____ many international agreements affirming their human rights, women are still much more likely than men to be poor and illiterate.

The answer is NO

Despite their many endorsements of their international human rights agreements, women still outnumber men in terms of poverty and illiteracy.

Consider the answers:

A. Although + clause: although

B. Despite + N/Ving: although

C. Because + clause: because

D. Since = because + clause: because

*Note: “affirming” is a gerund, functions as a noun, not a Ving, together with “agreements” forms a noun phrase, and the phrase “many….rights” is a complete noun phrase. , so we choose B.