Women’s contribution to gross domestic product is increasing

Gross domestic product (GDP) has traditionally been measured by the output of industrial sectors, provinces and territories. A new approach measures GDP by gender.

A new study found that men’s contribution to GDP is higher than women’s, but that of women is rising faster.

From 2008 to 2018, the contribution of women to Canada’s GDP rose 2.8 percentage points to 28.5%, while the contribution of men edged up 0.5 percentage points to 49.2%. Just under one-quarter of Canada’s GDP (attributable to the operating surplus of entities, such as governments or large publicly traded corporations) cannot be allocated, as it is impossible to determine the gender of the contributor.

The increase in the share of women’s GDP is roughly equal to the GDP of the Canadian manufacturing sector.

Women account for just under three-fifths of gross domestic product in the health care and social assistance and educational services sectors

In 2018, women’s contribution to GDP was highest in public sector industries and lowest in goods-producing industries. In 2018, 4 in 10 women in the labour force worked in public administration, educational services or the health care and social assistance sectors.

Women contributed just under three-fifths to Canada’s GDP in health care and social assistance and educational services sectors and over one-third to the GDP in the public and arts, entertainment and recreation sectors.

Men’s contribution to gross domestic product is highest in the private sector

Men’s contribution to Canada’s GDP is highest on construction sites, on the farm or in the forest or behind the wheel of a transportation vehicle

Men contributed to over four-fifths of Canada’s GDP in the construction industry in 2018 and over two-thirds of the GDP in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industries. Men also accounted for over half of Canada’s GDP in professional, scientific and technical services, and transportation and warehousing.

Women’s contribution to gross domestic product is highest in Yukon, lowest in Alberta

The contribution of women to GDP rose in every province and territory except Nunavut from 2008 to 2018. Conversely, the contribution of men to GDP declined in New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia.

The contribution of women to GDP in the provinces and territories ranged from 23.3% in Alberta to 38.3% in Yukon. Men accounted for the lowest share of GDP in the Northwest Territories (42.2%) and the highest in Prince Edward Island (55.1%).

Men’s share of GDP tends to be higher in regions where extractive industries are more important to economic activity, such as Alberta.

Women’s share of GDP tends to reflect differences in the participation of women in the labour force, as well as regions where public sector services (as education, health care and social assistance and public administration) constitute a large share of GDP.

From 2008 to 2018, the contribution of women to GDP increased at the fastest pace in the Northwest Territories (+8.7 percentage points to 30.1%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (+7.7 percentage points to 26.4%).

The contribution of men to GDP also grew, but to a lesser extent. The contribution of men to GDP grew at the fastest pace in Saskatchewan, rising 4.9 percentage points from 2008 to 45.7% in 2018.

Gender-based estimates of gross domestic product underestimate the contribution of women because they exclude unpaid labour around the home

GDP is a measure of production that excludes most household services; women produce more of these services than men do. For example, women spent 3.9 hours per day on unpaid work on average in 2015 compared with 2.4 hours for men.

As a result, the gender-based estimates of GDP underestimate the contribution of women to total production in Canada because they do not include the value of non-marketed services that households produce for themselves.

The full study, “Improving the measurement of the contribution of women to the economy: Estimates of gross domestic product by gender” is now available, along with the accompanying infographic “Contributions to gross domestic product by gender, 2008 to 2018”.