Economic Factors Influencing Female Work Participation

Traditionally, economics’ focus was on the household as one of three economic actors, the other being firms and governments. Economists generally agree that economic development and growth are influenced by four factors: human resources, physical capital, natural resources, and technology. These determinants of economic growth are inter-related factors influencing the growth rate of an economy. Economic growth measured by GDP means the increase of the growth rate of GDP, but what determines the increase of each component is very different. The purpose of this study is to explore and understand the economic effects of increasing female work participation which can lead to growth in GDP and global prosperity. The case study was focused on the situation in the Netherlands.The findings show that the proportion of women working part-time is extremely higher than the men, the share of women occupying a top position in the public and private sector is lower than the share of men, and a law is being tabled in the Dutch parliament which would force listed companies to have at least a third of women on their supervisory board. Gender equality in STEM education and occupation is significantly low, the wage pay gap between men and women is shrinking at a low rate, and the gender gap becomes apparent in jobs with hourly wages of 30 euros or higher, in which men are over-represented in terms of the wage distribution. If women were to participate in the world of work identically to men, an additional $28 trillion, or 26 percent of incremental global GDP, could be achieved in 2025. Recommendations are provided that may be useful in the Netherlands and the world at large