What are you doing to empower women in your community?

Question

Throughout the world women face varying degrees of hardship and inequality, yet there are simple acts of courage which women and men alike can take to improve the lives of women and ensure a better legacy for our daughters. This International Women's Day, what are you doing to empower women in your community?

Visit http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/ to view the International Museum of Women's "Imagining Ourselves" exhibit and join the conversation for positive change.

Visit http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/pb/Story.aspx?G=1&C=0&id=639&lang=1&g=0/ to see Queen Rania's personal message in the "Imagining Ourselves" Exhibit.

Answer 1

I encourage women to pursue their educational goals. As an Admissions Representative in higher education I hear everyone's story and their continuous battle for change within themselves. An education is one of the few things that can never be taken away from us regardless of the situation. What better defense than being educated? Education provides you with options you may not have had before and opens doors that were once closed. It is the best legacy for our daughters so that they too can have options.

Answer 2

I have also found that the women are better designers and take more time to do a better job altogether. I link my new students with some of my successful former students so they can see just how far they can go if they apply themselves. I am a man and have no problem stating that the world needs many more women leaders. Leaders in government and leaders in business. Women use compassion and common sense when they make decisions. They look at the bigger picture. For some reason men seem to feel the need to win instead of to better a situation no matter how they may be perceived when the problem is solved. I applaud women and let them know how much I admire them regularly. I've run across not only sexism in the classroom, but a great deal of racism. Last year, I taught the book Princess by Jean Sasson in a classroom of mostly high school boys. Most of them were horrified over the treatment of women in this book, because it truly was graphicly sickening. Each student was required to pick a country and research that country's treatment of women to present in a final research paper. The students began to learn that even though some countries may not physically beat their women, many countries (including the United States) still do not hold women in an equal light, through job requirements, inheritance laws, etc. It was a very rewarding experience to see these young boys start to look at the community around them and realize that things are not equal and what must be done to see the right changes made.

Answer 3

There is a misconception out there that Islam robs the woman from here freedom. I just wanted to clear this misconception, because women are already powerful in Islam.

Before Islam, female babies were buried alive because the man was afraid he will spend too much money on her or he was ashamed that his first born child was a female.

Before Islam, women didn't get any thing from the inheritance. In the matter of fact, they where the inheritance. When a man dies, his son marries all the wives that his father has left.

Islam came and abolished all that and gave the woman an amazing status in which could be compared to a princess's status.

Islam made the obeying of a Mother something that is mandatory among her children. So whatever the woman says, the children should obey even if they where grown up men with beards.

Islam made it clear that a Woman has here duties and a Man has other duties on his shoulders too, and both complete or compliment each other.

To write a story you need a pen and paper, The woman is like the pen and the man is like the paper and together they produce the story of there lives. You can't produce a story with two pens or with two papers. So the Man has his duties and a Woman has her duties and both live that story.

About what I am doing to empower women in my community?
The answer is I will (insha Allah) in the name of Allah treat them in the proper Islamic way that the prophet has treated women in his time. The prophet's daughter was a nurse and his wife was a business woman among a few examples.

I am against the international women's day, not because it is un-Islamic but because women should be empowered during the whole year and not just for one day.

Answer 4

How incredible that 3645 people were interested enough to take the time to answer this great question which, by the way, will continue to be asked beyond International Women's Day!
The important word here is "imagining". See the site mentioned by Queen Rania:
http://imaginingourselves.imow.org/...

It isn't a "secret" any more. It's all about imagining the world as a whole and how each of us fits into that whole scheme and what each of us can imagine and will contribute to the whole world community. OK you're saying this is hokey, new age talk. Well I'm just saying that there are many possibilities out there and this is just one of them . We are no longer isolated in the world.

Imagining the possibilities rather than the negatives is the key. Don't let the negatives cloud your mind. The more energy we give to the negatives the more they grow and follow us around. Open the doors and really imagine.

