in addition to the fact that feminization contributes to growth when there is a sharp slowdown such as occurred in the second and third quarters of or the early months of in some countries and male unemployment is higher the response of the female labour supply is positive if this result is found to hold true over the long term it could provide corroboration for the theory advanced by erturk and cagatay regarding the relationship between a high rate of feminization and long per capita income levels thus the participation gap is narrowing and the feminization rate is climbing which is in keeping with the result of the model however the unemployment gap widened in and which means that the rise in participation has not been balanced out by employment