It's International Women's Day, and I'm thinking about men...

by Laura McAdam

and development, to be exact.

As Kofi Annan said, gender equality is the key to development. All NGOs have a gender angle and most projects on the ground will have women's empowerment as a key aim. This is fabulous, and I've seen it for myself. Women who have been previously silenced, ignored, abused or redundant have been given the opportunities and the tools to be part of bettering their communities and building a better future. They have been given pride, escape and healing and this will have an immeasurable impact on the hopes of future generations.

But the more I see, hear and read about conflict zones; regions that have suffered traumatic events and great loss through violence or natural disasters, I start to wonder about the men... I wonder if working with women is an easier, more natural task? You get them together, bond them as a sisterhood, encourage their communication and help them to deal with feelings. You give them skills they have never had and for the first time they have become someone.

For men who have suffered through war, been victims of regimes and themselves been damaged the solution seems less clear. There are swathes of men who are angry and broken, had their purpose, dignity and pride taken from them. They might come from tribal, patriarchial communities whose women are now rising up. I don't think support groups, counselling sessions and sewing lessons would do much for these men.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that development work is all female-centric. Work with youth and whole communties of both genders goes on and is bringing great transformation. But I worry about the angry men. What do we do for them to be part of breaking the cycles of domestic violence, rape and crime?

Thursdays in Black is staunchly about gender equality, and women's rights form just one part - albeit a very big one. But if we don't stand alongside the hurting men we are only tackling half of the problem.

On a final note, bringing my thoughts back to International Women's Day today, I want to celebrate the men who fight for gender equality. Those who courageously and counter-culturally work to improve the lives of women and challenge communities to move towards equality. I believe that these men are not only incredible, but key in reaching the masses of men who need healing and hope, setting a powerful example and putting their necks on the line!

So here's to the men who stand with the women. And to all who have fought and spoken out for the last 100 years.

What difference does wearing black actually make?

by Laura McAdam

I get asked this a lot. People love the idea and then you see the thought seep into their mind, but what good will wearing black on Thursdays actually do?

I guess that people have different reasons and hopes when they take on this kind of ritual. Here are a mine:

Sadly, I know that I need a visible, tangible reminder of all that my eyes have been opened to. Every Thursday, after finding clothes each of complimentary blacks (you'd be amazed how many shades there are...) I remind myself that I'm privileged to have such a choice. As I catch myself in the mirror which prompts me to think how much black washes me out, I'm reminded of the safe and healthy world I live in. Ok, so wearing black isn't the biggest sacrifice nor a painful choice, but it is a nudge in the right direction for me.

When I was in India and heard about this movement, predominantly in the southern hemisphere, I was moved to join with people around the world who quietly, peacefully stand for justice and equality. And when I hear of people who take part in South Africa, Scotland, Sierra Leone and many other places I see the bright side of our globalised world. Furthermore, when you tell a woman in Uganda or Jerusalem that there's a load of people who choose to take a weekly action to remember their cause and stand alongside them, and you see the tears in their eyes as they realise they are not alone... well. Trust me, it makes it mean something.

Finally, it's about the principle. I'm not the most intelligent writer, nor have I individually got much political clout, I don't have enough money to improve the lives of half the world's population and I'm not going to get a chance to do a speaking tour around the world to change hearts and minds any time soon... But add my voice, my pennies and the simple fact of 'knowing' to the tens of thousands of others who give a damn and look, we have a stirring. We have a movement of people who have decided that the way the world works isn't fair and that they must do something, however basic. Occasionally this simple action prompts more and we have some peaceful activitism occurring. And peaceful activism has some form, dontchaknow...

So yes, I'm sure everyone has different reasons and hopes when they do something like this. But this International Women's Day, if I could quietly ask you to do something?

Catch yourself in the mirror. Consider that you're part of something global, and do what you can to stand in solidarity with those fighting for peace and justice. Even if it's just something simple.

100 Years... and we still need International Women's Day

This Tuesday 8th March will mark the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day.

Are you doing anything to celebrate/commiserate?

Extra blog contribiutions are very welcome. Here's one nicked from the Guardian to get us started...

Laura McAdam

Why I Wear Black

by Laura McAdam

Let's get this straight, I'm not a militant man hating fembot, honestly. I do however believe in people's right to do more than scrape by, to be treated with respect and to be free. I believe in choice, joy and life in all its fullness. I know that discrimination on the basis of gender is wrong, and that violence and oppression do not belong in this world.

It's hot today, and wearing black certainly isn't comfortable. I'll leave you to make your own link on that one...

I wear black so that I don't forget the stories I have heard, the people I've cried with and those fighting for justice despite the challenges. In itself, this statement won't change the world. Together maybe we'll raise a few eyebrows and engage with a certain audience. Maybe we ourselves will be be changed a little as we feel the weight of solidarity on our shoulders.

But put simply, I wear black because I must do something. I cannot be silent, I cannot shake from my mind what I know, I cannot go back to ignorant bliss.

