The economic and social returns in educating women are substantial. By educating its women, a country can reduce poverty, improper productivity, ease population pressure, and offer its children a better future. This paper analyzes the benefits from female education (who gains and in what ways) and the constraints (direct and opportunity costs, reflecting economics and tradition). It outlines promising approaches for increasing female education. The demand for female education can be strengthened gradually through economic and sectorial policies that increase the returns. Educational policies can be adopted now, to the lower the cost, improve the quality, and increase access to education in ways that will allow more girls to attend school. The paper reports evidence of effectiveness and gives examples, particularly from Bank-assisted projects in poor countries. Projects succeeded best when they include a "package approach" and contain multiple interventions. Countries in which the "package approach" are in various stages of implementation are Bangladesh, Gambia, Morocco, and Pakistan. The report calls for increased monitoring and testing on the cost-effectiveness of the innovative packages currently being tried in these and several other developing countries. Contains 166 references. (JJ)