Women and Economic Injustice
When it comes to growing inequality, women get the short end of the stick
It’s a well-known fact that global poverty is one of the most pressing issues facing the world today. Poverty works its way into conversations about practically every issue from climate change to terrorism to, of course, international economic development. Often forgotten, however, is the disproportionate impact of global poverty on one specific demographic that makes up over half the world’s population — women.
Women account for three-fifths of the world’s working poor, and are more likely to live in poverty worldwide than men. Long-term inequality is reinforced by the fact that women earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, with an even higher disparity for women with children. In developing parts of the world, 75 percent of women work in the informal economy where their labor is not subject to social regulation or protection, putting them at greater risk of exploitation, denial of benefits and safe working conditions, or other injustices.
But all this only applies to those women who hold paid employment. Since 1990, women’s participation in the global workforce has lingered around 50 percent. Women are more likely to be unemployed than men worldwide, and are twice as likely in some parts of the world. Rather than having the opportunity to seek out meaningful and sustainable employment, women are often forced by social and other pressures to take on unpaid work such as childcare, elder care, and housework. It is estimated that the total value of this unpaid labor is $10 trillion, or one-eighth of the global economy.
In addition to creating severe limitations for the social, political and economic advancement of half the world’s population, the impacts of this inequality extend far beyond just women. One NGO study found that gender inequality in developing nations costs these countries a total of $9 trillion per year, undermining the global economy as well as economic opportunity for women. It is estimated that if women had the same level of economic participation as men, an additional $28 trillion, or 26 percent would be contributed to the global GDP by 2025.
