Red Cross Blogs

Red Cross celebrates International Women’s Day

By Sarah Oughton
March 8, 2010 at 10:36 am

Dashing out the door this morning I grabbed my copy of the latest issue of New Internationalist and flicking through it on the train I came across some striking photos of women at work.

Today marks the centenary year of International Women’s Day and the New Internationalist feature also caught my eye with these statistics:

•    66 per cent of the world’s work is performed by women
•    50 per cent of the world’s food is produced by women
•    10 per cent of the world’s income is earned by women
•    1 per cent of the world’s property is owned by women

Although we’ve come a long way with women’s rights and gender equality, clearly there’s still a long way to go.

In places of crippling poverty it is usually the women who are hit hardest – girls are often the first to miss out on an education, their prospects become limited, they may be forced into prostitution or subjected to domestic violence.

But there are also stories of survival and hope. In Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz Red Crescent is working with vulnerable women tackling a number of issues such as bride kidnappings, domestic abuse and an outdated system which makes it difficult for many to access even basic health services.

On International Women’s Day, find out about some women who have experienced great trauma and hardship but are now setting new goals, learning new skills and hoping for a better future – read their stories on our website or on the BBC website.

And on the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ website you can read about how the Rwanda Red Cross is breaking with tradition to ensure women are being included in its decision-making bodies.

Image © Claudia Janke/BRC

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Tags: bride kidnappings, International Women's Day, Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan, poverty

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