A new World Bank report says improving women's access to jobs and economic opportunity in the Pacific could significantly boost productivity. Senior economist from the World Bank's poverty reduction network, Andrew Mason, was the lead author of the report's East Asia-Pacific section. He has told Radio Australia, in economies where women participate fully, there's higher economic productivity per worker. "If barriers to full participation of women in the workforce were to be broken down, we could see increases in per worker productivity of about 17-18 per cent," Mr Mason said.

Influence

"This would obviously have effects both on economic growth and also on poverty reduction in these countries." Mr Mason says with greater economic participation for women, comes more money and more influence, which is "healthy for an economy and for society." "First off, when women are out in the labour force and they're working, that means higher household income in general. Higher household income means people can pull themselves out of poverty more quickly," he said. "We know that when income is in the hands of women in the household, that it tends to be spent on more family-oriented welfare spending. Kids are healthy [and] better educated, and that has dynamic effects for future productivity of children, of the next generation. "The other thing is that, as women gain economic empowerment, they're increasingly seen as consumers. So, all of a sudden, companies and producers are thinking more about women in the broader context of society. So that factor, also, then begins to change the way that markets and companies and even politicians and policy makers, frankly, start viewing women in the broader context of society," Mr Mason said. He admits that in traditional societies like those found in several Pacific Island nations, the traditional roles of women in housekeeping and child-rearing, cannot be changed easily.

Demand

"No, it's very difficult indeed. But I do have to say that social norms are malleable and they do change over time, often in response to economic incentives," he said. "We have seen in a number of developing countries that where demand for women's labour has increased, say in South-East Asia, where export-oriented manufacturing has played an increasingly important role there have been incentives to bring women into the formal sector and this has not only increased their economic empowerment on one side but has changed norms with respect to how women are perceived in the workplace. "This is something that wouldn't be impossible in the Pacific." Andrew Mason says at the launch of the World Bank report this week in Port Moresby, one of the big messages the authors wanted to convey was that the empowerment of women through work is "not really something to be afraid of." "When women become economically empowered, when they have more opportunity, more access to resources, and more voice in society, then we see that societies can grow more quickly, we see that the next generation can benefit and we also see that development policy making, or public policy making, can be more effective. "This is not just women benefiting women."