The two XXs in elleXX are not because we wanted to have one more X than Elon Musk - but in hindsight, that is definitely a plus. Nor do they stand for Double XXellence - which we are happy to guarantee. No, the double crosses symbolize the female-driven, capable but suppressed XX-economy, the female economy, which Oxford professor Linda Scott describes in her millennial work “The Double X Economy”.

The Sheconomy will grow faster than the largest nations in the coming years.

The Sheconomy will grow faster than the largest nations in the coming years. According to estimates, this economy driven by women will generate 29.3 trillion dollars worldwide by 2026. That is more than China or the USA generate. The American financial analysis service provider Businesswire even predicts that the Sheconomy will grow faster than the largest nations in the coming years. And the XX economy would be the strongest economy in the world if it were a country. In short: it is an economic elephant, but lives the existence of an inconspicuous little mouse.

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The term Sheconomy was first used in 2007 and originates from the marketing world. This economic trend encompasses the steadily increasing number of female consumers with purchasing power, female employees, female managers, female founders and female entrepreneurs. 

The Sheconomy is at best a marginal topic in business organizations, and often not even a concept in politics and among the world's most powerful leaders. This ignorance is costing the world dearly. Thinking about women and their work, ideas, products and business in the economic system and including them in national budgets, regulations, policies and laws could bring the hoped-for economic growth. If women could participate equally in the labor market, Western countries would grow economically by up to 9 percent and emerging countries by up to 30 percent.

However, the XX economy is currently being held back enormously. Women make up half of the population and contribute only 37 percent of global economic output. This is also because they are not allowed to or cannot work - compatibility and socialization send their regards - earn less or unfortunately are not paid for their performance in the first place.

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XX economy: In 2020, after decades of research, Oxford professor Linda Scott expanded the term sheconomy in her life's work “The Double X Economy” to include the female shadow economy, the unpaid female part of the economy. Since then, the term has stood for a global movement for the economic empowerment of women.

Women are the real workaholics

The majority of the contributions that women make to the economy are unpaid, as figures from the International Labor Organization (ILO) show. This includes care work, domestic work and agricultural work. Our current economic measurement systems and indicators do not yet take this economic activity of women into account at all.

Not only is the majority of women's work unpaid, they are still the group that is exploited the most. 70 percent of enslaved people worldwide are female. It has been proven that it is primarily economic hardship that makes them victims. Economic empowerment of women is also considered the only way out of slavery by trafficking experts. The history of women is therefore also the history of economic captivity, a historical minus balance, a loss zone of great proportions.

The history of women is therefore also the history of economic imprisonment, a historical minus balance, a loss zone of great proportions.

Economic exclusion

The history of women is therefore also the history of economic imprisonment, a historical minus balance, a loss zone of great proportions. Women were and are made “poor” simply because of their gender. In reality, being a woman has meant and all too often still means globally: no rights to property, land ownership, inheritance, your own bank accounts - or even being regarded as property yourself. 58 countries still allow polygamy.

But even in industrialized nations, wages and wealth are still unequally distributed. In Switzerland, the second richest country in the world, 56 percent of women cannot keep their heads above water financially on their own. And practically all cultures differentiate between male and female professions. Typical female occupations are jobs without opportunities for advancement and those that pay less, such as care, cleaning or nursing.

Economic equality for women can - oh wonder - bring prosperity for all. Equality and economic performance go hand in hand.

It is high time to free women from this economic prison, and to do so decisively and with united forces. Otherwise, it will take another 267 years before women and men have the same economic opportunities. The World Economic Forum has calculated this on the basis of current data.

The XX economy has huge potential

Economic equality for women can - oh wonder - bring prosperity for all. Equality and economic performance develop hand in hand. They are interdependent. This is undisputed in economics. In countries with equal rights, incomes and living standards are also high, while countries with low equality are characterized by poverty and conflict, as researcher Linda Scott has calculated based on data from the World Bank and the World Economic Forum. When women lead, companies win. Companies that have more women at the top are proven to do business more sustainably and successfully.

In a few exceptional international cases, politicians have recognized these correlations and responded with programs. In Scandinavia, but also in Japan, for example, the findings on the XX economy were already reflected 20 years ago in “Womenomics”. Japan did this out of a dramatic demographic emergency, which revealed to even the biggest skeptics that without equal opportunities for women to participate in the labor market, the economy would be in tatters. And the reform is having an effect: 71 percent of Japanese women work in paid jobs. This means that they have even overtaken Europeans and Americans economically. Even the investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates the positive effect of Womenomics on Japanese economic performance, i.e. on gross domestic product, at 10 to 15 percent.

Even the women's movements have neglected the core of women's great dependency, i.e. economic exclusion. It is now time to make up for this and focus on the economic empowerment of women.

Promoting an inclusive economy

The XX economy is characterized by numerous, complex and shocking patterns of economic disadvantage. elleXX therefore constantly highlights these patterns and the resulting gaps and attempts to close them. One of the most well-documented and grotesque disadvantages is access to capital for the XX economy. Female founders worldwide receive 98.1 percent less venture capital than male founders. Or only 1.9 percent of the 508 billion dollars invested annually (!).

Even the women's movements have neglected the core of women's great dependency, economic exclusion. It is now time to make up for this and focus on the economic empowerment of women. And that means both conscious consumption and conscious investment.

Consumers are generally underestimated as a lever. In Western Europe and North America, women control 75 percent of purchasing decisions. It is the only part of the economy that is governed by the Sheconomy. Consumption means influence. This makes it all the more important to make sure we shop in a female-friendly way. But our investments have an even greater impact. We are talking about 21 times more. Gender lens investing, for example, focuses on the XX economy.

An inclusive economy includes women. Together we - men and women - can strengthen the XX economy and the prosperity of all. Out of the shadows and into the spotlight. As consumers, employees, but above all as investors or (crowd) investors, we can redress these grotesque imbalances. We can invest in female founders, buy businesses and products from women, use them and make them really big.