Empowering Women and Girls

How women are treated is the true indication of how civilized a society is. Women nurture the society around them. It is true that when they are happy, everyone else is. Happy women raise children to be happy, successful individuals. They raise daughters that in turn become happy women and the cycle continues. So focusing and investing in females is a worthwhile pursuit.

Empowerment of girls in India is the area of need I feel most connected to.  Having been a girl in India, I feel fortunate for having come to the US to be able to make the most of myself.  I wonder where I would be had I stayed.  I want to find ways to reach out to my sisters left behind, to help them be the most they can be, even if it is through just contributing to a collective awareness regarding their plight.  I am not indicating that all females in India are not making the most of themselves.  I just want to contribute to an awareness of the girls not being given the opportunity to educate themselves and follow their dreams. Too often, the focus is on making certain they get married as young as possible and reproduce (to produce only male children).

An organization I have done fund-raising for that supports the furthering of women and children in India through education is Asha.

Microfinance is a significant means to empowerment for women.

Go to Oprah’s site to learn how you can contribute to educating girls.

Contributions from sales through Komal Style Boutique (my importing site) will be made to organizations that support women and children in India.

Empower women in Uganda one bead at at time through Bead for Life.

Read NY Times Bestseller and a manifesto of our times “Half the Sky, Turning Oppression into Opportunity.” We can all impact the course of history by educating and empowering females globally. The authors state that girls pass education on and that the greatest and neglected resource of an impoverished nation is its female population. The book refers to numerous stories of women “making it” against all odds.

One story refers to a woman in South Asia that received a $65 loan.  She used it to build a business in embroidery and beads.  She received enough work to not only be able to pay off the loan and her family’s debts, but even get a luxury item of a TV that was prized in her community.  Most of all, she obtained dignity and self-respect.  She now employs at least 30 families and her husband, who now respects her rather than beating her and they have come to make decisions together.  He was initially to take another wife at his mother’s command when his wife only produced daughters.  They have since welcomed a 4th daughter and he is no longer seeking another wife.