Charlie Stross

Countries That Close Gender Gaps See Substantial Growth Returns

Empowering women economically is a powerful engine of inclusive growth

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/09/27/countries-that-close-gender-gaps-see-substantial-growth-returns

(Obviously this will be roundly ignored by conservative Christians, b/c it's antithetical to keeping women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen as domestic serfs. Which is obviously a higher priority than prosperity to a certain type of man …)

Countries That Close Gender Gaps See Substantial Growth Returns

Empowering women economically is a powerful engine of inclusive growth

IMF
Mar 10, 2024 at 8:09pmWeb
Show threadSevorisMar 10, 2024
@cstross Hot take: „the economy“ in the hands of many people of power is another construct to be shaped for their personal benefits. Otherwise it is to be ignored or bent into a shape that suits them.
Show threadGeorge StationMar 10, 2024

@cstross "Equality (or diversity) is just good business" goes back at least 30 years as a go-to quote, and plenty of business-folk still don't believe it.

But execs and managers nod & smile like they believe it. I've seen it in two sectors (defense & education).

It's all very Groundhog Day.

Show threadDan SugalskiMar 10, 2024
@cstross sadly “this is good for economic growth” only works for people looking for growth, as opposed to the people who view it as a zero sum game. They’re mostly just looking to be better than someone else rather than better overall, and seem to be happy to have the world burn so long as there are people under them who catch fire first.
Show threadAlanMar 10, 2024
@wordshaper @cstross conservatism, inequality, and lack of diversity all cause poorer economic performance
Show threadTomMar 10, 2024
@cstross sucks that the justification for removing legal, economic, and social barriers preventing women from full participation in society is that they're untapped labor. Probably to be expected from the IMF, but hardly A Room of One's Own
Show threadCharlie StrossMar 10, 2024
@stealthisbook Indeed—capitalist discourse is bizarre! (I wonder what the IMF think of universal basic income schemes?)
Show threadCassandraVertMar 11, 2024
@cstross
US used to be the beneficiary of other countries chasing people out.
Now we're chasing people out on multiple fronts. 😒
Show threadTheSwiftDojoMar 11, 2024

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Show threadAvi Rappoport (avirr)Mar 11, 2024
@cstross Nice to see from the IMF, not known for social justice crusading
Show threadRed_Shirt_no2Mar 11, 2024

@cstross
Now, if the study showed that _disempowering_ women economically was a powerful engine of inclusive growth, we’d have some problems with a slightly different category of man…

Like, why do we need to justify empowering women by ANY reason other than that “it’s the right thing to do”?