The Fourth World Conference on Women
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Chapter 1. Resolution 1. Annex II - The Beijing Platform for Action
IV. Strategic Objectives and Actions
A. Women and poverty
Strategic objective A.1.
Strategic objective A.2.
Strategic objective A.3.
Strategic objective A.4.
47. More than 1 billion people in the world today, the great majority of whom are
women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty, mostly in the developing countries.
Poverty has various causes, including structural ones. Poverty is a complex,
multidimensional problem, with origins in both the national and international domains. The
globalization of the world's economy and the deepening interdependence among nations
present challenges and opportunities for sustained economic growth and development, as
well as risks and uncertainties for the future of the world economy. The uncertain global
economic climate has been accompanied by economic restructuring as well as, in a certain
number of countries, persistent, unmanageable levels of external debt and structural
adjustment programmes. In addition, all types of conflict, displacement of people and
environmental degradation have undermined the capacity of Governments to meet the basic
needs of their populations. Transformations in the world economy are profoundly changing
the parameters of social development in all countries. One significant trend has been the
increased poverty of women, the extent of which varies from region to region. The gender
disparities in economic power-sharing are also an important contributing factor to the
poverty of women. Migration and consequent changes in family structures have placed
additional burdens on women, especially those who provide for several dependants.
Macroeconomic policies need rethinking and reformulation to address such trends. These
policies focus almost exclusively on the formal sector. They also tend to impede the
initiatives of women and fail to consider the differential impact on women and men. The
application of gender analysis to a wide range of policies and programmes is therefore
critical to poverty reduction strategies. In order to eradicate poverty and achieve
sustainable development, women and men must participate fully and equally in the
formulation of macroeconomic and social policies and strategies for the eradication of
poverty. The eradication of poverty cannot be accomplished through anti-poverty programmes
alone but will require democratic participation and changes in economic structures in
order to ensure access for all women to resources, opportunities and public services.
Poverty has various manifestations, including lack of income and productive resources
sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood; hunger and malnutrition; ill health;
limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increasing morbidity and
mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments; and
social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by lack of participation in
decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life. It occurs in all countries - as
mass poverty in many developing countries and as pockets of poverty amidst wealth in
developed countries. Poverty may be caused by an economic recession that results in loss
of livelihood or by disaster or conflict. There is also the poverty of low-wage workers
and the utter destitution of people who fall outside family support systems, social
institutions and safety nets.
48. In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has increased
disproportionately to the number of men, particularly in the developing countries. The
feminization of poverty has also recently become a significant problem in the countries
with economies in transition as a short-term consequence of the process of political,
economic and social transformation. In addition to economic factors, the rigidity of
socially ascribed gender roles and women's limited access to power, education, training
and productive resources as well as other emerging factors that may lead to insecurity for
families are also responsible. The failure to adequately mainstream a gender perspective
in all economic analysis and planning and to address the structural causes of poverty is
also a contributing factor.
49. Women contribute to the economy and to combating poverty through both remunerated
and unremunerated work at home, in the community and in the workplace. The empowerment of
women is a critical factor in the eradication of poverty.
50. 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. Poverty is particularly acute for women living in rural households.
51. Women's poverty is directly related to the absence of economic opportunities and
autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including credit, land ownership and
inheritance, lack of access to education and support services and their minimal
participation in the decision-making process. Poverty can also force women into situations
in which they are vulnerable to sexual exploitation.
52. In too many countries, social welfare systems do not take sufficient account of the
specific conditions of women living in poverty, and there is a tendency to scale back the
services provided by such systems. The risk of falling into poverty is greater for women
than for men, particularly in old age, where social security systems are based on the
principle of continuous remunerated employment. In some cases, women do not fulfil this
requirement because of interruptions in their work, due to the unbalanced distribution of
remunerated and unremunerated work. Moreover, older women also face greater obstacles to
labour-market re-entry.
53. In many developed countries, where the level of general education and professional
training of women and men are similar and where systems of protection against
discrimination are available, in some sectors the economic transformations of the past
decade have strongly increased either the unemployment of women or the precarious nature
of their employment. The proportion of women among the poor has consequently increased. In
countries with a high level of school enrolment of girls, those who leave the educational
system the earliest, without any qualification, are among the most vulnerable in the
labour market.
54. In countries with economies in transition and in other countries undergoing
fundamental political, economic and social transformations, these transformations have
often led to a reduction in women's income or to women being deprived of income.
55. Particularly in developing countries, the productive capacity of women should be
increased through access to capital, resources, credit, land, technology, information,
technical assistance and training so as to raise their income and improve nutrition,
education, health care and status within the household. The release of women's productive
potential is pivotal to breaking the cycle of poverty so that women can share fully in the
benefits of development and in the products of their own labour.
56. Sustainable development and economic growth that is both sustained and sustainable
are possible only through improving the economic, social, political, legal and cultural
status of women. Equitable social development that recognizes empowering the poor,
particularly women, to utilize environmental resources sustainably is a necessary
foundation for sustainable development.
