WOMEN AND CHILDREN LAST
Those members of society we claim to care most about are often the worst affected
"The empowerment of women is going to be part of your economic recovery."
Women living in extreme poverty
The United Nations estimates that the COVID-19 crisis is pushing 47 million more women into extreme poverty.
In 2021, for every 100 men aged 25 to 34 living on $1.90 a day or less there are 118 women, according to research carried out by the Pardee Center for International Futures at the University of Denver on behalf of the UN. The researchers predict this number will increase to 121 women per 100 men by 2030.
Low wages, a lack of decent work and unpaid care work are behind these figures, according to the charity Oxfam.
The charity says that globally women earn 24 percent less than men. At the current rate of progress, it will take 170 years to close the gap.
Worldwide, 700 million fewer women than men are in paid work. They are less likely to have employment contracts, legal rights or social protection and often work longer hours for the same pay.
On top of their paid work, women also do twice as much unpaid care work – such as childcare and housework – as men. The value of this work each year is estimated at at least $10.8 trillion – more than three times the size of the global tech industry. This means that they work on average four years more than a man over their lifetime.
Many still do not have the opportunity of even a basic education.
"What we need to do as a world, is to invest," says Rachel Zelon, CEO of Hunger Relief International. "We need to invest in giving women the tools that they need. And so many are single moms. Give them the tools that they need to not just survive, but to thrive. And then we give their children that leap ahead, and their children's children."
Women can be powerful if they are empowered, but they need the education, healthcare and reproductive rights to give them the opportunity to participate economically, according to Murray Pangestu, Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships at the World Bank. She believes that economic recovery post pandemic will rely on empowering women. "If we can address the inequality... then we address the human capital. Women are half of the human capital of any country... the empowerment of women is actually going to be part of your economic recovery."
The former president of Liberia and Nobel Peace Laureate, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has founded a centre for Women and Development in Africa. She says women need to participate more in all levels of society and take political leadership to make change: "We will have to speed up the pace by changing national constitutions, laws, policies, by ensuring that attitudes change."
She is optimistic for the future: "Change is indeed coming. Look at what has happened with the positions of women leaders all over the world. You have now vice-presidents, prime ministers, we have parliamentarians that are women... so the change is coming!"
However, it's expected that the number of women living in extreme poverty will not revert to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2030.
Benin rural woman making cassava flour. /Philippe.
Benin rural woman making cassava flour. /Philippe.
Why female empowerment is vital
Thousands of women in rural Ivory Coast have turned to organic food growing to gain financial independence. / Issouf /SANOGO.
Thousands of women in rural Ivory Coast have turned to organic food growing to gain financial independence. / Issouf /SANOGO.
The need to improve equality for women can understandably seem like a huge problem. But in some ways, it could also be seen as a solution to helping lift people out of poverty.
"Women are half of the human capital of any country, and you want to increase the labor force participation rate and economic participation of women," says Mari Pangestu, managing director of development policy and partnerships at the World Bank.
"So what do you get? You get that women's empowerment is actually going to be part of your economic recovery."
Pangestu has seen evidence of this first-hand, in heart-rending circumstances, during a previous role as Indonesia's trade minister, examining the site of a recent earthquake.
"I went to the market, which had been totally destroyed," she recalls. "There was a woman there, selling food in the dark at four in the morning. I said 'Why are you doing this?'"
The woman's got straight to the heart of the matter: "'I have to eat and people have to eat.' Such a simple answer."
Pangestu reasons that women have "resilience" – and that's a feeling shared by Amir Mahmood Abdullah, deputy executive of the UN's World Food Programme, the planet’s largest humanitarian organization.
"In our type of business we often refer to man-made disasters and man-made problems, and they are invariably caused by men," he says. "But for every man-made disaster, there's probably a woman-led solution."
Rachel Zelon, CEO of Hunger Relief International, is hesitant to blame any gender but acknowledges that traditional gender roles can inhibit development. "Are women the solution in and of themselves? Perhaps not," she says.
"But should women and girls play a much larger role in improving the world, in eradicating poverty? Absolutely. Are we really taking advantage of all of the potential that I talked about earlier? We are not."
