Promoting gender equality to strengthen economic growth and resilience
Women’s employment rates and wages are still lagging those of men across OECD countries,
with average employment and wage gaps now around 15% and 12% respectively. Gaps narrowed
at a relatively modest pace over the past decade, calling for further policy action.
A lack of affordable high-quality childcare is often an obstacle to women’s participation
in the labour market and notably to working full time. A very unequal sharing of parental
leave between parents and challenges upon return to work further hampers women’s careers.
Biases in the tax system may discourage women from working in some countries. Women
face disadvantage in accessing management positions and entrepreneurship. A range
of policies can help reduce gender gaps, including better childcare provision, incentivising
parents to better share parental leave, re-skilling and upskilling on return from
parental leave, encouraging gender equality within firms, integration programmes for
foreign-born women, promoting women entrepreneurship and financial inclusion, and
levelling taxation for second earners. Moreover, the multiple dimensions and root
causes of gender inequality call for mainstreaming gender across policy domains.
Published on November 20, 2023Also available in: French
In series:OECD Economics Department Working Papersview more titles