Global cost of failing to invest in women and gender equality is $10tn a year – UN

A girl studies in secret in Afghanistan, after the Taliban closed girls’ secondary schools. The cost of gender inequality ‘is just way too high,’ says UN Women’s Papa Seck. Photograph: The Guardian

Governments are failing to invest in women and girls and, as a result, are missing out on billions in economic gains, according to a new UN report.

This year’s Gender Snapshot report from the UN Women agency found that the global cost of failing to educate young women adequately is an annual $10tn (£7.6tn); low- and middle-income countries will lose $500bn over the next five years if they do not close the gender gap on internet use; and improving support for female farmers could add $1tn to global GDP. It also found that at current rates child marriage could continue until 2092.