“Young women in India are much better off than their mothers, but they fare much worse than their counterparts in many developing countries when it comes to the physical survival rate of women and participation in labor force, says a report by the World Bank … titled ‘Gender Equality and Development,'” Business Standard reports (10/13).  The report “said that while life expectancy had increased in low- and middle-income countries by 20 years since 1960 …  almost 4 million women died too early in the developing world compared to rich countries,” with almost one million of these excess deaths occurring in India, according to the Times of India (Dhawan, 10/13).

The report, which looks at gender equality as both a moral and economic issue, “cites the conditional cash transfer scheme in India for maternal health care as an example for helping women access care when they need it the most” and “also says a declining fertility rate is one of the indicators of growing gender equality in India,” Business Standard writes. The report “identifies four key areas for concentrated action domestically and globally — reducing female mortality and closing education gaps, improving access to economic opportunities, increasing women’s voice and agency in the household and society, and limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations,” the news service notes (10/13).