Gender, Poverty Reduction and Social Work: A View from Burundi

Gender affects the kind of opportunities and constraints faced in life; human beings are constantly divided into hierarchies. In looking at poverty reduction in Burundi, we can see the critical role that gender plays. In Burundi, among the poor are many women as a result of being primary caretakers. The focus of this paper is to examine the interconnection between gender and poverty reduction as well as the role of social work, if there is to be any reduction in poverty. Social workers need to work with women who are at the forefront of poverty through encouragement of more opportunities for women in education, business and in areas of decision-making. In many areas women are regarded as unable to participate with men in decision-making as they are considered not to be on the same level with men, intellectually, socially, economically or politically. When a woman is educated, she is better able to provide for her children. This means that the future generations are also protected against poverty. Social workers have the role of educating women and men in Burundi about the importance of women in poverty reduction. This paper presents a brief review of literature on gender disparities and poverty as well as the role of social work in poverty reduction in Burundi.