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Narrowing gender gap adds USD 5.8 trillion to global economy

16-6-2017

The International Labor Organization (ILO) indicated in its ‘World Employment and Social Outlook (WESO) – Trends for Women 2017’ report a substantial decline in the likelihood of women’s participation in the labor market as compared to men. The quality of job prospects for women remains worrying, and helping women enter the labor market is an important first step, the report noted. The current global labor force participation rate for women for the year 2017 is just over 49%, that is lower by 27 percentage points than the rate for men with no improvements anticipated in 2018, the report said. The report also mentioned that the G20 leaders have committed in 2014 to reduce the gap in participation rates between men and women by 25% by the year 2025, pointing out that efforts to achieve this target were still way below that is needed. Estimates show that if such a target is realized across the world, it can potentially yield close to USD 5.8 trillion in economic gains, and can also unlock huge potential tax revenues. The latter, according to the same report, could increase by USD 1.5 trillion. In conclusion, the WESO report called for extensive measures to be taken that improve equality in work conditions and reshape social gender roles. Measures include for example, the promotion of equal pay for work of equal value; addressing root causes of sectoral and professional discrimination; recognition of, reduction and redistribution of unpaid care, and finally, the transformation of institutions in order to prevent discrimination, violence and harassment in the workplace and to eliminate them. (Al Akhbar, Al Hayat, June 16, 2017)

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