When will global gender gaps close?

Alejandro Badel and Rishi Goyal

Economics Letters, 2024, vol. 237, issue C

Abstract: Global gender gaps are commonly expected to gradually close along a deterministic path over time. This paper uses Markov chains as in Quah (1993) to simulate the future dynamic path of the global distribution of gender labor force participation gaps based on country data from the last 30 years. The simulations suggest that global gender gaps will never close. A large share of countries will feature elevated gaps in the long run owing to the potential for individual episodes of increasing gaps found in the data. Absent improved and strengthened policy measures, the observed waste and misallocation of women's skills and talents may persist indefinitely.

Keywords: Gender gap; Cross-country; Labor force participation; Female; Distribution; U-shaped transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 E62 H23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:237:y:2024:i:c:s0165176524000284

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2024.111544

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