Skopje, 22 November 2023

The countries of the Western Balkan region lose about 18% of their GDP every year due to the gender gap in the labor market, with two thirds of the loss being explained by the low activity rate of women, and the remaining part due to men – women differences in occupation selection, the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska said, referring to a World Bank study, in her presentation at the panel discussion on "The role and position of women in the business world, advantages, challenges and opportunities", organized by the Embassy of Slovenia in our country. She said that the positive effect of reducing the gender gap on the growth would not only result from the increase in the labor force, but also from the different skills and characteristics of women, which can give a different qualitative dimension to the labor market, such as attentiveness in relation to of risks, pragmatism, empathy. "By improving this segment, the GDP can increase up to 10% in developed economies, and even up to 30% in developing countries," said Angelovska Bezhoska.

Stating data on the effects of the pandemic and other consecutive crises, the Governor referred to the disproportionate impact the subsequent crisis have on various economic and social segments. Thus, at the beginning of 2021, the deterioration in the female employment rate compared to the pre-pandemic period is significantly greater in developing countries than in developed economies, which additionally deepened the gender gap globally. The same is the case with the Western Balkans region, where a stronger fall has been registered in the women activity rate, which was reduced to 41.5% on average for the region, compared to 61.8% with men. The situation in 2022 is improving, slightly more pronounced among women compared to the improvement among men, but in our country and in Kosovo, the activity rates of women are still below the pre-pandemic level. In the region, there is also a significant gender gap in wages, in the interval from 7 to 16%, which in some countries also shows a widening trend.

The Governor stated that one of the reasons for the less favorable impact of the pandemic on the activity and income of women compared to men is that it strongly affected the services sector, especially in segments that rely on social interaction, as well as the informal economy, where the presence of women is bigger. In addition to this, certain studies indicate that the pandemic has increased even more the challenges the women face with in terms of the workplace, so one in four women is considering giving up her career plans or leaving the workplace. Also, lower employment and lower income adversely affect women's access to financing, and thus the opportunities for women's entrepreneurship development. This is partly a reflection of women's lower financial literacy. 

In her presentation, the Governor emphasized that "current crises accentuate the need for a strengthened and holistic approach by policy makers to uncover all sources of gender inequality in institutional, regulatory, educational and traditional norms."