World Bank Reports New Facts on Gender Gap

The Wall Street Journal reports salaried women workers earn 62 cents for every $1 that men earn in Germany, 64 cents in India, and about 80 cents in Mexico and Egypt. Women entrepreneurs fare far worse, earning 34 cents for every $1 men earn in Ethiopia and just 12 cents in Bangladesh relative to every $1 for men.

Women and girls are more likely to die relative to men and boys in low and middle-income countries, with 3.9 million “missing” women and girls each year under the age of 60, the article says. At least 40% of those are never born, one-sixth die in infancy, and a third in their reproductive years. The problem is worst in sub-Saharan Africa and countries hit by HIV/AIDS.

Women now account for more than half the world’s university students, and 60 countries have more young women than men in universities. Primary-education disparities between boys and girls have closed in almost all nations. And in secondary education, girls now outnumber boys in 45 developing countries. But ethnicity combined with poverty can be a barrier: two-thirds of out-of-school girls around the world belong to ethnic minority groups.

The report also states that eliminating barriers for women can increase output per worker by 3% to 25% across a range of countries.

Click here for more information on the report.