Closing the gender gap in the labour force promotes diversity and stability, and improves the competiveness and integrity of the recruitment process for both public and private sector employment. In fact, estimates from an OECD study suggest that reducing the gender gap in employment is correlated with an increased impetus for economic growth, amounting to an overall rise of 12% of GDP over 20 years in OECD countries (OECD, 2012a). The study found that OECD countries that currently have larger gaps in employment would have higher gains in GDP if the gender gap were to be reduced (OECD, 2012a: 24-30).’ Evidence from global studies also suggests that women tend to spend a greater share of their income on the education and health of their children and, therefore, an improvement of wage equality for women often translates to better welfare outcomes for individuals within the household (Qian, 2008).