Liberian Women Count: Evidence from a Macrosimulation of the Gender Dividend

Wendy Cunningham, World Bank
Sarika Gupta, World Bank
Mitja del Bono, World Bank
Mahesh Karra, Boston University
Joshua K. Wilde, Oxford University

We develop a macrosimulation model of the Gender Dividend that estimates the economic contributions of women and the societal costs incurred by excluding them from reaching their productive potential. Using data from Liberia, we estimate the economic contributions that women make, including from non-tradeable sources of production such as housework and domestic chores. We predict the economic contributions that women would make if there were a closure of gender gaps across a range of inputs to economic growth, including educational attainment, labor force participation, and wages. We find that 39 percent of economic activity in Liberia, measured by the aggregate output of labor, can be attributed to women. This proportion increases to 50.2 percent if gender gaps across factor inputs were closed and 53 percent if we include contributions from non-tradeable production. The findings indicate that maximizing the potential of women would increase Liberia’s GDP by 10-25 percent.