In a small village in northern Senegal, women worked hard to grow crops, but water was simply too scarce. In partnership with several nongovernmental organizations, Church World Service helped provide the women with water by digging an irrigation canal from a nearby lake. Photo by Jim Stipe.

Why is it important to invest in women and girls?

• Educating women brings tangible economic benefits. According to the United Nations, economies in the developing world grow by 3 percent for every 10 percent increase in the number of women who receive secondary schooling.
  
• Women are major contributors to the economy in developing countries. According to the Institute for Food Policy Research, Sub-Saharan African women perform about 90 percent of agriculture related work.
  
• According to the World Bank, poor women, in particular, have little or no voice in decision making and their needs and constraints are often not included in formulating policies and programs.

How is the U.S. Government investing in women and girls?

• U.S. assistance programs place special emphasis on improving opportunities for women and girls within its programs of support for basic education.
  
• Of microcredit loans funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, 69 percent were given to women-owned microenterprises. U.S. assistance has also provided business training for women and has tried to reduce obstacles for women business owners.

Progress has been made.

• China traces the drop in the number of its citizens living in poverty to the country’s comprehensive approach to poverty eradication among women. Between 1995 and 1998, poverty fell from 65 million to 42 million with women comprising 60 percent of those freed from poverty.
  
• Over the last decade, the number of women represented in government increased from 16 countries to 97 countries.

But challenges remain.

• Women comprise 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people in the developing world who live on less than $1 per day.
  
• Women comprise two thirds of the 860 million adults in the world who cannot read.
  
• 58 percent of persons infected with HIV/AIDS are women.

Articles on Women and Girls :

Women Who Shoulder the World's Burdens with Grace
The Christian Science Monitor
Article by G.Jefferson Price
April 10

• Training Women in Business in the Congo, Pact and Bread for the World
  
• Partnership With Egypt Yields Results for Girls Education, CARE
  
• The Struggle Against AIDS in South Africa, Catholic Medical Mission Board
  
• Community Based Partners Bring Effective Care for Mother and Child, CARE
  
• Educating Girls Gives Them a Healthier Future, World Education

World Leaders Speak Out...

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan - Jan 16, 2004
"There are now 1.2 billion adolescents in the world - the largest number of young girls and boys the world has ever known. In the developing world, more than 40 per cent of the population is under age 20. The shape of the future lies in the decisions these young people make. Their faith in themselves, their respect for one another, their access to accurate, comprehensive information and education, including information on sexual health and access to comprehensive health services, will determine not only their own well being, but that of the world. This revolution cannot be imposed from outside. But it can be encouraged, through support for leadership figures that are emerging in every type of society. That encouragement must be our mission."
Read the keynote address

Afghanistan Interim President Hamid Karzai – May 10, 2002
“If we want to grow and if we want to have a society that's wealthy, that's good - it has to work and women are an important part of the working people of Afghanistan. They will definitely have work - they must get education, they must be educated - this must be allowed”
Read the interview

Basic Education  |  Health Care  |  Work & Farming Skills  |  Reducing Hunger

Women & Girls  |  Refugees |  Peace & Democracy