The United States should use aid to influence countries with oppressive gender policies to reform

Thank you for providing a well thought response. I agree with a couple of the points you have made regarding the poor treatment of women. 1.) While I understand that the treatment of women is usually far worse in poorer countries, I am unsure on whether this justifies the need for developed nations to pick and choose who they send resources to. "Domestic violence is so common that 87% of women in Afghanistan ADMIT to experiencing it." Many countries plagued by Islamic fundamentalism have abnormally high gender abuse problems, but I believe it is more cultural than economic. Islam is notorious for having a harsh view towards women's rights. This is a problem that can only be fixed in two ways; the moderation of Islamic views or the complete abandonment of religious superiority in the region. I guess the problem I am having with this point is that it is hard to call this an effort to "encourage governments that oppress women to reform" when it is clearly an effort to combat poverty. Foreign aid against poverty has little impact on improving the treatment of women. It only creates a dependence upon richer nations to continually provide supplies. Then what happens? If a first-world nation decides to cut off supplies, receiving countries plummet back into previous methods of obtaining wealth, such as black markets and exploitation of wildlife. 2.) We appear to agree mostly on this point but I'd like to address one issue. We should 100% support democracy in a secondary role to the upkeep of our own nation, but I do not think throwing money at poverty is a viable solution. You say that there are organizations for alleviating poverty in the U.S. but there also a sizable number of said organizations who offer charities to poor African countries. Many anti-HIV organizations use privately donated funds to combat the aids epidemic in these nations. I do not like the idea of a government that pledges a definite amount of money to a poor country, and used taxpayer dollars to do so. 3.) The U.S. government should not make any definite pledges of foreign aid considering how fragile it's own economy is. I like the idea of supplies over straight cash, such as mattresses and vaccines, but even these supplies are a disincentive for the often authoritarian regimes of these nations to address the root of the issue. If they realize that foreign powers are intervening and supposedly soothing problems in their countries, dictators will ignore the root causes such as lack of industrialization and commodities. Therefore, it creates this large dependency that I mentioned in the first point. There are often false claims in popular culture that argue that we could "fix" world hunger as if it will just disappear. The funny thing about hunger is that it keeps coming back, and would be impossible to consistently suppress. So what is the solution to helping these powers? Is there anything we can do? - I would encourage democracy in poor countries and promote industrialization. If they can get away from dictators exploiting the people and environment, the source of the poverty could be diminished. The most important role we should play is not to provide funding directly against poverty and disease, but funds directed to SECULAR pro-democratic freedom fighters (not religious fascist groups.) The governments in these poor countries are most often the problem, along with warring rebel tribes. Also, as stated earlier, I would prefer privately funded organizations to be making these leaps instead of placing burden on taxpayers who are struggling to get by from paycheck-to-paycheck. - "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Industrialization will come later, after authoritarian regimes collapse and free markets/free speech are established. Therefore, if we can get a poor country running by itself without foreign aid, we have effectively done all we should do. Authoritarianism is the root of all human ill in the world and needs to be stamped out. For centuries these people have been oppressed and exploited by Caliphates and Kings, never given a chance to develop what is needed to grow an economy. Thank you for bearing with me. I look forward to a response.