Global Women principal partner PwC has released its much anticipated Women in Work Index placing a spotlight on the progress made, and more importantly the progress still to be made, towards gender parity.
The Index shows significant improvements across OECD countries to improve female economic empowerment, but the gender pay gap continues to be a major stumbling block.
Women are paid just $83 for every $100 their male counterparts earn on average across the OECD.
Nordic countries dominate the list of most advanced when it comes to gender parity, and New Zealand comes in at a close fourth place, ahead of Australia in 20th place and the UK in 16th.
If female employment across the OECD was to match Sweden’s performance, it could yield an injection of US $5trillion to GDP, according to the Index. New Zealand could stand to gain US $11billion alone if we increased the number of women in work.
PwC has suggested a number of policy levers that include:
- Affordable access to childcare
- Shared parental leave
- Improved tax incentives for women returning to work
- Promoting pay transparency and equality