Estimates range to a high of 70 per cent in calculating how
many of the world’s poor people are women, write Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen
Gustafson on their new foodtank.com website.
In many cases, these women are responsible for the farming
that feeds the family.
Yet in many African countries, they are barred from holding
title to land, and therefore the ability to borrow money to improve their
farming.
Girls are also less likely to be granted opportunities to
attend school, but are put to work sharing the load borne by their mothers.
A third of women are sexually abused.
In March, Olivier de
Schutter, the United Nations” Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, released
a report he wrote called “Gender and the Right to Food.”
He called for more work
be done to eliminate discrimination against women at household and state levels
alike.
From
May 28th to May 30th the organization Women Deliver will host their annual
conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where international leaders in the
women’s movement will discuss solutions to address these challenges facing
women across the world, say Nierenberg and Gustafson.
This
is an opportunity for the world to take notice and to be reminded that there
are only 1,000 days left to reach the Millenium Development Goals that call for
a number of global improvements, such as halving the number of people without
enough food, an end to extreme poverty and hunger, wiping out malaria and
HIV/AIDS and empowering women and promoting gender equality.
“Overcoming hunger is a
game changer for a girl living in a developing country,” writes Gustafson.
“Fifty-three percent of
children who drop out of primary school are female – mainly because they need
to work to help feed their families.
“Girls who stay in school
are empowered to make positive decisions that affect their entire lives, such
as waiting to have children and acquiring the skills they need to support to
them,” she writes.
According to the Women
Deliver organization, if the international community spent an additional $12 billion US per year,
women around the world would be able to receive sufficient family planning and
maternal and newborn care.
“By
reducing deaths of mothers and infants, such an investment would lead to $15 billion US in
gained productivity.
“In addition to investing
in health, investment in economic opportunities for women, particularly in the
agriculture sector in developing countries, is crucial.
“Research from the U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) shows that if women had the same access to resources that
men have, global malnutrition could be reduced by at least 12 percent,” they
write.
I'd like to remind those who dig in their heels to continue trade protection for supply management that reducing trade barriers would be multiple times more helpful to poor people than all of the international aid provided for relief and development.
The Canadian supply-management sector ought to be ashamed of the role it has played in stalling the World Trade negotiations which are specifically designed to address agriculture issues and the needs of poor people in poor nations.
