Blog by Gail Dekreon, SIA Director 2024-2025, member of SI of San Francisco

At CSW69 I attended an event on 11 March which featured Rose Academies, founded by Susan Stasi. It works to effectuate the blueprint for advancing women’s rights set out in the 1995 Beijing Platform. The Platform sets out 17 goals with targets for Sustainable Development to be effectuated by 2030- we only have five years left to accomplish this.  

Rose Academies was established in 2014; their work has earned them Special Consultive Status in the United Nations. Their work brings to low income, isolated women and communities’ knowledge about health care practices, and the reduction of high levels of disease, uncontrolled population, malnutrition, and high infant and maternity mortality rates 

The global population currently stands at 8.1 billion people, which means that one-half, 4 billion, are women! Of those 4 billion women, 1 out of 5 are disabled, dealing with non-standard health issues, and cannot access healthcare or education due to stigma and discrimination as both women and individuals with disabilities.

This event, facilitated by Ms. Stasi, featured four speakers on different subjects all related to empowering women through access to health care and education. (Sound familiar Soroptimist sisters?) 

Jerome Elam is the CEO of the Trafficking in America Task Force. A survivor of trafficking in his parental home, he now works to help victims, survivors and to stop traffickers. He has worked all over the globe teaching and raising awareness on how to stop trafficking. In his opinion, legalising sex workers is merely a smoke screen for trafficking. He recommends visiting the Trafficking in America Taskforce website to learn the signs of trafficking and to report it. You will not only save a victim, but you will stop the trafficker and locate his/her other victims. 

Silvia Figueiro, PhD, Professor at Santa Clara University, Computer Science & Engineering, believes women will be empowered through education. However, we have to be innovative to bring women the tools they need despite living in rural, low-income areas with no access to technology. Technology for-good is possible, and will capture the attention of young people. It is possible to provide android tablets with the educational tools already downloaded, without the need to plug-in online. But they have also identified a PCH standalone solar powered server that can get them access to the internet when needed. Rose Academies realised that teaching boys about topics, such as puberty, is also part of the solution. They teach that change is normal. Girls are learning that their health should not be taboo. An AstraZeneca grant helped pay for the student teachers, tablets, solar power systems, and motorcycles to get to the remote villages. This type of technology will assist women with disabilities to get healthcare information and to take education into the rural, isolated areas of the globe. 

Asad Ansari and Kazim Gazi, two students from Texas A&M University, (Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas), presented their new app that they have constructed and are perfecting by testing it on the rural Texas population. They used culturally appropriate graphics to bring up difficult topics in the mobile apps. They know it will help not only Americans in isolated rural areas but other isolated, rural global communities to get access to health care resources, information and education. The consequences of ignoring this crucial need is higher unemployment and higher poverty rates because of isolation and consequential health and mental health challenges. Their vision is to remove all barriers to equal access by leveraging technology to centralise access to resources, thus empowering women and disabled women, giving them independence. 

Note: 

Soroptimist International Foundation supports Rose Academies.

Further information is available on our website and you can read out most recent update here