OneWorld.net (U.S.)

© Women Thrive WorldwideIf the aim of international assistance, economic development, and trade is to reduce poverty, women must be at the center of these deliberations. Why? Because women constitute seventy percent of the world’s poorest people who live on $1 a day, or less. But women are not at the center of discussions about economic issues, especially as decision makers. While the importance of women’s education and health, or of programs to combat gender-based violence is now widely acknowledged, less attention is paid to the economic disempowerment of women which is the basis for these problems.

Women form the majority of the world’s agricultural labor, but often do not own the land they farm. They have little access to credit: in Africa, where 80 percent of farmers are women, less than 10 percent of credit meant for small farmers reaches women. Such discrimination, and the work of caring for their families, means that women earn 20 to 50 percent less than men worldwide.

Research and experience have shown, however, that investing in poor women brings enormous pay-offs for families, communities, and nations. When women have an extra dollar a day, they send their children to school, put food on the table, and help break the cycle of poverty. More disposable income for the mother reaps many benefits for the next generation.

When Pact, a Women’s Edge Coalition member organization, found that the first priority for poor Nepali women was to increase their income, they started WORTH, a novel microfinance program that did not lend the women any seed money. Rather, the women themselves saved money weekly to form a group savings account. Pact taught them how to lend money to each other and run a business. In just two and a half years, the women have more than doubled their savings and their annual business income has increased eightfold. Best of all, more than three-quarters of them reported increased decision-making authority in family planning, marriage of children, buying and selling property, and education of girls. This is why the Women’s Edge Coalition has advocated to ensure that smart and targeted investments in women are a foreign policy priority in all major recent United States international assistance initiatives—rebuilding Afghanistan, creating the Millenium Challenge Account, and reconstructing communities after the 2004 tsunami.

But poor women in developing nations also need to enjoy the benefits of global trade. Women’s Edge has designed a tool called the Trade Impact Review (TIR), which, similar to environmental impact assessments, can be used to forecast the effects of free trade on the poor. These must take place before agreements are signed—enabling better policies to be designed before billions of dollars and millions of lives are wasted. For the first time in 2004, the U.S. Agency for International Development adopted similar methods to analyze trade’s impact on the poor in seven countries. Such impact reviews should become a standard part of all trade agreements.

Development assistance, trade, investment, economic growth, technology, and innovation all have the potential to reduce poverty, but only if we make sure they reach the poorest citizens. It doesn’t happen on its own. Because most of the poor are women, it is crucial that they are at the table from the beginning.

Ritu Sharma, Co-Founder and President © Women Thrive Worldwide