I will be uncomfortable today, and every other Thursday and if I'm really lucky - every day I live until this world changes. Like so many people, I have no choice but to fight.

The Truth About Women

Did you know that on average women use 20,000 words a day while men only use 7,000?



Here are some more gender facts for you:
Every year, more than 530,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes. That's one every minute. If this continues at the current rate another 4 milion women will die in the next 6 years.
Women do 66% of the world's work and get paid less than 10% of its income, in Africa it's 80% of the work.
In the UK, women working full-time are paid on average 17% less an hour than men.
75% of all Russian women suffer from some type of violence within the family.
And of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world, 70% are women.

Kofi Annan said that 'Gender equality is critical to the development and peace of every nation.'

And that's what Christian Aid partners and beneficiaries believe too. We work with communities, campaigners and educators to change the attitudes and structures which keep women downtrodden around the world. An inspiring female Indian leader once said 'Educate your women and the nation will take care of itself... the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.' And if we are serious about making a fairer world for all, then we have to challenge the inequality in our own communities too.

We may use more words than men, but the majority of women around the world still need their voices to be heard.

Unveiled

by Laura McAdam

I walked into an urban slum in India surrounded by the stench of sewage and rubbish through the tiny brick and mud homes, and into a large community hall.

In front of me sat a hundred or so Indian women singing and smiling at me. I knew that four years ago one of the partner organisations funded and supported by Christian Aid was invited by this community to help them from the brink of extreme poverty. As with so many other groups, these people had been excluded from wider society, ignored by the authorities and were plagued by domestic violence. When our partners first visited the women didn't come out of their homes and they wore sheer veils covering their heads - simply as a barrier to the outside world and everyone in it.

I was astonished to sit in front of this group of smiling, unveiled women as they told me what they'd acheived. Our partner had helped both men and women to raise the status of girls and women to have equal standing. For the first time these women believed that they had a big part to play in bringing their community out of poverty, and that they were equal and worthwhile human beings. The men saw too that they needed the women to become economically active.

The women told me how with a loan from us which they've now paid back, they have formed money lending group to help small businesses start and about the training courses they've undertaken to learn new skills including literacy. They told me how the women took off their veils and stood alongside their men to face the world. They told me how their unity was their strength and how they fearlessly take on the authorities to provide their basic rights like clean water and primary education. They told me how they rally and picket the police when they know corruption has taken place, and how they work with families to eradicate domestic violence in their community.

In front of me where the faces changing India from the roots, and they're doing it themselves. All they needed was to be told it was time take off their veils.

My Bracelet

by Laura McAdam

Visiting overseas projects with Christian Aid can sometimes be a bit embarrassing as they tend to give you presents even though they themselves have so little.

I was leaving a women's rights project in Northern India when they presented me with a number of gifts simply for giving them some of my time to hear their stories. One of them was a plastic red bracelet and as I sat in the back of a car on the to the station with a few of the project's ladies I explained to them that my wrist was unfortunately too big to wear such petite jewellery. They suddenly grabbed my hand while simultaneously producing some sort of cream and the next thing I knew my hand was contorted in a way it probably was never meant to be and I had a bracelet on my wrist which I was fairly sure would never come off again.

After my hand recovered and I had spent a few days with the bracelet annoying me, particularly as I tried to sleep with it on, I returned to the UK. For many many months after I returned from India I wore the same red plastic bracelet on my right wrist. Most of the time I didn't notice it but occasionally it niggled at me. I kept it on for two reasons (other than at the time it appeared to be indestructible). Firstly it reminded me of the strong women I met in India who are working to change the position of women in their country and bring themselves out of some of the most extreme cases of poverty in the world. And secondly, it was annoying. Unfortunately I still needed something tanglible to remind me that for the majority of the world life is more than simply uncomfortable, that if I get too comfortable then I become ineffective and I lost touch with not only my calling as a Christian but my responsibility as a human.

The bracelet eventually broke, but I still have it. It sits in my room, I see it every day and it still niggles at me. And I'll keep it in view as long as I still need reminding.

In her own words: Gita’s Story

by Laura McAdam

Taken from an Interview in Kanpur, India in 2008


‘My father was a very cruel person, he was always beating my mother. After some time my mother died from my father’s torture. Then he married again, and he always beat his second wife as well. He was really very cruel.

He put my [step mother] in a box and locked it, sometimes he put fire so that she burned all up her body. He tied a chain and locked it round her ankle, sometimes he beat her so many times [she would] wet herself.

I was small and didn’t do anything, sometimes he tortured me also. There are still marks on my leg.

My step mother fell down and cracked her hip, nobody took her in so I admitted my mother to hospital. My Father was told, [came to the hospital] and threw my mother onto the garbage and said ‘Don’t bother with her’.

I went to my father and fought – ‘You should take care of my mother because she is injured and needs help from you!’ He refused.

Then Seema and Ranno (pictured below) told me about Sakhi Kendra (A Christian Aid partner organisation) and we contacted them six months ago (August 2007). They came and organised a public meeting at my father’s place. There were approximately 200 people there and they motivated and organised a signature campaign for justice, for shelter for my mother and for her rights.



