CARE Report: Empowered Women Mean Healthier Children in Bangladesh

International Women's Day Report Sounds Call for Greater Measurement of Gender Equality

ATLANTA, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- This International Women's Day, CARE isn't just celebrating women's empowerment. The poverty-fighting organization is measuring it too, centimeter by centimeter.

In a new report titled "Reaching New Heights: The Case for Measuring Women's Empowerment," CARE sounds the call for gathering more evidence in the movement to empower women and girls worldwide. It does so by highlighting the astounding results of SHOUHARDO, a program to reduce malnutrition among more than 2 million of the poorest people in Bangladesh. Researchers wondered how child stunting, a measure of the shortfall in growth due to malnutrition, could have plummeted 28 percent in less than four years, even amid a crop-crushing cyclone and food price spikes. By poring through detailed data collected under SHOUHARDO they had one clear answer: women's empowerment.

Researchers found that women who participated in empowerment interventions to help them fight sexual harassment, move about their communities more freely and gain a greater say in household decisions were less likely to have stunted children than women who only received direct nutrition interventions such as regular food rations. In other words, the children of empowered women actually grew taller.

"This is empowerment you can measure with a yard stick," said Dr. Helene D. Gayle, president and CEO of CARE. "The results underscore why CARE believes greater gender equality is the key to fighting poverty, hunger and injustice around the world. But they also shine a light on the need for more such evidence. After all, how can we celebrate these kinds of wins — or more importantly replicate them — if no one is keeping score?"

This idea — that women's empowerment can have a transformative effect on families and communities — is not new. But too often even the basic tools for measuring that progress are missing. The lack of data broken down by gender makes it hard to know how many businesses are owned by women in a given region, for example, or how many women have title to land.

In calling on the world to fill that information gap, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in November 2011 the Evidence for Data on Gender Equality initiative, or EDGE, which is led by the United Nations and will attempt to harmonize gender data kept across nations and surveys. "There's an old saying," Clinton said, "'What gets measured, gets noticed.'"

CARE, in its International Women's Day report, urges donor governments to join the United States and South Korea, the first to sign on to the EDGE initiative. CARE also details its own commitment to building the evidence base, through tools such as its new Girls Leadership Index and rigorous research, including an ongoing evaluation of how CARE-supported Village Savings and Loan Associations change the lives of women in sub-Saharan Africa.

In the struggle for greater gender equality, there are still many lessons to be learned about what works and what doesn't. SHOUHARDO made one thing clear in Bangladesh: If you want children to have a healthier future, giving their mothers food helps. But empowering mothers — that helps even more.

Report/Video:
To view or download the report, go to www.care.org/IWD. To see a video on SHOUHARDO, click here.

Media Contacts:
Nicole Harris, [email protected], 404-979-9503
Brian Feagans, [email protected], 404-979-9453

About CARE:
Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside poor girls and women because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. Our six decades of experience show that when you empower a girl or woman, she becomes a catalyst, creating ripples of positive change that lift up everyone around her. That's why girls and women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve education, health and economic opportunity for everyone. We also work with girls and women to promote social justice, respond to emergencies and confront hunger and climate change. Last year CARE worked in 84 countries and reached 122 million people around the world. To learn more, visit www.care.org.

SOURCE CARE