Realizing Women’s Economic Potential in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Overview & Synopsis

Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to underutilize one of its greatest economic assets, its female labor force. Only four in 10 working-age Bosnian women are either employed or actively seeking work, an exceptionally low rate that has remained largely unchanged for decades even as gender gaps in peer countries have narrowed substantially. This pattern is especially puzzling as Bosnia and Herzegovina possesses many of the conditions typically associated with high levels of female employment: women who are as educated or more educated than men, a service-oriented economy, two decades of modern gender-equality legislation, and cultural norms that value work not only as a source of income but also as a foundation for independence, identity, and purpose. Nevertheless, labor-market outcomes among women remain far behind those of their male counterparts.