Gender equality is smart economics, says Sweden’s Prime Mininster

Summary of story from UN News Centre, September 23, 2011

Sweden’s Prime Minister  has told the United Nations that the unmet human, economic and social rights for 3.5 billion women and girls is ‘maybe the most important human rights failure of all’.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly annual debate, Fredrik Reinfeldt said that women and girls make up half of the population of the world but they are not allowed to fulfil their potential as powerful drivers of economic development as well as of peace and security.

He described gender equality as an investment for the future, saying that when women play a role in shaping institutions, politics or business, there is less corruption and more improvement for the public good.

Closing the employment gap between men and women, he said, would have huge beneficial implications for the global economy.

“In short,” he said, “I see gender equality not as a crucial human rights issue, but also a question of smart economics.”

“It would boost American GDP [gross domestic product] by as much as 9 per cent, [the] Euro-zone by 13 per cent and Japanese GDP by 16 per cent,” Reinfeldt continued.

Mid-2011, he pointed out, there are still countries which do not allow women to vote, in only 28 countries has women’s parliamentary representation reached a critical mass of 30 percent or more and only 19 women are leading their countries as elected heads of state or government.

“And this”, he said, “is not fair. It is not just. And it makes no sense.”