Mainstream economic analysis has traditionally overlooked gender. The individual—the basic category of analysis—was regarded as genderless. Neither gender discrimination nor segmentation and segregation within the labor market or within the household was present. Contributions from development theory, new household economics (NHE), labor economics, and feminist analysis have done much to change this. Focusing on gender equality—by which we mean equality in opportunity, inputs, and outcome—has yielded important insights for the growth and development of an economy. But we are still at the cusp. While there have been huge improvements in recognizing gender as an analytical category at the microeconomic level, the macroeconomic implications of gender equality remain undeveloped.