It's that potential that Amina Fakin, the former president of Mauritius, wants to unlock – as a moral improvement but also as a logistical imperative.
"We need to factor in female ingenuity, because it is no longer an ethical thing to do or a moral thing to do – it makes economic sense," she says. "We need to bring women on board so that we can emerge faster and stronger, post-COVID-19."
Has empowerment changed women's lives?
Poland abortion law protest Krakow, Poland 2021. /Omar Marques/Getty Images
Poland abortion law protest Krakow, Poland 2021. /Omar Marques/Getty Images
Fifty years after the "swinging sixties" and the start of the women's liberation movement in Europe, what progress have women made towards equality with men?
By the age of 30, 46 percent of women in the European Union have a university degree – only 35 percent of men are educated to an equal standard. So why don't women earn more? Why are there not more women on corporate boards? And why are there fewer women in the workplace?
In Europe, 79 percent of men have jobs, while the employment rate for women is just 66 percent. Even highly educated women drop out of full-time employment when they start a family, while their male partners continue despite becoming a parent.
For some, it may be a matter of choice, but for many it is necessity. Women are still paid less – across the EU, an average of 14 percent less than men – and fewer women make it to board level. Childcare is not shared equally and parenting is still rarely respected in the workplace.
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, says she is determined to change this.
"One of the many tasks is that we act very concretely to create a frame, to create an environment for women and men to be parents, as well as having a professional career," Von der Leyen said in a European Central Bank podcast. She wants every family to have a parental payment when a child is born, excellent childcare, schools, and a workplace that respects and enables childcare.
The impact is not just felt in the workplace. Women's pensions are also much smaller than men's, which means that the economic impact of this gender imbalance is felt throughout life.
"Later on, when you're retired, you see it in the retirement payments that are way lower for women than for men," notes Von der Leyen.
According to a study published in July by the consultancy The Pipeline, men still account for nearly 85 percent of all executives on company boards in the UK FTSE 100 index and the FTSE 250, while 70 percent of companies across the two indexes do not have a single female executive in the boardroom.
However, those companies with half of their boards made up of women enjoyed average profit margins of 21 percent, while those without any made average profit losses of 18 percent.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the female perspective in business is vital.
"I think often women do bring to the table different sensibility, different perspective, different focus on what's important and interact differently," she said. "And in general, I think research shows that groups that are diverse with respect to gender, with respect to race, ethnicity, actually engage in better decision-making."
The problem is that women are disproportionately represented in low-wage occupations, particularly in the care and service sectors, and so have been disproportionately hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across Europe, 76 percent of frontline carers were women, working in intensive care units and care homes – and therefore at greatest risk from the virus.
Women were also overrepresented in essential jobs: 82 percent of supermarket cashiers are women, 95 percent of domestic cleaners are women. They were in the most vulnerable jobs in the service sector. These jobs were the first to be cut and the last to recover.
Women also took on the lion's share of childcare during lockdown. When schools were shut and parents forced to home-school their children, women took on 173 additional hours caring for their children, while their male partners only increased this by 59 hours.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde says that she now believes only quotas and targets will give women equality: "I think quotas are a necessity because otherwise we will never climb the steps that are just too long, too high for women to climb."
For Lagarde, targets should involve approaching women with talent, and giving them the confidence to apply for the jobs they would hesitate to consider.
The European Union has announced an 800 billion euro ($940m) recovery package for all its member states, but with this money comes the requirement for countries to put forward concrete proposals with milestones and targets including for gender equality.
France is already insisting that companies publish an index on gender equality and demonstrate what they are doing to ensure equal pay, distribution of promotion and salary increases. Von der Leyen says she wants to see financial penalties for companies who fail to meet gender equality standards.
Half a century after the feminist movement began, it would appear that women still have a lot of progress to make before they can achieve equality with men.
Female Empowerment begins with financial independence.
