Women in Action
Senegal / In Senegal, girls are breaking the rules to get in the game.
For the time being, Ndir Seck remains optimistic that both Ladies’ Turn and it's girls will go from strength to strength.
Nigeria / The WISE Women of Nigeria Sparking Change
In rural Nigeria, cooking can kill you. According to the World Health Organisation, preparing three meals a day on a traditional wood-burning stove is the equivalent of smoking 20 packs of cigarettes. Little wonder then that each year, some 98,000 women die from the resulting respiratory and cardiac problems.
International / Women's Voices Must be the Loudest on Matters of Climate, Governance and Societal Violence.
The world faces many major challenges, from climate change to armed conflict, massive displacement of people, the rise of the far-right and violence within our societies. These require urgent attention and action but none of these pressing issues can be adequately addressed without first facing up to the issue of gender inequality. No society can develop—economically, politically or socially—when half of its population is marginalised.
India / Breakthrough India smashes gender-based violence
When asked what her dreams are, 14-year-old Sunaina, who lives in a village in northern India, slipped into deep thought. After a few minutes, she said, “To get new clothes for Diwali,” referring to one of India’s biggest annual celebrations. “But what about a long-term dream,” she was prompted, “a wish you wake up to every day and want to achieve?” Another long silence, then Sunaina’s friends called her away. The question was never answered.
France / Women, Gender Equality and Climate Change: driving forward!
As the primary users of new agricultural techniques, as green energy entrepreneurs, or simply as those who decide on modes of consumption and behaviour within the family, women are key actors in bringing about change and developing solutions that secure our transition to a sustainable future.
France / In Paris suburb Saint-Denis, a women’s refuge is coming to the rescue of those who were forgotten
In this former industrial suburb where residents’ access to healthcare is mostly limited to hospital visits, a new space that is unique in France has opened: one that houses not only gynecologists and psychologists, but also social workers and lawyers.
Switzerland / Barbara Wildhaber, the Swiss Surgeon Saving the Tiniest of Lives
“Sometimes, when I’m operating, I say to myself, ‘but why do I do this?’”, Barbara Wildhaber laughs, as she often does during our meeting. The truth is that the paediatric surgeon doesn’t regret her choice. Each operation she carries out is highly pressurised, but there are benefits. “As soon as I’ve finished an operation, I know that it’s what I want to be doing. The combination of technique, the meticulous nature of operations—where everything is on a bonsaï scale—and then the relationships with parents and the children… It fascinates me.”
Winning Women - Women’s Rights: Another Chapter
Itumeleng Makgato and Boikhutso Mokoto, both Bachelor of Commerce final-year students at Wits University in Johannesburg, are on a mission to empower any female student who feels she needs help in making herself heard.
In Senegal, science experiments encourage young girls towards STEM
The Centre for Science, Education, Exchange for Sustainable Development (SeeSD) is home to a group of educational mentors, working hard to kindle an interest in science, technology and innovation amongst schoolchildren—notably young girls.
Educating young women for a better future
We at the Graça Machel Trust know that girls face a distinctive set of barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education, such as lack of financial resources, sexual abuse, poor hygiene and unsafe school environments. Until now, education initiatives have not been multi-dimensional enough and are still found wanting in relation to the competencies they deliver. Most are still focused on the narrow mainstream educational skills of literacy and numeracy, leaving out personal, social and economic proficiencies that many women and girls need to survive and secure stable livelihoods. Moreover, if basic education is to be inclusive, the barriers that prevent enrolment and cause school dropout must be eliminated.
In Lagos, a social enterprise trains struggling women in slums to become financially independent micro-entrepreneurs
The slums of Lagos are dotted with single-parent households, most of them headed by strong-willed women facing widespread discrimination as a result of divorce, separation or widowhood.
“Solar Mamas” power up women's development
“It is time we focus on women.” These are the renowned words of Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, the founder of Barefoot College. Set up in 1972, this extraordinary college located in the village of Tilonia, 110km south-west of Jaipur, India, teaches rural women—many of them illiterate—how to fabricate solar panels, lights and photovoltaic circuits. With these new capabilities, accredited “Solar Mamas” return home to shed light on their communities.
Rêv’Elles: the association that’s empowering young women to get their lives on track
It’s now been four years since Athina Marmorat decided to take on the fight against social inequality at her own level by founding Rêv’Elles. This association supports and mentors young women from deprived areas and helps them tap into their potential.
Training women in agroecology yields results in West Africa
As well as educating and training on traditional agricultural methods, ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ works in other domains; helping to set up local networks and empowering rural women to take key roles in promoting and changing the mentality towards natural products. In doing so, the movement promotes agro-ecological farming and women’s rights. Dao is convinced that if women step up the the plate, they could persuade and rally men into accepting agro-ecological practices, especially in farming families.
Cyber Attorokkha: How education and training have changed the online experience for Bangladeshi women
With the use of internet and social media surging, Bangladesh has experienced a rise in gender-based cyber harassment. Despite comprising only about one-fifth of the nation’s social-media users, in 2016 alone, 73 percent of Bangladeshi women and girls online fell victim to this type of cybercrime.