Women Thrive Worldwide - Women and World Poverty: Why It Matters

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Women and World Poverty: Why It Matters

Ending world poverty begins with women. Research and experience have shown that women in poor countries are more likely to spend their income on food, education, and healthcare for their children - a long-term investment that lifts entire families and communities out of poverty. In Brazil, for example, a child's chances of surviving increases by 20% when the income is in the hands of his or her mother (IDA). This is why economic opportunity for women is so important to ending the extreme poverty that cripples communities in the developing world: because when you teach a woman to fish, everybody eats.
Unfortunately unequal barriers are keeping women in developing countries from earning the income they need to provide for their families. When a mother in Kenya is not allowed to own property, for instance, she and her children will become homeless should her husband ever die.

When a girl in Vietnam is forced to drop out of school because her teacher is abusing her, she cannot receive the education she needs to get a job. When a seamstress in the Phillipines is not able to sell the clothing she makes to other countries (where people have the money to buy them), she may never be able to earn enough income to send her children to school.

Women Thrive Worldwide develops, shapes, and advocates for policies that remove these barriers and improve economic opportunity for women living in poverty. We focus on areas of U.S. international assistance and trade policy (why U.S. policy? Read more) where we can have the greatest impact on empowering women and reducing poverty.

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