Poverty: Women and children
Monday, 25 April 2011
M Azizur Rahman
'Whatever is noble and ever pleasing creation on earth, half-of-it is done by women and the remaining half by men'. But yet the utility or happiness in life is not enjoyed equally by both men and women. In the world of poverty, women and children are relatively poor because of discrimination. The terms women, discrimination and poverty are closely related. In this article, the development, empowering women, evaluation status of women in social, cultural and religious arena are discussed. The description will include adverse environment against female health and education, discrimination between men and women, liberty and status of poverty-stricken women and issue of preserving humanity of women as against men. Due to the formula of maintaining balance in nature, the proportion of men and women is almost equal. But in the world of poverty the number of women and children is proportionately high. Unfortunately, women are the victims of poverty. The reason behind it is that, most women are not direct earners. The dwellers in poverty-stricken areas do not have adequate sewerage system. Safe water is scarce. Many people spend nights in a single room or two. They cannot afford basic needs like food, clothes, house, education and health-care. Even whatever they can afford is of poor quality. They do not get a balanced diet, nutrition or medicare facilities. The women under such societal condition can not take part in any development activity due to lack of their education, training and experience. Again, because of the lack of financial ability they can not initiate any business that could be productive. Most of the poor women are divorcees or widows who are generally landless and sometimes homeless. In most cases their children live with them. This criterion is almost the same in both the developing and the poverty-stricken countries. Women are physically weak due to natural causes. They are discriminated socially because of lack of education and experience. As a result they are deprived of business opportunities and leadership. If the male members of the family earn well, the female members do not have any authority over the family income. Women face obstacles in entering government jobs and formal ceremonies because of religious superstition and lack of education. Again due to lack of financial capacity and power, they cannot think of any business independently. On the whole women do not have social security in developing countries like Bangladesh. In other words, women face such problems everywhere especially in developing countries. Even though there is open market economy in these countries, cultural atmosphere is adverse there. Women face obstacles at every step due to family, social, and religious superstition. The situation is worse in areas where fundamentalists are organised and active. Again, due to lack of education, employment opportunities and financial short comings they cannot initiate business. Even if they venture to do so, quite often they fall in danger. Even in female dominated families, women quite often face this kind of problems. In such families there is normally no male earning member, and the women are the heads of the families. In poverty-stricken countries there are many families without male earning members. In India, 20 per cent poverty stricken people live in families where the head is a female. In Costa Rica 17 per cent and in Kenya 40 per cent families are female headed. Among the reasons of female poverty, one is that women get less salary compared to their male counterparts even in the same job. Women cannot get good jobs. In civil service, private jobs and companies, women recruitment is relatively less. It is because, as if women are born to get involved in less productive activities. In male dominated societies women get less priority due to negative attitude towards women and discrimination. Due to lack of training and properties for mortgaging, women do not get loans from financial organisations for investment. Even they need joint signatories along with their husbands to borrow, buy and get ownership in permanent properties to be registered. Divorcees and widows are often deprived of cooperation. As a result because of lack of permanent and good jobs, they lead uncertain life. In slums, female-headed families suffer from diseases in unhealthy environment. There is no supply of pure water, sanitation and health facilities. Therefore, poverty-stricken women essentially fall ill by not getting a healthy life service. Poor women cannot ensure prospects for future generations. In man-dominated societies, women are neglected, deprived of food, health-care, education and training. Women even sometimes are denied of their heredity. It is not that girls do less work than boys. Women perform house-hold jobs which often are not considered as work according to market provision. At the outset we mentioned that whatever is good and noble is done by men and women equally. Again the proportion of men-women population is almost similar. In brief, we have to remove female poverty and ensure their development if we think of development of the country or of the society as a whole. Women should be inspired in respect of receiving education, experience and training so that they can take part in activities both in government and private sectors. They should take part in services like education, health-care, employment and social security. Women should get uplift through formal activities. Future generations should be provided with education through educating their children. For the development of women and children, government and private sectors should come forward to help women get self-employment, micro-credit facilities, and loans without collateral. We are hopeful that women and children will be given priority regarding development of the people as well as development of the country. The writer, Dr M Azizur Rahman, is Vice Chancellor of the Uttara University
