Sheryl WuDunn on Empowering Women

By Edward Harrison On Sep 25, 2010

The Clinton Global Initiative annual conference ended on Thursday. But, I wanted to highlight one issue the conference spotlighted as one of four action areas – and that is the need for empowering girls and women.

We know from recent US census statistics that American women suffer disproportionately from poverty in the US and that the economic downturn has hit women harder than men. However, globally, the problem is even more acute. Empowering women and girls would offer a boost to developing countries.

CGI says:

[E]mpowering girls and women yields undeniable returns — for everyone in the community. In some countries greater investments in female education could raise GDP growth by 0.2 percent per year. By focusing on girls and women, innovative businesses and organizations can spur economic progress, expand markets, and improve health and education outcomes for everyone.

In that vein, I want pass along a video from TED that was posted last month. TED says:

Sheryl WuDunn’s book "Half the Sky" investigates the oppression of women globally. Her stories shock. Only when women in developing countries have equal access to education and economic opportunity will we be using all our human resources.

–Sheryl WuDunn: Our century’s greatest injustice, TED (Ideas Worth Spreading)

The part I thought most interesting about WuDunn’s talk was the concept that women who are better educated tend to delay child birth, having fewer children and investing greater time and energy in those children they do have. That sounds like a huge positive from a demographic standpoint to me.