Reduced domestic violence and FGM amongst women in Ghana... So What's the Big Picture Now?
The Pastoral Womens Council: Women Raising Their Voices.
On a recent visit to Tanzania, I met with the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) and the women and girls they work with. PWC is an inspirational organisation that facilitates incredible changes in the lives of pastoralists and hunter-gathers. With help from PWC, women have transformed their household’s earning capacity through the taking of small loans and by starting small businesses. For the first time, women possess livestock and have money of their own. However, the most heartening aspect of the programme was the social revolution that has taken place at household and community level. Women are making decisions over their own lives. It had created a dialog between husbands and wives that did not exist before. Women had increased confidence to speak out and had gained the respect of their communities. Other women were going to them for advice!
I met Tomonik Yaile in Empopongi Village and her story illustrates that at very little financial cost, a family’s life can be transformed. She told me:
“Maasai women have nothing, they own nothing. They have no control over anything. I got 4 good things since joining the group. Firstly, I gained business skills. Secondly, I built a house. Thirdly, I was able to send all my children to school – all 6 of them and one is now in teachers college. Fourthly, I am able to buy my own clothes, provide school uniforms and buy other household items. Maasai women own nothing and men are misers. Before we started the women’s group, it was up to a man to sell a cow for us in order to be able to eat, get clothes, or even buy a pen. Life was so tough. Men don’t want to sell a cow for what they consider to be minor things. My life was tough and rough. I was always mending clothes. Nowadays I don’t have clothes like that. Things have changed. I own and control some goats. I can sell them without my husband’s permission or can give them to friends. Now, my husband loves me because I am contributing so much to the household. We are just like partners. He respects me.”
It was a loan of £50 that transformed Tomonik’s life.
With very best wishes for 2009
Rosie Martin
Coordinator at African Initiatives