Despite women’s increased participation in the labour market significantly contributing to past economic growth, persistent gender gaps across OECD labour markets hinder full realisation of the potential gains of women’s economic participation. A recent OECD paper analyses the economic implications of these gaps and evaluates the potential for future growth through greater gender equality in labour market outcomes

New World Bank data shows a massive, wider-than-expected global gender gap, with 98 economies enacting legislation mandating equal pay for women for work of equal value, but only 35 economies – fewer than one out of every five – adopting pay-transparency measures or enforcement mechanisms to address the pay gap.  

For the first time in the report’s 10-year history, the study examined the impact of childcare and safety policies on women’s participation in the labour market across 190 countries, revealing that less than a third of countries had quality standards for childcare that would guarantee children’s safety. The report found that tackling the childcare gap would immediately lead to a 1% increase in women’s participation in the labour force.

The report found that globally, women currently earn just 77 cents of each dollar earned by a man, and that closing this gap could raise global gross domestic product by more than 20 per cent. According to a report by the World Economic Forum’s  Gender Gap Index released last June, it will take another 131 years for the world to reach gender parity.