Provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific evidence on prevalence and the resulting health effects of a range of exposures that are know to be hazardous to human health, including childhood and maternal undernutrition, nutritional and physiological risk factors for adult health, addictive substances, sexual and reproductive health risks, and risks in the physical environments of households and communities, as well as among workers. This book is the culmination of over four years of scientific equiry and data collection, know as the comparative risk assessment (CRA) project.

Why do women in most developing countries lag behind men in literacy? Why do women get less schooling than men? This anthology examines the educational decisions that deprive women of an equal education. It assembles the most up-to-date data, organized by region. Each paper links the data with other measures of economic and social development. This approach helps explain the effects different levels of education have on womens' fertility, mortality rates, life expectancy, and income. Also described are the effects of women's education on family welfare. The authors look at family size and women's labor status and earnings. They examine child and maternal health, as well as investments in children's education. Their investigation demonstrates that women with a better education enjoy greater economic growth and provide a more nurturing family life. It suggests that when a country denies women an equal education, the nation's welfare suffers. Current strategies used to improve schooling for girls and women are examined in detail. The authors suggest an ambitious agenda for educating women. It seeks to close the gender gap by the next century. Published for The World Bank by The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Transforming Development is uniquely appropriate reading at a time when civil society and the private sector are popular concepts and foreign aid is under fire. This books shows that given the chance, women are instrumental in expanding and democratizing national economies: they create wealth and family well-being. Through a history of UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, the author shows how the large-scale investments of governments, the World Bank, the United Nations and other organizations can become both more effectively and gender-sensitive.The book includes both a history of UNIFEM with its struggle to survive political and bureaucratic power games, and an examination of some of the activities which UNIFEM has assisted, from village-level projects to national and regional policy interventions.

This handbook shows how to develop and publish a minimum set of statistics and indicators on women's and men's position in society. It is based on lessons learned in preparing The World's Women 1970-1990: Trends and Statistics, which was a collaborative effort of United Nations agencies to present a factual view of progress made globally towards advancing the situation of women relative to men. The World's Women generated demand for gender statistics publications that could be widely disseminated to users of varied backgrounds. This handbook is a step-by-step guide to the preparation of such publications in countries, from organizing a planning committee to promoting the final product. A main feature is the practical guidance and illustrations given on developing statistical indicators from national data sources.--Publisher's description.