Britain equal access to capital would add £250 billion to the economy. The global economy’s wealth would be £160 trillion higher if the gender pay gap were closed.

Linda Scott explores both the shocking gender inequalities built into the global economy, and the collective power of women that could be harnessed to turn these around and combat humankind’s most pressing problems. She shows that promoting women’s economic empowerment will dramatically boost social, financial and environmental conditions for everybody around the world.

Chaired by Sarah Smith (University of Bristol).

The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Empowering Women  is published by Faber & Faber. Buy your copy from Waterstones.

In our ninth Festival of Economics, co-programmed by Diane Coyle and Richard Davies, economists and experts from around the world debate with each other – and their audiences – some of the key economic questions of our time.

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Festival of Economics: Linda Scott, The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Empowering Women