gender wage inequality may also improve the balance of payments reducing the need to rely on currency devaluation as a means to improving competitiveness resulting in a feminization of foreign exchange earnings samarasinghe seguino however that gender inequality may in some circumstances contribute to aggregate growth underscores one of the potential pitfalls of relying solely on economic efficiency arguments to promote gender equality early studies found a positive correlation between growth and a variety of measures of women s wellbeing and gender equality including those relating to education life expectancy the united nation s gender development index female labour force participation employment segregation and the gender wage gap