Restrictive Muslim governments that disenfranchise half of their population are doomed to remain third world, substandard hell holes, or so the World Bank is warning.

Unreconstructed attitudes to women are restricting economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa, the World Bank has warned.

“No country can raise the standard of living and improve the well-being of its people without the participation of half its population,” said Christiaan Portman, the Bank’s chief for the region.

Improvements in women’s welfare and freedom have paid dividends in many countries, the Bank said – but it insisted that there was still a huge distance to travel.

On a totally unrelated note involving a photo from the same article… the BBC has yet again demonstrated its own skill in spinning information to suit its pro-U.N., anti-Blair, anti-Bush, anti-war agenda. Remember all those stories about Iraqi women being “forced” to wear the veil due to the lack of security in Baghdad? Tell me: can you see any veils in this picture?

Nope. Me, neither.