Gender: livelihoods

Livelihoods

70% of the people living in poverty in the world are women and children. A woman’s ability to earn an income and be protected from poverty is undermined by many issues. Women are especially vulnerable because gender inequalities affect pay; access to important resources such as credit; ownership of land; decision making in the home over income; and equal access to labour markets. Despite international and national efforts to address some of these concerns the overall situation is that poverty among women is worsening in most developing countries.

Land ownership

Women’s property rights are frequently violated and it is not uncommon for customs in some countries to forbid the ownership of land to women. This has far reaching implications especially where livelihood is through subsistence agriculture. For example in Uganda less than 10% of women own land, yet perform 80% of the labour on the land. It is common for land to be passed to male relatives, if a husband should die, and not to the wife. Additionally, it means that they are hampered in gaining credit from banks, as they cannot offer collateral in the form of land.

Employment opportunities

Women have a smaller chance of being in regular, salaried employment than men. They are also much more likely to be involved in the informal sector (including ‘sweatshops’ where they make up to 90% of the labour force in some countries) where there is little, if any, employee protection and benefits. If they are in regular, salaried employment discrimination often occurs whereby men are paid more money than women for the same work. Their access to education will obviously influence their ability to compete in the job market as well as the legal structures that are needed to ensure they are not discriminated against on account of gender.

Access to savings and credit

Many of the world’s women living in poverty are also illiterate and this factor along with others can severely limit their ability to gain credit and use banks that could significantly improve their economic success. Yet micro-credit is recognised to be a major factor that helps to eradicate poverty. In Africa women count for 60% of the rural labour force and contribute to 80% of the food production yet receive less than 10% of the credit provided to farmers.

Gender: Livelihoods2

Environment

The state of the world’s environment is crucial for food security worldwide. Since the 1980s the relationship between women and the environment has been emphasised, as women are the main workers of land in many of the developing countries. Looking after water supplies and maintaining the fertility of the soil is vital to farming systems. However, poverty means that women can be driven to adopting methods that results in soil erosion and pollution of water supplies in a bid to provide their family with food. Additionally, the fact that women rarely own the land on which they work means that they are less motivated to think conservationally. They are also limited in their ability to gain credit to invest in sounder methods.

As the environment is exploited so their workload increases of women as they are forced to travel further to gather firewood and water. This will then impact on her health – not only because of the physical demands but because there will be less safe water for her family and she may not boil it or cook food adequately due to a scant supply of firewood.

Educating and involving women in environmental issues is vital to safeguard the future of local communities.