Bangladesh ``poverty fighter,'' Muhammad Yunus, 67, stressed gender equality in boosting economic growth and eradicating poverty. Yunus visited Ewha Womans University where he was honored with a doctorate degree on Monday. In a press conference held at the school, Professor Yunus, managing director of Grameen Bank, said the success of his women-favored economic policies are applicable not only to developing countries but also developed countries.
``Many countries around the world, regardless whether they are developing countries like Bangladesh or developed ones like the United States, have rules against women and they have to change them for development,'' the U.S. educated economist told the reporters.
Yunus made possible the lending of small sums of money to penniless people suffering extortion at the hands of usurers in his country in 1976 through his ``Grameen Micro Credit'' program. Now, more than 100 countries have introduced the loan program including Korea to help underprivileged people. With contributions to reducing poverty at home and abroad over the past three decades, Yunus and his bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.
Yunus' bank lends money to 7.3 million people in the country and about 97 percent of them are women. ``If you lend money to 7.
3 million men, nobody will ask you why you give loans to men. But if we do it to women, everyone will ask you why you are working with only women,'' Yunus said. ``Before we began micro credit project, we questioned why women borrowed only one percent of bank money in the country and made a goal to lend women up to 50 percent of our money.
'' Yunus cited many positive things that have happened as a result of the tiny-loan program for women. In the past Bangladesh mothers had an average of 6.5 babies but the average had decreased to less than three over the last 25 years making the birth rate of the country the lowest among neighboring countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Also, poverty has been declined very rapidly. During the 1900s, the poverty index decreased by one percent a year but the rate has declined to average two percent a year between 2002 and 2005. If the country maintains the rate it can meet the goal of Millennium Development Goal set by the United Nations by 2015.
In addition, life expectancy in the country has increased from 56 years to 65 years over the last 25 years. Awarded a doctorate degree by Ewha, Monday, Yunus gave a special lecture, ``Putting Poverty in Museums''. He plans to give another lecture ``Microcredit and Social Business to Create a Poverty- Free World'' on Tuesday.
Bangladesh ``poverty fighter,'' Muhammad Yunus, 67, stressed gender equality in boosting economic growth and eradicating poverty.
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