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Good jobs bring gains for women themselves, as well as for their families, businesses, and communities. They boost self-esteem and pull households out of poverty. Yet gender disparities persist in the world of work. Closing these gaps, while working to expand job growth more broadly, is a prerequisite for ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Gender equality in the world of work is a win-win on many fronts. There is a large and growing body of evidence that demonstrates both the business and the development case. A Goldman Sachs study found that narrowing the gender gap in employment could push income per capita in emerging markets up to 14 percent higher by 2020. Almost half of women's productive potential globally is unutilized, compared to 22 percent of men. Yet across 42 countries, 35 percent of employers report difficulty filling key jobs. Following the World Development Report (WDR) 2013, 'jobs' are broadly defined to include various forms of wage and non-wage work, formal and informal.
