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"That's a jargony way of measuring the percentage of women ages 15 and up who are employed. The higher this number, the better for women (economic self-sufficiency, or at least the potential to be economically self-sufficient, is closely linked with all sorts of other basic rights) and the better for countries. Any country where it's hard for women to work, whether because they're pressured to stay home or because educational attainment is tougher or just because of straight-up discrimination, is effectively suppressing half of its economic potential. That makes everybody poorer and worse off. So this number is important. It's also awfully low in big parts of the world. Up top, I've mapped out the most recent data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators on female labor force participation rates. In red countries, less than half of over-14 women are working. In blue countries, it's more than half. In purple countries, about half work. "

Where to put new roads? The threat to the evironment of too many roads.