Educate women to improve business environment

Bangalore: Programs that focus specifically on women create more benefit for women and society as a whole, according to many studies over the past 15 years. Countries that have not achieved gender parity in education, for example, have been found to forgo 0.1 to 0.3 percentage points annually in per capita economic growth, according McKinsey Quarterly.

Further, a one-year increase in schooling of all adult females in a country is correlated with an increase in GDP per capita of roughly $700 and a 0.7 percent increase in the participation of women in the formal labor force. Compounding these effects is the fact that educated and employed mothers have a stronger positive influence on the health and educational outcomes of their children than do similar fathers.

At the companies focused on women's development, the most common reason for that decision is that the focus is consistent with company culture or tradition. These companies' programs most often target current and future employees, closely followed by women in society at large. Consistent with a focus on employees, three-quarters of respondents describe their efforts as programs and policies to hire, retain, or advance female workers in developing economies.

Among respondents whose companies are engaged with women on development issues, 34 percent say the engagement has already increased profits, and another 38 percent expect it to do so, most often by increasing the pool of skilled and accessible labor.