The major challenge for economic development is the need to make more efficient use of scarce resources. Women and girls are resources for development whose contribution to development is already substantial. Yet their contribution would be dramatically enhanced if they were better educated, in better health, and had better access to training, services and jobs. Therefore, to pursue a development planning strategy without a women in development focus would be wasteful and self-defeating wasteful, because of the potential loss of the contribution of vital human resources and self-defeating because development which does not bring its benefits to the whole society has failed. The underlying premise of this paper is that, for AID to undertake an effective strategy that promotes balanced economic development, a focus on the economic participation of women in development is essential.