Ending the Cycle of Poverty - A WOW! e-Brief

 

POVERTY: IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT MONEY

 

Usually when we think about “poverty,” we think in terms of the lack of money. And while poverty is fundamentally about economics, with more than three billion people living on less than two dollars a day, and women comprising 70 percent of that group, a focus solely on economics gives an incomplete picture of what life is like for those struggling with poverty. Indicators like access to health services; clean water and sanitation; life expectancy; infant, child, and maternal mortality rates; literacy levels and implications of poverty begin to provide a more realistic portrait of what it is really like to live in poverty.

 

In fact, seeing the links between the effects of poverty and the causes of poverty begins to provide us with a glimpse into the cyclic nature of poverty. Poverty tends to be reproduced from one generation to the next.

 

Why don’t poor people just lift themselves up? Why don’t they just get to work? These are fairly common refrains in some circles. One aspect that helps explain the complexity of poverty is recognition that a number of effects of poverty—poor health, lack of education, marginalization and so on—also cause or reinforce it.

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For example, poor health is a major contributor to poverty, and living in poverty contributes to poor health. Sickness and disease diminishes personal capacity, lowers productivity and reduces earnings. The high prevalence of disease in poorer countries goes hand in hand with poor economic performance. For example, in countries where a high proportion of the population is at risk for malaria, the average income is less than one-fifth of non-malarial countries, according to studies done by the United Nations Population Fund. In Bangladesh, India, it is estimated that between 1990 and 1994, 21 percent of households previously living above the poverty line fell below the line as a result of health related causes.

 

On the other hand, families living in poverty are often unable to access preventative care or even basic health care because they can’t pay for it, can’t pay for transportation to get to clinics or hospitals, or can’t take time away from work. About 25,000 people die each day worldwide from the effects of hunger, most of them children. Approximately 500,000 women die every year from preventable complications of pregnancy; others are disabled due to fistula and other conditions resulting in large part from lack of access to basic health care.

 

Poverty is also linked to low educational attainment. To illustrate the severity of the problem, nearly 1 billion people entered the new millennium unable to read a book or sign their names. Illiteracy holds people back in even the most basic day-to-day activities. Inadequate schooling prevents access to opportunities, such as employment in emerging knowledge-based industries, that could help break the cycle of poverty. Research indicates that every year of schooling increases wages for both men and women a worldwide average of 10 percent, with the gains being even greater in developing regions.

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Access to education is especially important in helping improve the economic status of girls and women in developing communities. However, girls often do not receive even a primary school education. Two-thirds of illiterate adults worldwide are women. In some countries, traditional beliefs cause parents to hold girls back from schooling in order to educate sons. In others, children are kept home because their work is critical to their families’ economic survival. Education is key to improving equality within communities, yet globally more than 72 million children do not attend school, with almost 60 percent being girls. Eighty percent of those children who do not attend school live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Without the crucial skills necessary to gain better employment and opportunities, these children will most likely continue in the endless cycle of poverty their parents dealt with.

 

Another devastating aspect of poverty is the social and cultural marginalization of those who struggle with it. An extreme example of this is the more than 160 million people in India known as Dalits, or “Untouchables.” Dalits represent the lowest level of the Hindu caste system. Ninety percent of them live in poverty and are illiterate. They are often relegated to the lowest jobs, and live in constant fear of being publicly humiliated, beaten and raped with impunity. Merely walking through an upper-caste neighborhood can be a life-threatening offense.

 

In addition, one million Dalits work as manual scavengers, cleaning latrines and sewers by hand and clearing away dead animals. Millions more are agricultural workers trapped in an inescapable cycle of extreme poverty, illiteracy and oppression. Although illegal, 40 million Dalits in India are bonded workers, many working to pay off debts that were incurred generations ago, according to a report by Human Rights Watch published in 1999. They labor under slave-like conditions hauling rocks or working in fields or factories for less than a dollar a day.

 

This exclusion and marginalization, however, can be found around the world in social systems that deny some groups of access to resources and benefits of progress, to the respect of those around them and to the support of wider communities.

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Finally, ending violence against women is critical to lessening women’s poverty. For example, research conducted in India by the International Center for Research on Women found that only seven percent of the women who owned both land and a house reported experiencing physical violence, compared to almost 50 percent of women with no property. In Managua, Nicaragua, the Panos Institute found that women who reported abuse earned 46 percent less than women who did not, this after controlling for other factors that could affect earnings.

 

Violence also affects girls’ ability to attend school and to learn. In a study of sexual violence in Botswana’s schools, 67 percent of the girls reported sexual harassment by teachers. Other studies in Africa report that up to 47 percent of girls in primary and secondary school report sexual abuse or harassment by male teachers or classmates.

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 These different aspects of poverty tend to be self-reinforcing, making it more difficult to move out of poverty and into a more stable life. The problems faced by people in poverty tend to produce a bleaker view of the future. World Neighbors work in its partner communities strives to provide the poor with hope through opportunities to improve their future prospects.

