Let's not squander this momentum. Gender disparities in human development, while narrowing slowly, are embedded in social norms and long-standing patterns of exclusion from household and community decisionmaking that limit women’s opportunities and choices (box 2.2). The preference for a son can lead to sex-selective abortions and missing women, particularly in some South Asian countries. Discrimination continues in families through intrahousehold resource allocation. The gender politics of food—nurtured by the assumptions, norms and values about women needing fewer calories—can push women into a perpetual state of malnutrition and protein deficiency.