1. Because I am a Girl
Women and Girls Living in Poverty
“The health and educational achievement of future generations is
directly related to the physical and intellectual condition of today’s
girls, who will bear and raise the children of the next decade.” ~ Girls
Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda
2. In Developing Countries
• Women are more likely to be forced into early
marriages
• Lower chances for education
• Subjected to violence
• Sold into the sex trade
• Increased risk of HIV
• Lack of access to a doctor
3. Women and Education
• Women and girls can be forced to walk miles
to get water and food (no time for school)
• Young women often become caretakers for
siblings
• Women cannot afford school
• Women are not allowed to study
• 65 million girls are missing from schools
worldwide
4.
5. 9 year old Ludivina used to have to walk miles and miles to get water for her family
6. Risk of HIV/AIDS
• Poor women in rural Africa have husbands
who work in mines far away who patronize
women in sex trade
• Some countries have coming of age rituals
that involve forced sex that can infect young
women
• Women can be too poor to get formula and
infect their children
7. Sold into the Sex Trade
• Many young girls are sold into the sex trade by
their poor families
• Others are given false promises of marriages
• For example, every year between 10,000-
15,000 girls are trafficked across the border in
Nepal
8. Lack of Access to a Doctor
• Can be forced to have unsafe abortions
• Cannot afford basic healthcare or birth control
(this can contribute to more poor children
and continue the cycle)
• Can become to sick to care for their own
children
9. Subjected to Violence
• Women are often forced to stay with abusive
partners for survival, or if they leave face
poverty
10. What can we do?
• Raise awareness and pledge your support
• Educate those around you
• Wear an Alex and Ani bracelet to start the
conversation
• Invest in Microfinance companies that support
women
• Fight to end early marriages
• Fight for young girl’s opportunities in education
12. Poverty is not only in “Third World
Countries”
• Women struggle to meet their basic needs
here
• More likely to bear the costs of child rearing
• Paid lower wages than men
• Women spend more time doing unpaid care
giving than men
• Domestic/sexual abuse can push women into
poverty
13. To put this into perspective…
“All the while, some 40 percent of all American
households with children below the age of 18
include mothers who are either the only or
primary source of income — with the average
earnings of full-time female workers still just
77 percent of the average earnings of their
male colleagues”- NBC News report
14. Poverty Locally
• Fresno has a women’s poverty rate higher
than most of the rest of California
• Single-mother families have the highest level
of poverty in Fresno compared to other family
types
• Single mothers often have daughters who
perpetuate the cycle
17. What Can We Do?
• Volunteer/donate to shelters like Naomi’s
House or the Marjorie Mason Center
• Push for women to be paid higher or at least
equal wages
18. Why should we help?
• Girls who are given better starts in developing
countries can:
• Life themselves out of poverty
• Change their community’s economy
• Ultimately, change their country
• Stop creating more generations of poor
women and families
