Historians are saying now that the reason Europe developed during the Industrial revolution while the Middle East and Africa lagged behind, is because of their changing attitudes towards women. China, lauded as potentially being the next super power, rose to economic prowess exactly the moment they allowed women into the factories to work. Malaysia, Botswana, Thailand, Rwanda- these places have also started to follow suit and as their economies start to boom, poverty becomes less severe. In 2019, Finland was named the happiest country in the world happiness report at the same time as being in second highest for their gender equality score.
There’s a trend emerging here and women empowerment initiatives are to be applauded for it. But there is still a lot of work to do, even in the countries listed above. Sex trafficking is still a booming business around the world, and gender-based violence is widely practiced as a weapon to terrorise populations in the midst of conflict. In 2012 it was estimated that 117 million women were missing, on account of them either being sold into sex slavery, being aborted or simply abandoned.
Just give this statistic the attention it deserves for a minute: according to the World Bank, globally, countries are losing $160 trillion in wealth because of differences in lifetime earnings between women and men.
There is no such thing as progress if it is not walking hand in hand with the abolition of human rights violations against women. Healthy and headstrong women are the beating heart of prosperity, as it is their decisions around family planning, finance management and maternal instincts that build an economy and community of caring.
Much work is being done to help women around the world, and there’s a surprisingly diverse range of effective strategies to do this.
1. Educate and upskill
Education for women is not just about getting them into the workforce- although this obviously can provide countless benefits. It’s about educating girls to become better leaders of their own lives, reducing instances of early pregnancy, exuberant population growth rates, the spread of infectious disease and increasing mortality rates. Each additional year of primary education in Nigeria results in girls having .26 fewer children, which puts less of an economic burden on families and encourages girls to move into paid work.
Particularly inspiring women who have gotten the education they deserve have gone on to build schools, hospitals, become surgeons and midwives and improved their communities significantly. Education can change traditionally gender-segregated cultures, informing both boys and girls about the importance of moving away from favouritism towards males.
2. Hand over finances to women
Studies are revealing that in many developing countries, women spend their money more wisely than men. While men spend a bigger proportion of income on alcohol, tobacco and sugar, women are more likely to spend it on their children, education or investing in future projects.
Oportunidades was a Mexican government initiative in which they gave money to women for sending their children to school. The program resulted in higher attendance at school, more balanced diets, better medical attention for children and the children even grew 1cm taller than the control group – all because the money was given to women to decide what to do with.
Microfinancing for women is a new initiative where small cash loans are given to women in the developing world. These women go on to invest in small projects like selling beer or garments to their village, resulting in not just better income for their families but more respect from their husbands and communities.
3. Provide access to better maternal healthcare
According to the UN, approximately 810 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy. This is simply unacceptable. It is especially bad in rural areas and areas with conflict. Sri Lanka was a prime example of success in this area, in which increased investment in training more midwives significantly reduced child mortality rates.
You don’t need a medical degree to get a baby delivered and in some places they are even training local midwives to conduct surgery for C-sections. Access to supplies are also fundamental, including contraceptives and equipment for safe abortions. Charities have made a lot of progress in this area, but there is oh so much more to expect.
4. Mend maternal disability
Obstetric fistulas are a phenomenon that go criminally unnoticed by international audiences, but they cause just as much suffering as AIDs and Malaria. The problem is that they are much more expensive to treat. Fistulas can be caused by sexual violence, but is most often caused by prolonged obstructed labour. As the baby presses against tissue, blood flow is restricted and tissues eventually die leaving ‘holes’. These holes connect the bladder and bowel to the vagina, leaving women incontinent and suffering constant infections and pain.
Women with fistulas are often neglected by their families and communities because of their smell from leakages. They become complete pariahs and suffer endless psychological challenges as well as physical. Fistula is a symptom of deep poverty and providing fistula hospitals and treatment is paramount for protecting the human rights of women, especially in rural areas.
5. Recruit female expertise
Rwanda is just one example in which a country has been positioning women in political and law-making roles. This has increased reproductive rights, investment in girls’ education and equal rights for land ownership. This has, you guessed it, meant that Rwanda’s economy is booming and now becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Women know women best, and governments need their expertise to come up with ways to smooth out gender equality and eradicate sexist cultural norms. Perhaps the best evidence for this is historical. When women got the right to vote in the US and Europe, more investments were put into public health to secure the vote from women. This reduced not only child mortality but mortality more generally. Women’s needs matter and development will become a walk in the park once this is realised.
6. Provide women-minded design solutions
Another killer that goes unnoticed is the design of stoves for women. A huge majority of women are still using traditional stoves, but the trouble is that these biomass powered stoves give off extremely toxic fumes and cause 3 times more deaths than Malaria globally- mostly affecting women because they are the ones that cook. When development agencies tried to introduce newer ‘clean’ stoves, they were mostly rejected. Women were then blamed that this was because they needed to be educated in proper stove usage.
However, upon further scrutiny it was found that the new stoves were designed in such a way that they need more attending and cooking time was extended. The design did not consider the need for women to multi-task while cooking and to not increase their already 15 hour work day (including unpaid labour). Academics still conclude that the problem is with the women, not the stoves. To prevent these stove-related mortality rates, women need consulting before designing products rather than forcing design on them.