That's a very good question, and a tough one, in the sense that governments cannot just by law reduce the gender pay gap just like that. As you will be well aware, there are lots of people in the labour force who made their educational choices 20 and 30 years ago, and their career patterns cannot just be changed overnight.
I think what governments can do is make the playing field level, so to speak. In parental leave systems, governments must try to get a greater gender balance in leave-taking. If you leave it to the parents, they will in general choose to have the partner who has the lower earnings take the leave, as the opportunity costs are lower. That is often the mother. You're not going to generate change like that.
If you want to change that behaviour, you have to think about quotas or the bonus programs to try to encourage men to take their leave as well, or to work part time as well, because as long as employers expect women to work part time or to take leave, they are likely to invest less in women than in men.
That's one thing.
Child care has been mentioned. It levels the playing field between parents. Both can then participate in the labour force. In terms of the pay gap, over the last few years we have seen some countries take measures to get more transparency on payment within companies, countries that try to force companies of a certain size, most notably, to publish what they pay their men and women. Pay transparency is one of the things that governments could directly enhance.