Urban Leadership Foundation

Virtues of a Woman
PHOTOS BY JON WARREN
TEXT BY LARRY WILSON
Reference: Wilson, L. (1997). "Virtues of a Woman." World Vision April-May.    

APRIL-MAY 1997 / WORLD VISION 9
 
As we approach the next century, women worldwide are beginning to show what they can achieve when given the resources and opportunity. Indeed most international aid organization now recognize women as a key to Third-World development. In many agricultural countries, women do most of the crop harvesting and processing, and they make up a large and growing portion of the world's non-farm labor force. And as more rural men leave their families to find jobs in the cities, women now head between a third and a half of all households in the developing world.

With the help of loans, training, technical aid and moral support, women who once spent six hours a day fetching water now have running water and can use their time to make and sell clothing, handicrafts, or pastries. Women who once labored in other people's fields are now purchasing land and raising livestock. And women who were once afraid to leave their homes are joining seamstress collectives, milk cooperatives, and garbage-collection agencies.

Where World Vision and other aid organizations are targeting women, the poor are developing. Slowly, perhaps, and often painfully. But it is happening. Village by village, women in the developing world are gaining the tools and confidence to provide for their families and make their communities healthier places to live.

Yet this new focus on the energy and creativity of women is truly an old idea. Three thousand years ago a wise Hebrew writer wrote a poem (Proverbs 31: 10..31) praising the wisdom and value of women, paraphrased on the following pages.

Recognizing the Worth of Third-World Women