EMPOWER WOMEN AND JUMP-START THE ECONOMY

One of the best ways to jump-start a sluggish economy is to empower women.  Numerous studies done by the World Bank, the investment bank Goldman Sachs, the World Economic Forum,  universities, think tanks and corporations, have concluded that investing in women is enormously profitable.

As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it:



"The evidence should be clear to everyone by now: countries that include women are more economically competitive. Businesses owned by women make considerable contributions to their national economies. But too often, their growth is limited by unfair, unequal barriers."



All too frequently, businesswomen face barriers that undermine their ability to start or to expand their business. Some women can’t inherit property or businesses owned by their fathers or husbands. Some don’t have the power to confer citizenship on their children, making it difficult to find housing and work, and schools for their children. Some are even subject to different taxes than men, and are denied access to banking services such as credit, bank accounts, signing contracts, purchasing property, incorporating a business, or filing lawsuits without a male guardian.  



Many women entrepreneurs also find it difficult to access markets, training, mentors, and technology. They struggle with discriminatory laws and regulations or practices structured specifically to hinder women.



The laws and practices that propagate gender inequality also hinder prosperity.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, closing gender inequality between 1960 and 1992 could have doubled economic growth over that time period.   By limiting women's ability to join the workforce, southeast Asia is losing approximately $42 to $47 billion annually, and another $16 to $30 billion as a result of gender gaps in education.



Simply put, gender inequality is hurting world economies.  The United States believes that any country that desires to diminish its financial woes should empower its women and girls, and help female entrepreneurs flourish.

"The United States is committed to advancing opportunities for women as entrepreneurs and business leaders," said Secretary of State Clinton.   "We view it as both a moral and strategic imperative for the 21st century. That’s why we are helping women entrepreneurs with business training and mentoring; and support policies that improve women’s access to finance, technology, and networks."

Bedouin Women Entrepreneurs

Access to micro loans helps provide people with an opportunity to improve their living conditions and are especially important for women living in poverty.

Here is the story of Jana, a young entrepreneur, who lives in a Bedouin Village in the south of Israel.  In 2009 when we met her she was living in poverty and was barely able to feed her two young children.  We were struck by her determination to change her living conditions and her desire to create a positive future for her children.  Jana was a talented seamstress and used these skills to support her family.  It was clear that if she started a tailoring business she would be able to change her life.  Jana was an ideal candidate for  WomenTeachingWomen.

In 2009, Jana participated in a small pilot program administered by WomenTeachingWomen where she learned the skills needed to start and manage a small business.  After completing the business training program, WTW helped Jana write a business plan and apply for a micro loan so that she could start producing dresses and accessories for women. Jana used the microloan to purchase a sewing machine, fabric, beads and thread.   She started selling these products at a local market.  She was so successful that she was able to pay back her loan and apply for second and third rounds of loans so that she could grow her business.  Jana has now expanded her business by selling her products at several resort hotels and in a consignment shop.  Her goal is to open a small shop.

With the help of WomenTeachingWomen, Jana is business owner and has been able to change the living conditions of her family.  She has also become active as a WTW trainer working in this capacity to train other women to start businesses.   

Women Teaching Women: FACES OF POVERY

Women Teaching Women: FACES OF POVERY: More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. Another 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than ...

FACES OF POVERY

More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. Another 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. It means having to walk more than one mile everyday simply to collect water and fire- wood; it means suffering diseases that were eradicated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children die—most under the age of five and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.


WomenTeachingWomen is trying to change this by helping women to become financially independent so that they can take sharge of their lives and the future of their children.  Be part of our mission by going to our fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo and contributing to our program






In some deeply impoverished nations less than half of the children are in primary school and under
20 percent go to secondary school. Around the world, a total of 114 million children do not get even a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.   

Here are some basic facts about the roots and manifestations of  poverty affecting more than one third of our world.


          HEALTH

• Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
  
• More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.
  
• Everyday HIV/AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 people are infected with this deadly virus.
  
• Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria—more than one million child deaths a year.
  
