In October 2018, the IMF published a paper examining ’Economic Gains from Gender Inclusion: New Mechanisms, New Evidence’. It takes a fresh look at how female labour force participation contributes to economic growth, while drawing attention to the fact that despite progress made, the pace of change has been uneven and large gaps remain.
The economic cost of this imbalance is highlighted by Christine Lagarde and Jonathan D. Ostry in a recent article, where they point out that no advanced or middle-income economy has reduced the gender gap below 7 percentage points. This imbalance of labour force participation impedes productivity and lessens growth. Their conclusion is that the removal of gender barriers should be urgent, given the obvious economic advantages (closing the gender gap could increase GDP by an average of 35 percent) and the fact that gender diversity in the work increases the variety of skills and perspectives.
Lagarde and Ostry observe these 4 key benefits from narrowing gender gaps:
- A bigger boost to growth
- Higher productivity
- Higher male income
- A bigger payoff to reducing gender barriers along development paths
This paper draws attention to the compelling evidence for gender equality, when the costs of the unlevel playing field are so detrimental, and the advantages so substantial.
‘Economic Gains from Gender Inclusion: Even Greater than You Thought’
By Christine Lagarde and Jonathan D. Ostry
‘Economic Gains from Gender Inclusion: New Mechanisms, New Evidence’, IMF, J. D. Ostry, J. Alvarez, R. Espinoza, and C. Papageorgiou