Toni Waterman in Brussels
"When a woman gets financial independence, it's not the financial independence that she gains, but it's the independence,"
A steaming pot of rice clouded Ahlam Al Khatib's face, her skilled hands tipping it at just the right angle so not a single grain spilled. She has spent most of her life in the kitchen – first in Syria, where she cooked solely for her family, and now in Belgium, where she still cooks at home, but for the first time in her life, also in a restaurant.
"I didn't believe it at first," she said. "I thought it would just be for a few days."
But nearly five years later, she remains one of the chefs at From Syria with Love, a catering restaurant in Antwerp. She is one of four refugee women running the kitchen. Some, like Ahlam, had never worked in the formal sector before, but all are now financial providers for their families.
"When a woman gets financial independence, it's not the financial independence that she gains, but it's the independence," said Yara Al Adib, Ahlam's boss and founder of From Syria with Love. "It's the feeling that I can give back to society or back to my small community as much as any man can."
Before working at the restaurant, Alham and her family survived solely on government aid. But at least they were safe. The months before were harrowing. They fled Homs, Syria amid war and a crashing economy and settled in a refugee camp in Turkey. But after her oldest son died in an accident, it became unbearable.
Eight months pregnant and with three children in tow, Ahlam embarked on the treacherous and final leg of a 20-day journey, crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
"I had a few small bags with me – clothes, paperwork – but when the boat started taking on water, we were told to throw everything overboard. So we arrived with only the clothes on our backs," she recounted with tears in her eyes.
Working at From Syria with Love has been a lifeline, not just financially, but also emotionally.
"The best thing is that my kids look up to me now and they ask for things because they know I make money. And I feel very proud that I can give that to them," she said.
From cravings to female empowerment
Female empowerment wasn't exactly on Yara's mind when we cooked up the idea of opening a Syrian restaurant back in 2016. A Syrian migrant herself, she was desperately missing the smells and flavors of home.
"I never knew the great impact it would create on the women," she said. "Many women struggle to find their voice and their independence. So I thought it would be great if I could help the women who are struggling with that – to use their voice as cooking to speak up."
Empowering refugee women became even more urgent for Yara after the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks that left 32 people dead. She was struck by an interview with one of the perpetrator's mothers, who spoke about her inability to control her son.
"It kind of hit me. I'm like, 'oh, my God. We could also be like this, Syrian migrants now in Belgium, we could also have kids who turn out to be terrorists because the mother cannot kind of show impact in the home,'" she said. "So I thought to myself, 'this is the moment to really empower these mothers because if a mother is empowered, she can empower her son.'"
The four women Yara employs are part of the more than 1 million refugees who streamed into Europe in 2015 and the years following. Many are now resettled and integrated into society.
While the fate of Syrian refugees has largely faded into the background in recent years, the thorny issue of migration is once again front and center in Europe as tens of thousands flee Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Hundreds have already arrived here in Belgium. Among them women and children, who are often the most vulnerable.
"There is always a fear that women will be left behind," said Yara. "I realize that the key to integration is acceptance of that person and where they come from and also knowledge of their own background. In the end, all humans just want to be seen."
Children: On the forefront of deprivation
Children are disproportionately affected by poverty - they comprise one third of the global population but half of those struggling to survive in extreme poverty.
UNICEF estimate that 354 million children often lack food, sanitation, shelter, healthcare and education. Across the world they estimate that around 1 billion children are 'multidimensionally poor' lacking basics such as nutrition or clean water.
But children on the front line of deprivation and poverty is a persistent problem in rich nations too.
Growing up poor in a rich nation
Nearly a quarter of children in the European Union are still at risk of poverty or social exclusion. According to the latest EU figures, children are most likely to be poor, if they are brought up by a single parent, but factors including unemployment, low parental educational achievement and immigration are significant too.
While extreme poverty (living on less than $1.09 a day) has been almost entirely eradicated, poverty in Europe is defined by the inability to pay for basic items required to lead an adequate life. These include paying the rent, eating meat or protein regularly, having a television, a washing machine or going on holiday.
The country with the highest number of children living in poverty is Romania at 35.8 percent. The lowest is Slovenia with only 11.7 percent.
