Darby Quast, Chapter 13, Question 6

While reading chapter 13, the passage about the importance of women in an economy struck me as very interesting.  Wheelan compared not investing in girls or women, to a farmer only planting on half of his land.  I always knew and believed that women should have equal rights as men, but I never realized how important this is to an economy.  In the Arab League, the per capita income growth has been only 0.5% a year.  This is lower than any other place in the world except for sub-Saharan Africa.    One of the problems thats causing this is women's status in these arab countries.  I also found the study in the Ivory Coast very interesting.  It showed that when women in developing countries get more money, they spend it on things like housing, nutrition and housing, where men spend it on tobacco and alcohol.  If Saudi Arabia ever wants to be one of the Top 10 countries in the world in technology, they are going to start using all of their recourses, not just half.