Gender equality can lift global GDP by $8tr

DUBAI (Agencies): Gender equality in the workplace could increase global gross domestic product (GDP) by up to $8 trillion over 10 years, according to a new report from Accenture.

According to the report, employees’ innovation mindset — described by Accenture as their willingness and ability to innovate — is nearly four times higher in companies with a robust culture of gender equality.

Therefore, Accenture contends that if this innovation mindset can be increased by 10 per cent in all countries, the rewards would be enormous: $8 trillion to be exact.

Accenture’s new research found that this mindset of innovation is stronger in “fast-growing economies and in countries with high labour-productivity growth.”

However, when it comes to creating equality-driven and empowering work places, there is a huge disconnect between top executives and their employees, the report added: While 76 per cent of executives globally said they empower employees to innovate, only 42 per cent of employees agreed.

In Saudi Arabia, these numbers are similar. While 86 per cent of Saudi employees said they want to innovate, only 63 per cent in typical Saudi Arabian companies feel empowered to.