WaW! 2022. “Advancing gender equality in the labor market will bring $12 trillion to the global economy”

“Advancing gender equality in the labor market will bring $12 trillion to the global economy by 2025,” UN Women Executive Director Sima Sami Bahuz said at the opening of the World Assembly for Women (WAW!) on December 3 in Tokyo.

Assembly meetings have been held annually at the initiative of the Japanese government since 2014, but the frequency of meetings has decreased slightly in recent years. This time, the participants who came to Japan from all over the world discussed the challenges faced by women, the role of women in security, peace, decision-making processes, healthcare, economy and other fields, as well as told about the efforts of their countries to solve these problems.

Iceland’s President Gudni Johansson, Moldova’s President Maya Sandu took part in the session, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin sent video messages to the participants.

According to the information published on the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the agenda of the session included questions about the role and participation of women in the economy, environment, healthcare and other fields.

In her speech, the executive director of UN-Women, Sima Sami Bahuz, emphasized that gender inequality will become a serious economic problem if women, who make up half of the world’s population of working age, do not have the opportunity to realize their full potential.

“In recent years, the world has seen an improvement in the status of women in society, but the coronavirus pandemic had a negative effect on that process. Isolation led to an increase in domestic violence, reduced women’s working hours, because as a result of non-functioning of kindergartens and schools, women had to take care of children. If current trends continue, it will take us 300 years to progress. That is what is needed to achieve gender equality, cancel discriminatory laws and fill the gaps in legal aid,” said the executive director of “UN-Women”.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida presented his concept of the need to introduce gender equality into the basis of new capitalism.

“In recent years, the international community has been paying more attention to gender mainstreaming, the goal of which is to reflect gender equality in all systems and policies. This will lead to further growth and other benefits across the population, taking into account the rights of all, including women. To achieve this, I have put women’s economic independence at the heart of the “New Form of Capitalism” policy. Let’s take a new and powerful step together in the direction of establishing a peaceful and prosperous society, where every person can feel complete, overcome challenges, play an active role and realize their own potential”, said the official of the host country in his speech.

The gender difference in salary was also the center of attention of the discussion. It was noted that all the countries of the world are facing this challenge. In this regard, the gap is even lower in Belgium, on average, women’s wages are 3.8 percent lower than men’s wages.

Meanwhile, the average salary difference in the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is 11.7%, and in Japan – 22.1%, it is the lowest in the G7. It should be noted that the wage difference between men and women in Armenia is 35.5%.

Women are more often employed in low-paid, unstable and informal jobs. This applies to almost all countries.

“In any country, it is important to reduce the gender wage gap so that women are economically independent during their lifetime,” the participants emphasized.

The participants noted that entrepreneurship is one of the driving forces of economic growth in times of uncertainty, they admitted that every year more and more women are starting their own businesses.

According to the statistical data presented at the discussion of the topic “Women and Business”, one out of every three entrepreneurs in the world is a woman. However, women entrepreneurs work in small businesses, mostly in the retail and service sectors, and women are underrepresented in the construction and energy sectors due to barriers.

Full text in Armenian