Baroness Shreela Flather relaunched her 2010 book 'Woman: Acceptable Exploitation for Profit' in time for the centenary of International Women's Day 2011. This thought-provoking and challenging book is about sex and profits. It is not a book about Women's Lib, but it is a book that will lead to the recognition of women carried along by the wholehearted support of men; it is not another call for charitable donations, but it is a book about investment. It is not about improving the education of women. It is all about income generation.

The poorest women of the Indian subcontinent and Africa represent a vast untapped resource which, if harnessed, could bring about a huge improvement in the worst-affected parts of the world. Women could feed the whole of Africa since they look after 80% of the agriculture. They are hardworking and eager to learn - the perfect workforce. But they have no sense of self-worth and too often are regarded as little more than beasts of burden or are hidden away, deprived of education and position. And yet a mother will not squander money, she will nourish her children rather than drinking herself into oblivion and she will remain loyal to her family.

Shreela Flather cogently and powerfully argues that women must be central to every initiative, business project and political goal rather than being merely after-thoughts or decoration. She believes this is just as applicable to many countries in the West where the glass ceiling still constitutes an impenetrable barrier for women. She challenges politicians to turn talking shops into practical action; the much-vaunted United Nations' Millennium Development Goals' (MDGs) dream cannot be fulfilled by the target date of 2015. Its only hope is to shift the focus to women.

While the UN rightly identifies the private sector as the engine of innovation and growth," it fails itself by not targeting that effort at women. As part and parcel of that re-focusing it should start talking about family planning. As we continue to struggle in global economic depression this above all is a hopeful book offering a practical, affordable way forward. It requires no new energy source, it demands no vast capital investment and it will have no destructive impact on the environment. The workforce is vast, willing and able ...with no vices.

'Woman - Acceptable Exploitation for Profit' is a solution for a world in trouble, a roadmap to greater opportunities, profit, prosperity, health and happiness for all, regardless of gender. We live in a world struggling to feed itself, fund itself, preserve itself so why reject the only asset and talent we have failed to consider?

About the Author

Baroness Shreela Flather has been a member of the House of Lords for many years, is a director of Marie Stopes International and a trustee of the Pan African Health Foundation. She has served on numerous public bodies and was responsible for the construction of the magnificent memorial on Constitution Hill at Hyde Park Corner to the forgotten volunteers from the Indian subcontinent, Africa and the Caribbean in WWI and WWII.