There can be no sustained economic development without increased gender equality. Yet disproportionate care responsibilities and discrimination continue to limit women’s access to labor markets around the world. In many places, women have less access to financial and other productive resources. Likewise, women face discriminatory laws and norms in many countries that hamper their ability to participate in society on equal footing with men. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated gender inequalities as schools around the world have closed and care responsibilities have often fallen on mothers and older sisters. There are many tools with which to address gender inequality, but girls’ education is one of the most valuable. It puts girls and young women on a path towards increased economic opportunity and fuller, richer lives. It consistently yields benefits for the next generation, with the children of more educated women faring better in life. However, despite increasing educational equality on some metrics—for example, most girls and boys now complete primary school and, in an increasing number of middle-income countries, young women can often boast more completed years of schooling than young men—gender inequality later in life persists.