UN: Achieving gender equality would boost the economy by $12 trillion

At the opening of the World Assembly for Women in Tokyo, Sima Sami Bachus, executive director of UN Women, said achieving gender equality in the workplace could boost the global economy by $12 trillion by 2025.

"If women, who make up half of the world's working-age population, do not reach their full potential, gender inequality will become a major economic problem. Achieving equality for women could add $12 trillion to global growth by 2025," she says.

The global trend in recent years has been to improve the status of women in society, she says, but the pandemic has negatively impacted that process, leading to an increase in domestic violence and reduced working hours for women. Because after kindergartens were closed, women were forced to look after their children at home.

P.S. The World Assembly for Women has been meeting in Japan since 2014. This is the sixth meeting in a row, as several previous meetings were canceled due to the pandemic.