According to a study, improve equality between men and women bring some 12,000 billion to global growth.

While virtually worldwide growth stalled and that everyone is looking for ways to boost the solution is at hand, says a report published by McKinsey Global Institutes husked by the Washington Post. It holds in a word: women who, if they had a role equal to that of men, could bring to the world economy some 28,000 billion in 2025, a quarter of world gross domestic product! Concretely, this would add two states, one the size of the United States and one from China, with the world economy.

The study authors concede that it is very unlikely that in just ten years, women make an equal footing with men in the world, under the gap that exists today, notably between different regions of the world . They are thus based on a less ambitious scenario, in which all countries of the world would improve their performances to match the most efficient state of the region in which it is located, such as Chile in Latin America, Spain Western Europe and Singapore in Southeast Asia. This scenario would bring 12.000 billion to the global economy in 2025, according to McKinsey, the equivalent of another Japan, Germany and the UK.

India is the country which would derive the greatest benefit from these changes: its economy grow by 60% on the basis of the first scenario, one where women are equal to men, and 16% on the basis of the second, the one where women would approach the system in force in the most powerful countries in the region. Latin America, China and sub-Saharan Africa would also be the big winners of these developments.

The weight of women in the global economy

Today, women represent half of the global population of working age but they generate only 37% of global GDP. In North America, China, Eastern Europe, in particular, that percentage rises to 40-41%; in India, it falls to 17% in the Middle East and Africa with 18% and 24% in South Asia (excluding India).

The solutions

For more equality between men and women, researchers advocate to act on three levers: ensuring that women represent the same work force than men, they work as many hours and they occupy the same jobs. They also stress the importance of women's education, their access to financial services and the Internet, and finally, they feel the need to give women the same protection as that of the man under the law .

Unpaid work-sharing

One of the biggest challenges is to act on the unpaid work done by 75% of women worldwide, which includes caring for children and the elderly, cooking and cleaning. This percentage increases to 80-90% in India, the rest of South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. In Western Europe and North America it is between 60 and 70%.

The solution could come from a more equitable distribution of these tasks between men and women, say the authors. Unpaid work could also be entrusted to others, who would they paid, or better managed through the purchase of equipment such as dishwashers and washing machines. Finally, one could also improve certain government services, such as access to clean water and electricity, which would allow women to spend less time going to collect water or firewood. These efforts represent a significant gain since according to conservative estimates of the study, the unpaid work done by women now amount to 10.000 billion dollars every year ... 13% of the world economy.