WUNRN
WOMEN & POVERTY – CONTRAST
TO THE CONCENTRATION OF GLOBAL WEALTH WITH THE RICH ELITE – CHALLENGES TO BREAK
THE CYCLE OF POVERTY FOR WOMEN
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GLOBAL WEALTH IS INCREASINGLY
BEING CONCENTRATED IN THE HANDS OF A SMALL RICH ELITE.
THE COST OF INEQUALITY; HOW
WEALTH AND INCOME EXTREMES HURT US ALL
Direct Page to Full 5-Page Oxfam
Publication:
http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/cost-of-inequality-oxfam-mb180113.pdf
OXFAM REPORT SAYS HALF OF GLOBAL WEALTH HELD BY THE 1%
January
19, 2015 - An explosion in extreme wealth and income is exacerbating inequality
and hindering the world’s ability to tackle poverty, Oxfam warned today in a
briefing published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.
The
$240 billion net income in 2012 of the richest 100 billionaires would be enough
to make extreme poverty history four times over, according Oxfam’s report ‘The cost of
inequality: how wealth and income extremes hurt us all.’ It is
calling on world leaders to curb today’s income extremes and commit to reducing
inequality to at least 1990 levels.
The
richest one per cent has increased its income by 60 per cent in the last 20
years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process.
Oxfam
warned that extreme wealth and income is not only unethical it is also
economically inefficient, politically corrosive, socially divisive and
environmentally destructive.
Jeremy
Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International, said: “We can no longer pretend
that the creation of wealth for a few will inevitably benefit the many – too
often the reverse is true.
“Concentration
of resources in the hands of the top one per cent depresses economic activity
and makes life harder for everyone else – particularly those at the bottom of
the economic ladder.
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Subject: Women & Poverty - Beijing + 20 - Continued Challenges to
Break the Cycle of Poverty for Women
WUNRN
http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/in-focus/poverty
WOMEN & POVERTY INFOGRAPHIC - http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/infographic/poverty
The Beijing Platform for Action Turns 20
Women and Poverty
The last few years have seen historic achievements
in reducing the number of people who are poor, making the end of extreme
poverty possible in the coming generation. That requires cutting the multiple
roots of impoverishment. One of the deepest is gender discrimination, which
imposes a disproportionate burden on women.
When women are poor, their rights are not
protected. They face obstacles that may be extraordinarily difficult to
overcome. This results in deprivation in their own lives and losses for the
broader society and economy, as women's productivity is well known as one of
the greatest generators of economic dynamism.
While both men and women suffer in poverty,
gender discrimination means that women have far fewer resources to cope. They
are likely to be the last to eat, the ones least likely to access healthcare,
and routinely trapped in time-consuming, unpaid domestic tasks. They have more
limited options to work or build businesses. Adequate education may lie out of
reach. Some end up forced into sexual exploitation as part of a basic struggle
to survive.
And while women at large have not yet
achieved an equal political voice, women in poverty face extra marginalization.
Their voices are rarely heard, for example, in decisions on managing an
economy, or sharing benefits and costs.
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for
Action, adopted by 189 Member States in 1995, reflects the urgency around women
and poverty by making it the first of 12 critical areas of concern. Actions
under any of these, whether education, the environment, and so on, help women
build better lives. But measures targeted to reducing women's poverty are
critical too.
Governments agreed to change economic
policies to provide more opportunities for women, improve laws to uphold
economic rights, and boost access to credit. They committed to collecting
better information to track how poverty affects women differently, as knowing
any problem is essential for solving it.
Since Beijing, much progress has been made
in these areas. There is still far to go. Ending extreme poverty will come
within reach only by fully involving women and respecting their rights—at every
step along the way.
Full Infographic: http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en/infographic/poverty