How Do We Empower the Next Generation of Women?
International Women’s Day presents a time for us to not only celebrate the momentous contributions that women have had on society, but to recognize the inequalities so many still face today. As we reflect on the accomplishments of our foremothers, we also carry forward their fierce drive for a better future.
Collectively, Resolution Fellows — undergraduate students beginning careers of impact — have supported almost 50,000 girls and women through empowerment initiatives, increased access to maternal-child health and survival programs for more than 40,000 women, and provided access to formal or informal education for more than 30,000 children.
On International Women’s Day, we’d like to highlight a select number of Fellows who are enacting significant change through education, resources, and empowerment initiatives, dramatically improving the lives of women and girls in their home communities.
The advocacy and implementation of education, through various forms, is a critical component to the success of any community. Resolution Fellows Asma Aljehani and Koshika Krishna present educational opportunities to women in Doha, Qatar and Mumbai, India, respectively. Asma is the founder of The Future is Female, which increases female participation in the labor force in the Gulf by providing mentorship, workshops, and networking opportunities that encourage and ease their transition into the workplace. Koshika of SeHER, addresses the stigmatization and health risks associated with poor information about women’s menstrual hygiene. SeHER’s program combines education with an enterprise by women that manufactures and sells single-use pads at 40% of the price of competitors to increase access and information.
Resolution Fellows Hanna Amanuel and Joseph Opoku strive to strengthen resources, specifically for women, in their native countries. Hanna founded Rahwa, to help develop maternal and child healthcare resources in under-resourced areas of rural Eritrea. The program trains and employs women in rural communities as Maternal Health Agents (MHAs), who support women throughout the pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal periods. As the co-founder of Nima Innovation Lab for Girls, Joseph works in the Nima slum of Accra, Ghana to introduce human-centered design and entrepreneurship skills in a single-sex environment that will help girls and young women build their economic capacity.
Arguably the most critical step in empowering the next generation of women is to start by discarding society’s inclination toward pity, and instead providing tools to create a platform for women to succeed.
Resolution Fellows Courtney Price, Ayesha Lutschini, and Tasman Bain founded Meri Toksave, an NGO addressing gender-based violence in Papua New Guinea. Meri Toksave’s mission is to improve accessibility to information about emergency services as well as support referral systems for survivors of violence; the organization empowers women and engages with men to overcome the attitudes and stigmas surrounding gender-based violence.
Resolution Fellow Kennedy Ekezie-Joseph is the founder of the Calabar Youth Council For Women’s Rights Leadership Program in Calabar, Nigeria. The Calabar Youth Council helps teenage victims of female genital mutilation and domestic abuse reintegrate into society and become leaders by providing them with a year-long leadership training program, pairing them with mentors, and granting them access to volunteering and internship experiences to aid their professional development.
When we strive to empower the next generation of women, let us not solely emulate the success of the women before us, but feel inspired by the work of our young leaders today.
