Blog
International Women’s Day 2018
March 8th each and every year marks International Women’s Day (IWD). Some have asked why women still need their own day in 2018, while others argue we should be thinking about women for 365 days a year.
OTB started when a group of women from across the world came together to focus on change. Over the course of the past few years we have had the privilege of working with many communities and organisations – many of them focused on women. This work and our own experiences convince us that taking (at least) one day a year to both celebrate the role of women and commit to further change is still essential.
The theme for IWD is #PressforProgress – a call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity. In 2017, the World Economic Forum published the Gender Gap Report telling us that gender parity is over 200 years away, based on current trends. For some, it is even further away than that.
At OTB, we have witnessed gender inequality in many different ways. Through working with Misean Cara in 6 African countries, we witnessed first-hand the amazing efforts of dedicated missionaries to bring education to girls in remote, conflict affected communities. In Lebanon, with Red Cross, Lebanese Family planning association and Search for Common Ground we worked with Lebanese Women, youth and Syrian Refugee on economic empowerment to generate income to feed their families and make a future for themselves. In Ethiopia, we helped CCM to evaluate reproductive health services in a remote area so that mothers and the new babies would have a better chance of survival while in Uganda we helped DefendDefenders who build the capacity of those advocating for human rights.
In each of these examples, and countless others, we are reminded that there is not gender parity. We cannot wait 200 years. OTB will continue to #PressforProgress – not just on the 8th March but every day.
Will you join us?
