Clinton Initiative Crowd Promotes Female-Centric Aid

Bill Clinton greets his wife Hillary, before her Conference-closing speech at the Clinton Global InitiativeAs the details of women’s and girls’ lives pour into the mainstream media via the Internet and organizations like The Clinton Global Initiative, we are astounded to grasp the tiny amount of aid that has actually gone to support females.

Perhaps it took the work of Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank to confirm the measurable results for all family members that accompany a female-focused support strategy. The results of female-centric microlending inspire — perhaps require — a philosophical mindshift for many Western liberals who now understand the failure of aid and support strategies not governed by a gender-based ideology.

Focusing on gender unearths the reality of conservative and fundamentalist principles and their impact on women’s lives. Hearing Dr. Yunnus speak the other evening, sharing the exciting news of his work with Intel to harness cell-phone technology for prenatal care, I realized that a key question in my mind is: are these women “allowed” to have cell phones? Must they get their husbands’ permission?

Will men see cell phone technology as a symbol of female emancipation and a destroyer of traditional values?

Even Dr. Yunus admits that when he first launched in Grameen microloan project in two villages in Bangladesh, he was confronted by both Muslim fundamentalists accusing him of subversive tactics in trying to empower women and also the “socialists” who accused him of undermining their desire for a new economic order and not an entrepreneurial spirit among the women of Bangladesh.

Dr. Yunus says he kept his head down, laughing and saying to the men (to paraphrase) “What do you want with me? You have hundreds of villages in Bangladesh. I am working with only two. You create the important revolution for the people, and I’ll just have a small venture here. When you create the revolution and solve the poverty, I will gladly join you.”

Uganda women sang, danced and even did a short play on the benefits of microloans. Via Flickr’s hulkumJust processing the lightening speed of female-focused development initiatives pulled together this week, largely under the umbrella of The Clinton Initiative is mind-blogging. I’m sorting through them now, trying to organize some matrix for our consideration and tracking.

The Voice of America shares a good overview of many key initiatives for the week: Women’s Rights in Developing World Receive New Focus. They include:

• Gordon Brown’s announcement of a health care plan that will give 10 million people in poor countries access to free health care. With a focus on women and children, the program hopes to assist the 500,000 women who dies needlessly during childbirth or pregnancy every year.

• A $24 million initiative announced at CGI to give more economic power to women in the developing world. Sponsored by Women for Women International, the money will be used to educate 100,000 women.

Everyone believes that an epic move has occured at the United Nations, with the creation of UNIFEM, the U.N. Development Fund for Women. 

Brita Fernandez Schmidt, director of operations at Women for Women, says the fight for gender equality will characterize the next century.

“[In] The 19th century the moral challenge was slavery and in the twentieth century it was the battle against totalitarianism and this century, really, the paramount moral challenge is the struggle for gender equality,” she said.

She says women must have access to basic numeracy and literacy education and be given vocational qualifications.

Schmidt reiterates the mindboggling figure that leaves many of us speechless this week: “We have a lot of aid money flowing into the countries where we work. In terms of U.S. foreign aid only one percent is reaching women and girls. If we actually want to achieve our global goals of halving poverty, of achieving peace, we have to invest in women,” she said.