the stronger the profitled nature of the economyfor instance the more open to the global economy or the more neoliberal its macro policythe more pronounced these contradictions the result is that policies promoting gender equality may be anathema to growth or make it unstable somewhat counterintuitively if the promotion of gender equality via higher female labour participation actually lowers female wages because of higher labour supply growth and human capacities production may increase in this scenario higher wages for women lower growth because they cut into profits and capitalist investment by more than they raise human capacities investment