Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Wednesday | 15 January 2025 | Epaper

Poverty a key factor in violence against women

Published : Thursday, 5 December, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 302
Maha Akeel
“Poverty has a female face.” This statement by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in his address to the Commission on the Status of Women in New York earlier this year disheartened me. I keep remembering it when I see photos and reports of women around the world struggling to make ends meet.

With slow or sliding economic growth in many countries, high unemployment and rising inflation, women tend to be the most affected by job terminations and salary reductions. Furthermore, women in general are paid less than men for doing the same job. According to the International Labour Organization, women worldwide earn an average of just 51 cents for every dollar earned by a man and the economic sectors dominated by women are undervalued, underpaid and, in some cases, unpaid.

At the opening of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro last month, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which has so far been backed by 87 countries, including Saudi Arabia, and 66 organizations. It aims to feed half a billion people by 2030 through cash transfers and social protection programs; provide school meals to 150 million children; reach another 200 million women and children under the age of six; and provide socioeconomic inclusion programs for another 100 million people, especially women. This is in addition to billions in financing for countries to implement programs such as smallholder and family farming and water access solutions. This initiative comes at a time when achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of ending poverty and hunger is way off track.

At the G20 Summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan noted that increasing tensions, military conflicts and humanitarian crises were significant obstacles to achieving the SDGs, adding: "Development and prosperity cannot be achieved on the ruins of death and destruction."

Prince Faisal commended Brazil's initiative in launching the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, which aligns with Saudi Arabia's development and humanitarian objectives, as demonstrated by the programs of the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid and the Saudi Fund for Development. The Kingdom has also made contributions to the programs of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that support developing countries.

Riyadh is currently hosting the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, known as COP16, under the theme "Our Land. Our Future." It is the largest UN land conference to date and the first of these COPs to be held in the Middle East and North Africa, which is one of the regions most affected by the impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought. Important decisions are expected to renew the global commitment to accelerate investment and action to restore land and boost drought resilience for the benefit of people and the planet.
Among the events taking place at COP16 is Gender Caucus. It will discuss progress and strategies to enhance the role of women in sustainable land use.

Contributing to women's poverty is the fact they have less access to land, natural resources and financial assets than men. They suffer the impacts of climate change more than men. And they are more likely to be food insecure.

According to a 2022 UN report, only 15.6 percent of farm ownership is in the hands of women, even in countries where women have the same legal rights as men to own and access land. This is despite women making up about 43 percent of the agricultural labor force worldwide. In the MENA region, only 4 percent of women hold land titles.

In addition to legal systems and land governance, inheritance laws and practices tend to block women from owning land. Disinheritance of the surviving spouse still occurs in 96 countries. A woman's right to inherit her husband's property is denied in 102 countries under customary, religious or traditional laws and practices. In addition, 103 countries do not criminalize property dispossession or the grabbing of inheritance.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification recognizes the importance of including women in the implementation of the convention through engaging them in awareness-raising and the design and implementation of programs, in decision-making processes and in capacity-building, education and public awareness. Even at COP14 held in 2019, only 21 percent of the delegates in attendance were female.

Women are more susceptible to climate shocks due to their lack of asset diversification and access to resources to cope. Direct and indirect gender discrimination and exclusion prevent women from decision-making spaces, access to credit, information, services and technology.

Meanwhile, as Prince Faisal pointed out, pervasive violence and conflicts lead to more death, destruction and poverty. This also affects women more than men. It is a vicious cycle for women; wars, displacement and poverty intensify the risks of gender-based violence, and violence makes women poorer and more vulnerable. On Nov. 25, we marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the launch of 16 days of activism until Dec. 10, Human Rights Day, to bring attention to the escalation of violence against women and to call for accountability and action from decision-makers.

Poverty increases the risks of violence for women and girls. According to studies, poor girls are 2.5 times more likely to marry in childhood and therefore leave school, while women and girls living in poverty are more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, including trafficking, and are more likely to stay in an abusive domestic relationship due to lack of income and resources or legal protection.

To tackle violence against women, we need to eradicate poverty.

SOURCE: ARAB NEWS


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