Time to break down workforce barriers

Almost a billion women around the world will enter the global economy during the coming decade. They are poised to play a significant role in countries around the world - as significant as that of the billion-plus populations of India and China.

Yet this potential "third billion" has not received sufficient attention from governments, business leaders, or other key decision makers in many countries. This represents a missed opportunity, particularly in the Middle East and north Africa; greater involvement from women can have a disproportionate impact beyond what their numbers would suggest.

In developing economies, including many in the Middle East and north Africa, the effect is set to be even more pronounced. The United Arab Emirates would see a boost of 12 per cent in gross domestic product and the Egyptian economy would grow by 34 per cent.

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Economically empowering women leads to spillover effects as well. Women are likely to invest a larger proportion of their household income than men typically do in the education of their children. As those children grow up, their improved status becomes another positive social and economic factor. Thus, even small increases in the opportunities available to women, and some easing of the cultural and political constraints that hold them back, can lead to dramatic economic and social benefits.

However, to empower women - as employees, producers, and business-owners - government and business leaders will need a better understanding of the policy tools available to them. To analyse these factors, Booz & Company created the Third Billion Index, a ranking of 128 countries worldwide on how effectively they are empowering women as economic agents in the marketplace. While several global organisations already track statistics related to women's issues, and publish their own nation-by-nation rankings, the Third Billion Index is unique in that it focuses specifically on women in the world of work.

The index shows that the top-performing countries - typically developed economies such as Norway, Australia, Finland, Canada, France, Germany, and Denmark - all have a strong set of policies in place to affect the economic position of women. These include laws and policies regarding minimum schooling requirements, employment during and after childbirth and access to credit, among others. In other words, government leaders have clear levers they can pull to economically empower their female citizens.

Our research findings also show a strong correlation between women's economic participation and general indicators of growth and wellbeing, such as per capita GDP, literacy rates and infant mortality. Which means the economic advancement of women doesn't just empower women but leads to greater overall prosperity. The benefits transcend gender.

These arguments are particularly relevant for the countries of the Middle East and north Africa (Mena), many of which are undergoing remarkable socioeconomic transformations. These countries have an untapped resource - a population of educated and motivated women.

Across the region, women's labour force participation is just 26 per cent, compared with South Asia (35 per cent), East Asia and the Pacific (64 per cent), and sub-Saharan Africa (61 per cent). Only about 9 per cent of women in Mena start their own companies, compared with 19 per cent of men. Women hold ownership positions in only 20 per cent of businesses in Mena and 39 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean.

While these statistics reflect a gap between the Mena region and much of the rest of the world, they also show that there is tremendous room for growth. With high levels of education and strong support from governments and private sector, women in the Mena region have the opportunity to advance rapidly as workers and entrepreneurs. Our study shows that even small advances in women's status can lead to economic growth and social benefits. These advances will require changes in policy, infrastructure, and culture. But the gains are there to be taken.

Sweeping institutional changes at the national, regional and global levels can help women everywhere reach their full economic potential and make the contributions necessary to keep the global economy moving forward. These changes will benefit individual women directly, yet the broader benefit will be to the community around the national economy they are supporting and the world at large.

Karim Sabbagh is Senior Partner at Booz & Company, and Mounira Jamjoom is Senior Research Specialist at Booz & Company's Ideation Center.