WUNRN
Invest in Women for Economic Recovery
By Sabina Zaccaro
ROME, Jul 8 (IPS) - Investment in the health and the
rights of girls and women can help economic recovery, civil society groups are
telling G8 leaders.
The big issues on the G8 agenda - food security, poverty,
climate change and global health - are all connected to gender equality, they
say. Many think investment in women is itself a solution.
"If we invest in women, many problems will be solved,"
Sylvia Borren, co- chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)
told IPS.
Women have told their stories at hearings held by the gender
task force at GCAP. "With the food prices doubling they had to choose
which child to feed," Borren said. "The stories we've heard tell us
that if you invest in women, economy can stand from the ground.
"We know that from microfinance and from many other
examples; letting women suffer from the food crisis and the lack of health
means not to build the fundamentals of sustainable economy."
The problem is funding. According to the World Bank, the
economic crisis and the new rise in food prices could lead to 2.8 million more
children dying by 2015 if no concrete action is taken. Sixty billion dollars
are needed over the next five years to fight infectious diseases and strengthen
health systems in the developing world, the World Bank estimates.
Last year's G8 summit agreed comprehensive recommendations
to strengthen health systems particularly, but without allocating funds to that
end. "When G8 leaders meet in Italy they should agree to fill this
financing gap," 56 women parliamentarians from Asia, Africa, Europe and G8
countries have said in a letter addressed to the G8.
"Investing in women's health as part of aid policies
has to be considered a priority, as it will give to the poorer countries a
better chance to solve the crisis in a prospect of development," they
wrote.
Sexual and reproductive diseases clearly represent a huge
economic loss to developing economies. They reduce female productivity by 20
percent, the parliamentarians said.
"In some cases the incidence in Africa is even
more," Cristiana Scoppa of the Italian Association for Women in
Development told IPS. "The high turnover due to HIV/AIDS hitting or
killing employees is a growing problem for many African businesses; and we
don't even know exactly how many women are among those workers.
"Productivity of these companies has been reduced by 25
percent, while health assistance expenses for their workers grow. Now they are
turning to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and to trade unions to
find solutions," she said.
Dedicated funding and policies to protect young girls and
their rights could also help women who are looking for ways to deal with
difficult working conditions.
"We have spoken to a group of women living in the Ganga
basin, Bangladesh, an area severely hit by natural disasters," Beatrice
Costa, women's policy officer for the anti-poverty organisaton ActionAid
International told IPS. "We asked them how they are adapting their work to
the changing climate.
"In the areas where adaptation to climate change is
already a reality, women are not acting as passive victims," Costa said.
"Like the women farmers who are now starting to replace rice with bananas,
because these are more resistant to floods or drought."
According to a report by ActionAid published earlier this
year, women in Southern Asia are perfectly aware of the neede to
"diversify and adapt their cultivation methods, but they also know they
lack the capacity to do that." To improve their management and adaptation
strategies they need specific programmes and dedicated funds, Costa said.
In order to be politically and financially effective, the G8
should at least produce the 60 billion dollars required, and come up with a
comprehensive work plan with clear objectives, timelines and resources, she
said.
"Of course it's about money, and the money is
there," said Sylvia Borren. "Not even a third of the 30 billion
dollars requested at the UN high level meeting on the food crisis one year ago
has been forthcoming, when 20,000 billion dollars have gone to the corporate
bailout and the banks...the amount of difference is too big."
According to Borren, the leaders have made the wrong
choices. "They have chosen to desperately bail out an economic system that
we all agree is broken, they are not listening to the Stiglitz commission (of
experts of the UN General Assembly on reform of the international monetary and
financial system), which has provided us with 400 pages of good
solutions...they are not listening to the trade unions, the ILO, the civil
society."
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