Monthly Archives: July 2010

Economic worth of a woman

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

FOR long it has been debated by women`s rights activists and economists arguing for social justice that if the value of women`s unpaid labour — read housework — were calculated the GDP of a country would shoot up.

According to studies done by various international groups, it is estimated that in some developing countries the contribution of women`s unpaid labour accounts for nearly a third of GDP.
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New measure of poverty

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

FOR long economists have sought to devise yardsticks to quantify economic progress which can be called an intangible phenomenon.

At one time, measures such as the GDP growth rate, the employment rate and inflation were considered enough to help governments determine how the economy was doing and how it was affecting people. When international aid-giving agencies became major actors in the global economy the need was felt to develop universal standards in order to allow governments and aid-givers to compare the economies of different countries.
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Education and bigotry

By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn

A FRIEND who runs a school for children from modest-income families tells me that very often she has fathers coming to her with a request she found strange when she was first confronted with it.

They wanted to withdraw their sons from school for a year. When she probed into this unusual favour they sought, she was told that the boy was to be admitted to a madressah for a year.
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