Archive for category: Women’s Empowerment

Tale of Empowerment: Ghanaian Women in the Workforce

Ghana
In early Ghanaian society women were seen only as child-bearers subservient to male dominance. In fact, a famous Ghanaian proverb states, “A house without a woman is like a barn without cows.” Women in Ghana have faced strict societal gender norms and fought to make great strides towards overcoming them, specifically in the workforce.

Ghanaian Women in the Workforce

Ghanaian women in the workforce are greatly involved, and heavily impact Ghana’s economy. These improvements for Ghanaian women have come in the last decade, and one company, “Divine Chocolate,” has been a huge contributor for this change.

Divine Chocolate has changed the lives of many farmers, and has specifically improved conditions for Ghanaian women in the workforce. The organization started a Women’s Cocoa Farming Training program that not only teaches women reading, writing and arithmetic, but it also teaches small business skills and specific trades: soap making, batik, and vegetable gardening, to name a few. This knowledge can add to Ghanian women’s income and help provide for themselves and their families.

Efforts such as these have not only taught women valuable skills and given them new work opportunities, but it has also greatly empowered Ghana women. In addition to the valuable skills taught by “Divine Chocolate,” another company fighting for Ghana women is called “Global Mamas.”

Global Involvement

Global Mamas helps a village in southern Ghana with their textile industry and connects them with a larger global marketplace to sell their goods. The women are also provided with training for their future work and given a new opportunity in the textile industry.

Ghanaian women in the workforce have persevered in the face of adversity, especially against societal views against them. Women face many more challenges entering into work than their male counterparts do, but this has not stopped them. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor even revealed in a study that Ghana women are more often entrepreneurial than the men in their country.   

Female participation in the workforce in Ghana is at an all-time high of 96.1 percent. Ghanaian women are not only involved in the workforce, but they are also leading it. According to the Mastercard Index of Women’s Entrepreneurship, women in Ghana make up 46.4 percent of all business owners in the country.

Over the past decade, women in Ghana have made great strides working and boosting their economy. Females are powerful, as seen in the entrepreneurial attitude and success of Ghana’s women. These strides in the workforce create new opportunities for women throughout the country and will continue to have an impact for the future of Ghanaian women in the workforce.

– Ronni Winter

Photo: Flickr

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Developing Nations Need Women’s Empowerment

Developing nations need women’s empowerment
A simple truth has been denied across the globe for centuries — the importance of equality and most specifically, women’s empowerment. Developing nations need women’s empowerment because half measures of equality can’t guarantee complete progress.

Global Gender Inequality

Women make up half of the entire world population yet they also, sadly, represent 70 percent of the world’s poor. The world we live in, a world where women living in poverty face inequalities and injustices from birth until they die, has been built on unequal principals — a slow killing sequence of discrimination that any woman might suffer during her lifetime.

Women earn only 10 percent of the world’s income and half of what men regularly earn. This inequality is one of the main reasons women in developing nations live in poverty. In developing countries, women die each year as a result of gender-based violence. Gender discrimination creates blockades for women both physically and mentally, as they begin to believe they are worth less and thus cease believing they have a purpose in society other than to do what is told to them.

Women’s Empowerment in Developing Nations

Developing nations need women’s empowerment, especially for girls living in poverty, as it’s those closest to them who often work against their interests and create dysfunctional and harmful environments.

Can the world change? Yes, plain and simple. But only once women are no longer discriminated against for being the pillars of strength and growth that they are. The World Bank believes “putting resources into poor women’s hands while promoting gender equality in the household and in society results in large development payoffs.” It’s fundamental to nurture young girls and women in self-confidence; empower them — especially those living in poverty; to make informed choices about their lives; and to understand their importance in their communities.

The empowerment of women and the improvement of their political, social, economic and health statuses is a highly important endeavor. In fact, it’s essential for sustainable development. In reproductive standards, both men and women are responsible for half of the creation of life, so it stands to reason that equality among all is essential to the continued growth and cultivation of life as a whole.

In most of the world, women receive less formal education than men, and women’s knowledge and abilities often go unrecognized. Relations that impede women’s attainment of healthy, fulfilled lives operate in multiple levels of society, from personal to highly public. True change requires policy and program actions that improve women’s access to secure livelihoods. Developing nations need women’s empowerment in order to overcome any “legal” impediments to their public life and raise social awareness through effective education and mass communication programs.