About 150 women petitioned the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and gave him the signature campaign. Then the SSP ordered the police into organising an enquiry – the women said no to this [as it wasn’t enough] – so SSP ordered the police in charge to go with the women to the house of my father.

The women threatened that if the police didn’t help quickly then they would have sit down and hunger strike. This made the police help and they evicted my father.

The group of women went to the hospital and took my step mother and put her into my father’s house. My father was chucked out, he came wanted to take food and money but the group of women told him to go away. My step mother told him to go away because now it’s her house.’

All the women now provide support to Gita’s step mother. At present she can walk with a Zimmer frame but is in a lot of pain. Gita added ‘She said she couldn’t come here [to meet us] so told us to tell her story.’

Gita’s friend Seema said ‘We have acheived so much, perhaps we couldn’t have helped without Sakhi Kendra.’

Gita stated: ‘We want to help other women also, and we feel we have power. We can do anything.’

Sakhi Kendra is a partner organisation funded and supported by Christian Aid working for women’s rights, against violence and abuse against women, and helping individual women in trouble.

Life before Death - Madame Boudia's Story

by Laura McAdam

Madame Boudia’s family had been rice farmers for generations in Senegal, West Africa. She was widowed and left to care for her 6 daughters she faced the unpredictable seasons as the climate changed, making farming and harvesting ever more difficult. She soon struggled to sell the rice she did successfully grow at the local market as there were foreign imports bring sold right next to her for a lower price. As the situation got harder, Madame Boudia and her daughters had to do the unthinkable - and leave the land. They travelled to Dakar, Senegal’s capital, and begged on the streets to survive.
After 6 months, Madame Boudia was approached by ADPES, a Christian Aid partner organisation specialising in teaching tie dye. It is back breaking work with chemicals, but the family are committed to tirelessly building a new life.


‘I work with my daughters to make the tie dye cloth. We buy white cloth, the dyes and chemicals & make it here (on the roof of her house). I can make about 12m a week but the time taken for each one depends on the pattern. Some take a month, others a morning. I sell three pieces – 12m – for about £15 to £20. If it’s a good week I sell all of this.’

From the very brink Madame Boudia has been able to reclaim her livelihood, her independence and her dignity. It cost just £5.25 for her to buy the first palette of die and cloth, a loan which she paid back very quickly and now she doesn’t owe anyone anything. Christian Aid work to empower people to escape poverty and build themselves a better future.

But there’s more…

‘We are suffering from foreign cloth coming into our market. The Chinese bring in lower grade cloth with the same print & sell it for £4 for the same amount. But the Chinese cloth is poor quality so it tears easily and the colours wash out easily.’

Once again Madame Boudia and her daughters are under fire. They don’t ask for a life of luxury, simply to do more than just survive. But there will always be someone ready to take advantage, and so surely we must do more than tackle the symptoms of poverty and injustice?

In her own words: Reema's Story

by Laura McAdam

Taken from an interview in Kanpur

'My name is Reema, I wanted to study but when I went to school some of the boys teased me. I answered back to them but they threatened to kill me saying ‘how dare you try and stop us’. One boy proposed to me but I told him I didn’t like him. Somebody told my mother about what had happened and my mother became very angry and suspicious thinking that I was not good. Then my parents organised a marriage for me and forced me to marry a different boy.
After I got married I was not happy. I had been studying and I had wanted to do something in life. My husband and my in-laws said ‘we’ve bought you so we can do anything to you.'

One night my husband made me lie down and then he tied me up and sexually tortured me all night. When I claimed he tortured me all night he said ‘we have bought you so all the rights of your body are mine.’ I said ‘no, this is not right’, and so he tried to hang me.

Then I gave my husband a glass of milk and he put his hand over my mouth saying I had attempted to murder him. I attacked him back and my husband called my parents and told them ‘your daughter is not good and does not obey me.’ My parents took my husband and my in-laws side. I attempted suicide as I thought that nobody in the world who would understand that my pain existed. Then someone found me and my husband carried me to the police. I told the superintendent everything and he didn’t know what to do with me because I didn’t want to go back to my husband and I didn’t want to go to my parents house either. So he called Sakhi Kendra (A Christian Aid partner organisation) telling them ‘There is a girl here who is suffering so much – can you help her?’ I was sent to the [Sakhi Kendra safe house] on 27th June [2007] at 6am.

At present I am very happy here because all of the members are like my family, only better. The best part is that they understand me and appreciate me. When I came here I was frightened but very quickly I liked it better than my own house.

I am [in 2008] 18 and studying for my graduation, and I am trying to become economically self dependent as soon as possible."

Sakhi Kendra is one of Christian Aid's partner organisations in India. Sakhi Kendra campaigns for women’s rights, against violence and abuse against women, and helps individual women in trouble.

Christian Aid works in some of the world's poorest communities in 49 countries through partner organisations. We act where the need is greatest, regardless of religion, helping people build the life they deserve.