Gender Inequality, Growth and Global Ageing
In the Goldman Sachs economic research paper Gender Inequality, Growth and Global Ageing, author Kevin Daly argues that by closing the gender gap many nations could better solve problems related to their ageing populations.
- In places where it is easy for women to work and have children, both female employment and fertility are usually higher
- Countries where the ageing problem is the worst tend to have the lowest female employment (e.g. Japan and Italy)
“Reducing gender inequality could play a key role in addressing the twin problems of population ageing and pension sustainability.”
POTENTIAL POSITIVE OUTCOMES
- Closing the gap between male and female employment will improve the global economy, raising the U.S. GDP by up to 9%, the Eurozone GDP by 13%, and the Japanese GDP by 16%
- More female employment means more women have disposable income, which has positive implications for equity market performance
- More women in the work force will boost low fertility rates
- Closing the gap can help address the pension sustainability problem by boosting employment among people of working age and thus reducing the retiree-to-employee dependency ratio
RECOMMENDED GOVERNMENT ACTIONS TO NARROW THE GAP
- Reduce tax distortions that discourage female employment
- Get rid of differences in retirement policies
- Subsidize childcare
Read the entire paper here
