[ Terug naar Inhoudsopgave Platform for Action ] [ Terug naar VWEB ]
PLATFORM FOR ACTION
A. Women and poverty
47. More than 1 billion people in the world today, the great majority of
whom are women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty, mostly in the
developing countries. Poverty has various causes, including structural
ones. Poverty is a complex, multidimensional problem, with origins in both the
national and international domains. The globalization of the world's
economy and the deepening interdependence among nations present challenges and
opportunities for sustained economic growth and development, as well as
risks and uncertainties for the future of the world economy. The uncertain
global economic climate has been accompanied by economic restructuring as well
as, in a certain number of countries, persistent, unmanageable levels of external
debt and structural adjustment programmes. In addition, all types of
conflict, displacement of people and environmental degradation have under-
mined the capacity of Governments to meet the basic needs of their populations.
Transformations in the world economy are profoundly changing the
parameters of social development in all countries. One significant trend has been the
increased poverty of women, the extent of which varies from region to
region. The gender disparities in economic power-sharing are also an important
contributing factor to the poverty of women. Migration and consequent
changes in family structures have placed additional burdens on women, especially
those who provide for several dependants. Macroeconomic policies need
rethinking and reformulation to address such trends. These policies focus almost
exclusively on the formal sector. They also tend to impede the initiatives
of women and fail to consider the differential impact on women and men. The
application of gender analysis to a wide range of policies and programmes
is therefore critical to poverty reduction strategies. In order to eradicate
poverty and achieve sustainable development, women and men must par-
ticipate fully and equally in the formulation of macroeconomic and social policies
and strategies for the eradication of poverty. The eradication of poverty
cannot be accomplished through anti-poverty programmes alone but will require
democratic participation and changes in economic structures in order to
ensure access for all women to resources, opportunities and public services.
Poverty has various manifestations, including lack of income and productive resour-
ces sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood; hunger and malnutrition; ill
health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services;
increasing morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inade-
quate housing; unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion. It is
also characterized by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil,
social and cultural life. It occurs in all countries - as mass poverty in
many developing countries and as pockets of poverty amidst wealth in
developed countries. Poverty may be caused by an economic recession that results in
loss of livelihood or by disaster or conflict. There is also the poverty of
low-wage workers and the utter destitution of people who fall outside
amily support systems, social institutions and safety nets.
48. In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has increased disproportionately to the number of men, particularly in the developing countries. The feminization of poverty has also recently become a sig- nificant problem in the countries with economies in transition as a short-term consequence of the process of political, economic and social transformation. In addition to economic factors, the rigidity of socially ascribed gender roles and women's limited access to power, education, training and produc- tive resources as well as other emerging factors that may lead to insecurity for families are also responsible. The failure to adequately mainstream a gender perspective in all economic analysis and planning and to address the structural causes of poverty is also a contributing factor.
49. Women contribute to the economy and to combating poverty through both remunerated and unremunerated work at home, in the community and in the workplace. The empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication of poverty.
50. While poverty affects households as a whole, because of the gender division of labour and responsibilities for household welfare, women bear a disproportionate burden, attempting to manage household consumption and production under conditions of increasing scarcity. Poverty is particularly acute for women living in rural households.
51. Women's poverty is directly related to the absence of economic opportunities and autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including credit, land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and support services and their minimal participation in the decision-making process. Poverty can also force women into situations in which they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
52. In too many countries, social welfare systems do not take sufficient account of the specific conditions of women living in poverty, and there is a tendency to scale back the services provided by such systems. The risk of falling into poverty is greater for women than for men, particularly in old age, where social security systems are based on the principle of continuous remunerated employment. In some cases, women do not fulfil this re- quirement because of interruptions in their work, due to the unbalanced distribution of remunerated and unremunerated work. Moreover, older women also face greater obstacles to labour-market re-entry.
53. In many developed countries, where the level of general education and professional training of women and men are similar and where systems of protection against discrimination are available, in some sectors the economic transformations of the past decade have strongly increased either the unemployment of women or the precarious nature of their employment. The proportion of women among the poor has consequently increased. In countries with a high level of school enrolment of girls, those who leave the educational system the earliest, without any qualification, are among the most vulnerable in the labour market.
54. In countries with economies in transition and in other countries undergoing fundamental political, economic and social transformations, these transformations have often led to a reduction in women's income or to women being deprived of income.
55. Particularly in developing countries, the productive capacity of women should be increased through access to capital, resources, credit, land, technology, information, technical assistance and training so as to raise their income and improve nutrition, education, health care and status within the household. The release of women's productive potential is pivotal to breaking the cycle of poverty so that women can share fully in the benefits of development and in the products of their own labour.
56. Sustainable development and economic growth that is both sustained and sustainable are possible only through improving the economic, social, political, legal and cultural status of women. Equitable social development that recognizes empowering the poor, particularly women, to utilize environmental resources sustainably is a necessary foundation for sus- tainable development.
57. The success of policies and measures aimed at supporting or strengthening the promotion of gender equality and the improvement of the status of women should be based on the integration of the gender perspec- tive in general policies relating to all spheres of society as well as the implementation of positive measures with adequate institutional and financial support at all levels.
