Gender, Poverty, and Sustainable Development

©Marsha McCoskrie/CCP, Courtesy of Photoshare

The world’s poor are disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation since their day-to-day living conditions and livelihoods are inextricably linked to environmental quality. Clean water, basic sanitation, abundant food sources, good quality soil, and adequate raw materials are all directly dependent on a clean environment and healthy ecosystems. With rapid deforestation and increasingly polluted water sources, the world’s poor have to spend more and more time and energy collecting basic resources for cooking, heating their homes, and cleaning. This leaves little time to pursue other activities such as education and work outside of the home.

Unfortunately, since women comprise a larger portion of the world’s poor and are the ones primarily responsible for collecting basic resources, tending to the home, and caring for the family, it is they who bare the brunt of environmental degradation. As resources become scarce and polluted, the burden to find clean water and fuel sources falls on women. Girls more often than boys are kept out of school to help with these tasks, and to help tend to younger siblings while their mothers spend more time and effort collecting resources.

So while the ability of the world’s poor to pursue educational and job opportunities is linked closely to the health of the environment, it is the world’s women who are disproportionately affected by this lack of opportunity. A girl’s educational level is a dominant factor in the size, health and economic well-being of her family. When girls do not achieve an education beyond primary school, they tend to have many children, further straining their financial situation and putting ever more pressure on the environment. Studies show that when women finish secondary school, they tend to have smaller, healthier families. Efforts to stabilize human population growth indicate that what is good for women and families is also good for wildlife and habitat, and the health of one can not be divorced from the health of the other.

Because of the links between social equity, economic development and environmental sustainability, NWF supports efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development. To learn more about how you can help, continue to the next step.