Female Poverty Reduction

Caritas Joins With Leaders to Fight Female Poverty
WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 23, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The secretary-general of the aid group Caritas Internationalis joined with other world leaders in making a pledge to end poverty among women.

Lesley-Anne Knight joined with leaders including former U.S. President Bill Clinton and former Irish President Mary Robinson in pledging to work against poverty that plagues women in particular. The pledges were made at a meeting of the Women, Faith, and Development Alliance in Washington on April 13.

According to the United Nations, women account for 70% of the world's poor, while they are owners of just 1% of the world's titled land; two-thirds of the world's illiterate people are women.
The Women, Faith and Development Alliance received more than $1 billion in financial commitments. The alliance aims to boost the economic status of women and implement changes to make improvements possible.

Knight said: "Women and girls are at the center of efforts to end poverty. They are the majority of the world's poor. Caritas is fully behind efforts seeking to increase resources for the advancement of women.

"The Women, Faith and Development Alliance is bringing attention and funding to addressing this problem. Hopefully we can work together to make progress toward achieving the [U.N.] Millennium Development Goals by lifting millions of women out of poverty."