Strategic objective A.1. Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and development strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty
Actions to be taken
58. By Governments:
(a) Review and modify, with the full and equal participation of women,
macroeconomic and social policies with a view to achieving the
objectives of the Platform for Action;
(b) Analyse, from a gender perspective, policies and programmes -
including those related to macroeconomic stability, structural
adjustment, external debt problems, taxation, investments,
employment, markets and all relevant sectors of the economy -
with respect to their impact on poverty, on inequality and particularly
on women; assess their impact on family well-being and conditions
and adjust them, as appropriate, to promote more equitable
distribution of productive assets, wealth, opportunities, income and
services;
(c) Pursue and implement sound and stable macroeconomic and sectoral
policies that are designed and monitored with the full and equal
participation of women, encourage broad-based sustained economic
growth, address the structural causes of poverty and are geared
towards eradicating poverty and reducing gender-based inequality
within the overall framework of achieving people-centred sus-
tainable development;
(d) Restructure and target the allocation of public expenditures to
promote women's economic opportunities and equal access to
productive resources and to address the basic social, educational
and health needs of women, particularly those living in poverty;
(e) Develop agricultural and fishing sectors, where and as necessary,
in order to ensure, as appropriate, household and national food
security and food self-sufficiency, by allocating the necessary
financial, technical and human resources;
(f) Develop policies and programmes to promote equitable distribution
of food within the household;
(g) Provide adequate safety nets and strengthen State-based and
community-based support systems, as an integral part of social
policy, in order to enable women living in poverty to withstand
adverse economic environments and preserve their livelihood,
assets
and revenues in times of crisis;
(h) Generate economic policies that have a positive impact on the
employment and income of women workers in both the formal and
informal sectors and adopt specific measures to address women's
unemployment, in particular their long-term unemployment;
(i) Formulate and implement, when necessary, specific economic, social,
agricultural and related policies in support of female-headed
households;
(j) Develop and implement anti-poverty programmes, including
employment
schemes, that improve access to food for women living in poverty,
including through the use of appropriate pricing and distribution
mechanisms;
(k) Ensure the full realization of the human rights of all women
migrants, including women migrant workers, and their protection
against violence and exploitation; introduce measures for the
empowerment of documented women migrants, including women
migrant workers; facilitate the productive employment of documented
migrant women through greater recognition of their skills, foreign
education
and credentials, and facilitate their full integration into the
labour force;
(l) Introduce measures to integrate or reintegrate women living in
poverty and socially marginalized women into productive
employment and the economic mainstream; ensure that internally displaced
women have full access to economic opportunities and that the
qualifications and skills of immigrant and refugee women are
recognized;
(m) Enable women to obtain affordable housing and access to land by,
among other things, removing all obstacles to access, with special
emphasis on meeting the needs of women, especially those living in
poverty and female heads of household;
(n) Formulate and implement policies and programmes that enhance the
access of women agricultural and fisheries producers (including
subsistence farmers and producers, especially in rural areas) to
financial, technical, extension and marketing services; provide
access to and control of land, appropriate infrastructure and
technology in order to increase women's incomes and promote
household food security, especially in rural areas and, where
appropriate, encourage the development of producer-owned,
market-
based cooperatives;
(o) Create social security systems wherever they do not exist, or
review them with a view to placing individual women and men on an equal
footing, at every stage of their lives;
(p) Ensure access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal
literacy, especially designed to reach women living in poverty;
(q) Take particular measures to promote and strengthen policies and
programmes for indigenous women with their full participation and
respect for their cultural diversity, so that they have
opportunities and the possibility of choice in the development
process in order to eradicate the poverty that affects them.
59. By multilateral financial and development institutions, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and regional development institutions, and through bilateral development cooperation:
(a) In accordance with the commitments made at the World Summit for
Social Development, seek to mobilize new and additional financial
resources that are both adequate and predictable and mobilized in a
way that maximizes the availability of such resources and uses all
available funding sources and mechanisms with a view to contributing
towards the goal of poverty eradication and targeting women living
in poverty;
(b) Strengthen analytical capacity in order to more systematically
strengthen gender perspectives and integrate them into the design
and implementation of lending programmes, including structural
adjustment and economic recovery programmes;
(c) Find effective development-oriented and durable solutions to
external debt problems in order to help them to finance programmes
and projects targeted at development, including the advancement of
women, inter alia, through the immediate implementation of the terms
of debt forgiveness agreed upon in the Paris Club in December
1994, which encompassed debt reduction, including cancellation or other
debt relief measures and develop techniques of debt conversion
applied to social development programmes and projects in conformity
with the priorities of the Platform for Action;
(d) Invite the international financial institutions to examine
innovative approaches to assisting low-income countries with a high
proportion of multilateral debt, with a view to alleviating their
debt burden;
(e) Ensure that structural adjustment programmes are designed to
minimize their negative effects on vulnerable and disadvantaged
groups and communities and to assure their positive effects on such
groups and communities by preventing their marginalization in
economic and social activities and devising measures to ensure that
they gain access to and control over economic resources and economic
and social activities; take actions to reduce inequality and
economic disparity;
(f) Review the impact of structural adjustment programmes on social
development by means of gender-sensitive social impact as-
sessments
and other relevant methods, in order to develop policies to reduce
their negative effects and improve their positive impact, ensuring
that women do not bear a disproportionate burden of transition
costs; complement adjustment lending with enhanced, targeted social
development lending;
(g) Create an enabling environment that allows women to build and
maintain sustainable livelihoods.
