U.N. says gender inequality costs sub-Saharan Africa $95B a year

NAIROBI, Kenya — SubSaharan Africa loses around $95 billion a year due to gender inequality, jeopardizing the continent’s efforts for economic growth, according to a U.N. report launched Sunday.

Deeply rooted structural obstacles such as unequal distribution of resources and political power combined with social institutions that sustain inequality are holding back African women and the continent, said the Africa Human Development Report 2016 by the U.N. Development Program.

If gender gaps are closed in work, education and health, it will speed the eradication of poverty and hunger, said UNDP Administrator Helen Clark.

While 61 percent of African women are working they still face economic exclusion as their jobs are underpaid and undervalued and are mostly in the informal sector, the UNDP report states.