KIGALI, Rwanda – Beyoncé knows that girls run the world, but does everyone else?
Empowering women in developing countries is a significant global win that can actually reduce global poverty. Investing in the human rights, economic opportunities and healthcare of women around the world plays a big role in the downfall of poverty.
Gender equality effectively supports impoverished nations. Not only does this make sense economically, but it also just plain old makes sense. Put simply, men and women deserve equal opportunities.
Unfortunately, however, there are still 31 million girls around the world who are deprived of an education, 300,000 preventable maternal deaths each year and 222 million women that have an unmet need for contraception.
Seeking to drastically reduce these numbers and promote the value of women, East Africa implemented three initiatives that are currently in progress to restructure the roles of women around the world.
1. Secure Land Rights for Women
In Rwanda, many women earn their livelihood as farmers. Although legally granted the right to own land in 1999, 80 percent of women still do not know their rights, thus making their livelihoods insecure.
The Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD) seeks to reduce poverty by promoting social and economic transformation through sustainability and the protection of natural resources. One goal of RISD is to eliminate gender inequality when it comes to land rights. RISD also helps women understand their rights and mediates land disputes between men and women.
If female farmers were equipped with the same land resources as male farmers, the number of people suffering from malnutrition could be reduced by some 100-150 million people.
2. Help Women Earn Their Own Money
In the Lake Victoria region of Kenya, where women cannot afford to purchase fish from the fisherman, they often resort to trading sexual favors for fish.
The No Sex for Fish Project, launched in 2011, donates fishing boats to local women, so that women are the official owners of the boats. Women can then hire fishermen to work for them, therefore avoiding dangerous health risks and poverty.
As the women work, they repay the cost of building the boat, and that money is used to produce and donate more boats, ultimately increasing the number of women involved and reducing the chances of sex as trade.
3. Get Men Involved in Family Planning
Women are often left alone when it comes to pregnancy and having a child. East Africa, therefore, has created more family planning programs that push for men to get more involved.
With family planning, men and women are more likely to have fewer children, making them more able to properly provide for the kids they do have. Subsequently, family planning helps to alleviate poverty.
Every day, people in East Africa and around the world promote and empower women by investing in their basic human rights, economic opportunities and proper healthcare, therefore increasing gender equality and reducing global poverty. Helping women helps the world.
– Sarah Sheppard
Sources: Take Part, Global Citizen 1, Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development, Vired International, Global Citizen 2
Photo: Golf Fore Africa