Women in the 21st Century

Life for women in the 21st century couldn't be better, right?

After all, women have greater levels of equality, power, health, and well-being than ever before. A 2005 report by the World Economic Forum named Sweden the "most advanced country" for women in the world. This country has the richest history of women's rights going back to 1845 when women were granted equal rights to inherit property. Today, over half the Swedish parliament are women, women make up over 60% of all college students, and gender roles have blurred -- as one Swedish website puts it, "In our country, women drive the buses and men push the baby buggies."

In the same 21st century, 6000 girls are mutilated every day according to the World Health Organization. Between 100 and 140 million girls and women worldwide have been subjected to one of the first three types of female genital mutilation (FGM). In Africa alone, an estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing FGM each year. There are still six African nations where this is virtually a universal practice. As one Somali woman put it, "Those who practice it see it as cleansing. My grandmother believed she was doing us a big favor."

The reality is that for most of the world's women, not much has changed over the past centuries. In many countries, patriarchal customs have relegated women to subordinate roles that begin at childhood. Girls and women are viewed primarily as chattel, literally to be bought and sold in some countries. Today, the 32 billion dollar human trafficking industry has enslaved over 27 million people, with over 80% being women and girls. The story of Sreypov Chan, a young Cambodian woman, is particularly chilling, but unfortunately common. This young girl was sold into a brothel at the age of seven by her own mother. For the next three years, she was forced to have sex with up to 20 men a night.

Yet there is hope. There is a growing view among humanitarians that the key to unlocking global poverty rests in the hands of girls and women. We now know that when a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. We now know that an extra year of primary school boosts girls' eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent and an extra year of secondary school, 15 to 25 percent. And that more schooling produces better infant and child health. And that when women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.

At ChildVoice, we have seen firsthand how this works. At our project in northern Uganda, our investment in women in the war war-torn village of Lukodi has produced quick and amazing results. Our women are weaning themselves from dependency on donors for feeding their families and putting their children in school. A fair wage for their work in the bakery and the bead project restores their dignity and their hope for the future. As Lowna Gie, one of ChildVoice's Program Advisors, put it, "It is about equipping women with the ability and courage to restore their lives. It is about providing women with the strength and power to change themselves, their families, their community and ultimately northern Uganda."

Yes, there is hope.