An IMF Course on Gender Inequality and Macroeconomics Course

The Gender Inequality and Macroeconomics Course (GM) was delivered for the first time at the JVI between July 15 and July 19. It was attended by 30 participants from 18 countries, primarily from ministries of finance and central banks, as well as other governmental institutions focused on promoting inclusion and gender equality. 

The GM course is one-week long and fast paced. It highlights how gender inequality across the dimensions of opportunity (education, health care), of outcomes (labor participation, pay gap), and of representation (political, corporate executive) has significant repercussions on macroeconomic performance. The course emphasizes the challenge of collecting reliable data, identifies the main drivers of gender inequality and focuses on designing specific reforms to address these issues.

The course also underscores the need to consider a country’s unique institutional framework when designing policy measures. This includes analyzing the education and health systems to reduce the gender gap in human capital, the labor market to promote female participation, the tax system to avoid a gender-biased fiscal burden, the financial system to improve access for women, and the legal system to remove impediments to women’s economic empowerment. In addition, the program points at the importance of public financial management and includes a detailed discussion of gender budgeting.

As typical for IMF courses, the GM syllabus combines lectures with hands-on workshops. Participants, divided into groups, prepared final presentations on selected countries using various assessment tools developed by various IMF departments.

Participants were actively engaged throughout the course and provided very positive feedback. Many expressed their intention to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in their roles, using the tools provided to improve data quality and strengthen the analysis of gender inequalities in their respective countries. A few participants noted, based on their experience, that policy recommendations may need to be tailored to fit a country’s cultural and institutional context.

Francesco Luna, Senior Economist at the Institute for Capacity Development, IMF