International Women’s Day (IWD) has been observed since the early 1900’s as a result of the economic expansion that occurred during this era, permitting the rise of feminist ideologies. Over the past century, issues related to gender disparities, inequities and inequality have increasingly altered the world’s perception surrounding women’s equality and emancipation.
Progress has clearly been made, shifting the focus of IWD to celebrating achievements. The gender agenda is gaining momentum and now women have real choices. Working in some of the most neglected communities around the world, seeing first-hand the plight of girls and women who are often married at the age of 12 and are subject to the perils of unsafe births and high risk pregnancies, it is often difficult to really embrace the feeling of progress and celebration. Yet in these communities, women truly are the key to progress and development.
By reaching deeply within communities in Guatemala, Haiti and Liberia though networks of community health volunteers, we learn that women will quickly embrace new health behaviors such as hand washing, cooking nutritious meals and sleeping under malaria nets when they understand that these practices will save the lives of their children and unborn babies. They will not only advocate for their children, but they will advocate for each other and pass along this learning to their neighbors and friends.
In Liberia, women in the marketplace or marketeers have been trained to provide family planning counseling for a small fee; enabling them to contribute to their income while distributing commodities free of charge to market-goers. The program, which began in October, has been resoundingly successful, as scores of women and men, eager to access family planning services, seek out this market-based distribution and counseling. This small pilot project capitalizes on the entrepreneurial capabilities of women who work to improve the lives of their families, while meeting a broader social need.
The potential to further draw on the aptitude that women have to strengthen community health is significant, but much greater strides need to be made in educating, empowering and leveraging this untapped resource. At Impact Global Health Alliance we celebrate the progress that women have made since the 1900’s, yet we work each day in partnership with the communities we serve to ensure that the benefits of decades of progress reach women and girls in even the most remote and hard to reach corners of the world.
