Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

Most people (EWB Canada and me included), agree that addressing gender disparity is vital to effective/sustainable development.
From some quarters inside EWB, I've heard it put as strongly as "the key to development is getting girls (especially rural girls) into and through school up to the 8th grade."

The United Nations has gone as far as to identify gender equity and the empowerment of women as the 3rd of the Millenium Development Goals.

There is also abundant research that suggests that educated women are a crucial socioeconomic driver; women who have completed primary education generally have fewer children, are less likely to die in childbirth, are less likely to stay in abusive relationships and are more likely to access health care and formal employment opportunities (if you watched the Hans Rosling lecture I posted yesterday, you would have seen a really cool graph illustrating some of these trends. There's also good info available from the International Development Research Center (IRDC) on Gender, Development & Policy).


Here's a new version of the old message put in pretty stark terms by the Girl Effect campaign...


(You can find a bit more info about the campaign here,at the official Google blog.)

So...agree or disagree? is it really as 'simple' as that?

(title courtesy of the eloquence of Arundhati Roy and the old friend who introduced me to to her work)

[Edit: Plan U.K (the parent organization of Plan Malawi) is a supporting partner of Girl Effect. Their campaign, Because I am a girl, has an excellent website, including some facts & figures regarding women, girls and poverty.