UN Official Helps Chinese Rural Women Journey from Poverty to Empowerment

"ONE of the biggest challenges that the international society and this conference has confronted is the fight against poverty," said Dr. Leena M. Kirjavainen. a division director with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW). "Today more than 550 million women live below the poverty line in rural areas worldwide. The feminization of poverty has become the major obstacle to the empowerment of women."