OECD countries continue to face persistent gender inequalities in social and economic life. Young women often reach higher levels of education than young men, but remain under-represented in fields with the most lucrative careers.

OECD countries continue to face persistent gender inequalities in social and economic life. Young women often reach higher levels of education than young men, but remain under-represented in fields with the most lucrative careers. Women spend more time on unpaid work, face a strong motherhood penalty, encounter barriers to entrepreneurship and fare worse in labour markets overall. They are also under-represented in politics and leadership positions in public employment. These elements permeate many policy areas and economic sectors, from international trade and development assistance to energy and the environment, in which policy often lacks a strong gender focus. Violence against women, the most abhorrent manifestation of gender inequality, remains a global crisis. This publication analyses developments and policies for gender equality, such as gender mainstreaming and budgeting, reforms to increase fathers' involvement in parental leave and childcare, pay transparency initiatives to tackle gender pay gaps, and systems to address gender-based violence. It extends the perspective on gender equality to include foreign direct investment, nuclear energy and transport. Advancing gender equality is not just a moral imperative; in times of rapidly ageing populations, low fertility and multiple crises, it will strengthen future gender-equal economic growth and social cohesion.

This book focuses on the cultural and intellectual activities of Kurdish migrant women through artistic and aesthetic forms of production in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and the UK. Using in-depth interviews with over 40 Kurdish women artists, Ozlem Galip examines how artistic, literary and cultural productions, incorporating the fields of film, theatre and music, are articulated within the structures of nation states, leading to the interrogation of the impact of western and local knowledge, patriarchy, the nation-state and globalisation. Galip also analyses how European policies affect the development of cultural engagement of Kurdish migrant women, and how such engagements help these women to integrate into European society. Examining the gendered experiences of diaspora from all four regions of Kurdistan; Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, this book challenges ideas about gender, migration and art through the lens of women artistic production with a focus on women-led activism and the changing integration and migration policies of Europe.

The OECD review of Gender Equality in Costa Rica: Towards a Better Sharing of Paid and Unpaid Work is the fourth in a collection of reports focusing on Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and part of the series Gender Equality at Work. The report compares gender gaps in labour and educational outcomes in Costa Rica with other countries. Particular attention is put on the uneven distribution of unpaid work, and the extra burden placed on women. It investigates how policies and programmes in Costa Rica can make this distribution more equitable. The first part of the report reviews the evidence on gender gaps and their causes, including the role played by social norms. The second part develops a comprehensive framework to address these challenges, presenting a broad range of options to reduce the unpaid work burden falling on women, and to increase women’s labour income. Earlier reviews in the same collection have looked at gender equality policies in Chile (2021), Peru (2022) and Colombia (2023).

Despite recent progress to improve gender equality in the Czech Republic, several gender gaps persist in different areas of the society and economy. This report offers evidence-informed recommendations, tailored to the Czech context to improve governance and capacities for accelerating progress in gender equality.

Ensuring equality for LGBTI+ individuals is a human rights imperative, but it also makes a lot of economic sense. Inclusion enables LGBTI+ individuals to achieve their full employment and labour productivity potential, benefitting not only their economic and social well-being, but also society as a whole. Yet, robust evidence supporting the economic case for greater LGBTI+ equality is still scarce due to challenges in accurately measuring the size and life situation of the LGBTI+ population. This report bridges this gap by using a unique set of microdata from the United States. The report begins with an overview of the share of US adults identifying as LGBTI+, their geographic distribution and key demographics. It then evaluates the extent to which LGBTI+ Americans face discrimination, assessing how this population fares, including in the labour market. Finally, utilising the OECD long-term model, the report quantifies the potential increase in GDP resulting from closing the unexplained LGBTI+ gaps in employment and labour productivity. The findings highlight significant economic gains, although they capture only a portion of the potential benefits. Notably, the broader societal impacts, such as the advancement of women's empowerment through the disruption of heteronormative standards, are not quantified.

The OECD review of Gender Equality in Colombia: Towards a Better Sharing of Paid and Unpaid Work is the third in a collection of reports focusing on Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and part of the series Gender Equality at Work. The report compares gender gaps in labour and educational outcomes in Colombia with other countries.

What are the root causes of gender inequality? Building on the fifth edition of the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI), the SIGI 2023 Global Report provides a global outlook of discriminatory social institutions, the fundamental causes of gender inequality. It reveals how formal and informal laws, social norms and practices limit women’s and girls’ rights and opportunities in all aspects of their lives.

Pay transparency policies are gaining momentum throughout the OECD. Over half of OECD countries require private sector firms to report their gender pay gap statistics regularly to stakeholders like employees, employee representatives, the government, and/or the public. Gender pay gap reporting, equal pay audits and other pay transparency policies help advance gender equality at the workplace.

This collection covers extensive ground in contemporary green entrepreneurship, from fundamental theories such as business investments and venturing capital to emerging and new concepts that reflect critical challenges, including technological development slowdowns, economic resilience, digitalization, green business footprints.