Counting Her In: Women's Economic Participation and Sustainable Development

On 15 October, the Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir) launched the report Counting Her In: Women's Contribution to Economic Growth in Norway. The new report was commissioned by the Norwegian Institute for Social Research (CORE) and examines how women's participation in the workforce has contributed to Norway's economic growth, as well as the policies and investments that helped make it possible.

Director Toril-Iren Pedersen (UNDP Global Policy Centre for Governance ) joined the panel discussion and highlighted that the most important lesson from the Norwegian experience is the need for integrated solutions and a combination of policies to advance this kind of social and economic development. A strong governance system and a progressive tax system are essential to ensure that the benefits extend beyond individuals and companies to society as a whole.

For Pedersen, one important lesson is that women's economic participation is also a question of domestic resource mobilisation. For women to fully participate in the formal labour market, there need to be quality jobs with social protection, alongside sufficient trust in government to encourage them to contribute through taxes. Where public funds flow out of the country through illicit financial flows and tax avoidance, or where funds are lost to corruption, the incentive to contribute is weakened.

Another key reflection concerns what we do with the data we collect. Data need to be both produced and used to better target policies. Understanding women's participation in the economy, including unpaid care work and the obstacles they face, is an important starting point. Yet collecting more data is never an end goal in itself. What matters is whether that evidence reaches decision-makers, informs public spending and ultimately leads to policies that make a difference.

The discussion is highly relevant to the future of development cooperation. Women's labour force participation in Norway is the result of a broad policy agenda and well-financed social investments. The most important lessons are the need for long-term investment, strong partnerships and sufficient flexibility to enable a whole-of-society approach grounded in local knowledge and data.