Women and Poverty - A Human Rights Approach

Women form the majority world’s poorest people and women in poverty is a complex problem. In this article the author calls for a gendered human rights approach to poverty. The author looks in particular at how, in many countries around the world, the law contributes to women’s poverty, both through legal limitations and customary discrimination. One area in particular that the article highlights is legal barriers preventing women from owning property and how this puts them in a precarious position if they become widowed or divorced. The author calls for substantive equality in approaching these problems, as opposed to formal equality. Finally, the article evaluates a number of development policies that have been put into place, such as conditional cash transfer programs and microfinancing schemes.