Why the education of a girl child is important?

The fact that women might have the chance of a healthier and happier life should be reason enough for promoting girls' education. However, there are also important benefits to society as a whole. An educated woman has the skills, information, and self-confidence that she needs to be a better parent, worker, and citizen.

Poverty Inc

The film is an inquiry into the poverty-industrial-complex - the multi-billion dollar market of NGOs, multilateral agencies, and for-profit aid contractors who propagate a system in which the poor stay poor while the rich get richer. The film challenges current perceptions of global charity and promotes entrepreneurship as an effective alternative to alleviating world poverty.

UN WOMEN - From where I stand: “My dream is to own my own garage”

Christine Wambulwa, 40, is the only woman mechanic in Kakuma Town, Turkana County, Kenya. As the sole breadwinner of her family, she works to send her children to school, so they can have the education she couldn’t afford for herself.

   

Christine Wambulwa. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

In my family, I was the 14th child and the only girl. I grew up watching my brothers. When the boys were making toy cars, I was making toy cars, when they looked after cattle, I too looked after cattle.

I stopped my education at eighth grade because there was no money for more. But I was too young to marry. I couldn’t get office work because my education was very low. So I started doing this work, repairing vehicles. I didn’t see any other woman doing this work… but I heard of one other woman mechanic in Kenya, her name was Rose. But I only heard of her, I never saw her. I am the only woman mechanic in Kakuma.

I like this work so much. I work daily, I don’t have a weekend. Every day, by 7.30 a.m. I am at work and I work until 7.30 in the evening. But if someone has a vehicle break down in the middle of the road, or in the bush, at any time, I will go.

There are challenges in this job. First, I don’t have any space. I am working along the roadside. There’s also lack of capital, so I don’t have enough tools. Whatever little money I make, goes to the family, and for my children’s school fees.

The other challenge is ignorance. Men don’t believe that a woman can repair a vehicle. A man will think ten times before giving me a vehicle to repair.

My message to other women and girls: Do not fear. Work is work. I lost my husband, so I had to work to provide for my family... Nothing’s hard for a woman, it’s only in the mind.

My dream is to have my own garage and to train more girls and women in this trade I will be then known as the Kenyan woman mechanic who was able to have her own garage, train, and mentor girls.

I would love for my children to take up this job. But I don’t know what they will decide to be when they grow up. My first one says he wants to be a scientist.”

Christine Wambulwa lives and works in Kakuma Town, in north-western Kenya, where the Kakuma Refugee Camp is located. The camp and a nearby settlement host more than 186,000 residents today, and the town offers much-needed services and commerce in the area. UN Women, with funding from the Government of Japan, recently concluded the first phase of the Women’s Leadership, Empowerment, Access and Protection in Crisis Response project in Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei settlement that equipped women with leadership and livelihood skills. Christine was one of the women featured in a documentary series produced by UN Women’s implementing partner, FilmAid.

SOURCE UN WOMEN

UN WOMEN - In Focus: Women, Peace and Security

Community Peacebuilding Discussions held on Madura island, East Java, Indonesia. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown


To create lasting peace, we need women’s voices and leadership.

When diverse women participate in peace negotiations, the quality and durability of peace agreements increases, and when women are signatories of peace agreements, they are more likely to be implemented.

Women are often the first to notice the rising tensions that can escalate to violence. They are also the first responders in the aftermath of conflict, taking on the lion’s share of care work for families and stepping in to repair shattered economies.

Yet, women around the world continue to be excluded from peace and political processes because of discriminatory laws, social stereotypes and institutional obstacles. Even when they are instrumental in brokering and sustaining peace, their contribution is rarely visible.

This year's UN Security Council Open Debate on 29 October and a host of high-level events held on its margins will take stock of the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda. The theme for this year’s debate is, “Towards the successful implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Moving from the commitments to accomplishments in preparation for the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325”.

The United Nations has identified six priority action areas to accelerate progress in the lead up to October 2020:

• make leadership accountable for the implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda, through improved data and gender analysis;
• ensure women’s meaningful participation in peace processes, the implementation of peace agreements and related decision-making;
• protect women’s human rights defenders and women’s organizations;
• ensure women’s participation in economic decision-making in post-conflict situations;
• Increase the number of women in uniformed services in peacekeeping missions and national security services;
• finance the women, peace and security agenda and invest in women peacebuilders.

As world leaders and women peacebuilders gather at the UN Security Council this week, read and share stories from women who are working hard every day to forge and keep the peace.

UN Women has just released a dashboard on women, peace and security as part of the Women Count data hub. The dashboard enables visualizations of data on the UN system’s and Member States’ commitment to women, peace, and security.

Source: UN WOMEN