In the fight for global poverty, we must also examine the fight for global women’s rights. In fact, giving women equality and empowering them to use it is a key to a world where global poverty is abolished. This is the case because as the amount of women in the workforce increases, so does overall productivity. It is also proven that when women have more say over the household spending, it can enhance a country’s growth prospects because women tend to spend money in a way that benefits children in their education. Lastly, empowering women to be leaders allows for more diversity among people who are creating social policy, which will allow different topics to be addressed, such as greater provision of public goods.

So while organizations that directly target ending global poverty are important, it is equally as important to recognize global women’s rights organizations for the world-altering work that they do. Here are five organizations that are taking part in the fight for global women’s rights and in turn helping to reduce global poverty.

Global Fund for Women
The Global Fund for Women is an organization founded in 1987 by Anne Firth Murray, Frances Kissling, Laura Lederer and Nita Barrow. They believed that women’s rights are the key to social, economic and political change. The Global Fund for Women finds and gives funding to women who are building social movements and challenging societal norms.

MADRE
MADRE is an organization that is “demanding rights, resources and results for women worldwide.” They partner with community-based women’s groups that are facing disaster and advocate for human rights. Some of their missions include ending violence against women, ending rape as a weapon of war, economic justice, women’s health and emergency relief.

Campaign for Female Education (Camfed)
Camfed is a non-profit that supports and empowers young girls in rural areas to go to school and even become leaders. Their efforts specifically focus on sub-Saharan Africa, and since 1993 the organization has helped 1,876,214 students to go to school.

The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID)
AWID is a global feminist organization. The objective of AWID is to strengthen the collective voice of women to create global change. Their priority areas are women’s rights, challenging religious fundamentalists, promoting young feminist activism and economic justice.

International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC)
The IWHC views women’s rights as a key component of social, environmental and economic reform. Their goal is to ensure that all women have equal access to resources to protect their health, make informed family planning decisions, and participate in society through leadership roles.

All of these organizations are doing important work to address specific goals on the path to global women’s rights. By improving the lives of women all over the world, they also play a major role in alleviating poverty as a whole.

– Téa Franco
Photo: Flickr