Since 1970, women’s life expectancy in developing countries has increased by some 15-20 years and the gap between girls’ and boys’ primary school attendance has been reduced dramatically.

But women still trail men in the workplace, at the bank and on the farm:
- Women earn 22 percent less in salaries than their male counterparts.
- Their access to credit is very small. In Africa, for instance, they receive only 1 percent of the total credit going to agriculture.

IDA resources are helping low-income countries pay closer attention to gender issues that hold back development.

Download a 5-page assessment of the Bank’s gender work in IDA countries:

In Vietnam’s Ha Nam province, re-issuing land titles with two names has benefitted women like Troung Thi Huong: “With this land title, I now have the same rights as my husband to borrow money.”
Watch Troung and others describe what has changed.