The reasons for investing in and empowering women are as urgent today as ever. The global economy is stuck in low gear as geopolitical instability, protectionism, volatile inflation and interest rates, and other factors are keeping growth running at a rate of less than 3% a year, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report. That’s significantly below the average of 2010-19.
Closing the gap in employment rates between men and women over the next decade could double the global growth rate, and raise the world’s GDP by more than 20%, according to the World Bank’s latest Women, Business and the Law (WBL) report.
In an effort to close that gender gap, the Oliver Wyman Forum is working with WBL and Women Political Leaders (WPL) to conduct research into the crucial intersection of women’s political representation and legal and economic equality. Initial insights from our upcoming Representation Matters report show that women’s representation in legislatures and cabinet positions correlates to greater legal rights and protections for women to participate in the economy, and that their participation can provide economic benefits to society as a whole.
Yet the drive for gender equality faces serious headwinds, with progress slowing recently after decades of gains, and signs of a backlash are evident in places. We need to rethink our approach and look to drive change across a wider range of power centers, including the executive branches of governments, multilateral organizations, and the private sector.
Election takeaways
The super election year of 2024, in which voters in countries with nearly half the global population were scheduled to go to the polls, so far has produced modest progress at best, with the women’s share of seats in lower or single houses of parliaments declining in 16 countries, increasing in 15, and unchanged in five, according to data from the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Cultural issues played a significant role in countries with lower representation while many countries that made gains have gender quotas for candidates or representatives.
Some of the most-significant gains came in Latin America. Women increased their share of seats in the lower house of the Dominican Republic’s Congress by nine percentage points, to 37%, and by four points in El Salvador’s unicameral Legislative Assembly, to 32%. The countries set minimum quotas for political parties’ legislative candidates at 40% and 30%, respectively. Meanwhile, Mexico elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and achieved gender parity in both houses of Congress. The country mandates that parties field candidate slates with a 50-50 balance of men and women. Iceland and North Macedonia also elected women presidents, replacing a male in each case, while Slovakia and Taiwan elected men to succeed women as president.
In Asia, Japan elected a record 73 women to the Diet’s lower house in October, according to the Japan Times, but that amounts to only 16% of the seats, well below the global average of 27%. The country’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party said it had no plans to introduce gender quotas. Women accounted for only 16% of the party’s candidates in the election, well below the government’s voluntary target of 35% by 2025.
The United Kingdom recorded the most significant gains in Europe. There were fewer female candidates in the May 2024 general election than five years earlier, but women increased their share of seats in the House of Commons by seven percentage points, to 41%, reflecting the outsized gains made by the now-governing Labour Party. Nevertheless, female candidates reported an increase in online abuse, which can discourage women from participating in politics.
By contrast, women’s share of seats in the European Parliament and in France’s Assemble Nationale fell by one percentage point, to 39% and 36%, respectively. French law penalizes parties that fail to put forward an equal number of male and female candidates, and 47% of candidates were female, but many of them were nominated in constituencies where they had little chance of victory.
With a handful of House races still undecided, 148 women will serve in the next US Congress in January, or 27.7% of the two chambers, down by three seats or a little less than one percentage point from the previous Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers university. A female candidate, in this case Kamala Harris, lost the presidential election for the second time in the last three elections. Running doesn’t and shouldn’t guarantee winning, of course, but Harris was disparaged on the campaign trail for being a woman and Donald Trump appealed openly to male grievance.
These results didn’t come in a vacuum. The United Nations Development Programme finds that half the world’s people believe men make better leaders than women, a view that hasn’t changed in a decade, while the Reykjavik Index for Leadership finds that people aged 18 to 34 exhibit more bias against women than older generations, and the gap has widened significantly in recent years.
The Paths Forward
Today’s environment for women’s leadership is challenging, to say the least. To change perception bias and extend greater economic and political opportunity for women, advocates need to sharpen their arguments and broaden their outreach.
For starters, make clear that gender equality is not a zero-sum game. At a time when countries are struggling to find GDP boosters, closing the gender gap in employment rates can drive stronger economic growth and cultivate widespread prosperity across all levels of society. The potential gains also are more pronounced in countries where the participation of women in the workforce is currently lower.
Work with all levels of political power, including executive branches of government. They have considerable authority over budgetary allocations and should be encouraged to finance measures that can increase women’s legal and economic opportunities, knowing that increases in gender equality can yield rich dividends in terms of broad-based growth.
Women hold many powerful positions in executive or adjacent branches. As president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen shapes and implements economic policy across the 27-nation European Union; Christine Lagarde directs monetary policy for the 20 EU countries in the Euro Area, and Rachel Reeves oversees UK fiscal policy as Chancellor of the Exchequer. They can be major allies but it’s essential to work with all senior policymakers, lest gender equality be seen as purely a women’s issue.
Create and promote policies to tackle gender inequality and ensure that existing equal opportunity laws are enforced and have adequate supporting frameworks. Consider the issue of equal pay for work of equal value. Ninety-eight economies tracked by WBL require that by law, yet only 35 have pay-transparency or enforcement measures that can make equal pay for women a reality.
Encourage the private sector to lead by example and be vocal about the importance of women’s leadership and economic opportunity. Senior business leaders have a vested interest in hiring and promoting more women. It’s important to cast a wide net to attract and retain the best talent, and promote a diversity of experience and background in senior executive ranks to avoid groupthink and foster innovation. This is not only true in the private sector but also in attracting more women to public sector roles from private sector, and vice versa.
At the current pace of reform, it would take at least 50 years on average for countries to achieve legal gender equality, WBL has estimated. The world needs faster change to drive greater economic growth and uplift entire families in our societies. Rather than being discouraged, we should redouble our efforts to promote equal rights and opportunities today.