How Poor Women Will End Global Poverty

As CARE USA's Helene Gayle wrote over the weekend, the centuries-old debate surrounding how to eradicate global poverty finally has one clear, compelling solution: focus on women. Increasingly, the UN, NGOs and even some governments are coming to the same conclusion -- directing humanitarian aid toward women is the most financially and socially effective way to get results. To put it baldly, it gets you more bang for your buck.

This international consensus is evidenced by events in Haiti, where the World Food Program decided to hand out food aid primarily to women, because they're less likely to become violent during food distributions or sell food rations on the black market.

A well-known African proverb says, "If you educate a man, you educate an individual. If you educate a woman, you educate a community." From Afghanistan to Mali, this phrase's relevance has been demonstrated time and again. When poor women are granted microfinance loans, they create successful businesses and give back to their communities. When they are provided with food aid, they ensure that the food fills their children's grumbling bellies before they feed themselves. When they are provided with clean water and basic sanitation, disease rates in entire villages decrease.

In a region riddled by violence against women, Rwanda is one standout example of the progress women can make -- if they're only given the chance.

Just a few months ago, Rwanda became the first country in the world where women outnumber men in parliament. Since the 1994 genocide, women's role in goverment has been on the rise, and so, too, has Rwanda's economy. According to the World Bank, Rwanda is currently on track to reach several Millennium Develompent Goals by the target date of 2015, including universal primary education and gender equality in education. The World Food Program is now in the process of handing over its school feeding program to Rwanda's government, which will soon provide school meals to all students -- and all without international assistance.

Whether through small-scale aid projects or larger government endeavors, women in action have proved to the world that they have what it takes to lift themselves, their families and communities out of poverty. With a little direction and sufficient investment, they are undoubtedly the ones who can -- and will -- pull the world up by its bootstraps. The only real question that remains is on our shoulders: Now that we know women are the answer to the global poverty riddle, will the international community fork up the cash?

Photo Credit: Shared Interest