Economic Benefits of Fair Treatment of Women in Society

As soon as the issue of equal treatment of women comes up, men, particularly where I come from, Nigeria, go up in defence. "Ugh! Here we go again". And then they counter every argument advocates make with reasons why we're better off with the status quo. Or simply try to shut the advocates up. For me the problem has always been understanding how a good number of men (particularly in third world countries), don't see the positive aspects of equal and fair treatment of women. But when I think about it from their perspective, it makes sense. It stops being a man's world when women no longer have to go to their husbands to ask for money for everything from getting their hair done, to buying ingredients to cook food for the whole family. When women earn there's one less reason to stay when they are being mistreated by their husband (they can actually afford to leave), and then there are two bosses at home instead of the one God intended. What makes the Nigerian situation (and that of most other developing countries) is the fact that we're trying to combat believes instilled in society not only by religion! but also by culture/tradition.

An adverse effect of unequal treatment of women in society concerning work and pay is that a lot of pressure is put on men to be the (sole) provider. In societies that are governed by cultural believes such as this, what could potentially be a two income household is held together by one working parent while the other (usually the woman) stays home and does the work of homemaker, i.e, cleans and cooks. Research has shown and really common sense dictates that two income households promotes economic growth because of higher per capita income. You're earning more, you can afford more, you employ more (housekeepers, nannies etc), you buy more, you can save more... Before you know it, the number of people that will qualify as middle income earners, instead of the 70% defined as poor in places like Nigeria, will increase. This will translate into an increase in the standard of living.

As the saying goes, when you educate a girl you educate a nation. Infant mortality is an issue well explored in Economic research papers. Infant mortality is one of those economic indicators that tells the quality of life in a region. One of the causes of high infant mortality in developing countries is the lack of proper education of women. In some societies they do not even bother educating their women (for the most part). Girls in Northern Nigeria (and in a lot of other Islamic countries) get married off at a very young age or are used to pay debts their fathers owe. If women have hope that their degrees will be beneficial, a lot of them will most certainly endeavour to go to school and ensure that their female children go to school- But some of us live in societies that insist that marriage and child bearing for a woman is the ultimate achievement. An illiterate woman could pour "agbo"-herbal concussions down her baby's throat if she/he starts to run a fever. An uneducated woman has little chance of finding out that SID is sometimes caused by lying a child on it's belly to sleep. If an uneducated woman is unaware of all these, imagine what an uneducated 13 year old with a child knows. Without the proper education of women, they remain unaware of the dangers of marrying off their 13 year olds. Educated women are more aware and alert to their health issues and that of their families so you can already see how this could decrease mortality rate. I have only mentioned a few economic indicators here - mortality rate, infant mortality, but there are so many more that have been found to be influenced by how educated the female population is. It is important not only to educate women, but to give them enough assurances that their education is going to be useful (by not keeping them out of the work force).

With a high earning family, parents can afford to send their children to much better schools. The positive effects of educating a nation cannot be overemphasized. Standard of living rises not just because of higher earnings and economic growth but also because educated populations are better equipped to drive good governance. Educated populations are more aware of tactics by unscrupulous politicians to syphon money- they know that politician is building a new airport instead of investing in educating it's population because it is very difficult to embezzle money when the project is simple (he can't tell us he bought two pens & a jotting paper for $5000). An educated population is more aware of their rights. To achieve all these however, you cannot afford to educate only the men and leave the women to rot.

It would not work.