page_title: Women in the workforce
section_title: Women and Economic Development
hierarchical_section_title: Women in the workforce / Women and Economic Development
context_page_description: Since the industrial revolution, women have increasingly participated in the workforce outside of the home in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women in the workforce contribute to a higher national economic output as measured in GDP as well as decreasing labor costs by increasing the labor supply in a society.
  Women's lack of access to higher education had effectively excluded them from the practice of well-paid and high status occupations. Entry of women into the higher professions like law and medicine was delayed in most countries due to women being denied entry to universities and qualification for degrees; for example, Cambridge University only fully validated degrees for women late in 1947, and even then only after much opposition and acrimonious debate. Women were largely limited to low-paid and poor status occupations for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, or earned less pay than men for doing the same work. However, through the 20th century, the labor market shifted.
context_section_description: Global research clearly delineates the correlation between women's role in the economy and an increase in the standard of living. In the 2001 World Bank Report entitled, "Engendering Development," the connection between women's involvement in the economy and growth is more clearly stated, "While disparities in basic rights; in schooling, credit, and jobs; or in the ability to participate in public life take their most direct toll on women and girls, the full costs of gender inequality ultimately harm everyone…ignoring gender disparities comes at a great cost—to people's well-being and to countries’ abilities to grow sustainably, to govern effectively, and thus reduce poverty" (xi). Society's intrinsic value is often associated with contribution and production as a whole, thus women's inability to participate in economy further solidifies a subordinate role in society. "The fact that women have fewer opportunities in labor market may contribute to their unequal treatment in the household…Increased opportunities for women in the labor market do indeed translate into better outcomes for women…For the same increase in total household income, an increase in female income of 7 U.S. dollars per month translates into a 1 percentage point increase in the survival rate for girls" (Duflo 1057). Women are treated as less than men because their role in the home does not perpetuate survival of the family directly in terms of income. A stark realization of women's economic value in the eyes of under-developed countries is sex selective abortion rights and the alarming phenomenon of "missing women" (qtd. in Duflo 1051). What many societies fail to realize is that the trade-off to helping a woman instead of a man does not exist. When a woman is empowered with education and involvement in the economy everyone is better off. Women's economic involvement will drive up Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is a foundational standard for higher living. James Wolfensohn of the World Bank states, "Education for girls has a catalytic effect on every dimension of development: lower child and maternal mortality rates; increased educational attainment by daughters and sons; higher productivity; and improved environmental management. Together, these can mean faster economic growth and, equally important, wider distribution of the fruits of growth… More education for girls will also enable more and more women to attain leadership positions at all levels of society: from health clinics in the villages to parliaments in the capitals. This, in turn, will change the way societies will deal with problems and raise the quality of global decision-making" (xi).
  Duflo, Esther. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development." Journal of Economic Literature, 2012, 1051–1079, http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/jel.50.4.1051.
  "Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice." The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank. 2001. Oxford University Press.
caption: Women in informal employment as share of female employment in 2017.[11]