Bringing Equality

Here are key ways that countries, developed or undeveloped, help bring women’s empowerment:

  • Establishing mechanisms for women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process, society and community public life; enabling women to articulate their concerns and needs
  • Promoting the fulfillment of women’s potential through education, skill development and employment; giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health among women
  • Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health
  • Adopting appropriate measures to improve women’s ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women’s equal access to the labor market and social security systems
  • Eliminating violence against women
  • Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status
  • Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breastfeeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce.

Partnerships for Change

Currently, the World Bank Group (WBG) aims to take action working alongside governments, companies and other partners to close remaining gaps in education and maternal health. Efforts are being put in place to enhance women’s economic opportunities by: helping to create better jobs, ensure ownership and control of assets like land and housing, gain access to finance, technology and insurance services, and increase all capacity and opportunity to act independently at home, in the community and in the various levels of governments.

The world needs women, and in more ways than numerous societies have allowed. Developing nations have always needed women’s empowerment for true growth and prosperity, but now it’s needed more than ever.

– Gustavo Lomas
Photo: Flickr

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Women’s Rights in the Philippines: A March for Equality

Women’s Rights in the Philippines
Women in the Philippines took to the streets on June 11, 2018, to protest the sexist remarks made by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte in reaction to recent scandals. Women in the march for equality claim that it is time they are treated equally especially by their government and its officials. This is part of a larger movement of women’s rights in the Philippines that has been growing over the past few years.

Protest Day

The day of the protest saw unrelenting rain and gloom yet over 1,000 women and men took to the streets to protest Duterte. Some of the protesters’ main grievances against their president were his remarks about encouraging sexual assault between soldiers and female rebels, and his unapologetic joking about violence against women.

The women’s march was largely mobilized by an online movement that became viral in the Philippines through the hashtag, #BabaeAko, which translates to I am a Woman. This online trend was similar to the #MeToo movement and created a space for women to voice their experiences with misogyny.

The Progress of Recent Years

These movements, however, were not a new trend, as many advancements have been made in women’s rights in the Philippines in recent years. In 2015, the Philippines moved up in the Global Gender Gap Index from ninth place to seventh place. Women’s rights in the Philippines also saw a promising progression in the same year through its advanced ranking in the World Economic Forum report measuring gender equality. Out of 145 countries globally, the Philippines has the best ranking for gender equality in the Asia-Pacific region.

The World Economic Forum reported that the recent progression of women’s rights in the Philippines is largely due to higher female economic participation and opportunity. This was seen most influentially through its rising number of female legislators, officials, and managers. The country also saw an increasing rate of female professional and technical workers.

Noteworthy Legislation

These great advancements are largely due to the many initiatives in the Philippine government that attempt to advance women’s rights and eliminate violence against women. One of the major accomplishments is the passage of the Republic Act No. 9262, which is also known as the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act. This act was signed into law on March 8, 2004, as part of International Women’s Day.

This law criminalizes violence against women and children, including abuse and assault, within intimate relationships as well as within the family. This act also created the Inter-Agency Council on Violence Against Women and Their Children. This council is made up of 12 departments, each with a different focus to ensure equal treatment of women under the law. Some of these include Social Welfare and Development, Health, Education, Welfare of Children, Justice, and more.

The Philippine Commission on Women, a committee that is part of the Philippine government, currently is engaged in multiple projects. One of their major projects is titled The Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women Project 2, set to be completed between 2014 and 2020. This development is a sequel to a project of the same name that was enacted between 2006 and 2013. The current initiative focuses on the need for scaling-up women-led micro-businesses, increasing local resources to develop female leaders, and engaging corporations to accelerate the growth of women’s businesses.

The Philippines is taking great strides at both the governmental and civil level. Philippine citizens demand higher standards regarding the treatment of women from their government officials, and also empower themselves and others through an online community. The Philippine government also works to ensure a progression in women’s rights through its many projects, and the successful outcomes of these initiatives are seen as the Philippines rises in world rankings for gender equality.

These trends for women’s rights in the Philippines seem to only increase in quantity and successfulness as the years go on. As women’s rights move to the forefront in many nations across the globe, the Philippines continues to be a strong advocate.

