Women's Empowerment and Development

In many parts of the world, cultural and social restraints keep women from contributing to the welfare of their families. Of the world’s people living in poverty, women form a significant proportion.

The perceived value of a woman’s work in the home or as a young bride frequently outweighs the value of her education. Nearly 800 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate and two-thirds of them are women.

This lack of education affects women – and their families – in many ways. While women bear a disproportionate burden of the world’s poverty, they play a leading role in the health, nutrition and education of the family.
Many women are denied economic opportunities through lack of education or by sexual status, making it impossible for them to better their economic status and secure a livelihood.

Where agriculture is a primary occupation, women work to produce food for their families and where non-agricultural employment is not available, they may become informally self-employed, producing good and services, within their capacity, to be marketed locally.

With reduced status in their home, community and society, women are the victims of violence and abuse, primarily at the hands of family members. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), violence against women is “the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today.” It is the major cause of death and disability among women 16 to 44 years of age. It is also shown that there is a link between violence against women and the rate of HIV infection in the female population.

Empowering women through education significantly impacts their survival rate and that of their children as well as the overall health and economic welfare of their families.10 By having an opportunity to acquire an education, a woman also helps to ensure the education of her own children. Seventy-five percent of children in developing countries who are not attending primary school have mothers who did not go to school.

Women’s lack of healthcare, primarily in the area of sexual and reproductive health, is a factor of education and empowerment. An estimated 529,000 women died from complications of pregnancy and childbirth in 2001. Virtually all of these deaths occurred in developing countries. In the developed world, the overall risk of complications from pregnancy is 15 percent.

A majority of PCI-Media Impact’s current programming is dedicated to women’s issues. Education, family planning and the right to healthcare are essential elements of women’s empowerment. And, women’s empowerment, in general, can be viewed as one of the more crucial points for initiating change and improving life within communities. By producing programs relevant to the lives of women in less developed communities, we can help lessen maternal death, ensure small family size and help ensure educational opportunities for the next generation.

Despite laws against child marriage in many countries, over 80 million girls in the developing world will be married before the age of 18. In the poorest countries, one in every two girls is made to marry early.

UNICEF

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