In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has increased disproportionately to the number of men, particularly in the developing countries. In addition to economic factors, the rigidity of socially ascribed gender roles and women's limited access to power, education, training and productive resources . . . are also responsible....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.

Recognizing that women suffer the burden of poverty disproportionately, the Beijing Platform for Action urges the international community in all sectors to:

• Shape macroeconomic policies and development strategies to address the needs and efforts of women in poverty;
• Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women’s equal rights and access to economic resources;
• Give women access to banking, savings and credit mechanisms and institutions;
• Conduct research to discover the causes, effects and possible cures for the "feminization of poverty".

Today over 1.2 billion people live on less than one dollar a day. And a majority of the world's absolute poor are female. Worldwide, women on average earn slightly more than 50 per cent of what men are earning. Poverty is particularly destructive of women's health, especially their reproductive and sexual health: women and girls are often the last to eat; women’s health problems are considered less important than other family priorities; girls may be sold into prostitution; and mothers sometimes are forced to sell their bodies just to be able to feed their children.

Empowering Women Economically

UNFPA's experience has shown that the benefits of a woman’s control over her reproductive and economic life reinforce each other. Therefore, since the 1980s, UNFPA has supported programmes that combine reproductive health services with micro-financing activities for women, in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Morocco, Paraguay and Sudan. In El Salvador and Honduras, for example, revolving funds were set up to give rural women access to credit for crop production. Support to women's small business activities was coupled with training in such subjects as business management and bookkeeping to empower women in all aspects of their lives.

In Sudan, realizing that women's economic dependence on men keeps them dependent in other ways, UNFPA has put special emphasis on the economic empowerment of women. Therefore, seed money is provided for the establishment of commercial enterprises that increase low-income women’s standard of living. Retraining traditional birth attendants who practise female genital mutilation is a special priority for the programme. They are taught other ways of making money and given information on reproductive issues and the harmful effects of FGM to encourage them to abandon the practice. They and the other women participating in the programme have succeeded in raising their incomes and repaying their loans.

In China, UNFPA supports a project designed to improve the socioeconomic condition of women in three rural provinces. This successful project has raised the incomes of 14,000 women, by providing income-generating activities, training in production and business skills, functional literacy and reproductive health services.