Calls on governments, international institutions and businesses

Today, hundreds of millions of women will collect firewood and water for their families, cook and clean, take care of the elderly, the young and the sick; all the while scratching a living from the poorest paid and most precarious jobs. Women’s labour – in and outside the home – is vital to sustainable development, and for the wellbeing of society. Without the subsidy it provides, the world economy would not function. Yet it is undervalued and for the most part invisible.

To reveal the scale of the crisis, ActionAid has calculated the economic value of addressing gender inequality in work in developing countries. Our findings show that women in developing countries could be US$9 trillion better off if their pay and access to paid work were equal to that of men. This huge price tag illustrates the magnitude of the injustice and represents a vast mine of untapped potential for poor women to improve their own lives, and those of their families. And these costs are not only to women’s finances; women’s economic inequality limits their life choices too – such as their sexual and reproductive health and rights – leaving them vulnerable to violence and other forms of discrimination and exploitation.

But gender inequality in work not only has consequences for women; it carries major costs for all, including businesses and the wider economy. In 2012 the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated that globally an additional US$1.6 trillion in output could be generated by reducing the gap in employment between women and men. Ensuring that women’s work, both in and outside the home, is valued and rewarded fairly is a key factor in fighting poverty and driving prosperity for all.

Recognition is growing worldwide that our economic system needs profound reform. There is also increasing understanding that economic growth alone is not going to lead to gender equality, alleviate poverty and reduce inequality for all. A few governments have taken bold steps to address gender inequality in work, while some progressive businesses have shown greater understanding that giving decent work opportunities to women goes hand in hand with sustainable business and economic returns. The challenge remains to spread this vision from the champions to the mainstream. 

Women’s economic inequality is not inevitable. Exploitation of women’s work prevails because of the unjust politics that shape our economy, and because it is rooted in and further drives wider gender discrimination in society. Governments, businesses and international institutions all have the power to create the conditions that are needed to give women in developing countries the chances that they deserve in and at work.

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/womens_rights_on-line_version_2.1.pdf