Editor 's note : Dina Habib Powell , global head of corporate engagement at Goldman Sachs , served as U.S. assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs from 2005 to 2007 . Dina Habib Powell says there are encouraging signs the world is ready to invest in empowering women . NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- As we mark International Women 's Month in March , it is encouraging to see that the movement to recognize the vital role that women play in families , nations and economies has been building for more than a decade and that developments in the past few years have shown that real progress has begun to take hold . On the heels of International Women 's Day , President Obama said Monday , `` we will not sow the seeds for a brighter future or reap the benefits of the change we need without the full and active participation of women around the world . '' He also recently announced the creation of a new position , ambassador-at-large for global women 's Issues , at the State Department . To fill this critical role , the president nominated Melanne Verveer , a widely respected women 's advocate and former top aide to then first lady Hillary Clinton . Verveer was a founder of Vital Voices Global Partnership , an organization committed to empowering women and recently co-chaired by Secretary Clinton and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison , R-Texas . There has also been very recent progress on Capitol Hill . Last month , the U.S. Senate created a Foreign Relations subcommittee that will focus on the global status of women , led by Sen. Barbara Boxer , D-California . The efforts have been a bipartisan priority for our leaders . In 2008 , then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice successfully led the effort in the U.N. Security Council to officially recognize rape as a weapon of war . And in 2001 , Laura Bush used the first presidential radio address ever given by a first lady to focus international attention on the plight of women in Afghanistan and used her influence to protect and empower women around the world . Critical strides are also being made globally . In Rwanda , a country devastated by genocide , women have become a key part of the nation 's rebirth . Under the leadership of President Paul Kagame , more than half of the parliament is made up of women . In Liberia , President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf made history when she became the first female president on the African continent . In the Middle East , Kuwait has emerged as a leader in women 's suffrage and political participation . And in the United Arab Emirates , women such as Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi , minister of foreign trade , have been trailblazers for progress throughout the region . This social change is being promoted at the United Nations , where Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently noted that the protection , education and empowerment of women and girls are among the most important ingredients to achieving all other Millennium Development Goals . Such consensus should not be surprising as study after study has found that investing in the education of women improves lives . Every extra year of girls ' education can reduce infant mortality by 5 to 10 percent . In Africa , children of mothers who receive five years of primary education are 40 percent more likely to live beyond age 5 . And multicountry data show educated mothers are about 50 percent more likely to immunize their children than uneducated mothers are . But one of the most important developments of recent years has been the increasing amount of research that shows investments in women can offer not only social benefits , but also real economic growth . A growing body of evidence highlights the economic advantage of educating and empowering women . The private sector has seized on this data . There is now broad consensus that investing in women is not only just good social policy , it is `` smart economics , '' as Bob Zoellick , president of the World Bank , says . Toward that end , the World Bank has convened a Private Sector Leaders Forum with companies committed to these issues , such as Standard Chartered , Cisco , PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young , Carlson and Nike . My own firm , Goldman Sachs , published two critical pieces of research , `` Womenomics '' and `` Women Hold Up Half the Sky , '' which found that investments in women -- through increased education and labor force participation -- can lead to real economic growth in developed and developing countries . Specifically , this research found that a 1 percentage point increase in female education raises the average level of gross domestic product by .37 and raises annual GDP growth rates by .2 on average . Such findings led to the development of 10,000 Women , an initiative that is working with a global network of leading academic and nonprofit partners to provide women at home and abroad with quality management and entrepreneurial education . This education is helping to create a greater number of female-owned small and medium enterprises , and a new generation of leaders poised to have exponential impact . One recent graduate of the program , Tuokpe Esisi , a fashion designer from Nigeria , has already increased her revenues , and immediately invested a portion of her profits to provide tutors for the illiterate male tailors she employs . This not only positions her enterprise for greater growth , but is also a perfect demonstration of the multiplier effect of investing in women . Organizations such as Women for Women International , Camfed and the International Center for Research on Women have long touted this multiplier effect and are supported by private-public partnerships dedicated to the promotion of women leaders . For example , the State Department , with the help of Vital Voices , instituted a mentoring program for the past four years with Fortune 's Most Powerful Women . The program pairs leading U.S. executives -- such as Ann Moore -LRB- Time Inc -RRB- , Pat Woertz -LRB- ADM -RRB- , Helene Gayle -LRB- Care -RRB- and Anne Mulcahy -LRB- Xerox -RRB- -- with rising female entrepreneurs in developing countries . At the dawn of the 20th century , Egyptian poet Hafez Ibrahim said : `` When you educate a woman , you create a nation . '' Nearly a century later , the cause of women 's empowerment has never been more important . As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently put it , gender inequality is `` the dominant moral challenge we face in the 21st century . '' This challenge also presents an opportunity we can not afford to squander . We should seize this moment and this momentum . There is tremendous work to be done , but history has shown us that women will not let us down . They will take up the challenge and build up their families , their villages and ultimately all our nations . The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of Dina Habib Powell .