The poverty cycle tightens for poor women who have limited education, limited job opportunities and responsibility for growing children without sufficient resources. Poor health undermines a woman's ability to be a fully productive participant in God's work. Globally, the health of women is deteriorating. This process is closely aligned to environmental deterioration, declining agricultural productivity, and social demands on women, particularly in poor countries, for the production of large numbers of children. In many parts of the world, the devalued social status of being born female sentences the woman to less claim on food and health care.
Maternal mortality remains the leading cause of death among women globally.
One-half million women die each year from childbearing related complications. For every one that dies, twenty are physically damaged in the process of giving life. Women in poorer countries routinely work 18 hours per day. Frequently expected to perform a full day's paid work for the financial viability of the family, a woman then faces additional hours of daily housework and child care, often with limited access to basic necessities of fuel and water. In many parts of the world, women have no voice in the distribution of family funds to which they have contributed.