– Theresa Marino
Photo: Flickr

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How Reusable Sanitary Pads Help Girls Stay in School

reusable sanitary padsIt is estimated that one in 10 girls in African countries miss school monthly due to a lack of supplies and education related to menstruation. The negative connotations of “becoming a woman” and the mystery surrounding these changes can not only create girls’ unhealthy perceptions of themselves and their bodies but can affect more concrete aspects of their lives, including their education.

Effects of Lack of Education on Menstruation

Many girls will skip school to avoid the potential embarrassment and shame associated with having one’s period show. Due to its monthly recurrence, many young women are unable to catch up on the material they have missed and will eventually drop out of school altogether.

In Uganda, 70 percent of girls leave school between the ages of 13 and 18. Low enrollment for both genders is common due to a variety of circumstances in many African countries.

However, with menstruation typically beginning around 13 years old and girls’ limited access to sexual health education and supplies, dropout rates increase for young women at a rate 10 percent higher than boys of the same age. Access to reproductive health education and cost effective menstruation supplies such as reusable sanitary pads can be powerful tools in keeping young women in school.

Benefits of Reusable Sanitary Pads

Disposable menstruation supplies are often too expensive for families to afford, forcing many young women to use unsanitary alternatives such as old clothes or to go without sanitary pads altogether. Reusable sanitary pads are a cheap, effective and empowering tool for young African women.

NGOs such as Girls2Women and Mums for Mums have assisted in teaching girls how to sew their own reusable sanitary pads for less than $1 from basic patterns and locally sourced materials that attach easily to undergarments with velcro. The Peace Corp has also been an important player in educating and empowering young women through Girls Leading Our World, or GLOW, camps.

Started in Romania in 1995, GLOW camps have since opened in over 60 countries around the world. Each camp is focused on empowering young women and combating local issues such as malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention, reproductive health, stress tolerance and healthy living through education and training.

Positive Effects of GLOW Camps

In African countries with GLOW camps, learning to make reusable sanitary pads often features in the education of the young women. In countries such as Tanzania and Uganda, the creation of reusable sanitary pads begun by GLOW camp educations has been picked up by local charities and community organizations, helping normalize menstruation for girls and boys in the community alike and ultimately keep more young women in school.  

By making the reusable sanitary pads themselves, girls are able to move forward in their lives with more knowledge and confidence in themselves and their bodies, and menstruation becomes less of an unknown force to be feared. The inclusion of parents, teachers and boys is also valuable to the program’s effectiveness and longevity as well as the confidence and empowerment of the young women.

In Uganda, the charity Mountains of Hope offers educational programs on reproductive health and teen pregnancy and training in making reusable sanitary pads. These include men and boys so as to better educate and support young women of the community.

With this vital education and training in making reusable sanitary pads, as well as other aspects of reproductive health, girls in many African countries are better able to pursue their education without compromising their wellbeing. Organizations such as the Peace Corp, Girls2Women and Mountains of Hope have created opportunities for communities to feel empowered and create change with their young women, giving them the chance to achieve the education all children deserve.

– Anna Lally
Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About the Myna Mahila Foundation

Myna Mahila Foundation
The Myna Mahila Foundation is an NGO that was founded by Suhani Jalota in 2015 during her studies at Duke University. The organization’s goal is to create a social enterprise that can improve women’s access to menstrual healthcare.

In India, 23 million girls drop out of school early because they begin menstruating. The Myna Mahila Foundation aims to address this problem of girls missing school and limiting their potential because of their periods. The foundation has recently gained global attention due to high involvement with Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex. The following are 10 facts about the Myna Mahila foundation that everyone should know.

10 Facts About the Myna Mahila Foundation

  1. The three goals of the foundation are improving menstrual hygiene affordability, generating female employment in slums and building women’s networks. The foundation manufactures low-cost high-quality sanitary napkins and sells them door to door, thus employing women in the Mumbai slums and providing affordable sanitary products to those in need.
  2. The foundation not only aims to have a direct impact by providing employment and affordable hygiene products, but it also wants to start a conversation about this issue and how it affects women in India and around the world.
  3. In 2018, founder Suhani Jalota was honored by Forbes 30 under 30 Asia. She was also previously honored with the Queen Young Leaders Award, the Melissa and Doug Entrepreneurship Fellowship and a Glamour Magazine Award.
  4. Meghan Markle wrote about the Myna Mahila Foundation for TIME in 2017. Additionally, Suhani Jalota attended the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May along with three other members of the foundation, Archana Ambre, Deborah Das and Imogen Mansfield.
  5. Less than a year after its creation, the foundation had already reached 1,500 women across five slums in Mumbai both through employment and hygienic products.
  6. There are over 3,000 regular users of Myna pads in India.
  7. Over 500,000 pads have been manufactured since the foundation was created.
  8. In addition to the menstrual hygiene initiative, the Myna Mahila Foundation also provides opportunities for women to work from home so they can take care of their children. The organization also collects donations such as books, toys and clothes and makes these available to people from the slums.
  9. The foundation empowers its staff by providing education in English, Math, health, computers and self-defense.
  10. The Myna Mahila Foundation was chosen by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, as one of the charities where guests were to send contributions in place of wedding gifts. This has brought a large amount of attention to the foundation and its efforts.

