Boosting Potential Growth by Addressing Gender Gaps in Suriname
This SIP has three main objectives. First, it assesses the current gender inequality in opportunities and outcomes in Suriname. Second, it highlights the economic benefits of reducing gender inequality and removing barriers to women’s economic empowerment. Third, it identifies potential policy areas where action is needed.
A. Overall Progress in Reducing Gender Inequality
1. Suriname has seen gradual decline in gender inequality over the past few decades. Composite indicators of gender inequality—such as the Gender Inequality Index, the Gender Development Index, and the Global Gender Gap Index—measure different dimensions of gender equality, including opportunity, outcomes, and representation. These indicators suggest that overall gender equality has improved, albeit at a slow pace (left panel of Figure 1). Suriname’s Gender Inequality Index is comparable to countries at similar level of development and falls within the moderate range compared to other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (right panel of Figure 1).
Composite Indicators of Gender Inequality
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2025, 012; 10.5089/9798400299124.002.A001
Sources: UNDP, World Bank, World Development Indicators, World Economic Forum, and IMF staff calculations.B. Educational Attainment
2. Women perform well in education compared to men; however, overall educational outcomes are still low relative to peers. As shown in Figure 2, women and men have similar enrolment rates in primary level, but women outperform men in secondary and tertiary levels.
Nonetheless, education outcomes, especially in secondary and tertiary levels, fall short of those in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in upper middle-income countries (Figure 2).
Educational Outcomes by Gender
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2025, 012; 10.5089/9798400299124.002.A001
C. Labor Market Indicators
3. There are significant gains from closing gender gaps in labor market outcomes. The female labor force participation rate has increased compared to that of males, contributing to a smaller gap between the two (left panel of Figure 3). However, the gap remains sizable. Additional gaps in labor market outcomes exist as well. For instance, women who are employed are more likely to work part-time. The share of female youth not in education, employment or training is about 7.1 percentage points higher than that of male youth. In 2022, women held 29.4 percent of seats in national parliaments, which is below that of regional comparators (Figure 3). These gaps, alongside with better educational outcomes for women, suggest a misallocation of talents and abilities across occupations. Results from the IMF’s Output Gains Toolkit suggest that closing the gender gap in labor force participation alone could boost GDP by about 18 percent.
D. Promoting Higher Female Labor Force Participation
4. Child marriage and adolescent fertility rates remain high, and they are closely related to education and poverty. According to the most recent data in 2018, 36 percent of girls are married by the age of 18, and almost one in ten by the age of 15 (left panel of Figure 4). The prevalence of child marriage contributes to increased rates of adolescent pregnancies, often involving higher health risks. Although adolescent fertility has been falling in recent decades, it remains higher than in countries with similar income levels (right panel of Figure 4). Applying Melina framework to assess the consequence of adolescent pregnancy and early motherhood (AP&EM), UNFPA finds that the incidence of AP&EM is three times higher among females with no schooling or only primary schooling. Females with an incidence of AP&EM are more likely come from a household in the poorest quintiles and earn less than their peers who had given birth over the age of 20 years.
Gender Gaps
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2025, 012; 10.5089/9798400299124.002.A001
Sources: World Bank, Gender Data Portal, and World Bank, World Development Indicators.Child Marriage and Adolescent Fertility
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2025, 012; 10.5089/9798400299124.002.A001
Sources: UNICEF, World Bank, World Development Indicators.5. Child marriage and adolescent fertility lead to economic losses. Child marriage hampers educational attainment and labor market participation. UNFPA estimates that adolescent mothers are 28 percent more likely to withdraw from the labor market compared, have higher unemployment rate and earn less relative to women who delayed pregnancy till adulthood. The UNFPA estimates a cost of 1.6 percent of GDP due to lost income and lower economic activity. The IMF Child Marriage Toolkit also provides some estimates; however, instead of measuring gains or loss in terms of GDP share, it focuses on the impact on growth rate. The result suggests that eliminating child marriage in Suriname could potentially increase per capita growth by 1.44 percentage points.
6. Gender-based violence is still a relevant issue in Suriname. In 2018, 8 percent of women are subjected to violence in the last 12 months. 28 percent of women ages 15-49 have ever experienced intimate partner violence. According to IMF research, a one percentage point decrease in the share of women who experience intimate partner violence is associated with an 8-9 percent increase in economic activity, as measured by night-light data.
7. The lack of infrastructure and services presents additional challenges for women’s time allocation. While access to electricity and safe drinking water has generally improved in Suriname, significant gaps remain in rural areas (left and middle panel of Figure 5). Furthermore, the share of people with access of safely-managed sanitation services has declined in recent years (right panel of Figure 5). These gaps and regressions disproportionately affect women, who typically undertake the unpaid tasks such as fetching water, cooking, laundry, cleaning, and other household chores. Improving such infrastructure could therefore have a disproportionate impact on women’s time, potentially enhancing their participation in paid economic activities.
Infrastructure and Services
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2025, 012; 10.5089/9798400299124.002.A001
Sources: World Bank, World Development Indicators.E. Legal Framework
8. Recent progress has been made in women’s legal rights in legislation. The World Bank’s Women Business, and the Law (WBL) data publishes legal framework scores based on rights codified in law. The left panel of Figure 6, which uses WBL 1.0 legal framework scores, show some very recent advancements. The right panel presents the legal framework scores from the WBL 2.0 version, revealing that legal framework remains inadequate, particularly in areas such as entrepreneurship, safety, and childcare services. Overall, the WBL Report (2024) indicates that Suriname has an average legal framework score of 65 (out of 100), which is somewhat below the average for Latin America and the Caribbean.
9. The WBL report also highlight opportunities for policies to support the implementation of legal rights across various areas. The supportive frameworks scores, which measure the policy instruments designed to support the implementation of women’s legal rights, indicate a lack of policies even in areas where the legal framework scores are relatively high. For instance, in the area of mobility, women have a different passport application process compared to men. In the area of the workplace, there is no government published guidelines addressing nondiscrimination based on gender in recruitment. Regarding equal pay, there are no pay transparency measures or enforcement mechanism to address the gender pay gap.
10. Further data collection is needed to identify the drivers of gender equalities and develop informed polices. Gender disaggregated data is lacking in several key areas, including women’s share in STEM education, gender wage gaps, unpaid work, financial account ownership, access to credit, and digital payment. Understanding these factors is crucial for addressing the gaps in labor market outcomes and for developing evidence-based policies. Some information on time use will be collected in the next Census cycle.
Legal Rights
Citation: IMF Staff Country Reports 2025, 012; 10.5089/9798400299124.002.A001
Sources: World Bank, Women Business and the Law (2024)References
Ouedraogo, R. and Stenzel, D. 2021. The Heavy Economic Toll of Genderbased Violence: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa. IMF WP/21/277, Washington DC: USA
United Nations. 2023. Socio-economic impact of adolescent pregnancy and early motherhood in Suriname.
UN Women. 2018. Situation Analysis of Women and Men in Suriname: Economy. United Nations Women.
World Bank. 2024. Suriname Gender Landscape. Washington DC: USA
World Bank. 2024. Women, Business and the Law 2024: Suriname. Washington DC: USA
