Never underestimate the importance of a woman. She can change the world!

As March draws to a close, so too does, what I like to call, the Month of Women.  Although International Women’s Day is but one day and was held on the 8th March, the dialogue it inspires, the awareness that it raises and the action it encourages in raising awareness of international women’s rights, plights and power is something that, once highlighted, only seems to gain momentum.

The truth is that gender inequality is still a monumental, contemporary issue in all global communities.  Even in Australia, gender inequality prevents equal participation in social and employment environments, and sees a gender pay gap of 17.9%.  That’s right. In 2016, women are still earning less than men for doing the same work, right in our own backyard.

However, internationally, the constraints placed on women due to their gender are concerning, appalling, and in some cases, deadly.  For example, arranged marriages in Pakistan can lead to ‘honor killings’ in the case of refusal or marrying below their caste.  Girls in Afghanistan aren’t generally permitted to go to school under Taliban rule, and even where they can (generally families will prefer to invest in a male’s education over their female relatives), they are subjected to acid attacks, segregated education or poisoned water.  In Niger, women are designated domestic duties that tend to transcend any chance at education.  This education doesn’t necessarily need to be in the form of books and literature, statutes and mathematics, but personal development and interpersonal skills, market skills, financial literacy.  But no. What is failed to be realised though, is refusing to invest in the education of women is refusing to facilitate a solution to the global problems of poverty and hunger.

Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 concern ‘End[ing] poverty in all its forms everywhere’ and to ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture’.  Time and time again, it has been discussed and proven that women are key to reducing poverty and ending hunger by increasing education and facilitating their skill development in a similar vein to what men are entitled to.  For example, women are expected to tend the farm as well as look after children, to prepare meals and keep the residence clean, while men hold land titles and make financial and commercial decisions.  Some women have small artisanal businesses that stagnate due to lack of business acumen and access to finance.  Teaching women time management and productivity skills lead to efficiency and better time to invest in diverse pursuits.  Allowing women greater access to resources can all but eliminate hunger for up to 150 million people, according to The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.  Ensuring women are aware of investment funds and micro finance loans that could invariably increase the scope of a business is key to improving female self-sufficiency.

The point is that gender inequality doesn’t just inhibit women; it inhibits the global community.  Educating and increasing access for women to productivity resources, to agricultural education, to personal development and efficiency, to basic education, can almost orchestrate a substantial decrease in global poverty and hunger.  Mobilising women just a little bit - whether it be how to deal in increasingly volatile situations or how to manage their fruit-selling business efficiently and accurately - can create a whole new world, not just for the individuals, but for their children, families and community.

Never underestimate the importance of a woman. She can change the world.  All that we need to do is to facilitate this change by campaigning against archaic discrimination and empowering women.  This is key to working towards the elimination of poverty and hunger on a global scale.