Seven of 10 poor women are in rural areas

GRINDING poverty that has become trenchant in the Philippine countryside has in its grip seven of every 10 Filipinas—72.5 percent of the poor women are in rural areas while 27.5 percent of them dwell in the cities and urban areas.

With hardly any access to higher institutions of learning to gain needful skills and competencies required by the job market, most Filipinas remain mired in poverty and misery, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).