Investing in Girls' Education Would Help to Increase Global Prosperity

Salon.com (Broadsheet): It takes girls to raise a village, by Tracy Clark-Flory:

Developing countries lose billions each year by ignoring girls' potential, a report says

It might seem a bad omen for the release of a report on the global importance of educating girls to coincide with reports of a bomb destroying a coed elementary school Tuesday in Afghanistan. But, while the news comes as a reminder of the extreme challenges facing girls' education worldwide, Plan International's report "Because I Am a Girl: The State of the World's Girls 2009" makes a strong case for why it's a fight worth fighting.

The report found that "there are over 500 million adolescent girls and young women in developing countries who could and should play a crucial part in the next generation's economic and social development -- but many do not have the opportunities for education or worthwhile economic activity. . . .