60. By national and international non-governmental organizations and
women's groups:
(a) Mobilize all parties involved in the development process, including
academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and grass-
roots and women's groups, to improve the effectiveness of
anti-poverty programmes directed towards the poorest and most
disadvantaged groups of women, such as rural and indigenous women,
female heads of household, young women and older women,
refugees and migrant women and women with disabilities, recognizing that social
development is primarily the responsibility of Governments;
(b) Engage in lobbying and establish monitoring mechanisms, as
appropriate, and other relevant activities to ensure implementation
of the recommendations on poverty eradication outlined in the
Platform for Action and aimed at ensuring accountability and
transparency from the State and private sectors;
(c) Include in their activities women with diverse needs and recognize
that youth organizations are increasingly becoming effective
partners in development programmes;
(d) In cooperation with the government and private sectors, participate
in the development of a comprehensive national strategy for
improving health, education and social services so that girls and
women of all ages living in poverty have full access to such
services; seek funding to secure access to services with a gender
perspective and to extend those services in order to reach the rural
and remote areas that are not covered by government institutions;
(e) In cooperation with Governments, employers, other social partners
and relevant parties, contribute to the development of education and
training and retraining policies to ensure that women can acquire a
wide range of skills to meet new demands;
(f) Mobilize to protect women's right to full and equal access to
economic resources, including the right to inheritance and to
ownership of land and other property, credit, natural resources and
appropriate technologies.
Strategic objective A.2. Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women's equal rights and access to economic resources
Actions to be taken
61. By Governments:
(a) Ensure access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal
literacy, especially designed to reach women living in poverty;
(b) Undertake legislative and administrative reforms to give women full
and equal access to economic resources, including the right to
inheritance and to ownership of land and other property, credit,
natural resources and appropriate technologies;
(c) Consider ratification of Convention No. 169 of the International
Labour Organization (ILO) as part of their efforts to promote and
protect the rights of indigenous people.
Strategic objective A.3. Provide women with access to savings and credit mechanisms and institutions
Actions to be taken
62. By Governments:
(a) Enhance the access of disadvantaged women, including women
entrepreneurs, in rural, remote and urban areas to financial
services through strengthening links between the formal banks and
intermediary lending organizations, including legislative support,
training for women and institutional strengthening for inter-mediary
institutions with a view to mobilizing capital for those
institutions and increasing the availability of credit;
(b) Encourage links between financial institutions and
non-governmental
organizations and support innovative lending practices, including
those that integrate credit with women's services and training and
provide credit facilities to rural women.
63. By commercial banks, specialized financial institutions and the private sector in examining their policies:
(a) Use credit and savings methodologies that are effective in reaching
women in poverty and innovative in reducing transaction costs and
redefining risk;
(b) Open special windows for lending to women, including young women,
who lack access to traditional sources of collateral;
(c) Simplify banking practices, for example by reducing the minimum
deposit and other requirements for opening bank accounts;
(d) Ensure the participation and joint ownership, where possible, of
women clients in the decision-making of institutions providing
credit and financial services.
64. By multilateral and bilateral development cooperation organizations:
Support, through the provision of capital and/or resources, financial institutions that serve low-income, small-scale and micro-scale women entrepreneurs and producers, in both the formal and informal sectors.
65. By Governments and multilateral financial institutions, as appropriate:
Support institutions that meet performance standards in reaching large numbers of low-income women and men through capitalization, refinancing and institutional development support in forms that foster self-sufficiency.
66. By international organizations:
Increase funding for programmes and projects designed to promote sustainable and productive entrepreneurial activities for income- generation among disadvantaged women and women living in poverty.
Strategic objective A.4. Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminization of poverty
Actions to be taken
67. By Governments, intergovernmental organizations, academic and research institutions and the private sector:
(a) Develop conceptual and practical methodologies for incorporating
gender perspectives into all aspects of economic policy-making,
including structural adjustment planning and programmes;
(b) Apply these methodologies in conducting gender-impact analyses of
all policies and programmes, including structural adjustment
programmes, and disseminate the research findings.
68. By national and international statistical organizations:
(a) Collect gender and age-disaggregated data on poverty and all aspects
of economic activity and develop qualitative and quantitative
statistical indicators to facilitate the assessment of economic
performance from a gender perspective;
(b) Devise suitable statistical means to recognize and make visible the
full extent of the work of women and all their contributions to the
national economy, including their contribution in the un-
remunerated
and domestic sectors, and examine the relationship of women's
unremunerated work to the incidence of and their vulnerability to
poverty.
[ Back to VWEB ] [ Top Page ]