57. The success of policies and measures aimed at supporting or strengthening the
promotion of gender equality and the improvement of the status of women should be based on
the integration of the gender perspective in general policies relating to all spheres of
society as well as the implementation of positive measures with adequate institutional and
financial support at all levels.
Review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and development
strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty Actions to
be taken
58. By Governments:
(a) Review and modify, with the full and equal participation of women, macroeconomic and
social policies with a view to achieving the objectives of the Platform for Action;
(b) Analyse, from a gender perspective, policies and programmes - including those related
to macroeconomic stability, structural adjustment, external debt problems, taxation,
investments, employment, markets and all relevant sectors of the economy - with respect to
their impact on poverty, on inequality and particularly on women; assess their impact on
family well-being and conditions and adjust them, as appropriate, to promote more
equitable distribution of productive assets, wealth, opportunities, income and services;
(c) Pursue and implement sound and stable macroeconomic and sectoral policies that are
designed and monitored with the full and equal participation of women, encourage
broad-based sustained economic growth, address the structural causes of poverty and are
geared towards eradicating poverty and reducing gender-based inequality within the overall
framework of achieving people-centred sustainable development;
(d) Restructure and target the allocation of public expenditures to promote women's
economic opportunities and equal access to productive resources and to address the basic
social, educational and health needs of women, particularly those living in poverty;
(e) Develop agricultural and fishing sectors, where and as necessary, in order to ensure,
as appropriate, household and national food security and food self-sufficiency, by
allocating the necessary financial, technical and human resources;
(f) Develop policies and programmes to promote equitable distribution of food within the
household;
(g) Provide adequate safety nets and strengthen State-based and community-based support
systems, as an integral part of social policy, in order to enable women living in poverty
to withstand adverse economic environments and preserve their livelihood, assets and
revenues in times of crisis;
(h) Generate economic policies that have a positive impact on the employment and income of
women workers in both the formal and informal sectors and adopt specific measures to
address women's unemployment, in particular their long-term unemployment;
(i) Formulate and implement, when necessary, specific economic, social, agricultural and
related policies in support of female-headed households;
(j) Develop and implement anti-poverty programmes, including employment schemes, that
improve access to food for women living in poverty, including through the use of
appropriate pricing and distribution mechanisms;
(k) Ensure the full realization of the human rights of all women migrants, including women
migrant workers, and their protection against violence and exploitation; introduce
measures for the empowerment of documented women migrants, including women migrant
workers; facilitate the productive employment of documented migrant women through greater
recognition of their skills, foreign education and credentials, and facilitate their full
integration into the labour force;
(l) Introduce measures to integrate or reintegrate women living in poverty and socially
marginalized women into productive employment and the economic mainstream; ensure that
internally displaced women have full access to economic opportunities and that the
qualifications and skills of immigrant and refugee women are recognized;
(m) Enable women to obtain affordable housing and access to land by, among other things,
removing all obstacles to access, with special emphasis on meeting the needs of women,
especially those living in poverty and female heads of household;
(n) Formulate and implement policies and programmes that enhance the access of women
agricultural and fisheries producers (including subsistence farmers and producers,
especially in rural areas) to financial, technical, extension and marketing services;
provide access to and control of land, appropriate infrastructure and technology in order
to increase women's incomes and promote household food security, especially in rural areas
and, where appropriate, encourage the development of producer-owned, market- based
cooperatives;
(o) Create social security systems wherever they do not exist, or review them with a view
to placing individual women and men on an equal footing, at every stage of their lives;
(p) Ensure access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal literacy, especially
designed to reach women living in poverty;
(q) Take particular measures to promote and strengthen policies and programmes for
indigenous women with their full participation and respect for their cultural diversity,
so that they have opportunities and the possibility of choice in the development process
in order to eradicate the poverty that affects them.
59. By multilateral financial and development institutions, including the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and regional development institutions, and
through bilateral development cooperation:
(a) In accordance with the commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development,
seek to mobilize new and additional financial resources that are both adequate and
predictable and mobilized in a way that maximizes the availability of such resources and
uses all available funding sources and mechanisms with a view to contributing towards the
goal of poverty eradication and targeting women living in poverty;
(b) Strengthen analytical capacity in order to more systematically strengthen gender
perspectives and integrate them into the design and implementation of lending programmes,
including structural adjustment and economic recovery programmes;
(c) Find effective development-oriented and durable solutions to external debt problems in
order to help them to finance programmes and projects targeted at development, including
the advancement of women, inter alia, through the immediate implementation of the terms of
debt forgiveness agreed upon in the Paris Club in December 1994, which encompassed debt
reduction, including cancellation or other debt relief measures and develop techniques of
debt conversion applied to social development programmes and projects in conformity with
the priorities of the Platform for Action;
(d) Invite the international financial institutions to examine innovative approaches to
assisting low-income countries with a high proportion of multilateral debt, with a view to
alleviating their debt burden;
(e) Ensure that structural adjustment programmes are designed to minimize their negative
effects on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and communities and to assure their
positive effects on such groups and communities by preventing their marginalization in
economic and social activities and devising measures to ensure that they gain access to
and control over economic resources and economic and social activities; take actions to
reduce inequality and economic disparity;
(f) Review the impact of structural adjustment programmes on social development by means
of gender-sensitive social impact assessments and other relevant methods, in order to
develop policies to reduce their negative effects and improve their positive impact,
ensuring that women do not bear a disproportionate burden of transition costs; complement
adjustment lending with enhanced, targeted social development lending;
(g) Create an enabling environment that allows women to build and maintain sustainable
livelihoods.
