A Cause for the Century

The world has the opportunity to make real reductions in poverty by investing more money in programs that help women and girls.

If the world invests in women and girls, women and girls will take care of the world. So said American activist Jane Roberts. The connection between women’s human rights, gender equality, and social and economic development is well documented.

At Canadian Crossroads International we’ve seen this first hand – from West African women who have moved from subsistence living to making a living wage through CCI-supported cooperatives producing shea butter, soap, and textiles, to members of CCI-supported Bolivian communal banks where women like Martha Ali reflect, “My children study with what I earn.” The investment is modest, but the difference made in the lives of women and their families is almost incalculable.

Five years ago, Canadian Crossroads International refocused its resources to put more emphasis on strengthening women’s rights. It had become clear that there was a common thread linking our strategies for building local economies, reducing poverty, and fighting AIDS – the empowerment of women.

Now, some are calling the fight for the rights of women and girls the cause of the century.

On September 14, the United Nations passed a resolution to establish a powerful new UN agency to advance the rights of women. A week later, the children’s development organization Plan International released a report that makes a convincing case that investment in girls will break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and that failure to do so could cost the world’s poorest countries billions in economic growth.

Yet, over the last decade, funding for women’s organizations has decreased in quality and quantity. The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), which tracks funding for women’s rights, attributes this to a global trend of “gender mainstreaming,” which has resulted in diluting specific objectives on women’s equality in favour of broader development objectives.

In Canada, it is increasingly evident that despite our strong policy guidelines, both the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and many Canadian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working internationally have reduced commitments to gender equality programming over the last decade. A number of organizations, Canadian Crossroads International among them, analyzed CIDA's recent evaluation of its policy on gender equality between 1998 and 2005 in a report entitled, Strengthening Canada's International Leadership in the Promotion of Gender Equality. While we were impressed with the rigour of the evaluation, and wholeheartedly support the policy, it is clear that increased investment for gender equality specific programming is required.

The timing is right. Globally, momentum is growing. In 2008, the Dutch government launched the MDG3 Fund in part to make up for a dramatic decrease in funding for women’s programs. The same year, NIKE foundation launched the influential Girl Effect campaign, backed up by more than $100-million in financial support for girls’ programs. This year, Spain kick-started UNIFEM’s Fund for Gender Equality with a $65-million contribution. And last week, Canada’s Belinda Stronach announced that the Belinda Stronach Foundation, with the Clinton Global Initiative, will bring together leading national and international organizations with a goal of elevating the advancement of girls and women to the G8's agenda.

The case for supporting women and girls is strong. According to the World Bank, when 10 per cent more girls go to secondary school, the country’s economy grows by 3 per cent. When a women earns income, she reinvests 90 per cent in her family, while men contribute less than 40 per cent.

This is a bandwagon worth jumping on. Already many Canadian and International CSOs are redirecting resources to invest in women and girls. The Canadian government should do the same. As host of the G20 and the G8 in June 2010, Canada has unprecedented opportunity to reassert itself as a leader in human rights. The lives of more than 500 million girls and young women depend on it.