Fair Play: More Equal Laws Boost Female Labor Force Participation

By Christian Gonzales, Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, Monique Newiak

February 23, 2015

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Christian Gonzales, Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, and Monique Newiak. Fair Play: More Equal Laws Boost Female Labor Force Participation, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2015) accessed December 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Staff Discussion Note represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent IMF views or IMF policy. The views expressed herein should be attributed to the authors and not to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management. Staff Discussion Notes are published to elicit comments and to further debate.

Summary

This Staff Discussion Note examines the effect of gender-based legal restrictions and other policy choices and demographic characteristics on female labor force participation. Drawing on a large and novel panel data set of gender-related legal restrictions, the study finds that restrictions on women’s rights to inheritance and property, as well as legal impediments to undertaking economic activities such as opening a bank account or freely pursuing a profession, are strongly associated with larger gender gaps in labor force participation. These factors have a significant additional impact on female labor force participation over and above the effects of demographic characteristics and policies. In many cases, the gender gaps caused by these restrictions also have macro-critical effects in terms of an impact on GDP. The results from this study suggest that it would be beneficial to level the playing field by removing obstacles that prevent women from becoming economically active if they choose to do so. In recommending equal opportunities, however, this study does not intend to render a judgment of countries’ broadly accepted cultural and religious norms.

Subject: Gender, Gender diversity, Gender inequality, Labor, Labor force participation, Legal support in revenue administration, Revenue administration, Women

Keywords: Female labor force participation, Gender diversity, Gender equity, Gender inequality, Global, Inheritance right, Labor force, Labor force participation, Labor force participation, Legal rights, Legal support in revenue administration, Middle East, North Africa, OECD country sample, Participation gap, Policy conclusion, Policy recommendation, SDN, South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Women

Publication Details

Pages:

34
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Staff Discussion Notes No. 2015/002
Stock No:

SDNEA2015002
ISBN:

9781498354424
ISSN:

2617-6750

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