I imagine a water pump called a "roundabout" (or "merry-go-round") being installed in the community of Chingoe, Mozambique, Africa. This play ground toy and water pump is activated every time the children in the community play on it. The water is pumped by the "toy" to a huge water tank high above ground and assisted by gravitation, pulls the water down for usage by the community. If social entrepreneur Trevor Field hadn't imagined the use of a roundabout as a pump, thousands of people would not have access to water in developing countries. See the site at:
http://www.playpumps.org
JULIA, ONE TEN YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL, HAS CHANGED THE WORLD.
(My website is not complete at this time but will be named after my sponsored child Julia N. who lives in Mozambique. The site will be listed as Water for Julia.org)

Answer 5

I know in our small community women were treated like a lesser species, not directly but that persona was there so we decided to take a long hard look at all the groups, and panels we had in our village and came up with the conclusion that women were badly represented so men and women alike decided that either these groups elect more women so they would have a stronger voice or have the existing men to step down and let women take the place - the results were amazing no only dos our community run more smoothly but we now have a better educational system and more access to groups and studying opportunities plus for some reason more and more men aren't afraid to further their education and talk more about what they see as good for the community as a whole rather than quick fixing a problem and moving on - I guess what I am trying to say is if we had equal representing at all levels of focus i.e. government, advocacy etc we would claim more diversity and have a better world.

Answer 6

Interesting Question. Having an International Women's Day to show empowerment is nobel, but futile. There are two things that are going to be in the way of women, and that is goverments and religions. Both will go against you because they see you as wanting to take away from their power. Monarchys and Dictators have a history of this. This is not to put you down, because your monarchy might be different. I would just ask you this, what makes a Queen any more important then a young lady of six children, at home in a trailer in say... Alabama or Mississippi in the United States. The answer should be nothing, because you are both women that should have the same rights as everyone else in the world. The only difference is who you were born to, and you had no choice in who your parents would end up being. It does not make you better, just different.

From a global perspective, the are a lot of inequities that exist for not only women, but for men and children as well. Will one day a year make a difference, when it seems most people are more concerned with what is going on in their own little world.

Being a Queen, you have a better chance to make significant changes that will get peoples attention through out the world. It starts at home, and then moves forward from there. Just realize that it is going to be a very difficult battle when you go against those who are against you. It clearly is going to take more than just one day, unless of course you can create the same level of excitement that people have for Christmas. When you can do that, your battle will almost be won.

This forum just might be the first step of a great movement. Just remember, that women in hardship is just one part of a much bigger problem.

Good Luck

Answer 7

Hi,

Specifically what I am doing is giving women in my community the benefit of the doubt that we, meaning men and women are already equally empowered.
Furthermore I'm asking women as well as men to join together so that we can restore and improve ....empower if you will, the slipping economic stability of the American middle class.
Quite frankly the legacy that concerns me most right now is my own. Mine and the other hundred million Americans who weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths and in fact haven't been given a dime of assistance, educational tuition or support of any kind.
I do respect your question and certainly support and respect women. It's just that when I still had medical benefits and gas was under $2 a gallon I had more time
and interest in making sure everyone in the world was free and every group not oppressed.
What I will always have time for is the discussion of dropping the labels we attach to everyone and everything.
Labels like...African-American, Mexican-American, Gay man, Lesbian woman, Anglo, Asian American, Muslum American and on and on and on.
That is because I think doing so sounds easier than the next best alternative which is learning to read and speak a Chinese dialect like Mandarin or Cantonese.
I am well aware that you are a woman and cherish you even more so because you are.
No matter what I will always get the door and have smile for you k! Besides empowerment is looking pretty good on you and the other women I've seen.
Good luck!!

