Gender-balanced economy alters business strategies

26th January 2017

Enaie Azambuja

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The female economy is emerging as a potent force, with global female income expected to reach $24 trillion by 2020; this is more than the revenue generated by the economies of either China or the United States. The rise of women to positions of executive leadership is compelling sellers to reexamine their business approaches.

“By 2025, women will change the workforce landscape with an average participation rate up to 40%, and potentially additional 250 million women workers,” said Frost & Sullivan Visionary Innovation Principal Consultant Oliva Price-Walker. “This will close the gender gap in labor participation rates by 25%, which, in turn, will have a huge economic impact across developing and developed nations.”

The Next Frontier of Growth—Women as Corporate Customers is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Innovation (Mega Trends) Growth Partnership Subscription (GPS). The study reveals that women-owned units will account for more than 40% of registered businesses worldwide by 2020, which translates to a large market of women corporate customers.

Asia-Pacific will have the largest female workforce, with millennials accounting for the biggest proportion of female laborers in 2025; Africa will continue to lead in female entrepreneurship.

Norway is working toward achieving gender equality in the workforce, with the highest percentage of women (42%) on boards in 2014–2015. It has been noted that companies with at least one woman board member perform 10% better than companies without women board members. Furthermore, companies with at least 30% of women in management positions see a 25% increase in profit rates on average.

“Women dominated the global marketplace by controlling nearly $31 trillion of consumer spending in 2014 and this is forecast to rise to $43 trillion by 2020,” noted Price-Walker. “This is likely to cause a massive change in consumption and shopping behavior, and open new opportunities in consumer goods and services businesses. Companies that best adapt to this new buyer segment will be ideally poised to grow in the next decade.”

Other related topics explored under the Frost & Sullivan’s Visionary Innovation GPS include she-conomy, Gen Y, and middle bulge. All studies in the subscription provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.