International Women's Day - 8 March 2009

Today is International Women's Day (IWD) and is being celebrated in Nepal through various programs along with many other countries across the world.

Mitrataa's work with women really crystallised with the Daisy Chains project, which has been a fantastic success. Enrollments have so far reached 330 for this project and we expect to easily surpass our goal of 500 later this year. At present all of the groups are in the final phase of their education - planning their businesses. This is an exciting time for these women and their energy and enthusiasm is inspiring. Some of the groups have been so eager that they have already started their businesses whilst still completing their lessons. Candle making has been particularly popular and successful in light of the ongoing electricity shortage in Kathmandu! We also have women selling clothes (using their group buying power to get cheaper wholesale prices), selling vegetbales, making and selling Nepali snacks, and one group is running a catering service.

To commemorate IWD our friends at CWISH have planned a week of educational programs and activities for these women as well as other women in their communities. The various programs on education will include topics such as social empowerment, women's legal rights and responsibilities, domestic violence, HIV awareness, women's health issues (particularly Uterine Prolapse which is a common problem for Nepali women) and labour rights. We firmly believe that all of these issues are critical and must be included in any comprehensive education program for women, teaching them to read and write is only the beginning.

At the conclusion of these programs we will be hosting a picnic for all of the women currently involved in the Daisy Chains project. This will be a chance for them to unwind for a day, celebrate all that they have learned and achieved so far, and motivate them to go into the next phase of their lives and work with a new sense of esteem and confidence. The picnic is scheduled for next Friday (13th March) so stay tuned for a report and some photos!

On a more sobering note, I was just reading the IWD website and was shocked by some of the statistics regarding women and their status in our world:

* 70% of the 1.2 billion people living in poverty in the world are women
* women comprise 2/3 of the +1 billion illiterate adults in the world
* women do 2/3 of the world's work but receive 10% of the world's income
* women's education is the most powerful predicter of lower fertility rates

Something to think about. There are many more statistics and pieces of useful information at the website.