Answer 8

My reply will probably be lost in the hundreds of replies here, but I will have my say anyway. I feel that it is time to look at empowering everyone. The gender gap has definitely narrowed over the last few decades and this is a good thing, however, it has come at a price. I am a man and I feel that everyone is the same. No matter what their sex. The price paid is, however, that children are raised more and more by strangers. Most parents have to work or want to work. It should be recognized as a valid profession/job to raise children. Home Maker should be a valid position that counts like any other job. Whether it is a man or a woman raising the children, I think that this would empower society in general. It would make children more secure and able to succeed as adults. These people who work from home should be allowed a large tax deduction from the other employed partner's annual income. Should they be a single parent, they should have a large benefit from the government to allow for their absence from the home. Just an idea.

Answer 9

I feel, If they are educated enough, they will not do it any more. In spite of the physical and biological difference, which complements to one another, the women in my community is held equal to the man. Or else there would not have been the greatest respect to the MOTHER in the whole world. A girl born today is the future mother and she is respected in the same way. In my country there is no difference between the girl child and the boy child. There are so many families where they have only daughters, in fact I have my only child a daughter. I dont feel different from others, because I know it pretty well, given the education and culture, it is she who will take care of us when she grows up. At the same time if the education and cultural up-bringing is not adequate then even a man is not interested in taking care of his parents & there are cases that the old parents are suffering like hell. So I feel in the International Woman's Day, the ideal thing to do is to increase the level of education and cultural upbringing among those communities, where the women are still treated backwards, they are kept behind the veil, so that they are kept apart from the outside world, they are treated as a child-birth machine. Obviously, like many unscrupulous men there are unscrupulous women also, who take undue advantage of the equality, not only in the western world but in eastern world also. They should not be taken as an example. I feel that on the International Women's Day, the women should also understand that they themselves are incomplete without their man. Overall, the education and Cultural upbringing level must be increased, so that the world tomorrow is a much better place to live.

Answer 10

I am a teacher of high school architectural drafting. I do everything in my power to make sure that the female students get all of the credit they deserve for what they do in my class. Since I started teaching I have had more women graduate with degrees than men. I have also found that the women are better designers and take more time to do a better job altogether. I link my new students with some of my successful former students so they can see just how far they can go if they apply themselves. I am a man and have no problem stating that the world needs many more women leaders. Leaders in government and leaders in business. Women use compassion and common sense when they make decisions. They look at the bigger picture. For some reason men seem to feel the need to win instead of to better a situation no matter how they may be perceived when the problem is solved. I applaud women and let them know how much I admire them regularly.

Answer 11

In my openion, empower women needs creating a good balance between woman's natural role wich has been chosen to her selectivly and previlegly by God,wich is bieng a mother and a founder starting from the small home to the vast society,and Woman's right to be a part of the intellectual , social and even finantial participation in the comunity....Unfortunatly educated women now a days started to get too much into thier careers forgetting thier essential roles .And the first thing they do is that they revolt against thier familys and husbands wich makes the situation worse and that leeds to a lot of social problems like divorce etc.. we all know that a healthy family is the correct base of a healthy society, therefore why not creating a special women's working programs specialy in the Arab world , where a woman can work for certains hours per week and bieng paid well of cours ,therefor she can have the chance to go back home bieng not so exhusted offering what she has of love and care to her family ,by this the woman will have a role in the society by bieng a perticipator in developping the society and at the same time in creating a healthy family, by this we avoid any problem between a woman and her husband and children or father etc.
On the other hand why not organizing weekly forums held by social specialists and some succeful women examples,dedicated for simple and educated women from villeges, cities(mothers, housewives,even teenagers) to educate them about how to be effective in the society,and doing some personal coatching where every woman can find out her hidden talents and power,every human bieng has a powerful point but most of us dont know how to reveal it and use it positively.. Even only by participating in these forums and siminars women will start feeling thier importance outside the family not forgetting what has to be done for thier family's.Men and women are equel ......At the end a man cant do what a woman can do(as bieng amother)...wich is a big privilag for us...