Female participation in the workplace boosts economic growth: IMF

Recent research by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has found a connection between empowering female employees and an improving economy, which was presented during the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Bali, Indonesia.

However, a large gap still remains between male and female labour force participation globally, even as female labour force participation improved in the past 20 years.

Providing women access to power and their own bank accounts plays a crucial role in closing the gap, as well as having the right role models and mentors.

Compared to the 68% participation by males, female labour force participation was 54% for the median of countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2014.

In middle-income countries such as South Africa, the disparity was much more apparent as female labour force participation was 49% compared with 75% for males.