60. By national and international non-governmental organizations and
women's groups:
(a) Mobilize all parties involved in the development process, including academic
institutions, non-governmental organizations and grass- roots and women's groups, to
improve the effectiveness of anti-poverty programmes directed towards the poorest and most
disadvantaged groups of women, such as rural and indigenous women, female heads of
household, young women and older women, refugees and migrant women and women with
disabilities, recognizing that social development is primarily the responsibility of
Governments;
(b) Engage in lobbying and establish monitoring mechanisms, as appropriate, and other
relevant activities to ensure implementation of the recommendations on poverty eradication
outlined in the Platform for Action and aimed at ensuring accountability and transparency
from the State and private sectors;
(c) Include in their activities women with diverse needs and recognize that youth
organizations are increasingly becoming effective partners in development programmes;
(d) In cooperation with the government and private sectors, participate in the development
of a comprehensive national strategy for improving health, education and social services
so that girls and women of all ages living in poverty have full access to such services;
seek funding to secure access to services with a gender perspective and to extend those
services in order to reach the rural and remote areas that are not covered by government
institutions;
(e) In cooperation with Governments, employers, other social partners and relevant
parties, contribute to the development of education and training and retraining policies
to ensure that women can acquire a wide range of skills to meet new demands;
(f) Mobilize to protect women's right to full and equal access to economic resources,
including the right to inheritance and to ownership of land and other property, credit,
natural resources and appropriate technologies.
Revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women's equal
rights and access to economic resources Actions to be taken
61. By Governments:
(a) Ensure access to free or low-cost legal services, including legal literacy, especially
designed to reach women living in poverty;
(b) Undertake legislative and administrative reforms to give women full and equal access
to economic resources, including the right to inheritance and to ownership of land and
other property, credit, natural resources and appropriate technologies;
(c) Consider ratification of Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organization
(ILO) as part of their efforts to promote and protect the rights of indigenous people.
Provide women with access to savings and credit mechanisms and
institutions Actions to be taken
62. By Governments:
(a) Enhance the access of disadvantaged women, including women entrepreneurs, in rural,
remote and urban areas to financial services through strengthening links between the
formal banks and intermediary lending organizations, including legislative support,
training for women and institutional strengthening for intermediary institutions with a
view to mobilizing capital for those institutions and increasing the availability of
credit;
(b) Encourage links between financial institutions and non-governmental organizations and
support innovative lending practices, including those that integrate credit with women's
services and training and provide credit facilities to rural women.
63. By commercial banks, specialized financial institutions and the
private sector in examining their policies:
(a) Use credit and savings methodologies that are effective in reaching women in poverty
and innovative in reducing transaction costs and redefining risk;
(b) Open special windows for lending to women, including young women, who lack access to
traditional sources of collateral;
(c) Simplify banking practices, for example by reducing the minimum deposit and other
requirements for opening bank accounts;
(d) Ensure the participation and joint ownership, where possible, of women clients in the
decision-making of institutions providing credit and financial services.
64. By multilateral and bilateral development cooperation organizations:
Support, through the provision of capital and/or resources, financial institutions that
serve low-income, small-scale and micro-scale women entrepreneurs and producers, in both
the formal and informal sectors.
65. By Governments and multilateral financial institutions, as
appropriate: Support institutions that meet performance standards in reaching large
numbers of low-income women and men through capitalization, refinancing and institutional
development support in forms that foster self-sufficiency.
66. By international organizations: Increase funding for programmes and
projects designed to promote sustainable and productive entrepreneurial activities for
income- generation among disadvantaged women and women living in poverty.
Develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the
feminization of poverty Actions to be taken
67. By Governments, intergovernmental organizations, academic and research
institutions and the private sector:
(a) Develop conceptual and practical methodologies for incorporating gender perspectives
into all aspects of economic policy-making, including structural adjustment planning and
programmes;
(b) Apply these methodologies in conducting gender-impact analyses of all policies and
programmes, including structural adjustment programmes, and disseminate the research
findings.
68. By national and international statistical organizations:
(a) Collect gender and age-disaggregated data on poverty and all aspects of economic
activity and develop qualitative and quantitative statistical indicators to facilitate the
assessment of economic performance from a gender perspective;
(b) Devise suitable statistical means to recognize and make visible the full extent of the
work of women and all their contributions to the national economy, including their
contribution in the unremunerated and domestic sectors, and examine the relationship of
women's unremunerated work to the incidence of and their vulnerability to poverty.
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