When women and children
leave, the skills for managing the natural resources go with
them. Local and indigenous women over several generations will
have built up an extensive knowledge of the environment in which
they live. They have developed their own ways of managing the
natural resources. Their perspectives are often multi-dimensional
and multi-functional. A woman may see a forest as supplying
timber, but also important for water and soil conservation and
the supply of many other essential materials. The role of women
and children in sustaining biodiversity may be essential. They
have an extensive knowledge of species and varieties and play
a crucial role in seed selection.
Women are one third of the world labour force, yet perform two
thirds of the worlds working hours. |
They earn only one tenth of
the worlds income and own only one per cent of the worlds
property. Today more than one third of worlds households are
headed by females, and even when they are not the sole supporters
of families, they are the primary supporter in terms of work.
Female headed households are over represented among the poor.
In many countries women and their children lack adequate access
to health care, proper nutrition, education and employment.
In Africa and Asia 500,000 women a year die from pregnancy
childbirth and its after-effects. They leave behind, each
year, over one million motherless children. Unemployment among
women is increasing at a higher rate than for men in developed
and developing countries alike. Women make up a disproportionately
higher number of the world's poor.
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