Promoting Gender Equality and Tackling Demographic Challenges

By Jiajia Gu, Lisa L Kolovich, Jorge Mondragon, Monique Newiak, Michael Herrmann

June 11, 2024

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Jiajia Gu, Lisa L Kolovich, Jorge Mondragon, Monique Newiak, and Michael Herrmann. Promoting Gender Equality and Tackling Demographic Challenges, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2024) accessed November 21, 2024

Summary

Two broad contrasting demographic trends present challenges for economies globally: countries with aging populations, often advanced economies and increasingly emerging markets, anticipate a significant shrinking of the labor force, with implications for growth, economic stability, and public finances. Economies with rapidly growing populations, as is the case in many low-income and developing countries, will face a burgeoning young population entering the labor market in the next decades—a large potential to reap the demographic dividend if the right skills and economic and social conditions are in place. This note highlights how gender equality, in both cases, can serve as a stabilizing factor to rebalance demographic trends. As decisions regarding fertility, human capital investment, and labor force participation are interlinked, policies should aim at relaxing households’ time and resource constraints that condition these choices. This means that, in general, in advanced economies and emerging markets, policies should facilitate women’s work–life choices and boost female participation in the labor market, whereas policies in low-income and developing countries should focus on reforms that narrow gender gaps in opportunities and support human capital accumulation.

Subject: Economic sectors, Gender, Gender diversity, Gender inequality, Labor, Labor force participation, Population and demographics, Women

Keywords: Demographics, Education, Female labor force participation, Fertility, Gender diversity, Gender equality, Gender inequality, Global, Human capital, IMF gender note, IMF gender Note 2024/002, IMF Library, Labor force participation, Labor force participation, Macroeconomic policy, Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Tackling demographic challenge, Western Hemisphere, Women

Publication Details

Pages:

39
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Gender Notes No. 2024/002
Stock No:

GNSEA2024002
ISBN:

9798400277788
ISSN:

3005-4591

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