Women in the workforce

This article is missing information about pre-Modern era. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (June 2020)

Since the Industrial Revolution, participation of women in the workforce outside the home has increased in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women in the workforce contribute to a higher national economic output as measure in GDP as well as decreasing labor costs by increasing the labor supply in a society.

Women's lack of access to higher education had effectively excluded them from the practice of well-paid and high status occupations. Entry of women into the higher professions, like law and medicine, was delayed in most countries due to women being denied entry to universities and qualification for degrees. For example, Cambridge University only fully validated degrees for women late in 1947, and even then only after much opposition and acrimonious debate.^[1] Women were largely limited to low-paid and poor status occupations for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, or earned less pay than men for doing the same work.^[2] However, through the 20th century, the labor market shifted. Office work that does not require heavy labor expanded and women increasingly acquired the higher education that led to better-compensated, longer-term careers rather than lower-skilled, shorter-term jobs. Mothers are less likely to be employed unlike men and women without children.^[3]

The increasing rates of women contributing in the work force has led to a more equal disbursement of hours worked across the regions of the world.^{[4][failed verification]} However, in western European countries the nature of women's employment participation remains markedly different from that of men.

According to the United Nations data, the female labor force participation rate for persons aged 15 and older was 53 percent in 2022. The highest was in the Oceania region (excluding Tuvalu) at approximately 65 percent, while the lowest was in Central and Southern Asia at 40 percent. Among individual countries, Iran had the lowest rate at 14 percent, whereas Nigeria had the highest at 77 percent—an increase of nearly 20 percentage points since 2019 (see the graphical representation: "Female Labor Force Participation for persons aged 15+ in select countries").^[6]

Worldwide, the proportion of women in senior and middle management positions has minimally increased between 2010 and 2020, staying around 34 percent on average. Developing countries, as well as emerging market economies, experienced a greater increase than developed countries (see the graphical representation: "Comparison of the Proportion of Women in Senior and Middle Management Positions by Region in 2010 vs. 2020").^[8]

Increasing women's equality in banking and the workplace might boost the global economy by up to $28 trillion by 2025.^[9][10][11]