Today, the world has united to celebrate International
Women’s Day in the midst of a major cultural shift in how we think and talk
about gender equality. Acceptance of abuse against women and girls as an
inconsequential and immutable part of our lives is being challenged worldwide.
Survivors are breaking the silence about violence and giving voices to those
who cannot speak out. Their stories capture headlines, shatter long-held
beliefs, inspire solidarity marches, and elevate public discourse on gender justice.
The
reasons behind this rise in advocacy and community mobilization are manifold. Although the principles of gender
equality and women’s empowerment are embedded in international and many
national legal frameworks, for most of the world, substantive equality
continues to be unattainable. The global economic gender gap is widening, and at the current pace of change, will not close
for another 217 years — a chilling increase from 170 years in 2016. Women
remain underrepresented in government bodies, community leadership positions,
corporate boards, and peacebuilding efforts. Persistent inequalities are also
evident in the widespread prevalence of and impunity for sexual and
gender-based violence. At the same time, movements such as, #MeToo, #TimesUp,
#BalanceTonPorc, #YoTambien, #Ana_kaman, #QuellaVoltaChe, “Ni Una Menos,” and
similar campaigns are changing people’s perceptions of their role in, and the
urgency of, the global women’s rights movement. The international development
community has a moral responsibility to transform this momentum into action,
working alongside local partners to bring about real change. Every voice
matters and collective action is indispensable to achieving greater gender
parity.
Seizing
this historic opportunity and recognizing the power of strategic partnerships in
promoting gender equality, the
American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) with the Center
for International Private Enterprise,
Grameen Foundation, and Search for Common Ground are pleased to announce Women and Girls Empowered
(WAGE), a four-year global programming consortium to
advance the status of women and girls worldwide.
WAGE aims to improve the prevention of and response to
gender-based violence; advance women’s roles in peacebuilding, mediation, and
reform processes; and support women’s economic empowerment. WAGE will work with
local civil society organizations committed to these goals to help develop
their organizational and technical skills and to engage in collaborative
research and learning to build a body of evidence on relevant promising
practices. WAGE will also provide direct assistance to women and girls,
including information, skills, resources, and services necessary to succeed as
active and equal participants in the global economy. Finally, WAGE will engage
men and boys as allies in these efforts. The consortium includes more than 40
international, regional, local, and corporate resource partners with niche
specializations in women’s and girls’ empowerment to complement WAGE’s broad
expertise and extend WAGE’s global reach.
For its first strategic initiative, WAGE
will focus on women’s economic empowerment in El Salvador and Honduras. Together with Kiva, an online loan platform
that connects lenders to entrepreneurs across the globe to alleviate poverty,
WAGE will provide financial support to women entrepreneurs and will work with
local microfinance institutions and civil society to reduce barriers that women
face in accessing financing and growing sustainable businesses.
As a world-renowned activist, Gloria
Steinem once noted, "The story of women's struggle for equality belongs to
no single feminist nor to any one organization but to the collective efforts of
all who care about human rights." On this International Women’s Day,
@WAGEGlobal is honored and thrilled to join forces and continue to
#PressforProgress together.
To learn more about Women and Girls
Empowered (WAGE) and ABA ROLI’s other initiatives aimed
at promoting the rights of women and girls, please contact the ABA Rule of Law
Initiative at rol@americanbar.org.
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