Advancing women will increase the economic potential of US and South Korea, says Yellen

According to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, increasing the number of women in the workforce and providing them with more leadership opportunities will increase both South Korea’s and the United States’ economic potential.

 

Yellen, the first woman to lead the U.S. Treasury, told the women during a lunch at a vegan restaurant in Seoul that women were a ‘huge untapped resource’ for both the United States and South Korea.

 

The remarks come at a time when the Biden administration is battling to save important elements of its domestic programme, such as increased spending for child care and universal preschool designed to encourage the involvement of women in the workforce.

 

The opposition of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, whose vote is crucial in the evenly divided Senate, has thwarted President Joe Biden’s efforts to pass significant legislation that would have included such funding along with initiatives to combat climate change and raise taxes on large corporations.

 

The Biden administration continues to prioritise expanding access to paid leave and child care, according to Yellen, who added: ‘We’re not throwing in the towel on any of it.’

 

Yellen brought out the fact that while South Korean women are among the best educated in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations, they only hold 20% of executive positions in their meetings. In addition, they have a higher likelihood of working irregular hours and have the largest pay disparity in the OECD—31 percent—when compared to males.

 

According to projections from the International Monetary Fund, reducing the gender gap in labour force participation could increase South Korea’s real gross domestic product by more than 7% by 2035. Yellen stated that many Korean women felt pressure to stay at home and have families, adding that ‘women should be allowed the ability to continue in the workforce.’ Even in sophisticated economies like the United States, women were consistently prevented from advancing to senior positions in the public sector and the commercial sector.