A report examined how to close gender gaps in economic life in developed (OECD) countries. It said that greater gender equality in educational attainment had a strong positive effect on economic growth. Stereotyping needed to be addressed in educational choices at school from a young age. Good and affordable childcare was a key factor for better gender equality in employment. But change also had to happen at home, as the bulk of housework and caring was left to women in many countries.
Source: Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | Summary | UK note | OECD press release | EWL press release | Daily Mail report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Dec
A paper examined the extent to which the increase in women's human capital, as measured by educational attainment, had contributed to economic growth in developed (OECD) countries countries over the previous five decades. There had been a 'positive and significant' impact of the increase in women's educational attainment relative to men's on output per capita growth, implying that the comparative advantage of men relative to women regarding educational attainment had weakened over time, and had even reversed in many countries. The potential effect of increased female labour force participation on economic growth was dependent on the rate at which male and female labour force participation would converge, with a potential gain of 12 per cent to the size of the total economy by 2030, on average across OECD countries, if complete convergence occurred in the following 20 years.
Source: Olivier Thevenon, Nabil Ali, Willem Adem, and Angelica Salvi del Pero, Effects of Reducing Gender Gaps in Education and Labour Force Participation on Economic Growth in the OECD, Social, Employment and Migration Working Paper 138, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Date: 2012-Dec
A paper examined the role of maternal gender-role attitudes in explaining the differential educational expectations mothers had for their daughters and sons, and consequently their children's later educational outcomes and labour supply. Mothers' and children's gender-role attitudes, measured some 25 years apart, were significantly correlated, equally so for sons and daughters. Moreover, daughters were significantly more likely to continue school beyond the minimum school-leaving age, participate in the labour force, and work more hours, if their mothers had held non-traditional (pro-gender-equality) beliefs, even if they were not working themselves. By contrast there was no effect on sons' education outcomes and labour supply. Intergenerational transmission of non-traditional attitudes from mothers to their children explained a substantive part of gender inequalities in economic opportunities.
Source: David Johnston, Stefanie Schurer, and Michael Shields, Maternal Gender Role Attitudes, Human Capital Investment, and Labour Supply of Sons and Daughters, Discussion Paper 6656, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Jun
A report said that breaking down barriers to gender equality in education, employment, and entrepreneurship would create new sources of economic growth in developed countries and help make better use of everyone's skills.
Source: Gender Equality in Education, Employment and Entrepreneurship: Final report to the MCM 2012, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | OECD press release
Date: 2012-May
A paper examined trends in gender gaps in education in industrialized countries, and their potential policy implications. Female educational attainment had surpassed, or was about to surpass, male educational attainment – this reflected male over-representation among secondary school drop-outs and female over-representation among tertiary education students and graduates. This pattern was a result of a combination of increasing returns to education and lower female effort costs of education. A widening gender gap in education, combined with recent wage and employment polarization, would probably lead to widening inequalities and was linked to declining male labour force participation.
Source: Tuomas Pekkarinen, Gender Differences in Education, Discussion Paper 6390, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Mar
A paper said that differences in culture and social norms were crucial determinants in understanding gender differences in educational test scores in advanced (OECD) countries. Girls performed relatively better in both maths and reading in societies where gender equality was enhanced, and the effect varied over the distribution of scores. There was substantial evidence for the intergenerational transmission of gender role attitudes, especially from mothers to daughters, since the performance of girls – but not that of boys – was better in families where the mother worked outside the home.
Source: Ainara Gonzalez de San Roman and Sara de la Rica Goiricelaya, Gender Gaps in PISA Test Scores: The impact of social norms and the mother s transmission of role attitudes, Discussion Paper 6338, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Feb