What happens when a poverty program treats everyone the same, even when daily life is not the same? Girls and women often carry the unpaid care work, face limited schooling, and have less control over income, land, and household decisions, so “one-size” poverty alleviation programs can miss the people they’re meant to help. In this course on gender and poverty, you’ll dig into how cultural norms, unequal power relations, unstable jobs, and informal work combine to deepen women’s poverty, and why gender-responsive policy is the difference between activity and impact.

You’ll move from concepts to real-world solutions quickly. We break down women’s economic empowerment strategies you can actually apply, including microfinance, financial inclusion, savings approaches, and small business cooperatives that raise income and bargaining power. You’ll study Zafar’s Kashf Foundation initiative in Pakistan, which scaled services across 26 districts, and see how cooperatives like COMUCAP in Honduras helped women earn more while learning about women’s rights. We also address land rights, as access to and control over land can significantly impact the security and opportunities available to entire households.

Education and information are the other half of the puzzle, so we examine programs that foster literacy and opportunity without waiting for perfect conditions. You’ll explore Bahia Street in Salvador, Brazil, and learn about how community-based support helps girls stay in school, as well as the Community Empowerment Programme (CEP), which utilizes mobile technology to build writing, literacy, and market access. We connect initiatives like Jokko to skills, networks, and confidence. Finish ready to design gender-responsive poverty reduction strategies, defend them with evidence, and build programs that genuinely empower women and girls.