Abstract Gender inequality is an acute and persistent problem, especially in developing countries. The role of women in development has repeatedly been emphasized by economists and researchers in the last couple of decades. Evidence from many countries around the world shows that increasing investments in women’s human capital, especially education, should be a priority for countries seeking to increase both economic growth and human development It is largely accepted that investment in women’s education increases social output more than compared to investment in men’s education. Years of schooling represents the largest component of investment in education in most societies. This paper argues that OIC member countries to improve their level of human development index (HDI) should invest much more in women’s capabilities. Our findings confirm that the best and the shortest way for OIC countries to improve their HDI fast and achieve a better place in the HDI rankings in the coming years is investment in female education, which is a key to improve GDP per capita and health attainments, too. The paper focuses especially on least developed member countries of OIC and uses from the latest available data from published human development reports by United Nation Development Program (UNDP).

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