These important facts about the Myna Mahila Foundation reveal the organization’s enormous impact on Indian women and on the issue of menstrual hygiene. The organization is expanding beyond its original goal, changing lives with education and work opportunities and improving the way women feel about their bodies.  

– Luz Solano-Flórez
Photo: Flickr

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Male Champions of Change: Transforming Gender Norms in Zimbabwe

Transforming Gender Norms in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe faced a devastating drought in 2016 and food security continues to be a major problem in the South African country, primarily affecting young children. Since 2010, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been heavily involved in assuring Zimbabweans’ food security, focusing on supporting farmers, strengthening agricultural markets and managing natural resources.

USAID increased its spending in Zimbabwe by $21.5 million in 2015, expanding interventions to water sanitation and hygiene. However, gender norms in Zimbabwe also affect the lack of food security, especially for children.

Gender Norms in Zimbabwe

Most men in Zimbabwe have little to do with feeding or caring for their children, leaving mothers to do the majority of child-rearing. But for three meals a day, Zimbabwean mothers must search for firewood, make a fire, collect water, cook and clean dishes. The rest of most mothers’ days are spent tending to their families’ crops, leaving little time for mothers to focus on childcare and healthy nutrition.

Social and gender norms in Zimbabwe combine to mean that men are not heavily involved in child rearing, which is viewed as a women’s responsibility. The concept that men get involved with their children is so foreign to Zimbabwean culture that men who do involve themselves get accused of being under a love spell or potion.

USAID’s members realized that working with men is essential to transforming gender norms and thereby ensuring healthy feeding practices for children. The agency started implementing the Male Champions of Change (MCC) strategy to change gender norms in Zimbabwe, using the motto, “Indoda Emadodeni,” meaning Man Among Men.

Male Champions of Change

Australia was the first to formally implement the MCC Institute under the Australian Human Rights Commission. The MCC Institute is a collaborative initiative that strives to address entrenched gender inequalities. Now, MCC’s strategy is used by a number of organizations worldwide, such as the U.N. and USAID.

As its name suggests, MCC targets men. The MCC Institute was actually founded by a woman and women are heavily involved in the Institute, but the founder recognized that political power still rests largely in the hands of men and engaging men would help accelerate change. Changing gender norms in Zimbabwe is more than just a women’s issue, and men have a responsibility to step up beside women to advocate for equality.

MCC involves appealing to men rationally and emotionally. Its strategy defines the business, economic and social benefits of gender equality and urges male leaders to confront and understand the challenges women close to them face every day.

MCC encourages men to support:

  • Changing workplace conditions, cultures and mindsets
  • Increasing the number of women on boards and executive committees
  • Recruiting, developing and retaining diverse candidates
  • Prioritizing health and safety in workplaces and prohibiting all forms of violence, including verbal and sexual
  • Sharing experiences and strategies for advancing gender equality
  • Being spokespersons for gender equality
  • Assessing and publicly reporting on progress and results on gender equality

MCC in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, USAID’s MCC campaign focuses primarily on gender equality within households. In comparison, the MCC Institute of Australia focuses more on equality in the workplace and in society in general.

Participants of USAID’s MCC campaign, called Male Champions, recruit their peers and hold monthly meetings and group training. At the meetings, Male Champions discuss their roles and responsibilities at home and the interactive training sessions challenge the men to debate and resolve gender-related problems. The meetings also specifically address gender and social norms that present barriers to good nutrition and gender equality.

