Women face a double bind: overrepresented in poverty, underrepresented in positions to end it

From 2014 to 2024, global extreme poverty[1] sharply declined, especially among children and adolescents. It fell 5–8 percentage points for those aged 0–14, compared to 4–6 percentage points for adults. Yet in 2024, 9.9 per cent of all women and 9.5 per cent of all men still lived in extreme poverty, reflecting the realities of the hardest-to-reach populations. In particular, the 295 million women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa are being left further behind, despite progress overall. The largest gender gap in poverty persists among young adults aged 15–34, where women’s poverty rates exceed men’s by almost 2 percentage points. These statistics, however, underestimate women’s deprivation. They assume that household resources are shared equally among members, despite the influence of skewed bargaining power and social norms favouring male control. If current trends continue, extreme poverty is unlikely to be eradicated by 2030. At the higher threshold of $8.30 a day, more than 40 per cent of people globally will live in poverty.

Beyond poverty incidence, women remain underrepresented in positions that determine poverty reduction policies. Globally, women account for only 19 per cent of ministers leading economic portfolios and 40 per cent of ministers leading social protection and social security portfolios[2]. The gap is particularly striking given global evidence that women's presence in fiscal and political leadership correlates with higher public health and education spending and lower child mortality. Historically, countries where women occupy more than 20 per cent of parliamentary seats have immunization rates that are up to 12 percentage points higher than in countries with lower shares in parliament. Local female leaders invest more in water infrastructure and public goods that directly reduce poverty. In households, when women have greater control over spending, a larger share of resources flows to food, children's education and health, investments that reduce poverty across generations[3]. Addressing women’s poverty requires multiple actions, but public investment in social protection, health and education has the greatest potential.