The United Nations on Sunday urged African nations to close
a gender gap that is costing an estimated $95bn a year in lost economic
potential.
"Where there are high levels of gender inequality, societies
are missing out. They are not harnessing the full potential of women, and that
costs economically, at the family level, community level and the national
level," UN Development Fund director Helen Clark told AFP.
Citing agriculture as an example, Clark said that in many
African nations, women are banned from owning or inheriting land, making it
hard for them to borrow money.
"They then don’t have the finance to buy the best seeds, the
best fertilisers. So women, despite working very, very hard, end up producing
less, being less productive," she said in Nairobi, where she was attending the
Tokyo International Conference on African Development.
The UNDP said in a statement that male-female inequality in
sub-Saharan Africa costs the continent some $95bn each year in lost economic
potential.
In 2014, the cost was higher, at $105bn, it said.
In 2014, the cost was higher, at $105bn, it said.
"Gender equality is a good thing in its own right, and it’s
the right thing to do, but often it’s not until you start talking about
economics that people think my goodness, it has implications if we don’t do
something about this," said Clark, former New Zealand prime minister and a
candidate for UN Secretary General.
Clark meanwhile noted the progress made in some nations, including in Rwanda, where 65 per cent of elected MPs are female.
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