2. Mission
Working in emerging democracies and post-
conflict regions around the
world, Women’s Campaign International
advances opportunities for women to
actively participate in public
advocacy, market and political
processes. In providing the requisite
skills, knowledge and culturally-sensitive
support, we develop leaders who
transform the lives of everyone they
serve.
3. Women’s Advocacy Worldwide
“When it comes to development and poverty reduction, all roads lead to women:
their education, their health, and their economic independence.”
- Marjorie Margolies, WCI President and Founder
4. What Makes Women’s Lives Different ?
Women have different:
Responsibilities
Needs
Stereotypes
5. Challenges In the Daily Lives of Women
Women face
complex challenges
in all aspects of
their lives…
6. Economic Opportunities
67% 60%
Of the Of the
world’s work world’s food
is done by is produced
women by women
but… but…
They own
they earn
1%
10% Of the land
Of its income
8. Healthcare
358,000 mothers
die each year due to
pregnancy-related
causes.
80% of maternal
deaths
could be prevented
if women had
access to basic
maternal and health
services.
Today you are here for an advocacy series. WCI does advocacy trainings all over the world and by taking part in this program, you are joining a global network of women advocating for change.While you will choose advocacy issues that are relevant to your own lives, today we are going to talk about some of the issues that the other women in this network chose to address and about some of the challenges that women face all over the world. Some of these issues will be familiar to you and some of them will be completely different. The point is, though, that these women like you, stood up and advocated for change
So we as WCI, always get asked—why do you focus on women? Why do you leave out men? Women are fine, they have just as many opportunities as men. The truth is though, that this is not always true. People don’t always realize the real challenges that women face in every sector of society. So, the rest of this presentation is to talk about some of those challenges. First though, lets take a quiz to see how much you all know about women’s issues world wide. It is okay if some of your answers are wrong, or if you don’t know about these issues, 5 minutes to take the quiz.So now, we are going to collect your quizzes and give you a presentation with answers to those questions. Some of the answers will come up throughout the presentation, but after the whole thing, we will go over the quiz together and see how we did.
The first step to understand the challenges that women face, is to understand how women’s lives are different from those of men. (Nickie)What responsibilities do women have that are different from men? (Nickie)-Child care-Domestic tasks-Farming for families-Finding water (40 billion hours are spent by women and children every year traveling to and from water sources)These are a lot of responsibilities, and what happens when someone has all of these domestic responsibilities? They have less time for other things, less time to develop their own interests)What needs do women have that are different from men? (Monica)-Health needs (maternal health and women’s health is often overlooked)-Jobs –few jobs make provisions for flexible schedules that accommodate the many responsibilities of womenWhat stereotypes or cultural obstacles do women face that hold them back? (Monica)-Not strong-Should not leave the home-Not good leaders, too sensitive, too soft, too emotional
Now we are going to explore some of the major challenges women face worldwide in a variety of areas where WCI has seen an enormous disparity between men and women and where women have been successfully advocating for change. (Nickie)
In nearly every country, women work longer hours than men, but are usually paid less and are more likely to live in poverty. In subsistence economies, women spend much of the day performing tasks to maintain the household, such as carrying water and collecting fuel wood. In many countries women are also responsible for agricultural production and selling. Often they take on paid work or entrepreneurial enterprises as well.Unpaid domestic work – from food preparation to caregiving – directly affects the health and overall well being and quality of life of children and other household members. Poor women do more unpaid work, work longer hours and may accept degrading working conditions during times of crisis, just to ensure that their families survive.Did you know that women do ___work ___ land?Women’s work is often undocumentedWomen are paid less than men for the same work…Women are discriminated against when hiring for leadership jobsWhy do you think that happens?One example of economic advocacy
The average sub-Saharan African girl from a low-income, rural household gets less than two years of schooling and never learns to read and write, to add and subtract, as opposed to the average sub-Saharan African boy who fully completes primary education.Women make up 2/3 of the 876 million adults that can’t read Girls make up 2/3 of the 77 million children who don’t attend schoolWhen a girl in the developing world receives 7 or more years of education, she marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children.Why do you think that happens?One example of education advocacy
The rate of maternal mortality has dropped only slightly, at an estimated 2.3% annual decline, since 1990. Differences in maternal mortality rates around the world reveal a large divide between the developed and developing world, where 99% of all maternal deaths occur. Women living in the poorest countries are nearly 300 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy or childbirth than women living in industrialized countries.Life-saving interventions and technologies exist for pregnant women, but millions do not have access to trained health care workers, appropriate medical equipment, and suitable facilities. Despite recent increased resources directed to specific diseases, some of which have benefited maternal health, there have not been similar scale investments in functioning supply chains, skilled health workers, and other health system components that are critical to sustaining improvements in supporting healthy mothers.
Approximately 50.3% of the world’s population is female. However, as of 2010 approximately 19% of the parliamentarians worldwide are female.Approximately 17% of the US Congress are women as of 2010Why do you think this happens?
How does this reflect your reality? Do things like this happen in the United States? In Philadelphia?