Women's Power Can Save GDP: The Shocking "22% of the Pacific" Revealed by the World Bank

1. Stalling Island Economies and "Another Resource"

In the South Pacific, where 12 countries like Fiji, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands are scattered, the region enjoyed a temporary high growth of 5.5% with the reopening of tourism post-COVID. However, the tide turned between 2024 and 2025. The World Bank, in its latest economic outlook, revised the 2025 growth rate down to 2.6%, warning that high transportation costs and import dependency are burdens.reuters.com

However, the same report highlights "women as an untapped resource," which is noteworthy. 57% of women of working age, approximately 500,000 in actual numbers, are outside the labor market. If gender participation rates could be equalized, the regional GDP could be boosted by 22%. For Fiji alone, an increase of 30% is estimated.reuters.com

2. Numbers Speak on Gender Disparity

• Female Employment Rate: 43% (Male 72%)

• No Paid Parental Leave: 6 countries

• Percentage of Women in Energy Sector: 19% (Less than 5% in technical positions)

• Lack of Anti-Employment Discrimination Laws: 5 countries

• Prohibition of Women's Night Work and Mining Employment: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and others
  . These legal barriers are pointed out as remnants of "maternal protection" regulations introduced after World War II.reuters.com

3. "Impact of Institutional Reform" Seen in Kiribati

Exceptionally, Kiribati has established comprehensive workplace protection laws and introduced anti-harassment clauses, resulting in a 12-point increase in urban female employment rates over five years. This has laid the groundwork for nurturing non-tourism sectors in a country highly dependent on tourism, leading to the attraction of education-related startups and remote BPO companies.worldbank.org

4. Energy Transition and Female Engineers

In the Pacific, where the development of renewable energy is urgent, the shortage of engineers is a bottleneck. The World Bank's "Pacific Women in Power" program imposes a target of 20% female technical positions in power companies and subsidizes qualification acquisition costs. Among the 12 participating companies, 8 have doubled female appointments compared to the previous year.worldbank.org

5. Support and Confusion on Social Media

• Supporters: The official Reuters World post included "#PacificWomen #Growth," and a Hawaii-based researcher @LeilaniEco metaphorically described the 22% potential growth rate as "the female version of rare metals."x.com

• Cautious Voices: Australian policy commentator @OzPolicyWatch pointed out that "removing safety regulations could lead to mining accidents."

• Voices from Japan: Twitter user @BlueLagoonJP posted, "The key to revitalizing the declining tourism industry is remote work × female IT talent," receiving over 2,000 likes (as of the afternoon of June 18).

• International Organizations: The World Bank Gov account highlighted a success story from another region, stating "a 25% increase in female labor participation could boost Indonesia's GDP by 20%," suggesting a similar expansion in the Pacific.x.com

6. Japan's Potential Involvement

Japan has been developing vocational training schools and ports through ODA, butsupport for "gender × economy" is still limited. Although JICA raised the importance of supporting female entrepreneurship in its "Country Analysis Paper for Oceania" in March, project formation is yet to begin.jica.go.jp

In the private sector, General Trading Company A has invested in an agritech company in Fiji, providing e-commerce training to 1,200 female farmers. This is a good example of how Japanese companies can capture both SDGs and growth markets.

7. Challenge: Balancing Culture and Safety

To prevent "lifting the ban on night work = forced dangerous work," strengthening the labor standards office is essential. Additionally, customary laws on each island (customs) sometimes prohibit women from going out at night, makinglegal reforms alone insufficient. Awareness campaigns involving local residents and the development of safe commuting infrastructure are crucial.

8. The Anticipated Japanese Model

The "short-time regular employee" system and "job-defined telework" advancing in Japanese SMEs are highly compatible with the Pacific region, which has a dispersed population and many remote islands. Along with IT infrastructure development, establishingcross-border cloud BPOcould create female employment opportunities while avoiding concentration in metropolitan areas.

9. Future Scenarios

• Best Case: Increase in female employment rate by +15 points and regional GDP by +10% by 2027

• Baseline: +5 points due to tourism recovery

• Worst Case: -2 points due to delays in legal reforms and climate disasters
  The determining factors will be the speed of legal reforms in national parliaments and the seriousness of the numerical targets set by companies.

10. Conclusion

The economies of Pacific island nations are small and fragile, but within them lies a vast untapped resource known as "female power." Data showing a 22% GDP boost effect suggests it may even have a more immediate impact than fiscal stimulus or attracting foreign investment. Can island nations, the world, Japanese companies, and civil society collaborate to chart a path that balances "economy and gender"? The year 2025 will be a litmus test for this.