“Economic growth alone cannot solve gender inequality” – Satkunanathan

Says banks and finance companies in the North and East specifically targeted women heads of households for loans and micro-credit

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Explains those women had limited financial literacy, lack of marketable skills Notes the women were not connected to marketing networks

Explains how women, who were unable to repay the loans, faced severe harassment from loan recovery officers

HUMAN rights advocate Ambika Satkunanathan has cautioned that when economic growth and financial tools do not automatically solve gender inequality, it could reproduce existing disparities.

"When we speak of solutions economic growth, wealth creation and technology are touted as solutions to gender inequality, but they will not automatically provide solutions unless we address the existing inequalities which will be reproduced in different ways," she said.

Delivering the keynote speech at the forum 'Amplifying the Voices of Women' organised by the South Asian Women in Media (SAWM) held on 1 More Page 2 October,

Satkunanathan, the former Human Rights Commissioner of Sri Lanka, said women, who were targeted, had limited financial literacy and lived below the poverty line as they had little education or marketable skills, and had also lost their assets due to the war but they needed finances for their children.