My INBOX: fwd Dept of Treas - Political Leaders Often Overlook the Key to Economic Growth/Guardian
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Yet despite these achievements, the gap between men’s and women’s earnings and productivity is still large. Even in countries where women are graduating from college at the same or greater rates than men, the pay gap persists. More women than men are trapped in low-productivity jobs. Around the globe, women are over-represented in the informal economy, where wages tend to be below-market and job mobility is limited. Across businesses, women are underrepresented in leadership positions and in boardrooms. And from one country to the next, enterprises led by men too often out-earn those led by women.
Women with minimal access to resources and no access to child care have limited choices that too often mean low-wage and part-time labor. In rural communities in the developing world, when women farmers have unequal access to fertilizers or training, their farm productivity lags behind men. When rules and laws inhibit women’s ownership of collateral, economies lose out on the wasted talents of female entrepreneurs.
So what more can we do to unleash the economic potential of women? It is time for a global race to the top on equality of opportunity for men and women. President Obama has called for economic and political empowerment of women globally. The Equal Futures Partnership promotes removal of policy, legal, and regulatory barriers that hold women back at local, state and national levels.
More: Political Leaders Often Overlook the Key to Economic Growth: Women