Women Are a Key Driver to Global Economic Growth

The Economist Intelligence Unit created the Women’s Economic Opportunity (WEO) Index.  The index measures progress in the economic advancement of women and aims to look beyond gender disparities to the underlying factors affecting women’s access to economic opportunity.

Women drive economic growth. In the second half of the 20th century, the entry of women into the workforce helped to propel most of the world’s developed economies. But women remain the world’s greatest pool of untapped labour: Nearly one-half of the world’s working age women are not currently active in the global economy. As governments worldwide seek short- and long-term fixes to waning economic performance, expanding opportunities for the 1.5bn women not employed in the formal sector will take on even greater importance, as will removing the legal, social, financial and educational barriers hindering women’s productivity.

Download the free index and report here (you must complete the registration form to download the report).

Posted by:  Laurel Delaney