Women and girls living in poverty around the world face a range of obstacles that stop them from getting an education, and a network of Australian women are working to change this reality.
World Vision’s Strong Women Strong World initiative is running transformative programs supporting women and girls as the key to ending extreme poverty and building a more stable, just and peaceful world.
Early marriage and gender-based violence force girls to drop out early, as do inadequate or non-existent hygiene and sanitation facilities. Around 22 girls under the age of 18 are married every minute, and the number is rising due to the economic impacts of COVID-19.
Women and girls also often sacrifice time spent receiving an education in order to collect clean water.
Nearly one billion women don’t have access to financial services either. And more than 70 percent of women-owned small and medium-sized businesses can’t access the funds they need to get ahead.
World Vision Australia’s Environment, Disability and Gender Manager Tracy McDiarmid told a Strong Women Strong World event in Sydney recently that part of her work in the humanitarian space involves elevating the voices of women and girls in order to ensure their specific needs are being met.
An estimated 110 million girls and young women will be out of school in 2030. McDiarmid says the challenges are sometimes “cultural or religious beliefs, sometimes it’s because of workload that we expect of young girls, the role that they play in their families and in income generation.”
“Sometimes they’re often the ones collecting water. They’re the ones helping with housework. They’re the ones looking after younger siblings, and so they miss out on those opportunities.”
“Sometimes, a boy’s education is considered a more strategic decision for a family they have to choose. And then when you’re talking about mental health and hygiene, that can become a very significant barrier,” she says, noting that there are often stigmas around menstruation that create a classroom environment where girls don’t feel safe to attend school.
The problem is even more pronounced for girls with a disability, as 90 per cent of children with a disability in low income countries don’t attend school, according to World Vision.
“I think what inspires me in the face of such an incredibly confronting, insurmountable problem is the resilience of the girls that I get to meet,” says McDiarmid, adding that her motivator lies in the reality that gender equality is fundamental to a good childhood.
“When we talk about gender equality, it’s really important to talk about it as an issue that affects men and boys as well as women and girls,” she says.“It affects all genders.”
“It is something where if you want strong women and girls, then it’s not a fix that women and girls have to make. And when I say I want strong women and girls– I want women and girls who are empowered to lead, but I [also] want men and boys who are empowered to nurture.”
“I don’t think it’s one directional. I want to see gender equality where it benefits all.”