The scale of these investments is modest, but they will continue to bear fruit over the decades ahead. And as women increase their political activism, they will increase their influence over the pace and priorities of their country's future development. The development path emerging democracies pursue will be determined in part by whether women gain greater access to the political arena. And the broader the democratic participation in these countries, the more their development choices will reflect the needs and interests of the whole society. Barriers to Women's Political Activism Of the factors limiting women's ability to participate in politics, poverty is perhaps the most pervasive.
Women carry primary responsibility for household and family maintenance.
In both rural and urban communities, women of poorer families augment the income and food supplies with agricultural labor or informal employment. These dual obligations of household and paid labor leave most women with little time for politics. Illiteracy further limits women's participation. In few countries are women's literacy rates equal to those of men. Trade associations, unions, political parties, and other organizations, the most common sources of this information, are inaccessible to most women.