Gender
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Because of cultural and traditional discrimination, women and other vulnerable groups are often excluded from development opportunities. World Neighbors works in deprived rural communities and although the situation is dire for almost everyone within these communities, it is especially grave for certain groups of people, including women.
Women are regarded as property in many countries. When a man’s family pays a dowry to the woman’s family, the woman commonly is treated as an indentured servant to repay the dowry. In places where the dowry is paid to the man’s family, the woman’s family may be extorted if the husband’s family later decides that his hand in marriage is worth more than the original dowry that was given. If the increased dowry is not paid, the woman may face the risk of violence or death. Changing these destructive social patterns is critical, and it requires both men and women to be involved. World Neighbors approach to improving gender equity in communities initially focuses on creating spaces for women to be heard by:
By the time World Neighbors leaves a community, the women we first met are unrecognizable. These women, now literate, share household decision-making power with their husbands. By imparting their perspectives, they improve their families’ educations and economic situations. They have the skills to generate income through a small business or a trade and are free to go to the market and beyond. The money the women earn has increased their status in their homes and communities. It has also given them the power to demand health care, including contraceptives. Now these women organize themselves and their communities to advocate for rights and for the enforcement of laws that protect them from abuse and injustice.
Gender ResourcesLessons from the Field
World Neighbors in Action
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Before World Neighbors enters a community, women typically have poor prospects in nearly all aspects of civil, economic, political and social life. They have a much heavier workload than men, yet they have little to no access to money or other resources; oftentimes, they have no right to own the property they live on, even if their husbands die. In many places, women are not even permitted to be alone outside of the family compound. Most have not gone to school and are illiterate. Women have very little input into household decisions and do not have a voice in the community organization. 
Their health, particularly in regard to childbearing, suffers from neglect. And in some places girls are subjected to the painful and damaging practice of female genital cutting. 