number of students at this level is now in the South.^29 And while it is
true that access to schooling remains more difficult for women in the
developing countries, there has been progress toward gender equality
at all levels of education.^30
In addition to education, the economy has also provided leverage
for the promotion of greater equality between men and women.
Indeed, the accelerated industrialization of the Third World has given
a large number of women the opportunity to escape the pressures
stemming from a patriarchal family system or informal economic
networks. The growth of export sectors and the spread of tax-free
zones, especially in Asia and Latin America, have strongly contributed
to the emancipation of women and to the consolidation of their rights.
By allowing women to improve both their social status and their
financial situation, globalization has directly enhanced the well-being
of families, for one can easily understand that children whose mother
earns a higher income tend to be better nourished and better educated.^31
There is further cause for celebration when one considers the
awareness of environmental issues that has blossomed worldwide
in the last twenty years or so. The new environmental concerns have
resulted in greater energy efficiency in both the developed and
developing countries, such that everywhere more riches are being
produced with less energy.^32 In one decade, carbon dioxide emissions
have dropped from 4.1 to 3.8 metric tons per capita.^33 Since the
adoption of the Montreal Protocol on ozone-depleting substances,
the consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) has diminished sub-
stantially.^34 And all around the world, nature conservancy areas are
on the increase.^35 Yet in the long term, the two most positive changes
(^29) Jolly, Emmerij, Ghai, and Lapeyre,UN Contributions to Development
30 Thinking and Practice, p. 254.
UNESCO,Global Monitoring Report 2003–04: Gender and Education for All:
31 The Leap to Equality, Paris, UNESCO, 2003.
World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization,A Fair
32 Globalization, p. 48, paragraph 217.
UN,Follow-up to the Outcome of the Millennium Summit: Implementation of
the United Nations Millennium Declaration: Report of the Secretary-General,
New York, UN General Assembly, 58th session, A/58/323, September 2, 2003,
33 p. 29 (www.un.org/ga/58/documentation/list3.html).
World Bank,World Bank Development Indicators 2004, Washington, DC,
World Bank, 2004, p. 10.
(^34) UN,Follow-up to the Outcome of the Millennium Summit, p. 11.
(^35) Ibid., p. 28.
Two tales of globalization 65