Liberian Women Count: Evidence from a Macrosimulation of the Gender Dividend

Liberian women make significant economic contributions yet are constrained from contributing even more due to their exclusion from productive opportunities. This study develops a macrosimulation model of the Gender Dividend that estimates the economic contributions of women and the societal costs incurred by excluding them. Using macroeconomic, demographic, and survey data from Liberia, the analysis finds that women were responsible for 39 percent of market-based output produced annually in 2020, equal to US$1.08 billion, and contributed another US$530 million in non-tradable sources of production, namely, housework and domestic chores. Using the macrosimulation model, the study estimates that if the gender gaps in labor force participation, intra-sectoral wages, and sector of employment were closed, gross domestic product would be 11.5 percent higher. If further reforms were undertaken to equalize education and reduce fertility rates to a net-reproduction rate, gross domestic product would be 23.7 percent higher. Finally, if the model also accounts for the value of non-tradable production, gross domestic product would be US$5.89 billion, or 45.3 percent higher than today’s estimates, with women being responsible for 53 percent of the labor market output. These estimates reinforce the need for a unified policy agenda that actively invests in women’s human capital and work-related opportunities simultaneously.