Male Champions in Zimbabwe come to recognize that their manhood will not be diminished by cooking. One Male Champion said that he learned how to make his daughter porridge and feed her. A USAID survey also found statistically significant improvements in supportive behaviors such as:

  • Collecting water
  • Fetching firewood
  • Caring for children
  • Cooking
  • Accompanying wives to health facilities

USAID also saw an increase in joint decision-making between spouses from 30 percent to 82 percent in just one year. Overall, USAID’s MCC campaign has made a significant difference in changing gender norms in Zimbabwe to ensure gender equality and nutritional security for children.

– Kathryn Quelle
Photo: Flickr

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The Importance of Gender Inequality in Egypt

Gender Inequality in Egypt
Gender inequality has been an important issue in Egypt for centuries. There are many organizations that recognize how important gender inequality in Egypt is for the economic growth and development of the country. There are many forms of gender inequality that are expressed daily, such as the limitations on women in economic participation, sexual harassment, gender-based violence and unequal access to education.

The Wide-Ranging Effects of Gender Inequality in Egypt

Egypt ranks 136th out of 145 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index. Gender inequality in Egypt is most prominent in the low rate of female participation in the labor force. It is estimated that 26 percent of women participate in the workforce, compared to 79 percent of men. The average yearly income for women in Egypt is $5,218 versus an estimated $17,353 per year for men. This disparity is also seen in literacy rates, which are estimated at 65 percent for women versus 82 percent for men.

The major obstacles to decreasing gender inequality in Egypt are related to economic participation and opportunity, education, health and political empowerment. According to the 2014 Demographic and Health Survey, 92 percent of women interviewed between the ages of 15 and 49 had experienced female genital mutilation. This is a major issue that underlies gender inequality in Egypt.

Global Partnerships Work to Empower Women

Gender inequality is recognized as an issue that inhibits the growth of the entire country. There are several organizations that are developing partnerships and programs that work to empower women and foster growth. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has developed the Sustainable Development Goals that focus on increasing women’s access to social, economic and legal rights. In 2015, the Egypt Network for Integrated Development developed the One Product One Village program to train women in several trades, including handloom embroidery, alabaster, leather accessories, sand pottery, general carpentry and laser cutting.

UNDP has partnered with Microsoft to create programs that address gender inequality in Egypt. One program, known as the Mentorship Program, mentors young women to help them develop a career path. In addition, the Social Innovation Hub was launched at the National Council for Women, which aims to bridge the gap between public education and job market needs. This organization is also a part of the Aspire Women Initiative that empowers female leaders.

USAID has partnered with the Egyptian government to fight gender inequality by acting to remove the constraints on women’s participation in the economy, addressing sexual harassment and gender-based violence and improving access to education for young women. Since 2014, USAID has provided more than 600 scholarships to women seeking higher education. USAID has also developed programs to train community health workers to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, early marriage, domestic violence and female genital mutilation.

Gender inequality in Egypt has been an issue for centuries. However, there are many organizations that are partnering to end this growth inhibiting factor. The goal of ending gender inequality will help Egypt develop not only economically, but socially as well. The progress of these programs is notable, but there is still work to be done to completely eliminate gender inequality in Egypt.

– Kristen Hibbett
Photo: Flickr

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Justice for Women Must Be Made a Priority

Justice for WomenThe United Nations estimates that there are currently four billion people excluded from the rule of law, with over 150 countries that have one or more laws that discriminate against women. To address this inequality and bring more women access to justice, the High-level Group on Justice for Women (HLG) had its inaugural meeting at the Hague from May 28-29, 2018.

What is the High-level Group on Justice for Women?

This group was started by U.N. Women along with the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). Its members include experts on human rights, gender and justice from civil society organizations, governments, academics and intergovernmental organizations.

The main purpose of this group is to act as advocates for women’s access to justice during the High-level Political Forum in 2019 where the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be reviewed. In particular, the HLG is focused on SDG 16 with its stated goal being to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

One of the HLG’s main purposes is to ensure the implementation, monitoring and reporting of SDG 16 in the years to come. The group wishes to highlight the justice gaps that women and girls face around the world, ways to improve global access to justice and why this is a necessary cause to invest in. To address these issues, the HLG is focused on these approaches:

  • Reforming the legal and policy framework
  • Reforming justice institutions
  • Legally empowering women to access justice and claim rights
  • Addressing customary and informal justice

Why Justice for Women Matters

The HLG argues that ensuring justice for women is at the heart of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals because, without this measure, other SDGs such as education, equality, health and employment will not be realized. The SDGs are key to fighting global poverty, with the first goal being to end poverty in all its form everywhere. Equal justice is a means to recognizing and respecting women’s rights as it allows women to function as equal members of society who can contribute to development and ending poverty.

