Chapter Six
"Close gender gap to boost global growth," National Post, FP1,
Wed April 4 07
Countries that have reached a state of slow economic growth tend to have low birthrates in conjunction with high rate of female unemployment. The reason for this is simple, female employment equals extra income, extra income equals security and security equals an increase in children. Therefore, the answer to the twin problems of slow economic growth and even slower population growth is also simple; getting more women into the global workforce equals the decrease in ageing populations and pension sustainability.
Using Scandinavia as an example, closing the gap between male and female employment can boost a country's GDP as high as 20%. The US, who sets an internationally accepted example of gender equality, female employment is still 12% lower than male employment, whereas in Sweden the gap between the two is less than 5%. The reasons for this can be found in Japan and Italy where culture values the traditional role of the woman staying at home to look after children and this has only turned into a standard for successful child-rearing in today’s status-conscious and competitive society. However, in today’s modern society, it is often just one child.
With increased female employment the global GDP will be pushed towards equilibrium as, both the amounts saved and the amounts invested increase. However, as it is impossible for an economy to reach equilibrium, the overall global economy will be better off as more money is flowing around because of the “extra” income. As investment increase the amount of available products on the market will also increase and will further close the global recessionary gap. Overall, getting more women to work in the workforce affect all levels of GDP in almost any country in the world as it will help increase both international GDP and birthrates.
In my personal opinion, while getting more women to work may have a positive impact on global economy but in turn the government has to be able to provide adequate child care services that parents will be willing to send their children to. Not many children get sent to child care because parents now feel that it is necessary to expose their children to as much educational endeavors as they can because of today’s extremely status-conscious community e.g. various lessons and tutoring sessions. Therefore, it will be up to businesses and government to create child care programs that will be inexpensive as well make it so that parents are reassured that their children are engaging in various educational activates, if they wish for more women to enter the workforce.
"Close gender gap to boost global growth," National Post, FP1,
Wed April 4 07
Countries that have reached a state of slow economic growth tend to have low birthrates in conjunction with high rate of female unemployment. The reason for this is simple, female employment equals extra income, extra income equals security and security equals an increase in children. Therefore, the answer to the twin problems of slow economic growth and even slower population growth is also simple; getting more women into the global workforce equals the decrease in ageing populations and pension sustainability.
Using Scandinavia as an example, closing the gap between male and female employment can boost a country's GDP as high as 20%. The US, who sets an internationally accepted example of gender equality, female employment is still 12% lower than male employment, whereas in Sweden the gap between the two is less than 5%. The reasons for this can be found in Japan and Italy where culture values the traditional role of the woman staying at home to look after children and this has only turned into a standard for successful child-rearing in today’s status-conscious and competitive society. However, in today’s modern society, it is often just one child.
With increased female employment the global GDP will be pushed towards equilibrium as, both the amounts saved and the amounts invested increase. However, as it is impossible for an economy to reach equilibrium, the overall global economy will be better off as more money is flowing around because of the “extra” income. As investment increase the amount of available products on the market will also increase and will further close the global recessionary gap. Overall, getting more women to work in the workforce affect all levels of GDP in almost any country in the world as it will help increase both international GDP and birthrates.
In my personal opinion, while getting more women to work may have a positive impact on global economy but in turn the government has to be able to provide adequate child care services that parents will be willing to send their children to. Not many children get sent to child care because parents now feel that it is necessary to expose their children to as much educational endeavors as they can because of today’s extremely status-conscious community e.g. various lessons and tutoring sessions. Therefore, it will be up to businesses and government to create child care programs that will be inexpensive as well make it so that parents are reassured that their children are engaging in various educational activates, if they wish for more women to enter the workforce.
posted by AmyYBlkF at 8:49 PM
2 Comments:
It's true that females are breaking their gender barriers. It's nice to see that females aren't just viewed as housewives anymore. To boost global growth, promoting females in the work force is a simple, but good idea.
I don't think child care services would be a problem. With more females interested in working, more jobs need to be opened up. Demand for services such as child care would increase which would open up more jobs. These positions could be filled in by new people who wants to be part of the work force. Of course, this would be filling in the stereotype that females take care of children. Stereotypes are a whole other issue that would require years to break through. Sadly, if we think about it, there are reasons behind them. Back to the point, I agree with you that there are problems tagged with the idea of encouraging females to work.
Child care servies will not be a drastic problem. It will eventually be solved because the demand for this services when more females are working. If there is demand, either government or personal business will provide the service. This will create more jobs in the workforce, declining unemployment rate even more.
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