World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development
Women in the developing world have made strides in education, but still lag far behind men in opportunities, a gender gap that is hampering growth, according to World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development report released today.
Calling on countries to work to shrink that gap, the flagship report of the World Bank said gender equality is important in its own right as well as being 'smart economics'.
"Countries that create better opportunities and conditions for women and girls can raise productivity, improve outcomes for children, make institutions more representative, and advance development prospects for all,” it said, adding that in Nepal as many as 14 per cent married women are largely silent on how their earned money is spent. "But they are more actively involved in the decision making recently," according the World Bank that revealed that women's greater public voice not only benefits women and children but also men. "Giving women bigger say in managing forests in Nepal has significantly improved conservation outcomes too," it added.
"The disparities between boys and girls in primary education have almost closed over the past 25 years, and at the secondary level, the gaps are shrinking rapidly," it said, lauding Nepal's efforts in closing the gender gap.
"In Nepal, young women are offered three months of occupational skill training followed by a mandatory skill test and three-month job placement focusing on identifying nonstereotypical trades attractive to women.
The World Bank said the worst disparity was in the mortality rate relative to men in developing countries. “Globally, excess female mortality after birth and ‘missing’ girls at birth account for an estimated 3.9 million women each year in low- and middle-income countries.
"The 187-nation development lender has provided $65 billion in the past five years to support girls’ education, women’s health, and women’s access to credit, land, agricultural services, jobs and infrastructure.
The World Bank proposed four areas for action: addressing the excessive mortality rates and gender gaps in education, closing earning and productivity gaps, giving women greater voice within households and societies, and curbing the transmission of gender inequality from generation to generation.
The report detailed how girls now outnumber boys in secondary schools in 45 countries, and women outnumber men in universities in 60 countries. Progress also has been made in life expectancy, where women in poor countries outlive men and live 20 years longer than they did in 1960.
But countries stand to gain by addressing the remaining disparities, the Bank argued. Eliminating barriers that block women from working in certain occupations would reduce the productivity gap between male and female workers and boost output per worker by three to 25 per cent across a range of countries.
Calling on countries to work to shrink that gap, the flagship report of the World Bank said gender equality is important in its own right as well as being 'smart economics'.
"Countries that create better opportunities and conditions for women and girls can raise productivity, improve outcomes for children, make institutions more representative, and advance development prospects for all,” it said, adding that in Nepal as many as 14 per cent married women are largely silent on how their earned money is spent. "But they are more actively involved in the decision making recently," according the World Bank that revealed that women's greater public voice not only benefits women and children but also men. "Giving women bigger say in managing forests in Nepal has significantly improved conservation outcomes too," it added.
"The disparities between boys and girls in primary education have almost closed over the past 25 years, and at the secondary level, the gaps are shrinking rapidly," it said, lauding Nepal's efforts in closing the gender gap.
"In Nepal, young women are offered three months of occupational skill training followed by a mandatory skill test and three-month job placement focusing on identifying nonstereotypical trades attractive to women.
The World Bank said the worst disparity was in the mortality rate relative to men in developing countries. “Globally, excess female mortality after birth and ‘missing’ girls at birth account for an estimated 3.9 million women each year in low- and middle-income countries.
"The 187-nation development lender has provided $65 billion in the past five years to support girls’ education, women’s health, and women’s access to credit, land, agricultural services, jobs and infrastructure.
The World Bank proposed four areas for action: addressing the excessive mortality rates and gender gaps in education, closing earning and productivity gaps, giving women greater voice within households and societies, and curbing the transmission of gender inequality from generation to generation.
The report detailed how girls now outnumber boys in secondary schools in 45 countries, and women outnumber men in universities in 60 countries. Progress also has been made in life expectancy, where women in poor countries outlive men and live 20 years longer than they did in 1960.
But countries stand to gain by addressing the remaining disparities, the Bank argued. Eliminating barriers that block women from working in certain occupations would reduce the productivity gap between male and female workers and boost output per worker by three to 25 per cent across a range of countries.
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