The 27 member states of the European Union have now signed up to the European Child Guarantee, which is a new initiative aimed at preventing and combating poverty and exclusion. It guarantees all children access to key services such as healthcare, nutrition, housing and education.
In Belgium, the home of many of the EU institutions, more than 1/5 children live in poverty. The European Union has just announced an additional 37 million dollars to provide food and assistance to the Belgian families who have been forced into poverty by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children living in depravation in Spain receive charity during the pandemic. /CGTN Europe
Children living in depravation in Spain receive charity during the pandemic. /CGTN Europe
will the pandemic exacerbate child poverty in Europe?
Toni Waterman
There are fears that levels of child poverty in Europe could increase further as governments withdraw targeted financial support to families who have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before COVID-19, nearly 23 percent of all children in the European Union were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Single-parent households were at the highest risk. It is widely believed the numbers have spiked dramatically during the pandemic as millions lost their jobs and families were hit with a fresh wave of financial hardship.
Floods in northern Europe and fires across the south of the continent – in Italy, Greece and Spain – have also had a devastating effect, as families have lost their homes and livelihoods.
Food banks demand
Across Europe, a record number of people turned to food banks during the pandemic. The Food Bank of Hainaut Occidental in Wallonia, Belgium had to collect three times as much food to meet the growing demand.
"We see the increase and what lies ahead of us is ominous," said Jacques Vandenschrik, president of the European Food Banks Federation. "The increase in food demand for children, adults and seniors is going to be massive."
Vandenschrik fears a dramatic spike in hunger as the financial support governments doled out during the pandemic starts to dry up.
"Before the pandemic, we had this issue and while many people believe that Europe is a fantastic continent where everyone lives in a very decent way, well, it is not true," he said. "There is no privileged country in Europe. Everywhere there is poverty and there is a need for feeding help."
EU initiative 'not enough'
To address the chronic problem of child poverty, the EU launched a new initiative earlier this year called the European Child Guarantee. It is aimed at lifting 5 million children out of poverty by 2023, by providing them with free access to healthcare, housing, and education. But critics say much more is needed if Europe is to really address the 18 million children living in poverty across the bloc.
"It's not ambitious enough, that is clear," said Jana Hainsworth, the secretary-general of the child welfare organization Eurochild. "The money that's coming out of the European Union is just a drop in the ocean, but the political commitment is really important.
Improving education for China's rural poor
The Red Scarf Express takes children from remote rural locations... /CGTN
The Red Scarf Express takes children from remote rural locations... /CGTN
...and drops them off at ever-improving schools. /CGTN
...and drops them off at ever-improving schools. /CGTN
China's Sichuan province is known around the world for the native pepper and spicy dishes which carry its name. But there is another innovation which is helping to give local youngsters better education.
Covering just over a thousand square miles, Santai county is a rural part of the province and its scattered population has made schooling children difficult. Until recently, students had to walk miles to school, or take uncertified and expensive private transport.
But since 2020, a school bus nicknamed the Red Scarf Express has criss-crossed the county, taking six different routes to pick up students from more than 50 villages. It's all part of a determined effort to improve educational opportunities, instead of school resources being scattered with inevitable irregularities among smaller schools.
"We introduced the Red Scarf Express to solve this problem," explains Hu Yongsheng, the head of Santai Education and Sports Bureau. The idea is simple: "Government borrows unused vehicles from the local transportation companies. We sort out the routes after registering all the students living far away, and this safeguards the students' attendance."
"I saw students dropping out of school. Now, we don't really have student dropouts."
Hu says the leveling-up effects have been evident. "It's been five years since I took the position; at first, I saw students dropping out of school – the quality of education between towns and villages was even more divided then. Now, we don't really have student dropouts – we provide necessary support to make sure all students can afford school."
Xiping Elementary School isn't among the top class of Santai schools, but it’s catching up fast. The campus now has a new soccer field, and classrooms all have computers. Jin Lian, a teacher at the school, has noticed the pace of change.
"More young teachers have joined us in recent years," she says. "Our school is very energetic now. As teachers, we do our best to provide quality education and resources to every student so that our students can have a solid foundation for a brighter future."