 

World Neighbors and Poverty

 

WIth its partner communities, World Neighbors works to break the cycle of poverty and empower the poor, including women. World Neighbors doesn’t just put in a water sanitation system or teach better food production, rather, it invests in people. Breaking the cycle of poverty is extremely difficult, especially when people have never known a different way of life. It takes a commitment, repeated efforts and small successes, that over time build on each other, for people to realize that they can achieve a better life.

 

World Neighbors works with its partner communities following seven basic principles. First, World Neighbors select communities to work in where there is both need and opportunity. They then work on establishing a relationship of trust with the community. World Neighbors supports community members on small projects, employing innovative ideas to generate enthusiasm.

 

Additionally, World Neighbors focuses on strengthening the capacity of communities to identify and analyze their own problems and to improve their programs. Sustainable practices are a large part of the work undertaken, allowing the community to continue the programs long after World Neighbors leaves the area. Furthermore, World Neighbors seeks to widen the impact of programs by documenting and sharing the results and process. World Neighbors often partners with larger-scale organizations, networks and coalitions in order to accomplish this.

 

Get Involved

 

By volunteering with World Neighbors or making a donation to WOW! you support the holistic, integrated work that World Neighbors does around the world to alleviate the multiple effects of poverty and improve the lives of women.

We also offer the following advocacy opportunities that support policy that would lessen the number of women struggling in poverty.

 

Ask your representatives to support the GROWTH Act

The GROWTH Act, or Global Resources and Opportunities for Women to Thrive Act, is U.S. legislation that was re-introduced in the House in July 2007 and in the Senate in September 2007. WOW! and World Neighbors, along with other coalition members of Women Thrive Worldwide, support passage of this act. The bill has the potential to help lift millions of women in the developing world out of poverty. If passed, it would make the U.S. a leader in reducing poverty and promoting opportunities for women and families around the world.

 

Learn more about the GROWTH Act here (http://www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=373&Itemid=121). Send an email to your representatives using the easy form here (http://www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=131). And email (mailto:wow@wn.org) us to tell us you contributed to this action!

 

Sign the petition urging Congress to support the International Violence Against Women Act

Violence against women is a major cause of poverty and a huge barrier to economic opportunity. In addition to being an extreme human rights violation, it keeps women from getting an education, working and earning the income they need to lift their families out of poverty. The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), if passed, would consistently incorporate solutions for reducing violence against women into U.S. foreign assistance programs. WOW! and World Neighbors, along with other coalition members of Women Thrive Worldwide, support passage of this act.

 

Learn more about I-VAWA and sign the petition here (http://www.womenthrive.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=133).

 

Learn More

We recommend the following resources, a number of which were utilized in the preparation of this issue brief, as good sources for further learning on the subject of poverty.

 

Global Health Council

Shechtman, Lisa. “School Safety: Protecting Girls from Violence and HIV.” Global AIDSLink, January-February 2007. Global Health Council. http://www.globalaidsalliance.org/docs/AIDSLink_School_Safety_January_2007.pdf.

 

Global Issues

This Web site looks into global issues that affect everyone and aims to show how most issues are interrelated. The Web site provides over 500 articles on issues that range from trade, poverty and globalization to human rights, geopolitics and the environment.

                 

Anup Shah. “Poverty Facts and Figures.” 4 March 2008. Available online at: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Facts.asp

 

International Center for Research on Women

Pradeep Panda. Domestic Violence and Women’s Property Ownership; Delving Deeper into the Linkages in Kerala.

 

Panos Institute

Mirsky, Judith. “Beyond Victims and Villains: Addressing sexual violence in the education sector.” The Panos Institute, 2003. As cited by: Shrader, E. 2000. Gender Violence: Economic Policy and its Impact Globally and Locally. World Bank Working Paper Series, July 2000 (Working Draft).

 

Poverty.com

Poverty.com was created for all people around the world who want to end poverty. The site provides information on various aspects of poverty, mostly concerning poverty and health issues. http://www.poverty.com/

 

UNESCO

Rossetti, S. 2001. Children in School: A Safe Place? Botswana: UNESCO. As cited by: Wellesley Centers for Research on Women and Development and Training Services, Inc. Unsafe Schools: A Literature Review of School-Related Gender-Based Violence in Developing Countries. United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Gender Integration Task Order. Available online at: www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/wid/pubs/unsafe_schools_literature_review.pdf.

 

United Nations Population Fund

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency  that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programs to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

 

“Characterizing Poverty.” State of the World’s Population. 2002. Available online at: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2002/english/ch2/page2.htm

 

World Bank

The World Bank is made up of two development institutions owned by 185 member countries: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). Each institution plays a different role in the mission of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards. The IBRD focuses on middle income and creditworthy poor countries, while IDA focuses on the poorest countries in the world.

                

“Understanding Poverty.” Available online at: http://go.worldbank.org/K7LWQUT9L0

 

World Resources Institute: Earth Trends

The World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that works to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. Their mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

 

Emily Cooper. “The Dimensions of Poverty.” World Resources 2005. Available online at: http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?fid=58&theme=5

 

 

A WOW! e-Brief

Work of Women @ World Neighbors

April 2008

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