Gender parity can boost GDP, report says

Add US $150B to economy by 2026

Bringing more women into t he workforce and paying them on par with men could add US$ 150 billion to Canada’s economy by 2026, roughly equivalent to the size of the country’s financial services sector, according McKinsey.

That l e vel of growth would r equire creating 600,000 new jobs for females, six- per- cent higher than current forecasts. Opportunity exists in the highproductivity commodities sector that drives Canada’s growth, where new technologies are making it easier to hire women who, historically, have held just 25 per cent of jobs. “Canada is among the global leaders in women’s equality,” McKinsey analysts, including Sandrine Devillard in Montreal, wrote in the report. “However, progress toward gender parity has stalled over the past 20 years, and Canada must find new ways to keep pace.”

At current rates, Canada would need between 30 to 180 years to close gender gaps across its industries. With the exception of higher education and political representation — boosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s gender- equal cabinet — fewer Canadian women are breaking into managerial positions or science, math and technical professions.

Canadian women account for 51 per cent of the country’s working- age population and hold 56 per cent of all advanced degrees, but make up just 47 per cent of the labour force and contribute 41 per cent of total GDP. While that’s higher than the global average of 37 per cent, French and Portuguese women contribute 43 per cent and 47 per cent to GDP, respectively.

Moreover, Canadian women also tend to work in less- productive sectors. Women make up 82 per cent of workers in the health care and social assistance sector where average output per employee is US$ 50,000 and 67 per cent in education at US$70,000. In contrast, only one in five employees is a woman in agriculture, forestry, and oil and gas with an average output per employee of US$ 250,000, and in utilities at US$270,000.

Within firms, main bottlenecks for women are jumping from entry level to manager, where 64 women advance for every 100 men. For every 100 male directors who are promoted to vice president, only 37 women are. Achieving full gender parity could add $420 billion to Canada’s economy by 2026, according to the report.

PROGRESS TOWARD GENDER PARITY HAS STALLED.