Two weeks ago, one of the world's most respected business magazines, The Economist, grabbed my attention with the term "womenomics" on its cover. Inside, two articles described in detail how women are the true drivers of the growth of the global economy--outpacing even the growth of China, India and yes even the Internet--during the past two decades.

The evidence for such a statement lies in straightforward economic principles. One of the best ways to increase GDP is to employ more people in a country. For centuries, women--half the population of most countries--were simply left out of that equation. Certainly, women have always worked, but very often for no pay. That meant their input and value to the economy was invisible and uncounted.

But as women have joined the ranks of paid workers in the past half century in particular, their value in the economy is finally being noticed. And that value is immense, according to The Economist. "Arguably, women are now the most powerful engine of global growth," the magazine states boldly.

For those of us that have watched as these economic trends form and then transform society, such statements don't come as a surprise. But they do come as a welcome change in a world that too often has a tough time giving women credit for being important to the economy--beyond what they consume.

We, by we I mean the media and marketers, may be to blame for this lack of serious attention when it comes to the issue of women's importance to the economy. We have focused heavily on how to get women to buy more, shop more, spend more. We also should be focusing on how women's inclusion in the world's workforce has been transformative to the global economy.

I'm urging everyone to find the article at http://www.economist.com (April 15-21, 2006 issue) and give it a good read. It will give you great soundbites that you need in that next meeting about why women are important to your company or your readers.

But even more compelling are the statistics and evidence The Economist offers that reveals women--both as producers and consumer--are driving the world's economy. The connection between the two--production and consumption--is a major strength in this article because it gives a much truer picture of women's importance to the global economy. We aren't just consumers; we are significant producers as well.

For more stats and soundbites, read on. Next Monday, May 8, I will be speaking at the Marketing to Women Conference in Chicago and introducing that audience to this revolution called "womenomics." I'll be doing a blog from the conference so feel free to join in the discussion.

More stats from The Economist's "Guide to Womenomics."

In the U.S., employment of men and women has almost reached a parity. Since 1920, women's participation in the U.S. workforce has risen from just 20 percent to close to 50 percent, while men's has dropped from 80 percent to just over 50 percent.

In developing countries such as China, women have played a big role in their countries' economic success. In East Asia, The Economist notes, for every 100 men in the labor force there are 83 women--a higher number than the OECD countries.

Since 1970, the Economist reports, women have filled two new jobs for every one taken by a man. That increased employment of women adds up to much more than what China has added to the growth of the global economy.

On the consumption side, the statistics are well known to many of us. Eighty percent of consumer goods are bought by and/or their purchase is influenced by women. But The Economist points out the work of a chief strategist at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo who created a basket of 115 Japanese companies that would benefit from women's rising purchasing power. The stock prices of those companies in the past decade have gone up by 96 percent; the Tokyo stock market has risen only 13 percent. Such anecdotes show that women's consumption is essential to companies' bottom lines and to shareholders' value--something every company understands.