The Double X Economy

A leading thinker’s groundbreaking examination of women’s economic empowerment.Winner of the 2020 Porchlight Business Book of the Year AwardOne of The Guardian’s Best Books of 2020“A compelling and actionable case for unleashing women’s economic power.” —Melinda Gates, author of The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the WorldLinda Scott coined the phrase “Double X Economy” to address the systemic exclusion of women from the world financial order. In The Double X Economy, Scott argues on the strength of hard data and on-the-ground experience that removing those barriers to women’s success is a win for everyone, regardless of gender. Scott opens our eyes to the myriad economic injustices that constrain women throughout the world: fathers buying and selling daughters against their will; husbands burning brides whose dowries have been spent; men appropriating women’s earnings and widows’ land; banks discriminating against women applying for loans; corporations paying women less than men; men treating women as their intellectual inferiors due to primitive notions of female brain development; governments depriving women of affordable childcare; and so much more.As Scott takes us from the streets of Accra, where sex trafficking is widespread, to American business schools, where women are routinely patronized, the pervasiveness of the Double X Economy becomes glaringly obvious. But Scott believes that this rampant problem can be solved. She proposes concrete actions and urges her readers to rise up and join the global movement for women’s economic empowerment that is gaining momentum by the day.“Scott backs her arguments with hard data and numerous charts and graphs, showing unequivocally that women are not being treated fairly regarding nearly every aspect of the global economy. Fortunately, Scott shares plenty of easily implementable ideas to change the situation. . . . A precise, eye-opening account that shows what needs to change to make the world a more equitable environment for all.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)