If it could rid itself of gender discrimination, the average developing country would grow at least two percentage points faster every year.
Thats from Marcelo Giugale, the World Banks Director of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Programs for Africa in a recent Huffington Post piece. According to Guigale, gender parity is smart economics.
He makes four important points:
There has never been a better time to be a woman. Women have slowly gained access to employment, education, property, credit, justice, contraceptives and power.
Our daughters’ world can, should and probably will be better than our sisters’. It is true that access has vastly improved. The issue now is what happens after access.
Treating women fairly would make everyone richer. Gender parity is not only a moral priority; it is also smart economics.
Better policies and bigger projects will not by themselves achieve gender parity — we also need cultural change.
This is a great article to use when making answering the question, why do we need to include women? Well, how about because the World Bank said its good business.
