GENDER DISCRIMINATION AN ENEMY OF GROWTH: WORLD BANK. The improvement of the lot of women is not only an ethical imperative but also a requirement of economic development, Le Monde (France, p.2) reports the World Bank concludes in a released this week at the UN's General Assembly on Gender Equality. While it has long been known that less sexism in a society allows for better nutrition and health, what economists are beginning to understand better, says the Bank in this study of some 100 countries over 10 years, is how the emancipation of women allows the improvement of economic productivity over the long term, thanks, for example to the education of children and especially of girls.
"If the countries of South Asia and Africa succeed in narrowing the education gap between the sexes, their annual growth rates would be 0.5 to 0.9 percentage points higher today," the Bank report is cited as saying. Women also promote "good governance", notes the report, since they are less inclined than men to pay bribes. In order to strengthen the efficacy of development policies, "it is important to understand how resources are allocated within households", the report says.
"If you don't address the question of women's education, of the opportunities that are available to them, of women's rights, you will quite simply be unable to make real progress in development," the story also quotes World Bank President James Wolfensohn as saying.