{
  "title": "The Business Case for Women’s Empowerment",
  "publication": "IMF News, November 18, 2016",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2016/11/18/sp111816-the-business-case-for-womens-empowerment",
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  "summary": "As countries around the world struggle to grow their economies more quickly and reduce inequality, tapping into the huge potential of women can be a game changer, said IMF chief Christine Lagarde at the APEC CEO Summit in Lima, Peru.",
  "authors": [
    "Christine Lagarde"
  ],
  "publishDate": "2016-11-18",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Context: Remarks by Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, at the APEC CEO Summit, Peru, November 18, 2016.\n- Core message: Tapping the potential of women can boost growth, reduce inequality, mitigate demographic challenges, and support economic diversification."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Why Women’s Empowerment Is a Game Changer",
      "content": "- Key statistics and findings:\n  - APEC: home to \"40 percent of the world’s population and about 60 percent of global economic output.\"\n  - Global labor force participation: \"55 percent\" of women versus \"80 percent\" of men.\n  - Women’s earnings: \"about 50 percent less than men for the same type of work.\"\n  - Women in politics: represent \"only 20 percent of parliamentarians across the world.\"\n  - If Latin American countries raised female labor participation to the average of the Nordic countries (\"about 60 percent\"), \"GDP per capita could be up to 10 percent higher.\"\n  - Moving from perfect gender inequality to perfect gender equality is equivalent to reducing income inequality \"from the levels prevailing in Venezuela to those in Sweden.\"\n  - Japan: raising female labor force participation to Northern Europe levels could boost GDP growth \"by up to 0.4 percentage points in the transition years.\"\n  - Japan’s near-term growth context: \"growth rates in Japan currently hovering around 0.5 percent in this year and next.\"\n  - Canada: employing more highly educated women could raise overall productivity growth \"by up to 0.4 percentage points per year.\"\n  - Diversification: in low-income and developing countries, moving from perfect gender inequality to perfect equality is equivalent to moving \"from the least diversified economy to one with average export diversification.\""
    },
    {
      "heading": "How to Get There — A Role for Everyone",
      "content": "- Overarching point: Narrowing gender gaps requires a comprehensive agenda and commitment by governments, the private sector, and international financial institutions.\n\n- Governments — policy levers and evidence:\n  - Fiscal/tax policy: \"tax reforms that reduce taxes on a family’s secondary earner\" can encourage female labor force participation.\n  - Canada example: 1990s tax cuts and benefits for families with children contributed to a female labor participation rate \"over 80 percent\" (compared with \"74 percent\" in the United States).\n  - Family support policies: Mexico’s Estancias Infantiles (free/subsidized childcare) increased mothers’ probability of employment; Chile’s Jornada Escolar Completa freed up time for mothers to work more hours.\n  - Legal reform: \"in more than a 100 countries, women face at least one legal barrier to economic participation.\"\n    - Peru: mid-1990s legal changes led to a \"15 percentage points\" increase in women’s labor force participation a decade later.\n    - Namibia: strengthening women’s legal rights saw female labor force participation rise by \"10 percentage points.\"\n  - Conclusion: \"Small changes in the law can make a big difference.\"\n\n- The Private Sector — business benefits and practices:\n  - Corporate leadership: adding one more woman in senior management or on the corporate board (keeping board size unchanged) is associated with \"8-13 basis points higher return on assets.\"\n  - Board and CEO representation (as of April 2015): for every 100 corporate board members of large publicly listed firms in Europe, only \"23 were women,\" and only \"4 percent of chief executive officers of these companies were female.\"\n  - Team dynamics: Google study — successful teams created \"zones of 'psychological safety'\" where members spoke in roughly the same proportion, enabling better use of diverse views.\n  - Workplace policies: ensure pay parity for equal jobs; expand maternity leave; improve women’s access to financial services.\n  - Peru financial-inclusion data: \"Close to 90 percent of firms had access to a bank account in 2014,\" yet women's access levels were only \"22 percent.\"\n\n- International Financial Institutions — research, operationalization, and programs:\n  - SDGs: \"Gender equality and women’s empowerment are now one of the 17 priorities of the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve inclusive growth by 2030.\"\n  - IMF role:\n    - Increased research on gender-related topics; many examples cited draw on this research.\n    - Operational steps: incorporating gender-equality goals into Article IV consultations where women’s economic participation can be of material impact.\n    - Completed analysis for \"13 countries\" to provide tailored policy recommendations on gender equity.\n    - Program examples: included a goal of raising women’s economic participation in an IMF-supported program with Jordan; similar goal in the recently announced program in Egypt, with a focus on \"improving the safety of transportation for women.\""
    },
    {
      "heading": "Conclusion and Takeaway Messages",
      "content": "- APEC countries have made significant progress in women's economic participation over the past two decades and are positioned to lead further advances.\n- The IMF positions itself as a partner in advancing gender equity through research, policy advice, and program support.\n- Bottom line: increasing women’s economic participation can make the economy larger, more equitable, more resilient to demographic change, and better diversified.\n\nSource: Speech by Christine Lagarde, \"The Business Case for Women’s Empowerment,\" APEC CEO Summit, Peru, November 18, 2016.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- 091516 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Staff Discussion Note (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\n References\n\n- Christine Lagarde\n- Canada and the IMF\n- Japan and the IMF\n- Peru and the IMF\n- Speeches\n- PRESS CENTER\n- Catalyst for Change: Empowering Women and Tackling Income Inequality\n- Can Women Save Japan?\n- To Boost Growth: Employ More Women\n- Gender Equality and Economic Diversification\n- Unlocking Female Employment Potential in Europe: Drivers and Benefits\n- https://www.imf.org/en/home\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2016/11/18/sp111816-the-business-case-for-womens-empowerment"
    }
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    "Authors: Christine Lagarde",
    "Published: November 18, 2016",
    "Context: Remarks by Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, at the APEC CEO Summit, Peru, November 18, 2016.",
    "Core message: Tapping the potential of women can boost growth, reduce inequality, mitigate demographic challenges, and support economic diversification.",
    "Key statistics and findings:",
    "Overarching point: Narrowing gender gaps requires a comprehensive agenda and commitment by governments, the private sector, and international financial institutions.",
    "Governments — policy levers and evidence:",
    "The Private Sector — business benefits and practices:",
    "International Financial Institutions — research, operationalization, and programs:",
    "APEC countries have made significant progress in women's economic participation over the past two decades and are positioned to lead further advances.",
    "The IMF positions itself as a partner in advancing gender equity through research, policy advice, and program support.",
    "Bottom line: increasing women’s economic participation can make the economy larger, more equitable, more resilient to demographic change, and better diversified.",
    "[091516 (PDF)](/external/np/blog/dialogo/091516.pdf){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}",
    "[Staff Discussion Note (PDF)](/external/pubs/ft/sdn/2015/sdn1502.pdf){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}",
    "[Christine Lagarde](http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/cl.htm)",
    "[Canada and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/CAN/index.htm)",
    "[Japan and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/JPN/index.htm)",
    "[Peru and the IMF](http://www.imf.org/external/country/PER/index.htm)",
    "[Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)",
    "[PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)",
    "[Catalyst for Change: Empowering Women and Tackling Income Inequality](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=43346)",
    "[Can Women Save Japan?](http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=40048.0)",
    "[To Boost Growth: Employ More Women](https://blog-imfdirect.imf.org/2016/09/14/to-boost-growth-employ-more-women/)",
    "[Gender Equality and Economic Diversification](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=44091.0)",
    "[Unlocking Female Employment Potential in Europe: Drivers and Benefits](https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=43712.0)",
    "[https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)"
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