More jobs for women will give global $17 trillion GDP boost: Ardern

WELLINGTON • New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has urged Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) countries to do more to include women and indigenous people in their workforce, saying it could bring enormous economic benefits as the world recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Every crisis does present an opportunity," said Ms Ardern yesterday as she opened the virtual Apec CEO Summit.

"The 21 Apec economies have been dealt a heavy burden, but also an opportunity to strike an economic reset on a scale we haven't seen since World War II."

Ms Ardern is chairing this year's Apec meeting virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

She said that if businesses and governments took action on gender parity in the workplace alone, an estimate by management consulting firm McKinsey has shown that global gross domestic product would be US$13 trillion (S$17.61 trillion) higher in 2030.

"That's like adding an economy the size of China to our global economic weight," she said.

Ms Ardern added: "The adoption of gender-responsive policies and business practices will enable women and girls to participate in and benefit from the recovery.

"This is particularly important as we deal with the US$1 trillion shock of women falling out of the workforce as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic."

Empowering indigenous peoples is another area of economic opportunity "that is also the right thing to do", said the New Zealand leader.

"There are about 270 million indigenous peoples across our region, the majority of whom have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic," she added.

"We want to work alongside other Apec economies to grow the opportunity for indigenous businesses across the entire region."

BLOOMBERG