The Issue Women are the missing piece in the poverty puzzle
Being deeply affected by poverty, women also hold great potential to eliminate it. Yet this potential remains largely untapped. Women remain the missing piece in solving the poverty puzzle.
When women are afforded the equality of opportunity that is their basic human right, the potential for economic development is striking. The Economist called women “the most powerful engine” of global economic growth, estimating that over the past decade, they have contributed more to such growth than China. At the same time, opening opportunities to women is a proven strategy for tackling poverty’s many manifestations, such as hunger, illiteracy, malnutrition and disease, and maternal and infant death.
In 2000, world leaders pledged to cut poverty by half by 2015. Yet mid-way to the deadline, it is clear that many countries will not reach this goal — unless they do something radically different.
Though more people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 50 years than in the previous 500, 1.2 billion still subsist on less than $1 per day. Seven out of 10 of the world’s hungry are women and girls, according to the UN World Food Program.
When women are afforded the equality of opportunity that is their basic human right, the results in terms of economic advancement are striking. The Economist estimates that over the past decade, women’s work has contributed more to global growth than China. The East Asian “economic miracle” of unprecedented growth from 1965 to 1990 offers an example of how all elements of the poverty puzzle must fit together. Gender gaps in education were closed, access to family planning was expanded and women were able to delay childbearing and marriage while more work opportunities increased their participation in the labour force. The economic contribution of women helped reduce poverty and spur growth.
Being deeply affected by poverty, women also hold great potential to end it. But until their potential is recognized and realized, women will remain the missing piece of the poverty elimination puzzle, and will not fully enjoy the benefits of the economic growth to which they contributed.
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