Within the framework of the Council of Ministers’ Information and Decision Support Center’s (IDSC) interest in monitoring and analyzing everything related to global reports that concern Egyptian affairs, the Center highlighted what the International Monetary Fund indicated that women’s economic empowerment in labor markets is a fundamental driver of inclusive growth, and is one of the main drivers of inclusive growth. Important reforms that policymakers can make to revive economies amid expectations that global growth will decline to a level not exceeding 3% over the next five years.
In this regard, the fund reported that many economies are missing out on opportunities due to not exploiting women’s economic potential. Estimates have shown that emerging and developing economies could boost their GDP by about 8% over the next few years by raising the female labor market participation rate by 5.9 percentage points, which is the average amount of gap reduction achieved by the top 5% of emerging and developing countries during the period. (2014-2019).
The report stated that policymakers can raise growth through several methods, including, for example, implementing administrative reforms and strengthening institutions, in addition to financial reforms to open capital for investment, and complementing these reforms with measures to narrow gender gaps would lead to additional gains. in GDP growth.
The fund reported that although all economies have achieved progress in increasing women’s economic participation, they have also witnessed several setbacks as a result of the shocks and crises that the world has experienced.
For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in closing gender gaps, especially for women with young children, and as a result, there is a need to narrow gender gaps by working to break down the barriers that prevent women from participating in the labor market, such as limited access to education, health, assets, finance, land, legal rights, and care services, and how macroeconomic, structural and financial policy packages affect women should also be taken into account.
On the other hand, the Center highlighted the International Labor Organization’s report entitled “The Benefits of Investing in Transformative Child Care Policy Packages towards Gender Equality and Social Justice,” issued in October 2023, covering 82 countries, where it indicated that every dollar invested in closing the child care policy gap A child could lead to an average increase of US$3.76 in global GDP by 2035.
The report explained that the benefits of investment are not limited to the potential return on investment, but also include benefits related to gender equality, as investing in leave related to childcare, care services, and early childhood education can increase the employment rate of women from the global average of 46.2%. in 2019 to 56.5% in 2035, and reducing the global gender gap in monthly income from 20.1% in 2019 to 8.0% in 2035.
The IDSC stated that estimates for the African region were that every dollar spent on childcare-related leave and early childhood care services by 2035 will nearly double (average return on investment of US$2.22), and in some countries, such as Egypt and Morocco, the ROI can be greater than US$3, and in the Americas, the weighted average ROI is US$2.56, while in Argentina and Chile, the ROI is US$3.89 and US$2.87, respectively.
