Liberia: IMF Deputy Director Calls for Closing Gender Gaps in Labor Force to Boost GDP

Antoinette Sayeh, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Deputy Managing Director, has said reducing gender disparities can increase developing nations' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over a long term period.  

"Today, only 47% of women are active in labor market compared with 72% of men,” she said in a video address posted on the IMF Africa facebook page. 

Sayeh, who was the first Finance Minister under former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, said “[there] is a lot of untapped potential, but if addressed, could boost GDP by 8%, bringing huge economic growth particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Speaking virtually at the  UN Women Africa - ONU Femmes Afrique – Government of Tanzania, IMF - East Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center Africa Regional Meeting on Financing for Gender Equality, she said women’s economic and financial empowerment can play a crucial role in boosting a country’s GDP.

“In emerging and developing economies, we estimate that by reducing this gap by just 6 percentage points could boost GDP by about 8%. This is more than the economic scrolling inflated in countries by the pandemic for sub Saharan Africa, and, in particular, closing the gender gap in labor market participation and education could yield substantial microeconomic benefits.” 

Citing research conducted by the IMF, Sayeh said: “In Ethiopia we estimate that closing the gender gap in education and informal labor market participation could boost GDP by as much as 24% over the long term.”

“In Senegal, we found that ensuring that both women and girls receive at least 5 years of education can increase GDP by 8%.  More broadly, measures that support human capital accumulation can help the region reap its vast demographic dividends.”

“So how can countries harness the benefits of gender equality to boost growth at the IMF? We focus on the gender disparities that are micro critical, gender disparities that lead to significant losses, such as the ones I just mentioned, fall into this category.” 

According to her, addressing these disparities requires applying a gender lens to the full range of economic and financial policy, from expenditure and tax policies through budgeting systems and revenue administration, so that countries can better understand the impact of gender policy.

“At the IMF, are partnering with countries to do just that. Since launching our gender strategy last year, we have worked with 22 countries to identify the micro critical gender gaps,nd we have discussed the policies that could help address them. One example of our engagement has been with Nile, which has the highest rate of child marriages in the world. The IMF estimates that keeping girls in school will increase the Nile’s long term GDP by 11%,” Sayeh said.

“This initiated a discussion on the importance of investing in girls’ education to achieve a higher level of development. We plan to engage in more than 30 more countries next year across the world. Coming back to sub-Saharan Africa, together with the authorities, we can work together toward greater gender equality, which is not only for women; it is good for their families, their communities, and the economic health of their countries.”