A/RES/58/206
community and in the workplace and that the empowerment of women is a critical
factor in the eradication of poverty,
Recognizing that population and development issues, education and training,
health, nutrition, the environment, water supply, sanitation, housing,
communications, science and technology, and employment opportunities are
important elements for effective poverty eradication and the advancement and
empowerment of women,
Recognizing also, in this context, the importance of respect for all human
rights, including the right to development, and of a national and international
environment that promotes, inter alia, justice, gender equality, equity, civil and
political participation and political freedom for the advancement and empowerment
of women,
Recognizing further that equal access to education and training, in particular in
business, trade, administration, information and communication technologies and
other new technologies, is essential for gender equality, the empowerment of women
and poverty eradication,
Recognizing that the difficult socio-economic conditions that exist in many
developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, have resulted in
the acceleration of the feminization of poverty and that the empowerment of women
is a critical factor in the eradication of poverty,
Recognizing also that poverty eradication and the achievement and
preservation of peace are mutually reinforcing, and recognizing further that peace is
inextricably linked to equality between women and men and to development,
Aware that, while globalization and liberalization processes have created
employment opportunities for women in many countries, they have also made
women, especially in developing countries and in particular in the least developed
countries, more vulnerable to problems caused by increased economic volatility,
Recognizing that some effects of market liberalization may deepen the socioeconomic marginalization of women in the agricultural sector, including through the
loss of employment among small-scale farmers, who are more likely to be women
than men, and emphasizing that women who are small-scale farmers need special
support and empowerment in order to be able to meet the challenges and take
advantage of the opportunities of agricultural market liberalization,
Recognizing also that enhanced trade opportunities for developing countries,
including through trade liberalization, will improve the economic condition of those
societies, including women, which is of particular importance in rural communities,
Aware that, while women represent an important and growing proportion of
business owners, their contribution to economic and social development is
constrained by, inter alia, the lack of equal access of women and men to, and control
over, credit, technology, support services, land and information,
Concerned that the continuing discrimination against women, the denial or
lack of equal rights and access to education, training and credit facilities and the
lack of control over land, capital, technology and other areas of production impede
their full and equal contribution to, and equal opportunity to benefit from,
development,
Emphasizing the promotion of programmes aimed at financial intermediation,
with a view to ensuring the access of rural women to credit and to agricultural
2