'Whatever is noble and ever pleasing creation on earth, half-of-it is done by women and the remaining half by men'. But yet the utility or happiness in life is not enjoyed equally by both men and women. In the world of poverty, women and children are relatively poor because of discrimination. The terms women, discrimination and poverty are closely related. In this article, the development, empowering women, evaluation status of women in social, cultural and religious arena are discussed. The description will include adverse environment against female health and education, discrimination between men and women, liberty and status of poverty-stricken women and issue of preserving humanity of women as against men. Due to the formula of maintaining balance in nature, the proportion of men and women is almost equal. But in the world of poverty the number of women and children is proportionately high. Unfortunately, women are the victims of poverty. The reason behind it is that, most women are not direct earners. The dwellers in poverty-stricken areas do not have adequate sewerage system. Safe water is scarce. Many people spend nights in a single room or two. They cannot afford basic needs like food, clothes, house, education and health-care. Even whatever they can afford is of poor quality. They do not get a balanced diet, nutrition or medicare facilities. The women under such societal condition can not take part in any development activity due to lack of their education, training and experience. Again, because of the lack of financial ability they can not initiate any business that could be productive. Most of the poor women are divorcees or widows who are generally landless and sometimes homeless. In most cases their children live with them. This criterion is almost the same in both the developing and the poverty-stricken countries. Women are physically weak due to natural causes. They are discriminated socially because of lack of education and experience. As a result they are deprived of business opportunities and leadership. If the male members of the family earn well, the female members do not have any authority over the family income. Women face obstacles in entering government jobs and formal ceremonies because of religious superstition and lack of education. Again due to lack of financial capacity and power, they cannot think of any business independently. On the whole women do not have social security in developing countries like Bangladesh. In other words, women face such problems everywhere especially in developing countries. Even though there is open market economy in these countries, cultural atmosphere is adverse there. Women face obstacles at every step due to family, social, and religious superstition. The situation is worse in areas where fundamentalists are organised and active. Again, due to lack of education, employment opportunities and financial short comings they cannot initiate business. Even if they venture to do so, quite often they fall in danger. Even in female dominated families, women quite often face this kind of problems. In such families there is normally no male earning member, and the women are the heads of the families. In poverty-stricken countries there are many families without male earning members. In India, 20 per cent poverty stricken people live in families where the head is a female. In Costa Rica 17 per cent and in Kenya 40 per cent families are female headed. Among the reasons of female poverty, one is that women get less salary compared to their male counterparts even in the same job. Women cannot get good jobs. In civil service, private jobs and companies, women recruitment is relatively less. It is because, as if women are born to get involved in less productive activities. In male dominated societies women get less priority due to negative attitude towards women and discrimination. Due to lack of training and properties for mortgaging, women do not get loans from financial organisations for investment. Even they need joint signatories along with their husbands to borrow, buy and get ownership in permanent properties to be registered. Divorcees and widows are often deprived of cooperation. As a result because of lack of permanent and good jobs, they lead uncertain life. In slums, female-headed families suffer from diseases in unhealthy environment. There is no supply of pure water, sanitation and health facilities. Therefore, poverty-stricken women essentially fall ill by not getting a healthy life service. Poor women cannot ensure prospects for future generations. In man-dominated societies, women are neglected, deprived of food, health-care, education and training. Women even sometimes are denied of their heredity. It is not that girls do less work than boys. Women perform house-hold jobs which often are not considered as work according to market provision. At the outset we mentioned that whatever is good and noble is done by men and women equally. Again the proportion of men-women population is almost similar. In brief, we have to remove female poverty and ensure their development if we think of development of the country or of the society as a whole. Women should be inspired in respect of receiving education, experience and training so that they can take part in activities both in government and private sectors. They should take part in services like education, health-care, employment and social security. Women should get uplift through formal activities. Future generations should be provided with education through educating their children. For the development of women and children, government and private sectors should come forward to help women get self-employment, micro-credit facilities, and loans without collateral. We are hopeful that women and children will be given priority regarding development of the people as well as development of the country. The writer, Dr M Azizur Rahman, is Vice Chancellor of the Uttara University