Gender Equality and Economic Growth: Is it Equality of Opportunity or Equality of Outcomes?

Abstract

This article explores the impact of gender equality on economic growth. In particular, we focus on the multidimensional nature of gender equality with the object of identifying the relative salience of different aspects of equality. Using exploratory factor analysis on five measures of gender equality, we identify two distinct dimensions: equality of economic opportunities and equality in economic and political outcomes. Regression analysis conducted on an unbalanced panel of 101 countries taken over nonoverlapping five-year periods from 1990 to 2000 reveals that a standard deviation improvement in equality in economic opportunity increases growth by 1.3 percentage points and a corresponding improvement in participatory equality improves growth by an average of about 1.2 percentage points. However, this impact is contingent on a country's stage of development: while developing economies experience significant improvements in growth from greater equality in opportunity, developed societies see significant improvements resulting from greater equality in outcomes.

Female Empowerment and Economic Growth

“…Education for women also carries other externalities, such as reduced fertility and improved child-care and child survival, that enhance the human capital of future generations, and thus growth (for reviews, see Mitra, Bang and Biswas, 2015;Duflo, 2012). Using panel data, Klasen and Lamanna (2009) and Thévenon et al (2012) investigate the effects of gender gaps in education and labor force participation, and find that such gaps are associated with reduced economic growth.…”

“…However, we know less about the effects of other types of female empowerment. Mitra, Bang and Biswas (2015) argue that gender equality is a multi-dimensional concept, consisting of distinct features that may have different effects on economic growth. Mitra, Bang and Biswas (2015) thus create two distinct indices of female empowerment.…”

Reducing Disparities for Women and Minority Business in Public Contracting Work: A Call for Social Virtuousness

“…Another important aspect of this issue is the cost to individuals and to society for persistent disparities and discrimination against women and minority businesses. Previous work has developed models for documenting the negative economic impact of persistent gender and racial inequalities (Mitra et al., 2014). This work documents the negative impact of persistent discrimination as well as the positive impact on economic development when these persistent disparities are reduced.…”

Gender disparities in European labour markets: A comparison of conditions for men and women in paid employment

“…Goal 3 established a specific target on education and additional indicators on women's employment and political representation (UNDG, 2010;WEF, 2014), based on the rationale that such a goal attained the wider objective of promoting economic growth (OECD et al, 2014). Indeed, an increasing number of studies exploring the connection between gender equality and economic growth (EIGE, 2017;Schober and Winter-Ebmer, 2009;Mitra, Bang and Biswas, 2015;Löfström, 2009) agree on the direct relationship between development and well-being, on the one hand, and the achievement of satisfactory levels of gender balance, at least in certain key aspects, on the other (Kabeer and Natali, 2013).…”