women labor force participation

Chart of the Week: Malaysia Needs More Women in the Workforce

IMFBlog2019-03-14T13:18:44-04:00April 2, 2018|

April 2, 2018

Version in baˈhasa indoneˈsia (Indonesian)

Four students walk past a bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Policies like improving the quality of education can help the country increase the number of women in the workforce (photo: John Mulligan/iStock by Getty Images).

Malaysia, a country well on its way to achieving high income status, can increase the number of women in the labor force by implementing key labor market reforms. And the country should, because our research shows that more women in the workforce benefits the economy. […]

Every Woman Counts: Gender Budgeting in G7 Countries

IMFBlog2019-03-25T16:07:34-04:00May 13, 2017|

By Christine Lagarde

May 13, 2017

Versions in عربي (Arabic), 中文 (Chinese), Français (French), 本語 (Japanese), Русский (Russian), and Español (Spanish)

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 countries met in Bari, Italy, this weekend to consider global economic issues, including steps to maintain economic stability and improving gender equality as important agenda items.

Women’s economic empowerment has long been an international priority, of course. The G6—as it was then—was first created in 1975, a year named “International Women’s Year” by the United Nations to help more women worldwide realize their full potential. Mountain climber Junko Tabei masterfully demonstrated this potential when she became the first woman to conquer Mount Everest in that year. However, as the world dealt with the aftermath of the first oil shock and the end of the fixed exchange rate system, global economic stability and women’s empowerment were rarely part of the same conversation.

Junko Tabei, the first woman to climb Mount Everest and the “Seven Summits”—the highest […]

Empowering Women, Tackling Income Inequality

IMFBlog2019-03-27T14:39:18-04:00October 22, 2015|

By Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, and Monique Newiak

(Versions in عربي, 中文, Français, 日本語, Русский, and Español)

Despite progress, wide gaps between women and men’s economic empowerment and opportunity remain, which policymakers need to tackle urgently. In most countries, more men than women work, and they get paid more for similar work. Also, there are considerable gender gaps in access to education, health and finance in a number of countries. There is mounting evidence that the lack of gender equity imposes large economic costs as it hampers productivity and weighs on growth.

Our new study analyzes the links between these two phenomena—inequality of income and that of gender. We find that gender inequality is strongly associated with income inequality across time and countries of all income groups.

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