By Sylivester Ernest, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. First the good news: More women than ever before have climbed up the decision making ladder in the past decade. They are also more involved in the development process.Now for the downside: they are dying in large enough numbers to be branded the “missing women”.

According to the newly launched ‘World Development Report’, which focuses on gender inequalities, many women are now occupying the driver’s seat in many spheres.

However, the report, published by the World Bank, notes that there are areas which need improvements.It notes, for instance, that in many low-income countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, poor women and girls continue to face severe disadvantages, and a particular concern is that of excess female mortality. They have been dubbed as ‘missing women’.

According to the report, the number of women missing in SSA increased to 1.18 million in 2008, compared to 639,000 in 1990. To tackle the problem of missing girls during infancy and early childhood, the report calls for greater investments in adequate water, sanitation and waste disposal services.

But on the positive side, the report notes that although many women continue to struggle with gender based disadvantages in their daily lives, things have changed for the better, and at a pace that would have been unthinkable even two decades ago.

Women have made unprecedented gains in rights, in education and health, and in access to jobs and livelihoods. More countries than ever guarantee women and men equal rights under the law in such areas as property ownership, inheritance, and marriage.

Released yesterday, the ‘World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development’ says that as much as countries have made great economic successes, so have the women.It further notes that developments recorded by a lot of countries around the world have been greatly contributed by the women.

The report notes that countries that create better opportunities for women and girls can raise productivity, improve outcomes for children, make institutions more representative, and advance development prospects for all.

Though women contribution in development cannot be qualified, Tanzania has also made inroads in promoting gender equality. A number of women have, of late, landed powerful positions in the corporate and the public sector.

Among others, Tanzania boasts of more representation of women in decision-making organs with its Parliament led by a woman, Ms Anne Makinda, who has proved competent in handling the lawmaking organ.Tanzanian women do not only impress by their numbers in decision making organs such as parliament and the cabinet, but have been performing well too.

While insisting on the importance of gender equality matters for economic prosperity, the report points out that countries that create better opportunities and conditions for women and girls are always in a better chance of raising productivity, improve outcomes for children, make institutions more representative, and advance development prospects for all.

“Lowering maternal mortality will require systemic improvements to the institutions that deliver medical care and services to expectant mothers. Also, HIV/Aids treatment and prevention is vital, since the health status of women is especially bad in countries hardest hit by the epidemic where it is more prevalent among women than men,” reads part of the report.

Moreover, it says that in terms of educational advancement, the SSA has had a step forward whereby 2008, there were about 91 girls for every 100 boys in primary school, up from 85 girls in 1999. In Eritrea for instance, the female primary net enrolment rate rose from a very low base of 16 per cent in 1990 to just 36 per cent in 2008. In Chad and the Central African Republic there are fewer than 70 girls per 100 boys in primary school.

The World Bank, one of the institutions that support the efforts by different organisations and governments to providing education and gender balance has had a hand in helping the stride to reaching a commendable target.
“We need to achieve gender equality,” the WDR 2012 quotes the World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick as saying adding,

“Over the past five years, the World Bank Group has provided $65 billion to support girls’ education, women’s health, and women’s access to credit, land, agricultural services, jobs, and infrastructure. This has been important work, but it has not been enough or central enough to what we do.”

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