| dc.description.abstract | It is the thesis of this paper that strategies to
end hunger and alleviate poverty, if they are
to be successful, must include women.
Women are a principal, if not the sole, economic
support of themselves and their children.
Increasingly, they are responsible for
ensuring that adequate food supplies are
available and that their families have access
to enough income to purchase food if they do
not grow it themselves. The facts show that:
• One out of every three households in
the world has a woman as its sole breadwinner;
in some countries it is one out of two.
• Women produce 80 percent of the food
in Africa; 60 percent of the food in Asia and
the Pacific; and 40 percent of the food in Latin
America.
• Women direct their earnings to meet the
needs of their families.
It cannot be emphasized enough that we
must find ways to enlarge women's productive
capacities and income. Yet their access to
resources, such as credit, training and tools
that would enable them to increase their production
and income as small farmers or
micro-entrepreneurs, is still limited. To
achieve the end of hunger, women must have
access to the resources they need and the
opportunity to participate at all levels.
Education and primary health care for
women are extremely important. In many
developing countries no more than a third of
the women are literate and their chances of dying in childbirth are very high.
The global economic crisis and structural
adjustment reforms have caused a serious
deterioration in the living conditions of poor
women and children in developing countries.
Heavy cuts in government spending in the
health and education sectors have forced
women to work longer hours and to provide
services that formerly were furnished by the
government. It is essential that special efforts
be made to strengthen health care services
and to increase the enrollment of girls and
women at every educational level if women
are to be effective agents of change.
Institutional support at a level that would
enable and-empower women to take advantage
of opportunities is currently missing or insufficient.
National machineries created in the
wake of the UN Decade for Women to guarantee
participation of women in all development
efforts are often understaffed and lack power
and financial resources. It is critical that more
support be given to national machineries and
to nongovernmental organizations that focus
on women. Bilateral aid agencies and multilateral
organizations need to enhance their
efforts to include women at all levels.
Information on women and their contributions
to the economy should be included in
official statistics since inadequate data and misperceptions
about women's contributions currently
distort planning and decision making. | en |
