This post was originally published by Empower Generation, which merged with Pollinate Energy to form Pollinate Group in 2018.
Written by Amira Ibrahim.
Someone once told me that if you include a number in your blog title, more people will read it. But there are actually many more than six reasons to support women.
Supporting women to lift poor people out of poverty is a no brainer to some. But for those who are not sold, or those that want to be reminded, I thought I’d spend a few moments explaining why women are the real change agents for societies around the world. They are the linchpins of their families, and therefore of their communities. With education, skills and basic resources, they can become even greater catalysts for change. Here are six reasons why investing in women will help end poverty:
- Helping women means helping families. Investments in women undoubtedly extend to the world around them. Women know how to utilize money, resources and ideas with wisdom and creativity to make better choices for themselves and their families. Women are more likely than men to share benefits and put their income back into their families and communities, driving illiteracy and mortality rates down and GDP up.
- Women and girls are energy providers. More than two billion people live without electricity and on less than one dollar a day. 70% of the energy-oppressed poor are women. Women are also traditionally the provider of energy for rural families. Frequently girls cannot attend schools because they must spend their time gathering fuel for their families. Women are agents of change that can tackle the energy oppression for themselves and their families in efficient ways to free up time for productive tasks.
- Educating females leads to growing economies. When 10% more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases by 3%. When women are educated and can earn and control income, a number of good results follow: infant mortality declines, child health and nutrition improve, agricultural productivity rises, population growth slows, economies expand, and cycles of poverty are broken.