The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth: the Case of Commonwealth of Independent States (1990 - 2013)

Abstract

The paper investigates the impact of gender inequality in education and employment on economic growth in the case of Commonwealth Independent States (CIS). The study sample includes seven out of eleven countries in CIS region, covering years from 1990-2013. To test the hypothesis, two econometric techniques, dynamic panel regression and structural equation modeling with robust standard errors are employed. The findings support the hypothesis and concludes that gender inequality in education reduces economic growth by at least 5.76 percent to 9.48 percent. Further, when the employment variables are included, the coefficients of gender inequality in education become larger and constitutes for 8.27 percent to 11.5 percent of the reduction in economic growth. The gender gaps in employment are responsible for 3.1 percent of the decrease in economic growth. As the result, the gender inequality in education and employment do persist in CIS region preventing higher economic growth and improved well-being for the population. The CIS region can capitalize on the findings and focus on promoting more opportunities to all to ensure gender equality in education and employment, and thus increase the economic growth as high as 11.5 percent.