Small steps to big changes towards women and girls’ empowerment

Despite all the talk and effort towards women empowerment and girl support movements, there is need to scale up on various fronts. Women are still stereotyped and made to feel less deserving of certain rights, roles and capabilities.

Girls have long been discriminated against by society and made to believe that they are inferior and less important than boys thus dealing an enormous blow to their self-esteem and ability to excel. However, there are small, but effective ways through which we can make a big difference in the lives of women and girls.

Raise aspirations of girls and their parents. As a central strategy, changing the mindset of how girls are viewed, especially in rural families and society, is important. The attitude that girls are purposely to be good wives, mothers and home makers, must be discarded if girls and women are to be empowered to achieve their full potential.

We need to give girls images and role models that expand their dreams and position them to see that they can be and can do what they wish when they work towards it. Furthermore, parents need to be enlightened on the many possibilities and opportunities available for their daughters once they are encouraged and supported to pursue their desires and dreams.

Mentor a girl within your close community and beyond. Many girls and women have ended up in undesirable situations not due to fate, but for lack of a sense of direction and timely mentorship. There is nothing as helpful as having somebody to rely on in one’s journey to realising their full potential. Too many distractions - poverty, poor education culture and societal norms tend to derail and limit girls and women’s progress. Reach out and positively influence the life of a young girl in your own community by committing to mentor them to achieve a fulfilling life and success.

Recognise the unique challenges of women and girls. Many challenges stand in the way of girls and women’s capabilities to competently perform at their various tasks. For instance, several girls miss attending school due to lack of pads during their menstruation circles. Also absence of separate toilets or changing rooms at most schools, especially in rural areas, make it difficult for the girls to take care of their hygiene during this period, opting to stay home. Therefore, putting in place measures that can guarantee school girls enough privacy during that time will go a long way in promoting the girl-child education.

Most work places do not offer adequate child care support such as child care centres, nursing rooms to breastfeed their babies while at work and neither flexible working hours, a factor that would increase women in the work force. This is a big challenge affecting mothers’ stability, health and emotional being as well as their babies. Addressing this concern should be an ingenuity of all employers to support women in their motherly role while sustaining productivity at work.

Sponsor a poor girl’s education. All children dream of going to school to learn and be of value to themselves and their communities. However, for many, this dream is a far chase because their parents cannot afford to send and sustain them in school. Reach out to poor communities and help a girl realise her dreams.

Empower women to engage in their communities. There are several organisations whose cause is to support women empowerment. Nonetheless, strategic focus to actively engage women in their communities will lead to a positive ripple effect across families and communities.

Training women as community facilitators to educate members of their communities on aspects of nutrition, modern farming techniques, general health, good sanitary and hygienic practices to environmental conservation, is key. According to Women for Women International, when mothers are educated and empowered to make good choices in their lives, they are in position to support their daughters to stay in school and complete their education.

Use your voice to end girls and women abuses. Not a day passes without some mention in the media of abuse or violence against girls or women. From young girls getting sexually harassed or abused by their would-be protectors to women being abused in their homes, and intimidated at work places.

Abuse can be physical or psychological, but also forced. Early marriages, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation to denial of resources and services are all forms of violence against women Whereas boys and men can also be affected, girls and women are more often the victims due to deeply rooted imbalances of power between men and women in our society. To empower women and girls requires taking a firm stand and speaking against gender-based violence.

Bring the men and boys on board. We need to work closely with men to change harmful gender-based traditions and norms. We also need to teach them how to build and nurture positive relationships that empower and promote women and girls.

One of the major aims of the sustainable development goals is to end extreme poverty. However, we can not achieve that without focusing on women and girls and the barriers that prevent them from attaining their full potential.

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