UBS Says First All-Female Spacewalk Reflects Women's Growing Impact on Economy

On March 29, NASA will dispatch a team of five women to coordinate and perform extravehicular activity—or, as regular earthlings call it, a spacewalk. Investment bank UBS has called it “one giant leap for woman-kind” in a note to investors, reports CNBC, adding that this event further indicates a narrowing of the gender gap that “will have major economic implications.”

Women are already making their mark in franchise leadership positions, especially in the restaurant segment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 46 percent of foodservice managers are women compared to 39 percent overall. In the article, CNBC notes that an increasing number of women in the labor force could add $12 trillion to the global GDP in the next six years. Further, UBS found that companies with at least 20 percent of their leadership positions filled by women “were more profitable than their less gender diverse peers on several metrics,” according to the article.

According to CNBC, astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch will perform the spacewalk while flight director Mary Lawrence and controllers Kristen Facciol and Jackie Kagey guide the mission.

Read the full CNBC article here.

Photos courtesy of NASA.