• 
  Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria. Approximately three million people die as a result.
  
• TB is the leading AIDS-related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people with HIV also have TB.
  
  
  HUNGER

• More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day...300 million are children.
  
• Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situa-
  tions. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.
  
• Every 3.6 seconds another person dies of starvation and the large majority are children under the age of 5.
  
  
  Water
  

• More than 2.6 billion people—over 40 per cent of the world’s population—do not have basic sanita- tion, and more than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water.
  
• Four out of every ten people in the world don’t have access even to a simple latrine.
  
• Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases.

          AGRICULTURE

• In 1960, Africa was a net exporter of food; today the continent imports one-third of its grain.
  
• More than 40 percent of Africans do not even have the ability to obtain sufficient food on a day-to-
  day basis.
  
• Declining soil fertility, land degradation, and the AIDS pandemic have led to a 23 percent decrease
  
  in food production per capita in the last 25 years even though population has increased dramatically.
  
• For the African farmer, conventional fertilizers cost two to six times more than the world market price.
  
  
  WOMEN IN POVERTY
  
  
  • Above 80 percent of farmers in Africa are women.
    
  • More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education.
    
  • If a girl is educated for six years or more, as an adult her prenatal care, postnatal care and childbirth survival rates, will dramatically and consistently improve.
    
  • Educated mothers immunize their children 50 percent more often than mothers who are not educated.
    
  • AIDS spreads twice as quickly among uneducated girls than among girls that have even some schooling.
    
  • 
    The children of a woman with five years of primary school education have a survival rate 40 percent higher than children of women with no education.
    
  • A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth. This compares with a 1 in 3,700 risk for a woman from North America.
    
  • Every minute, a woman somewhere dies in pregnancy or childbirth. This adds up to 1,400 women dying each day—an estimated 529,000 each year—from pregnancy-related causes.
    
  • Almost half of births in developing countries take place without the help of a skilled birth attendant. 
    
    
    
    

Women Farmers Unite In Sudan

Rural women in Sudan face a triple crisis of poverty, environmental degradation, and armed conflict. Many are struggling to provide enough food to keep their families from starving. Mothers often go hungry to ensure that their children can eat. Despite this sacrifice, the United Nations estimates that more than 40% of children under age five in Sudan suffer from malnutrition and girls are more likely to die in childbirth than complete primary school.

The effects of global climate change are wreaking havoc in Sudan and other places in Africa, where intermittent droughts and floods are destroying crops and making farmers’ traditional knowledge obsolete. Many of these farmers are women, who grow and harvest the majority of food crops in Sudan. Yet, the government's farm aid programs traditionally exclude women, denying them credit and agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizer.

Ongoing warfare in Darfur has caused millions of people to flee and settle elsewhere, creating a need to grow more food on soil that’s been depleted by climate change and stretching the meager resources of poor farming communities to the limit.

Many organizations are working together to help women farmers so that they can grow the food their families need to survive. Unlike emergency food aid, these programs give women the tools, resources and technical assistance they need to sustain their families for the long haul. They also provide women farmers with seeds and supplies, including donkeys and plows.

The impact of these programs is:

•   Hunger is alleviated and nutrition and health improve as women gain the resources they need to grow and produce food.

•   By working together to grow crops, participants build a network of women farmers who can share resources and work to boost their economic status over time, improving conditions for themselves and their families not just today, but well into the future.

•   The women’s improved economic status and organizing skills enhance their decision-making power within their communities and their capacity to demand human rights for themselves and their children.

•   Cooperative farms have increased their agricultural yields, enabling them to boost food security and generate income from surplus crops.

•   Women have pooled their income to invest in local development projects that build the long-term sustainability of their farming communities.

Many participants are using their increased incomes to pay for their daughters’ educations, breaking the cycle of poverty and increasing the chances for further political, economic and social empowerment.  WomenTeachingWomen has helped in these efforts by providing business training and access to small loans for these women.  Agricultural training and starting small farm businesses has changed the lives and futures of women farmers in the Sudan.