Women bear almost all responsibility for meeting the basic needs of the family, yet are systematically denied the resources, information and freedom of action they need to fulfil this responsibility.
The vast majority of the world’s poor are women. Two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population is female. Of the millions of school-age children not in school, the majority are girls. And today, HIV/AIDS is rapidly becoming a woman’s disease. Women comprise nearly 60 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Around the world, millions of people eat two or three times a day, but a significant percentage of women eat only once. Many women deny themselves even that one meal to ensure that their children are fed. These women are already suffering the effects of even more severe malnutrition, which inevitably will be their children’s fate as well.
Studies show that when women are supported and empowered, all of society benefits. Their families are healthier, more children go to school, agricultural productivity improves and incomes increase. In short, communities become more resilient.
The Hunger Project firmly believes that empowering women to be key change agents is an essential element to achieving the end of hunger and poverty. Wherever we work, our programs aim to support women and build their capacity.
The results of these programs include:
- By providing women food farmers easy access to credit, adequate training and instilling in them the importance of saving, THP’s Microfinance Program enables women to engage in income-generating activities to increase their incomes and invest in their families and communities.
- More than 1.3 million people have taken the HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Workshop, in which they not only learn the facts of AIDS but also confront and transform the gender-based behaviours that fuel the pandemic.
- In India, our Women’s Leadership Workshop has empowered 83,000 women elected to local councils to be effective change agents in their villages. They are forming district- and state-wide federations to ensure that their voices are heard at top levels of government.
- In Bangladesh, we catalysed the formation of a 300-organisation alliance that organises more than 800 events across the country each September in honour of National Girl Child Day, a day to focus on eradicating all forms of discrimination against girl children.