The Word Food Programme has started the Women’s Empowerment Fund, a new initiative which recognizes the importance of women in the global fight against hunger.
The Fund envisions helping women in four areas. One is in business leadership, since, as the press report writes: “women in Africa re-invest about 90 percent of their income back into their households compared to between 30 and 40 percent for men.”
The second is in farming, since “women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food in most developing countries.”
The third is in education, since “educated women have healthier children, who are more likely to live longer and attend schools themselves.” In addition, “Two thirds or the approximately 75 million children denied an education around the world are girls.”
The Fourth is in helping women rebuild after conflicts, since “Women are particularly vulnerable in times of conflict, even as their role as providers becomes more important than ever.”
In stride with the theme of looking towards women in reaching development goals, the UN in July 2010 decided to consolidate four previous UN organizations into one larger organization entitled UN Women, or the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to better “promote gender equality, expand opportunity, and tackle discrimination around the globe.”
Posted by Rishi Sidhu.
