(CNN)From America to Britain to the United Nations, women are taking to the center of the political stage. At this week"s Democratic convention, Hillary Clinton was officially selected as the Democratic Party"s presidential nominee, accepting the nomination with a striking video message that opened with a symbolic shattering of glass.
"When there are no ceilings, the sky"s the limit. So let"s keep going, until every one of the 161 million women and girls across America has the opportunity she deserves," Clinton said Thursday night.
As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has noted, "Women typically invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their families and communities than men." USAID, meanwhile, says that when "10% more girls go to school, a country"s GDP increases on average by 3%," adding that when women have the same amount of land as men, "there is over 10% increase in crop yields."
It"s not just developing countries that can benefit from increasing female participation in the workforce, including in leadership positions. A 2014 Goldman Sachs report argued that Japan could boost its absolute GDP by 12.5% if female workforce participation rose to match that as men.
And in Canada, one study on the impact of women in public service showed that women have had a clear impact on "policy, programs and operations such as in fisheries, the automotive industry, national security, natural resources, the environment, science, human resources and international relations." This impact arises not only from the inclusion of women"s perspectives, but also from leadership styles that are open, collaborative and less hierarchical.
Thankfully, there have been noticeable advances for women in leadership roles, and in the workforce more generally.
While based on current trends, it could take another 118 years to close the income gap, according to the World Economic Forum, as women are moving into leadership positions in both the private and public sphere. WEF notes that about half of the world"s countries have had a female head of government or state at one point.
Currently there are around a dozen women holding the office of head of state or government, while the top three of the Forbes 100 most powerful women list are in politics: Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton and Janet Yellen. In Australia"s recent parliamentary elections, there was such a large increase in new women being elected to their parliament that the country went from 56th best in the world for gender parity in politics to 37th. These elections followed the groundbreaking poll earlier this year in Taiwan, which elected its first female leader, while Samoa -- located in one of the worst places for female political representation, the South Pacific -- has finally seen women elected into government.
Women are starting to break through in politics and rise, and although we"re still well short of the Women in Public Service Project"s goal of governments being composed of 50% women by 2050, the world is making encouraging progress nevertheless.
Today"s global problems require leaders that have diverse skill sets and innovation that can only come from diverse ideas and players. Women bring the skills, different perspectives and structural and cultural difference to drive effective solutions. In short, female leaders change the way global solutions are forged.
That"s why it is important to keep pushing forward. Fairness and equality are admirable goals in themselves. And women have consistently proven that they are able to benefit policy in important ways.
But having more female leaders -- from politics to the boardroom -- is important for another reason, too. Simply having female leaders changes the norms about who can lead and what qualities are necessary in leadership. Having women in leadership roles is breaking down cultural and structural barriers -- improving leadership around the world and showing everyone what women can achieve.
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/opinions/women-rising-benefits-society-young/index.html
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