Box of delight

As we approach International Women’s Day, you are likely to hear how far we’ve come to advance opportunities for women. While there are encouraging statistics, such as a narrowing of the gap in educational attendance between boys and girls, new studies show that measuring just one narrow indicator of girls’ education, namely school attendance, misses some underlying problems. Girls are still being held back disproportionately by low-quality schools and a lack of skills relevant for future employment.  The gender gap in the global workforce is also substantial, with only 49% of women participating in the workforce globally versus 75% of men.  The impact of these large gender gaps can rob countries of human potential. The World Bank estimates that the loss in human capital wealth from the under-education of girls to be between $15 trillion and $30 trillion annually.