Officials from the United Nations Development Program say boosting women's participation in the economic sector can help the Asia-Pacific region realize faster economic development.

The UNDP has made the finding in its 2010 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report just released in Beijing.

Our Zhao Yang has more.

 Focusing on gender equality in Asia and the Pacific, the report finds that women in the region now live longer and are better educated than before. But severe gender gaps remain in some countries and may hinder economic development.

In particular, the report warns of comparatively low labor force participation by women in some countries.

Napoleon Navarro, UNDP Deputy Country Director in China, elaborates.

"If Asia manages just to reach labor force participation of 70 percent, which is the labor force participation in the United States, the GDP growth rate in Indonesia will increase by 1.4 percent, India by 4.2, Malaysia by 2.9. Gender equality makes economic sense."

To boost women's economic participation, Navarro quotes the report as saying that governments should adopt supportive fiscal and monetary policies.

He suggests giving loans to poor women for productive purposes and establishing special funds to facilitate women's employment.

"Can we improve the earnings of women, reforming labor markets, reducing wage gaps, investing in female education? If you want to achieve economic growth, it makes sense to promote gender equality."

Meanwhile, the report reveals that in China nearly 70 percent of women are involved in paid work, well above the global average of 53 percent. It says this statistic runs parallel to the eye-catching economic growth experienced by China over the past several decades.

The report also finds that in general, Asia-Pacific women hold only a handful of political positions, fewer than most regions in the world.

It says women in Japan and South Korea hold just 10 percent of legislative seats. The percentage of female representatives in China's National People's Congress has been around 21 percent since 1983.

Zhao Yang, CRI news.