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Did you know that for every one dollar earned by a man,
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a woman earns around 80 cents?
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That's a pretty big gap.
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So what would happen to the economy
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if it was one for one?
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Together, we're stronger!
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The MeToo movement has put gender inequality
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in the spotlight from London all the way to Hollywood,
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and a lot of that inequality comes in the form of cold hard cash.
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The gender pay gap is the difference in median earnings
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between a man and a woman.
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It's expressed as a percentage of men's earnings.
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So if the gender pay gap is 20%, that means
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a woman earns 80 cents for every one dollar earned by a man.
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OK, so how big of a gap are we talking about?
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Well, it ranges around the world.
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Korea, Estonia and Japan have some of the biggest gender pay gaps,
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while Costa Rica, Luxembourg and Greece have the smallest gaps.
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So why do women earn less than men?
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There are a lot of pieces to this puzzle.
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Let's use some fictional characters here in the U.K.
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to try to put it together.
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Meet Sally and James.
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Let's pretend they both start working
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in full-time jobs at the same age.
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Research from the U.K. government shows
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Sally is likely to work in the caring, leisure
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and service industries,
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or in an administrative or secretarial job.
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James, meanwhile, is more likely to work in skilled trades
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or as a process, plant or machine operator.
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These differences in occupations
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account for a big part of the pay gap.
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But there's another important factor, too.
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Yep, motherhood.
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Even though Sally and James start out making about the
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the same amount of money, the pay gap
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really starts to widen in their mid-30s and 40s.
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Sally might stop working or start working part-time
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for a while to raise a family,
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and when she comes back to work full-time,
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she earns a lot less than her male counterparts.
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Not to mention, it's estimated women like Sally
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account for 75% of the world's total unpaid work,
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including crucial tasks to keep households running.
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One thing to note is that even after looking at
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differences in occupations and work hours,
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the U.K. government found that 64% of the gender pay gap
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couldn't be explained, and some see this as
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evidence of discrimination in the workplace.
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But regardless of the causes of the
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gender pay gap, most experts agree leveling it out
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will have big-time economic benefits.
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One study found that equal pay would cut
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the poverty rate of working women in half,
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and produce an additional income of around $512 billion
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to the U.S. economy.
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Another report found that if women in developing countries
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were paid as much as men,
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they could earn an extra $2 trillion.
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That's an 18% bump in pay.
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Plus there are economic bonuses just from
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putting more women to work.
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In 2017, just under half of working-age women
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participated in the labor market.
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That's compared to 75% of men.
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If as many women worked as men, the IMF estimates
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GDP would increase by 5% in the U.S.
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9% in Japan
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12% in the UAE
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and 27% in India.
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The IMF also found that bringing more women
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into the boardroom can directly boost
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a company's bottom line.
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Some countries haven't been able to ignore these numbers.
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As of 2017, the U.K. mandated that companies
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with more than 250 employees
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report gender pay gaps in the workplace.
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This year, Iceland enacted a first-of-its-kind law
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that forces companies to eliminate pay gaps.
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Some companies are creating more flexible policies
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for women who want to work full-time and have children,
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and for men to take paternity leave.
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Agencies like the U.N. promote higher education
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and skills training to bring more women into the workforce.
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These efforts look like steps in the right direction.
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But research shows it will still take 100 years
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to close the global gender gap.
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And for many people here, closing the gap isn't
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isn't just a women's issue, it's an economic issue, too.
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Hey everyone, it's Elizabeth.
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Thanks so much for tuning in.
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