Take Action for Women Worldwide

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Women constitute 75% of the poorest people in the world today. But it doesn't have to be this way. 

They have the power to change their world. You have the power to help them do it. Urge congress to take women and poverty into special consideration 

There are still many parts of the world where women are stripped of their basic human rights. For example, in Nepal, women are considered "unclean" during childbirth and consigned to the cowshed - often cutting their own umbilical cords with a sickle still dirty from farm work. The result is one of the highest rates of maternal mortality on earth. Take action!

Sadly, as a general rule, women are more vulnerable than men when it comes to poverty: 

Women constitute 75% of the poorest people in the world today. 
Women produce half the world's food, but own only 1% of its farmland. 
Two-thirds of illiterate adults are women.
It doesn't have to be this way. Women and their families can succeed when they have the right tools and resources.

The United States has the power to make a real difference for poor women. The US committed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Goal 3 calls for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and Goal 5 for a three-quarters reduction in maternal mortality. But signed nations have been falling short on action. If current trends continue, it will take 100 years instead of 10 to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Please remind your congressional representative that as they make choices in this year's budget process, their decisions about U.S. foreign assistance programs will affect millions of women. Urge them to take women and poverty into special consideration.