Explore key data and facts on the economic empowerment of women. From income disparities and workforce trends to entrepreneurship and access to financial resources, these statistics spotlight the critical role of economic empowerment in advancing gender equality and driving sustainable development.
[1] UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment, Leave No One Behind: A Call to Action for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2018/01/hlp-wee-reports-and-toolkits
[2] International Monetary Fund (2018). Pursuing Women’s Economic Empowerment. Available at: https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2018/05/31/pp053118pursuing-womens-economic-empowerment
[3] Moody’s Analytics, Close the Gender Gap to Unlock Productivity Gains, March 2023. Available at: https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/media/article/2023/Close-the-Gender-Gap-to-Unlock-Productivity-Gains.pdf
[4] UN Women, Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016. Chapter 2, p. 69.
[5] UN Women, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2023. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2023-en.pdf
[6] International Labour Organization (ILO), World Social Protection Report 2020–2. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_protect/@soc_sec/documents/publication/wcms_817572.pdf
[7] FAO, The State of food security and nutrition in the world, 2022. Available at: https://www.fao.org/3/cc0639en/cc0639en.pdf
[8] Unicef, Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: Special focus on gender. Available at: https://data.unicef.org/resources/jmp-report-2023/
[9] The World Bank, The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19. (Washington, D.C., World Bank, 2021). Available at: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/187761468179367706/pdf/WPS7255.pdf
[10] The International Telecommunications Union’s Facts and Figures 2022 on global connectivity amid economic downturn. Available at: https://www.itu.int/en/mediacentre/Pages/PR-2022-11-30-Facts-Figures-2022.aspx
[11] World Bank, Women, Business and the Law 2023. (Washington, D.C., 2023). Available at: https://wbl.worldbank.org/en/wbl
[12] Statistics on women – ILOSTAT. Available at: https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/women
[13] International Labour Organization (ILO), World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2023. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—inst/documents/publication/wcms_865332.pdf. And ILO Spotlight on Work Statistics n°12 (March, 2023). Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—stat/documents/publication/wcms_870519.pdf
[14] International Labour Organization (ILO), Third edition Women and men in the informal economy: A statistical picture, 2018. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_626831.pdf
[15] ILO and FAO (2021), Extending social protection to rural populations, ILO and FAO, Geneva. Available at: Extending social protection to rural populations (fao.org)
[16] FAO, The status of women in agrifood systems (Rome, 2023) Available at: https://www.fao.org/3/cc5343en/cc5343en.pdf
[17] FAO, The gender gap in land rights (Rome, 2018). Available at: https://www.fao.org/3/I8796EN/i8796en.pdf[18] FAO, The status of women in agrifood systems (Rome, 2023) Available here: https://www.fao.org/3/cc5343en/cc5343en.pdf
[18] International Labour Organization (ILO), Pay transparency legislation: Implications for employers’ and workers’ organizations (June, 2022). Available at: https://www.ilo.org/travail/info/publications/WCMS_849209/lang–en/index.htm
[19] Damian Grimshaw and Jill Rubery, The motherhood pay gap: A review of the issues, theory and international evidence, International Labour Organization, Conditions of Work and Employment Series No. 57, (Geneva, 2015). Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@dgreports/@dcomm/@publ/documents/publication/wcms_348041.pdf
[20] Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2021). GEM 2022/2023 Women’s Entrepreneurship: Challenging Bias and Stereotypes. Available at: https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-20222023-womens-entrepreneurship-challenging-bias-and-stereotypes-2
[21] Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2021). GEM 2020/2021 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report. Thriving through crisis. Available at: https://www.gemconsortium.org/file/open?fileId=50841
[22] OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index 2019 Report. Available at: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/sigi-2019-global-report_bc56d212-en
[23] Diane Elson, Labor markets as gendered institutions: Equality, efficiency and empowerment issues, World Development, vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 611–627 (1999).
[24] UN Women, Forecasting time spent in unpaid care and domestic work: Technical brief, 2023. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/technical-brief-forecasting-time-spent-in-unpaid-care-and-domestic-work-en.pdf
[25] UN Women, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals the Gender Snapshot 2023. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2023-en.pdf
[26] Measuring unpaid domestic and care work – ILOSTAT. Available at: https://ilostat.ilo.org/topics/unpaid-work/measuring-unpaid-domestic-and-care-work/
[27] Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/desa/world%E2%80%99s-women-2020
[28] Oxfam International, Not all gaps are created equal: the true value of care work. Available at: https://www.oxfam.org/en/not-all-gaps-are-created-equal-true-value-care-work
[29] International Labour Organization (ILO), Care at work: Investing in care leave and services for a more gender equal world of work, 2022. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_838653.pdf
[30] UN Women Issue Paper, Investing in free universal childcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: Côte D’Ivoire, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and The United Republic of Tanzania: Estimating spending requirements, gendered employment effects and fiscal revenue, 2021. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/Issue-paper-Investing-in-free-universal-childcare-in-sub-Saharan-Africa-en_0.pdf
[31] Women’s Budget Group, A green and caring economy: Final report, 2022. Available at: https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/A-Green-and-Caring-Economy-Report-FINAL.pdf
[32] International Labour Organization (ILO), The future of work in a changing natural environment : climate change, degradation and sustainability, 2018. Available at: https://ilo.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay/alma995018692802676/41ILO_INST:41ILO_V2
[33] International Labour Organization (ILO) Policy brief, Just Transition Policy Brief: Gender equality, labour and a just transition for all, 2022. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_emp/—emp_ent/documents/publication/wcms_860569.pdf
[34] UN Women, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2023. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2023-en.pdf
[35] International Labour Organization (ILO), World employment social outlook: Trends 2018. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_615594.pdf
[36] International Labour Organization (ILO), Jobs in a net-zero emissions future in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2020. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—americas/—ro-lima/documents/publication/wcms_752069.pdf
[37] UN Women, SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/women-and-the-sdgs/sdg-13-climate-action
[38] UN Women, Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The gender snapshot 2023. Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/progress-on-the-sustainable-development-goals-the-gender-snapshot-2023-en.pdf
[39] Ibid.
[40] Ibid.
[41] Ibid.
[42] World Health Organization, Household air pollution: Key facts published in December 2023. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health#:~:text=Each%20year%2C%203.2%20million%20people,air%20pollution%20data%20for%20details
[43] International Labour Organization (ILO), Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers: Results and Methodology Third edition, 2021. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_808935.pdf
[44] UN Women, Migrant women and remittances: Exploring the data from selected countries, 2020. Available here: https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/06/policy-brief-migrant-women-and-remittances-exploring-the-data-from-selected-countries
[45] Maelan Le Goff, Feminization of migration and trends in remittances, January 2016. Available at: https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/220/pdfs/feminization-of-migration-and-trends-in-remittances.pdf?v=1.
[46] Mónika López-Anuarbe and others, More than altruism: cultural norms and remittances among Hispanics in the USA, Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 17, No. 2 (May 2016). Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12134-015-0423-3
[47] ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers: Results and Methodology Third edition, 2021. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_808935.pdf
[48] IOM Releases Guidelines for Labour Recruiters of Migrant Domestic Workers, (September, 2020). Available at: https://www.iom.int/news/iom-releases-guidelines-labour-recruiters-migrant-domestic-workers
[49] Development finance for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/development/gender-development/development-finance-for-gender-equality-and-women-s-empowerment.htm#:~:text=In%202021%2D2022%2C%2043%25,USD%2058.3%20billion%20(39%25).
[Last updated February 2024]
Or copy link
Facts and Figures: Economic Empowerment – UN Women