Beyond equality and respect for human rights, the HLG strongly believes that women’s access to justice is both a requirement and enabler of development. There has been more and more evidence that with greater gender equality comes greater economic development. For instance, when women are permitted to work and contribute to household incomes, studies have shown that more money is allocated for health, education, food and children. Improving justice for women gives social, economic and environmental benefits instead of continuing poverty, social exclusion, bad health, violence and crime.

Closing the Justice Gap

All of this work highlights the contrasts between what is promised in SDG 16 and what women are really experiencing and the contrasts between what women need and want when seeking justice and what they actually receive. In other words, this is known as the justice gap.

Around the world, 104 economies have laws preventing women from working specific jobs like manufacturing, construction, agriculture, water and transportation. Equally shocking, 45 countries have no laws on domestic violence and 59 economies have no laws about sexual harassment in the workplace.

This unequal justice and lack of respect for women’s rights is a hindrance to development and ending global poverty. The HLG is an important ally in the fight to end global poverty and its work to combat the justice gap will hopefully see great results in the years to come.

– Alexandra Eppenauer
Photo: Flickr

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How the Women + Water Alliance Is Saving India’s Garment Industry

Women + Water Alliance
More often than not, consumers find “Made in India” inscribed below the brand label on their clothes. This is a common reminder that India is the fifth largest exporter of apparel to the United States; its garment industry was valued at $3.471 billion in November 2017. But the thriving industry is hindered by a lack of access to clean water and poor sanitation and hygiene. To improve the incomes and health of the employees in the Indian garment industry, which is comprised of 80 percent women, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Gap Inc. have launched the Women + Water Alliance.

The Need to Support Women

Like other garment exporting countries, India fails to meet basic standards of health, natural resource management and population control. For instance, India contributes close to one-fifth of the world’s freshwater pollution because of the unregulated dyeing of garments. Women and girls, who spend almost 150 million hours collecting water annually, regularly come in contact with dye chemicals present in the water and are most impacted by pollution.

As a result of the contamination, they do not have access to clean, safe water or facilities for the appropriate disposal of hygiene products. WaterAid, an international charity organization, stated that women and girls spend 97 billion hours annually searching for toilets, risking their safety to do so. Women juggle household work with seeking better water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), losing out on the opportunity to remain healthy and earn a steady income.

The Women + Water Alliance

On March 22, 2017, World Water Day, USAID and Gap Inc. launched the Women + Water Alliance. It was created in the hopes of increasing awareness about WASH and improving the stature of women disadvantaged by a lack of access to clean water. The alliance works through Gap Inc.’s existing Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (PACE) program in garment-producing communities. PACE provides women with nearly 80 hours of training on communication and time management skills, designed to increase their efficiency in the industry. It also introduces them to logic and reasoning skills required for decision making and problem-solving, important tools for leadership positions. Adolescent girls are also supported by the program and are equipped with valuable skills needed to build a future for themselves in the garment industry.

Another key aim of the alliance is to support women’s access to WASH services. The approach is gender-sensitive, designed to recognize the different requirements of female sanitary needs. The PACE program also teaches young girls the importance of safe hygiene practices, which is being supported through infrastructural implementation by organizations like CARE and Water.org.

By empowering women through such measures, the Women + Water Alliance is aimed at increasing the number of income earners per household, accelerating their freedom from the poverty trap. When women are educated on the importance of hygiene, they remain healthy for many years. One of the biggest obstacles to breaking out of poverty is when unhealthiness and ailments prevent people from working to earn incomes, and with no income there is no treatment for the condition, leading to an early death without poverty relief. By ensuring better health through increased access to clean water and an understanding of good sanitation practices, this alliance is tackling poverty in a major way.

A Trickle-Down Effect

The Women + Water Alliance treats water as a human right, promoting the message that both men and women should have equal access to it. By reducing the gender inequality in Indian society, women are able to become agents of change and assume positions with more power and decision making. When they are more educated, women will feel like they have an equal position in society, making for an overall healthier community not plagued by feelings of oppression and marginalization. Hence, investing broadly in women’s involvement in the apparel industry can have a local trickle-down effect, where more women aspire to be like the skilled workers in the PACE program and so join the program. This multiplies the intended effect of increased income earners per community.

