This week’s SoroptiVoiceBlog comes from Talat Pasha, Past-President of Soroptimist International Karachi Central (Pakistan). She talks about the need to build women’s confidence and encourage them to open their lives to new friends and learning opportunities, wherever they are in the world.
Empowerment can be financial or emotional. Sometimes women need confidence to venture out and do things that would make them financially stable. Sometimes it is lack of education which hampers their growth and in other cases it is lack of confidence. As Soroptimists, we need to focus on projects which help women in both of these areas. Giving opportunities to women to realize their worth and learn to network for a better life is what most clubs are now working on.
Education, training and confidence building are paramount to empowerment. Encouraging girls in public speaking would pave the way for them to think for themselves in the future and have the confidence to work for themselves. This has been organized by clubs in Pakistan for women and girls.
Soroptimist clubs are working on another kind of empowerment too and I would like to share one such project with you. Keighley in the UK has a large community from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Most of the women do not speak English and though they have lived for several years in UK, they have no idea about the English way of life and have not made any friends from the English community. They live within their community and hardly venture out.
Program action officer Susan Bartlett of SI Keighley explains: “The project started because we were aware of the lack of interaction between the different communities within Keighley and wanted to try to build bridges with them. We had worked previously in a different school helping the mothers learn basic English, this had to stop because of a lack of facilities which was a shame because the women had enjoyed it and it had helped them to go for more formal lessons. We wanted this project to be broader and were lucky that Eastwood primary school had the facilities to make this happen."
"It was to be a two way process with us learning from them whilst helping them understand broader English culture to help improve community cohesion. Through friendship, fun and informal learning we are hoping to achieve the Soroptimist 3E goals and though this is a long term project, small steps are being taken on the road to success."
"The women from the community played an integral part in organising the International women’s day event with us. They organised a Street party for the Queen’s Jubilee with support from SI Keighley. Other less tangible evidence of progress is the way the women interact with more confidence both within the group and at other events within the school. We have meetings in which we teach them how to make scones and they teach us how to make Pakoras. They are reaching out to other parents within the school who have different cultural backgrounds and becoming more inclusive.”
This kind of empowerment brings confidence, friendship, camaraderie and fun into the lives of women who may otherwise have not had a chance to understand that inside we are all the same!! This is also empowering women in a very special way!!
Image: SI Karachi Central speak out in support of Malala and girls’ education