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Women's Empowerment and Development

In many parts of the world, cultural and social restraints keep women U.N. Millennium Development Goals
from contributing to the welfare of their families. Of the world’s people
Population and Poverty
living in poverty, women form a significant proportion.
Reproductive Health

The perceived value of a woman’s work in the home or as a young bride HIV/AIDS
frequently outweighs the value of her education. Nearly 800 million
Women's Empowerment
people over the age of 15 are illiterate and two-thirds of them are
women. Environmental Sustainability

This lack of education affects women – and their families – in many ways.
While women bear a disproportionate burden of the world’s poverty, they
How we do it:
play a leading role in the health, nutrition and education of the family.
Many women are denied economic opportunities through lack of education Telling Stories, Saving Lives

or by sexual status, making it impossible for them to better their

economic status and secure a livelihood.

Where agriculture is a primary occupation, women work to produce food

for their families and where non-agricultural employment is not available,
they may become informally self-employed, producing good and services,
within their capacity, to be marketed locally.
With reduced status in their home, community and society, women are
the victims of violence and abuse, primarily at the hands of family
members. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM), violence against women is “the most pervasive human rights
violation that we know today.” It is the major cause of death and
disability among women 16 to 44 years of age. It is also shown that there
is a link between violence against women and the rate of HIV infection in
the female population.

Empowering women through education significantly impacts their survival

rate and that of their children as well as the overall health and economic
welfare of their families.10 By having an opportunity to acquire an
education, a woman also helps to ensure the education of her own
children. Seventy-five percent of children in developing countries who are
not attending primary school have mothers who did not go to school.

Women’s lack of healthcare, primarily in the area of sexual and

reproductive health, is a factor of education and empowerment. An
estimated 529,000 women died from complications of pregnancy and
childbirth in 2001. Virtually all of these deaths occurred in developing
countries. In the developed world, the overall risk of complications from
pregnancy is 15 percent.

A majority of PCI-Media Impact’s current programming is dedicated to

women’s issues. Education, family planning and the right to healthcare
are essential elements of women’s empowerment. And, women’s
empowerment, in general, can be viewed as one of the more crucial
points for initiating change and improving life within communities. By
producing programs relevant to the lives of women in less developed
communities, we can help lessen maternal death, ensure small family size
and help ensure educational opportunities for the next generation.

Despite laws against child marriage in many countries, over 80 million

girls in the developing world will be married before the age of 18. In the
poorest countries, one in every two girls is made to marry early.

UNICEF

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