Comprehensive, comparative data on gender gaps are key to understanding the scope of the issue. The OECD sheds light on gender inequalities in education, employment, entrepreneurship, health, development, governance, digital and energy, showing how far we are from achieving gender equality and where actions is most needed.
Gender equality
Gender equality must remain a priority, as a matter of basic human rights and long-term economic wellbeing and prosperity. It drives economic growth, strengthens democracy, enhances social cohesion and increases the well-being of all members of society. But despite progress in recent years, gender inequalities persist in most spheres of social and economic life.
Key messages
Closing gender gaps goes hand in hand with greater gender equality in representation in the economy and in policy making.
Ensuring that public authorities reflect the population they serve can contribute to more inclusive decision making. Promoting gender equality at work and greater gender diversity on boards can have positive effects on productivity. Closing gaps in labour force participation and working hours could result in an average boost of 9.2% to GDP across OECD countries by 2060.
Because gender inequalities are cross-cutting, they need to be addressed through a range of structural policies, laws, regulations, and other decision-making instruments. Gender mainstreaming, a strategic approach that integrates a gender lens in policy making and budgeting, can help governments achieve more equitable outcomes.
Context
Gender equality and work
Despite progress over generations, women still fare worse than men in labour markets. Differences in employment rates, participation in part-time work, compensation and work quality together result in substantial gender gaps in earnings and career advancement. This means lower lifetime earnings and a greater risk of old-age poverty for women.
As of 2022, the gender wage gap was 11.4% on average across the OECD. This means that, on average, a woman working full-time makes around 88 cents for every dollar or euro a full-time working man makes (at median earnings). This represents only a modest improvement since 2010, when the gender wage gap stood at 14%.
Gender equality is crucial for sound government
Ensuring the participation and representation of all groups of society in public decision making allows for different perspectives to be included, helping ensure that public policies and services reflect the distinct needs and realities of men and women of diverse backgrounds.
Over the past decade, the share of parliamentarians who are women increased by 7.5 percentage points on average across OECD countries. As of 2023, the share of legislators sitting in lower or single house parliaments across the OECD area who are women stood at an average of 33.8%. Only two OECD countries, Mexico and New Zealand, had gender parity in their parliaments on 1 January 2023.
