The Worth of Gender Equality in the Workforce

Abstract

As of 2019, the global gender employment gap measured in terms of labor force participation was 29.67%. This gap has shrunk significantly over time, but intentional efforts to continue this trend are needed across the world, as evidenced by the United Nations inclusion of women's economic empowerment as a 2030 Sustainable Development Goal. Increasing the labor force participation rate for women globally not only contributes to the economic empowerment of women but also raises the productivity level of society as a whole, as measured in Gross Domestic Product. The goal of this thesis is to suggest and evaluate a model to quantify the impact that increased women's labor force participation rates can have on Gross Domestic Product over a 10 year horizon. A logistic regression model will be used to project labor force participation rates for classified regions and income levels based on historical data since 1990. Subsequently, a supply side GDP model is used to estimate gross domestic product in the year 2030. The supply side GDP model considers 3 differing scenarios where the labor force participation rate of women is the only differing input in order to isolate the effect of this metric. The model estimates global gross domestic product to increase by nearly $1 trillion dollars if labor force participation rates of women follow historical trends and to increase by $21 trillion dollars if labor force participation rates of women were to equal that of men in 2030.