A Celebration of Women Around the World

International Women’s Day, observed annually on March 8, is a time to celebrate the political, economic and social achievements of women around the world.

In the United States, ActionAid is bringing women’s voices from the 50 countries we work in to the halls of power. Their stories influence U.S. policy decisions that will impact the communities they live and work in. Hearing strong, female perspectives about the results of their policy decisions enables our congressional leaders and agency heads make future informed decisions.

Globally, with ActionAid’s support, women in developing countries are standing up to claim their basic human rights and to fight the poverty that oppresses them. Below are three stories of women from different parts of the world – Nepal, Haiti and Uganda – who have found their voice and are now working to empower others.

Rubi Khan, Nepal

At nineteen-years-old, Rubi is almost old maid in her Nepalese society. However, her parents are happy for her to zoom around Nepalgan on her newly acquired moped, and leading street protests.

“My father is proud to have me as his daughter,” said Rubi.

“He thinks that I will help to get Muslim women some freedom and their lives will be improved,” she adds. “He just asks that I don’t insult him.”

The ultimate insult, she explains, would be for her run off with a non-Muslim man, but she is free to choose a Muslim boy from any caste. Although Rubi’s parents have enlightened views on marriage, if Rubi “insults” her parents, the local Mullah would issue her family a fatwah. Not only would this bring shame, but it would also destroy her father’s successful herb business.

Last year, Rubi became a “change activist” with ActionAid Nepal, and she is part of ActionAid’s Reflect program -- a door to door campaign that brings Muslim women out of their homes to begin learning about their rights.

“Muslim women are now capable of seeing the chief district officer, or any other government institution, and putting forward their demands,” Rubi explained. “Nowadays, they can take part in rallies, processions and mass meetings.”

One of Rubi’s top concerns revolves around hunger and she is working with ActionAid to make sure people do not go to bed hungry.

The aim is “to draw government attention to hunger,” Rubi said. She added that women bear the brunt of hunger in Nepal because they don’t own land and they often become victims of violence.

“Hungry men will beat their wife and children and so they are always the first to eat, and they always eat most of the food,” Rubi explained.

In addition to supporting the cause, Rubi is using her voice to draw public attention to hunger in Nepal.

“The destination of new Nepal is to end violence and hunger,” she said. “We are the voice of rural women. We want a hunger and violence free society.”

Not only has Rubi held press conferences to discuss hunger in Nepal, but she has also travelled with a group of Muslim women to the national HungerFREE rally in Chitwan, southern Nepal.

Rubi has also made history by becoming the first elected chairwoman of the newly formed National Women’s Rights Forum. As part of her duties, she will be leading the charge to ensure that the demands and promises for women’s land rights made during the HungerFREE campaign are delivered to Nepal’s women.

Thonyde Jean, Haiti

At the end of a peninsula on Lake Peligre sits a pink and white wooden house, a cooking shed and storage hut. The place is serene and beautiful but remote – it is a two hour walk over Seresit Mountain to the nearest town of Lascahobas. Thonyde Jean, 35, lives here in Kapable with her five children and family but the remote location does not make life easy for her family.

“Life is difficult in Kapable,” Thonyde said. “It’s a constant struggle…our roads are not accessible to vehicles, we have to carry things on our head and that makes doing our trading difficult.”

Thonyde and her family grow fruit and vegetables on the slopes and fields around her house, and keep goats. On Wednesdays, they trek a total of four hours each way to the busy market in Lascahobas to sell their produce.

However, like more then half of Haiti’s 9.5 million people living below the poverty line, this is not enough to keep her family afloat.

Just buying the staples has become a challenge for Thonyde. For example, she can sell a stem of bananas for $4, but it costs $5 to buy a can of rice. At times, she simply runs out of money while at other times, her seasonal produce does not last the entire year.

“When we don’t have money for food, the little we have at hand we ration it,” Thonyde explains. “When the rations are gone we go into the garden and look for bananas which we boil for the children. If that’s all we have, we give them banana with some salty water.”

Environmental problems, such as storms and erosion, only add to the existing difficulties. Haiti has suffered from four cyclones since August 2008. The heavy rains around portions of the year, means that Thonyde’s corn crop is simply washed away and lost.

“Whenever it rains, especially if it rains hard, the rain water takes all the soil and washes it into the river,” she said. “Here we don’t do soil conservation by using terraces. If only we had technical support to do that, maybe things would be different.”

Thonyde is now pinning her hopes on the success of a new project run by ActionAid’s partner, the Coordination of Actions on Health and Development, in Haiti. The COADSH is working with local people to build a sustainable animal rearing agribusiness in the area.

The crux of the program revolves around providing locals with animal husbandry training and supplying families with additional goats. Thonyde has already built half of the enclosure that will house her new goats.

“I hope that the new goat experiment will be successful and that will give us a better tomorrow,” Thonyde added.

Adiya Tibanagwa, Uganda

Adiya Tibanagwa moved to her home in Kiraasa, Uganda, in 1989 when she married. But 11 years later, her husband left her to raise their six children alone, while he re-married another woman.

“He tried to bring his new wife and their child here and tried to make me leave,” Adiya said. “He has come back about 10 times now – at first he was very violent and angry towards me.”

Adiya sought help from Baina Omugisa – a local NGO supported by ActionAid – to help her identify laws that would allow her to stay on her land. As a result of their assistance, the Probation and Welfare Office wrote her husband a letter, explaining that if he came back to try and take the land from her again, he would be sent to prison.

“This was last May and since this time my husband has not come back,” Adiya said.

“I think he was very scared by what may happen to him if he did,” she added. “But he doesn’t provide any support for his six children – he cannot throw me off the land that I am using to support them.”

Despite Adiya’s legal victory, her five-acre plot of land proves difficult for her to cultivate solo. However, she does manage to cultivate and sell enough bananas and coffee to pay her children’s school fees but this means that sometimes the family has little to left to eat.

I try to give my children three meals a day but we only eat meat on special occasions – about once every two months,” Adiya said. “We have no food that is stored away because we can never grow enough, although we are lucky because Baina Omugisa give us seeds to grow nutritious vegetables like carrots and tomatoes.”

“I am still very scared that my husband may come back to try and take this land away – I would like to be able to save enough money so that I can register this land in my name but it is hard because I never seem to make enough,” Adiya said.

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