Women represent half of the world's total population, but far less than half of the global economy. Why? ... One of the reasons is that women's work is often unpaid. So, economists cannot value / quantify it. Jobs in the highest-paid sectors of the economy are usually dominated by men. Even when women perform exactly the same jobs, they are less likely to be advanced on the career and ladder get higher positions. In addition, they are often paid less. If women had better paid jobs, doing the same work, and being paid the same as men, the global economy would be higher, with about 12 trillion US dollars. Gender inequality costs more than people are used to think.