[WEBINAR] Breaking the tax bias: Promoting gender equality in taxation

Improving gender equality is an issue of fairness, and a priority for most governments. Working towards more inclusive economies in which women fully participate, is also important for economic growth. Tax policy can contribute to gender equality and to governments’ efforts to reduce inequalities. Even in tax systems that do not include explicit gender biases, hidden biases often exist due to the interaction of the tax system with differences in the nature and level of income earned by men and women, consumption decisions and social expectations.

In February 2022, the OECD released the first cross-country report analysing national approaches to tax policy and gender outcomes. The report—Tax Policy on Gender Equality: A Stocktake of Country Approaches—draws upon input from 43 countries on the issue of gender and tax policy design, and explores the extent to which countries consider and address gender equality in tax policy development and tax administration. In March 2022, an OECD Taxation Working Paper on Taxation of Part-Time Work in the OECD was released. This working paper has a clear gender perspective since on average, women are three times as likely to work part-time as men. As part of the 2022 OECD March on Gender campaign, this event will formally launch both the Tax Policy and Gender Equality report and the Taxation of Part-Time Work in the OECD working paper, with a view to raise awareness of the issues and highlight the need for further work and action in this area.