For centuries, women lived in a world where men make the laws. A world where women were (and in some places, are) treated like chattel. Owned and subjugated by men as slaves, we had no voice, no rights, no freedoms until the last century. In children's literature we've been portrayed as the wicked witches or evil stepmothers. In mythology we've been blamed for men's weaknesses and bad fate. (look no further than the Greeks whose sailors were led to their death by the Sirens or Odysseus who "succumbed" to the enchantress, Circe) Even the decline of society has been attributed to us when we started to trade in our aprons for office jobs.

It’s now 2006, and even though we’ve won some major victories during the last century…the right to vote, to work and on paper, we’re equal in the eyes of the law, we are still reading stories of women being beaten, burned, raped, and traded as slaves by men.

In China and India, female fetuses are being aborted because a male child is still perceived as more valuable. In Western societies, working mothers are often castigated for not forsaking an education and career to stay at home to become domestic servants for their families.

But all is not doom and gloom for the modern woman. A recent study in the Economist magazine has discovered that women are the most underused asset in society. The report in the April 15 issue made some very interesting observations and conclusions:

Females consistently outperform boys in school.

Half of all university degrees in most developed countries are being awarded to women.

Financial investments made by women consistently earn higher returns than their male counterparts.

Countries with high female labour participation rates, such as Sweden, tend to have higher fertility rates than Germany, Italy and Japan where fewer women work.

Not only are educated women more productive, they raise healthier and better educated children.

Women make perhaps 80% of consumers buying decisions.*

Considering these positive trends, hopefully, the corporate and political landscape, presently underrepresented by women, will reflect these statistics. With more women in positions of power, then, we could be seeing increased wages and better working conditions for working women. Women’s issues could receive more attention resulting in better enforcement of laws protecting the rights of women around the globe and stricter penalties for those who break them.

Can we do a better job at running this planet? Or will we also succumb to the same vices of greed, corruption and self-interest of our male predecessors? Only time will tell but we won’t know until we try and a lot more of us need to try. For the sake of our children and their future.

*Excerpts from The Economist, April 15-21, 2006 pp. 73-74