Clothing is a basic commodity, and supporting the industry behind the brands ensures that more people can rise out of poverty. Tackling access to water is a stepping stone to improving conditions in India and liberating more women, but this would not be possible without American funding.

– Sanjana Subramanian
Photo: Flickr

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Addressing the Global Prevalence of Femicide and Its Causes

Global Prevalence of Femicide
Femicide is defined as the killing of women. It has also been called gendercide and it is the most severe form of violence against women. The global prevalence of femicide is evident within all regions and cultures.

The Current Situation

Four of the five regions with the highest levels of femicide also have the highest rates of overall homicides, but in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, femicide rates are disproportionately high in respect to general homicide rates. In India, 8,093 cases of dowry femicide were reported in 2007. In China, female children are twice as likely to die in their first year of life compared to male children and the risk of death is three times higher for second born female children than first born.

Furthermore, in Guatemala, two women are murdered on average every single day. In Mexico, an estimated seven women were murdered every day in 2016. In South Africa, the rate of femicide for 2015 was 9.6 per 100,000 women, 4 times more than the global average that same year.

Cultures facilitate femicide through the normalization of violence against women. Dowry femicide, the murder of a woman by her in-laws over dowry-related conflicts, and honor killings, the murder of a woman by a member of her family for a behavioral transgression, can be considered “traditions” in the Middle East and South Asia. Intimate partner femicide is relabeled as a “crime of passion” in Latin America.

The pressure to desire male children for their dominant advantages over female children is a major cause of femicide in many nations. In societies such as China and India, girls are seen as burdens due to their inability to help support their families financially. The expense of dowries makes female infanticide a viable option for families seeking a more lucrative future.

Combatting the Global Prevalence of Femicide

Governments have a responsibility to protect women’s rights to life and liberty. By creating and enforcing laws that protect women from violence and discrimination, a precedent can be set and the complacency shown to the oppression of women can cease.

In Central America, femicide has been criminalized and prosecutors have been trained to take cases to trial. In Pakistan, sweeping new legislation has been passed to prevent the use of acid on attacks on women. Meanwhile, in Palestine, the first national strategy to combat violence against women in the Middle East was adopted with survivors of violence taking part in the legislation’s drafting. These are important positive steps toward legal recourse and representation in instances of femicide and violence against women.

Improving Female Representation in Government

As of June 2016, only 22.8 percent of all national parliamentarians were women, and as of June 2017, only two countries have 50 percent or more women in parliament. Room for women is slowly growing. 11 countries in Latin America and 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have applied for some form of gender quotas to open more space for women in governmental positions of power and influence.

Evidence has shown and continues to show that women’s leadership and inclusion in political decision-making processes improves governments. Female empowerment in government creates room for a discussion of many issues connected to gender equality and puts people with deep personal connections to these issues in positions with the power to fight the global prevalence of femicide.

The Causes of Femicide

Two of the largest risk factors for femicide and sexual violence are a lack of education and poverty which, in many cases, are intertwined afflictions. Education is a two-way street when seeking to end violence against women. It has been found that both men and women with higher levels of education are less likely to commit or experience violence.

By making education available to women, they have more opportunity for economic independence, are less likely to be forced into early marriage and learn skills that make them valuable members of society. In conjunction with educating women, educating men on the human rights of women can stunt the normalization of violence against women in the minds of young men and boys.

A perfect example of such an education can be seen in Nairobi, Kenya, where the nonprofit organization No Means No Worldwide implemented a program to prevent sexual assault on girls and women. The curriculum for males aimed to shift attitudes that lead to the acceptance of assault and rape of their female peers. Those male students in the experimental group who received the aforementioned curriculum were twice as likely as those in the control group to successfully halt instances of verbal harassment and physical or sexual violence against women.

Female empowerment and the re-education of both men and women to the equal rights of women and in culture and society are the keys to ending the abhorrent levels of violence against women and the global prevalence of femicide. Nina Simone once said, “I’ll tell you what freedom means to me. No fear.” Equal power and equal space are a route out from under the oppression of eternal fear, and released from that fear, women can find freedom.

– Carolina Sherwood Bigelow
Photo: Flickr