Sunday, 8 March is International Women’s Day, an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women by looking back on past struggles and accomplishments and more importantly to acknowledge the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women. Within a global program together with CARE the H&M Conscious Foundation will empower 100,000 women economically and inspire and offer advice on policy changes needed worldwide in order to allow women’s full participation in all walks of life.
One woman directly benefitting from this global program is Peruvian lime farmer Juana Neyra García. She has a message for the world: “What men can do, I can do as well.” She is determined to expand her role beyond the household, to contribute to her family’s wellbeing by jointly bringing in income: “Before women could not work, we just dedicated ourselves to work inside of our houses. But not now. Not anymore.”
When Juana’s husband left their small lemon farm in search of work the family struggled to earn enough money from their farm. The family’s difficulties were worsened by water scarcity in their region of northern Peru; there were no seasonal rains for four years. Mother-of-one Juana has now taken charge of the farm and decided to start a new business breeding birds.
With support from the H&M Conscious Foundation, CARE International is equipping women like Juana with new skills and training. By 2017, 100,000 women from poor communities will have access to knowledge skills and seed capital to start up or to expand their enterprise in order to empower them economically.
Another one of these women is mother-of-four Orfelinda, who lives in the small village of Viña Grande, in the Piura province in Peru.
Despite having spent most of her life dedicated to homemaking tasks, Orfelinda is a natural born entrepreneur. Water is scarce in her village, and this limits money-making opportunities but in spite of that, Orfelinda has set up an association with ten other women, to develop a business around a traditional local product: banana snacks. CARE and H&M Conscious Foundation are supporting the development of these women’s business.
The solidarity among the women in Orfelinda’s group is clear, and she is determined that the women in her group have the power to change their lives and those of their children. She says: “I have done the calculations and this joint business can work out for us. We will work together, taking care of each other and above all, work with our heads held high. We are hard workers and we want to move ahead.
“Together as women within this project we want to work for our children’s education, we want to invest in health care and in our homes. We don’t think that only men can make progress; we women want to continue working as well.”
Also the municipality is involved to make policy-level changes to ensure the women’s full participation. The municipality is investing in infrastructure like storage centres for products and market linkages to involve companies in buying products from the ladies.
By working on multiple levels - local, regional and global – the program will bring about lasting change in the lives of many women and girls, their communities and the world. Campaigns, platforms or events will be organised in five global regions that lift up the examples of women who will share their experience about how they overcame the barriers that exist in society. This will form the basis of a global report that will include advice on policy changes needed worldwide to allow women’s full participation in all walks of life on a global scale.
On International Women’s Day 2015, CARE International UK invites those wishing to walk in solidarity with women and girls across the globe to join CARE’s Walk in Her Shoes event in London, or to walk 10,000 steps a day for a week in support of women and girls from the world’s poorest countries, who have to spend their days walking for water and taking care of their household.
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