Celebrating International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the successes and strides that women have achieved in the workplace. During the past few years, we’ve seen progress in various programs across the globe to help advance females in a number of areas. For example, gender disparities in out of school children have narrowed, resulting in more girls enrolled in school*. Literacy rates have increased globally*, but there’s still work to be done. Progress is being made to advance gender equality through a strategy to reform discriminatory laws in six areas by 2023**.

However, the progress made on advancing female participation in the workforce is experiencing a setback as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pace of progress towards gender equality will need to accelerate to recover from this setback.

^{_Sources:
*_{https://data.unicef.org/resources/a-new-era-for-girls-taking-stock-of-25-years-of-progress/}
**_{https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2019/03/equality-in-law-for-women-and-girls-by-2030}}

International Women's Day: Three PwC leaders look back and pave the road ahead

For this year's International Women's Day, Policy on Demand features a conversation with Kathryn Kaminsky (PwC US Tax Leader), Bernadette Geis (PwC US Asset and Wealth Management Practice Leader), and Janice Mays (PwC Tax Policy Services, Managing Director) about their careers, women in the workforce, and the role of mentors.

Watch the interview to hear more about how they overcame challenges and seized opportunities.

How COVID-19 has impacted women in the global workforce

The pandemic is disproportionately hurting sectors with substantial female employment. Forty percent of all employed women (nearly 510 million women globally) are working in industries hit hardest by the lockdowns, often in service industries and contact-intensive roles. The resulting economic fallout has not only disrupted sectors with a larger share of female employment, but it has also increased the existing inequalities of unpaid care and domestic work shouldered by women. If action is not taken to address these challenges, there’s a risk that more women will leave or reduce their participation in the labour market permanently, reversing progress towards gender equality and stunting economic growth.

What actions can be taken to address these inequalities and challenges that women in the workforce are facing? Read more in our Women in Work Index.

How women contribute to the workforce and the economy

Improving female participation in the labour market will have a significant impact on the economy. There are huge benefits from getting more women in productive, well paid jobs. For example, we could see a boost of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries by US$6 trillion a year by increasing women's employment rates across the OECD (to match those of Sweden - a consistent top performer). Closing the gender pay gap across the OECD could boost GDP by US$2 trillion a year. Having the tools and training in place to ensure that women are given equal opportunities is imperative.

How can businesses, governments and organisations help women return to the workforce and also help support those currently in the workforce continue to advance their careers?

We’ve identified four key areas:

• Actively assess the gender and equality impacts of all policies

• Address gender inequalities in unpaid care and domestic work to support and empower women to participate in the labour force

• Take action to stop the pandemic from widening already significant gender pay gaps, through gender pay gap reporting, fair compensation policies, and effective gender action plans
  

• Provide dedicated support for female business initiatives and future female employment in high growth sectors of the economy, through retraining and reskilling and support for female-led start-ups.

Learn about PwC’s New world. New skills. programme which aims to help upskill millions of people around the world.