The burden of poverty is borne by billions in the developing world but it is women who carry the heaviest load. If you are born a woman you are less likely to have an education, less likely to have a secure job, more likely to be a refugee and more likely to be poor.

Violence against women is also a problem of epidemic proportions. One in three women will suffer some form of violence in her lifetime (UNIFEM). Violence against women devastates lives, fractures communities and stalls development.

There are also significant disparities in general levels of health care between men and women. The leading causes of death for women, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy and childbirth, malaria and tuberculosis, primarily affect poor women. Limited access to education or employment in many nations, high illiteracy rates and increasing poverty levels make health improvements for women exceedingly difficult. Many of the modest gains in women’s health realized in recent decades are now threatened or have been reversed due to war, economic instability and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The Millennium Development Goal to ‘promote gender equality and empower women’ aims to challenge discrimination against women, and seeks to ensure that girls as well as boys have the chance to go to school. Indicators linked to this goal aim to measure progress towards ensuring that more women become literate, have more voice and representation in public policy and decision making, and have improved job prospects. But the issue of gender equality is not limited to a single goal — it applies to all of them. Without progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women, none of the MDGs will be achieved.

Hence, ensuring women are central in development programs is crucial to effectively tackling the structural cycle of global poverty. This is why Caritas Australia is focused on promoting gender equality as a crucial pathway out of extreme poverty by expanding women’s economic and social access.

Women’s poverty in the Asia Pacific region remains a major challenge. The macroeconomic environment of trade and financial liberalization, the privatization of basic services, and budget constraints linked to external debt, have all contributed in marginalizing the livelihoods and informal sector work of rural and urban poor women.

This has also contributed to the rise of the new poor in industrialized countries of East Asia. In several countries, short-term adjustment-related safety net packages have replaced long-term poverty alleviation programs as governments shifted the burden of poverty reduction on poor people’s capacity to engage in the market.

Manufacturing industries, once touted as the panacea for unemployment and poverty, have actively circulated within the region in search of lower wages. In countries such as Cambodia and China, these have created temporary ‘sweat shop’ positions which come with a heavy social burden, particularly for women.

The lure of increased wages drags many women from rural areas where they often find they become virtual slaves locked into a system from which they can not easily extricate themselves.



In other countries, these industries have left behind a mass of unemployed women who could not be integrated into the local economy in the longer term. At the same time, the much celebrated women’s micro credit and financial programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have elicited mixed results with regard to fighting women’s poverty. Contrary to initial expectations, these schemes have exacerbated the vulnerability of many poor women who are trapped in the cycle of micro debt bondage.


In Australia, indigenous women face particular challenges which mean they are much more likely to be living in poverty than their non-indigenous counterparts. For example, indigenous women are 19 times more likely to be imprisoned and are the group least likely to be in the labour force according to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Caritas Australia supports indigenous women with programs which aim to assist indigenous women increase their control and responsibility for their finances. The ‘Manage Your Income Manage Your Life’ Program in Dubbo, NSW, is managed and founded by local women.

Ellen Doolan a Wiradjuri elder who has completed the program, says that budgeting can lead to increasing people’s responsibility. She says the program is having a profound impact on the self-worth and image of the participants. “Our community was quite divided. We feel very isolated by economic and social disadvantage and this centre and this program has empowered lots of local women to take control of their finances. Giving people the power to look after their money through training about dealing with the Department of Housing and how to organise their fines through the RTA, eases a lot of stress and this has given us lots of confidence in many areas of our life.”

Challenging the situation that keep women poor is not just women’s business. Women’s poverty affects us all – including men. Promoting the issue of women’s empowerment is crucial to ensuring broad based development. Caritas Australia plays a role but supporting women is in all our interests.