Executive Director for the International Foundation for Civil Society (IFCS), Bahman Baktiari, shares thoughts on how providing women with tools for economic progress can alleviate poverty in rural areas and third world countries. Bahman Baktiari, who holds a PhD in Government, specializes in the areas of the Middle East and North Africa for the IFCS.

1. Empowering
Women Relieves
Poverty

2. Executive Director for the International Foundation for Civil
Society (IFCS), Bahman Baktiari, shares thoughts on how
providing women with tools for economic progress can alleviate
poverty in rural areas and third world countries. Bahman
Baktiari, who holds a PhD in Government, specializes in the
areas of the Middle East and North Africa for the IFCS.

3. Improving women's positions in small communities and rural
areas, and allowing them to be contributing members of the
economy can relieve some of the devastating effects of poverty.
By providing women with full equal rights and increasing their
educational opportunities, they can earn money through
participation in mid-sized businesses, which drive the economy.
With education comes improved maternal health, lower
instances of gender-based violence, and the possibility that
women can hold down jobs and operate simple machines to
perform daily tasks such as grinding grain instead of grueling
manual labor.

4. There are currently projects in place in Liberia and Africa, such
as in villages in Burkina Faso, which are working to improve the
social standing of women. When the lives of these
underprivileged women are changed, the effects reach families
and children as well, which in turn improves the health of the
economy of the country as a whole.