Includes bibliographical references and index.

Overview -- Introduction: a guide to the report -- Pt. 1. Taking stock of gender equality. 1. A wave of progress. 2. The persistence of gender inequality -- Pt. II. What has driven progress? What impedes it? 3. Education and health: where do gender differences really matter? -- 4. Promoting women's agency -- 5. Gender differences in employment and why they matter -- 6. Globalization's impact on gender equality: what's happened and what's needed -- Pt. III. The role of and potential for public action. 7. Public action for gender equality -- 8. The political economy of gender reform -- 9. A global agenda for greater gender equality.

The World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development argues that gender equality is a core development objective in its own right. It is also smart economics. Greater gender equality can enhance productivity, improve development outcomes for the next generation, and make institutions more representative. The Report also focuses on four priority areas for policy going forward: (i) reducing excess female mortality and closing education gaps where they remain, (ii) improving access to economic opportunities for women (iii) increasing women's voice and agency in the household and in society and (iv) limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations.

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