Gender equality is not only a matter of social justice, it is also a matter of good economics. Failing to "invest" in women - for example, letting girls go to school, ensuring legal and property rights for women, providing access to health care and nutrition for mothers and their families - threatens the well-being of the society as a whole. Eliminating gender inequalities, however, produces significant gain in terms of the quality of life of the women themselves, economic productivity, and poverty reduction. While more and more women are participating more fully in social and economic development, much remains to be done. The World Bank's policy is to integrate gender concerns into all of its policies and programs.
Women and Development: The Importance of Gender Equality
Did you know that 77 million girls of primary school age are not in school compared to 52 million boys? Why does this matter? Read here for more facts and figures.
Gender Home Page
The comprehensive web site offers a wealth of data and development information on gender issues. The site describes how the Bank promotes gender equality and how this helps ensure sustainable development. You may find the following portions of the site particularly useful:
Africa Gender Web
This web site focuses on gender within Africa. It offers key documents, resource links, and information about contacts and Bank projects in this region as well as contacts outside of the Bank. You may find the following portions of the site particularly useful:
Gender and Economic Development
Gender and Education
Food Security in the Year 2020: Women as Producers, Gatekeepers, and Shock Absorbers
This brief examines the key roles that women play in maintaining the three pillars of food security--food
production, food access, and food utilization--and it looks at how enhancing women's abilities and resources
provides a solution to meeting world food needs in the year 2020.
Data on Gender
Gender and Development
Explore life expectancy, school enrolment rates, and information about the female labor force in your country. How does the data in your country compare with those of other countries? What does this tell you about life in these countries?
Explore these pages from World Development Indicators, 1999 to find data on gender for over 140 of the world's countries.
To view these pages you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have it, you may download it
here for free.
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Tackling the Issues
Gender issues are closely linked to other development issues. Check out the connections between Gender,
Population,
Health, and
Education issues among others.
Gender and Development Workshop: April 1998
This workshop brought together experts from inside and outside the Bank to identify issues which must be addressed by national and international development agencies in the next millennium. The Panelist Discussion Page has excerpts from all the conference speakers on a range of topics including gender and social exclusion, gender and society, and gender and the economy. Voice your opinion or pose questions to the Gender Group's bulletin board. Created as a follow up to the workshop, current discussion topics include gender as it relates to: the state, household, society, economy, international institutions, and more. The Gender Group's e-mail is: [email protected].
Access and Equity in Education
This site offers materials on girls education for order. Choose from
a range of materials available including the video Invisible Voices:
Girls' Education in Gambia, research handbooks, and a tool kit on girls' education.
