The Millennium Development Goals

Promote gender equality & the empowerment of women Goal 3: Ensure that women and girls are able to reach their God-given potential.

The facts:

• More than 40 percent of women in Africa do not have access to basic education; some 584 million women are illiterate.
• More than 80 percent of farmers in Africa are women.
• Women earn only 10 percent of the world’s income, yet they work two out of three of all labor hours worldwide.
• Some 2 million children, mostly girls, are enslaved in the global sex trade.

A girl born today in a poor community joins the largest group of people to be denied basic needs and human rights: women. In many cultures, a girl is devalued from birth. She may be given less food, denied urgent medical care, and assigned exhausting chores. As an adult, poverty makes her more vulnerable to threats like domestic violence, childbirth complications, and HIV and AIDS — and often prevents her from breaking the cycle of exploitation for her daughters. Recognizing women as critical partners in development, our trained staff actively and sensitively work to equip and encourage women around the world.

How World Vision seeks to empower women and girls

Community education: Our culturally sensitive staff promotes recognition of the inherent value of girls and trains women to advocate for their rights and be leaders in their communities.

Health care: Along with basic health care, World Vision offers prenatal, nutrition, and hygiene classes.

Combating child sex tourism: World Vision has launched a campaign in partnership with U.S. and local law enforcement to combat the sexual exploitation of children by Americans in developing countries.

Recovery from exploitation: World Vision operates residential shelters to provide girls abused in the sex trade with assistance such as counseling, health care, education, and job training and placement.

Advocacy: World Vision advocates for girls’ education to ensure they have the same opportunity as boys to attend school and develop their potential. World Vision also seeks to reduce the vulnerability of girls and women to HIV through advocacy at the local, national, and international level.

Education and training: World Vision provides education, training, and literacy classes specifically for older women who are often overlooked. In displacement camps where there is a great need for psychosocial care, these classes help women work through past trauma. Women benefit from the healing of old wounds and the chance to move beyond these experiences to a future with more opportunity.

Microlending: World Vision provides small loans to the entrepreneurial poor. Most World Vision loan recipients are women, who consistently use their extra income to increase the well-being of their children. Women in these households have increased opportunity and decision-making power, which is a benefit to the whole family. Families who receive small loans report better family health, an increase in their business earnings, and the ability to spend more on food, medicine, and education.

Eradicate Extreme Poverty & Hunger		Achieve Universal Primary Education		Promote Gender Equality & the Empowerment of Women		Reduce Child Mortality
Reduce Maternal Mortality		Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and Other Diseases		Ensure Environmental Sustainability		Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Learn more

• Study the Bible to learn what it says about the poor.