Six Ways to Empower Women and Girls
In many communities, girls and women bear the brunt of injustice. Besides, girls and women have long been discriminated against by society.
Women empowerment is one way to get girls and women to appreciate their worth and potential. It is all about giving women the power and control of their lives to become anything they want. Here are six easy ways you can make to make a big difference in the lives of daughters, sisters, and mothers in your community.
- Mentor a Girl
All girls experience troubled times – some more serious than others. A mentor can solve these troubled times. Adult mentors are usually unrelated to the girl or woman and work as volunteers. Remember that you do not need to be a political leader or a celebrity to be a good mentor. Instead, mentorship is about taking the time to pour knowledge into the young girls around you intentionally.
You can commit to mentoring a girl for a few hours per week for one year. For instance, you can guide a girl through issues of goal setting, stress management, and self-esteem. As she builds a supportive network, the girl will be learning valuable skills in a safe environment. This is also a great way to show girls or women that you believe in them.
2. Teach Her Job Skills
Teaching life skills to teens is an integral part of your job as parents, guardians, or mentors. It is vital that you provide ideas for helping girls as they go through school and become young adults. The two major life skills areas are personal and social skills and occupational skills.
For instance, you can help women with resources that will help them be concise in interviews. You can also teach them how to open a bank account, use the ATM, transfer money online, and write a check. Teens should also learn how to make a weekly or monthly budget and stick to it. Alternatively, you can show them how to use modern appliances, such as an automatic espresso machine that can’t be beaten.
3. Regular Health Check-up
Women and girls need to take care of their health with unprecedented vigilance. If women are not going for regular health checkups, chances are they don’t have someone to see when they do get sick.
Every woman should realize the importance of health checkups. That’s because early detection of health problems means prompt treatment and better outcomes. Therefore, you should help girls and women have a general checkup with their GP every year. Most health checks are meant to identify early signs of diseases or common health risk factors.
4. Improve Their Safety
Everybody experiences gender-based violence, but the majority of victims are women and girls. Failure to address this issue also entails a crucial cost for the future. You can challenge the attitudes towards dominance that perpetuate gender-based violence.
Also, you can develop guidelines for building systems to eliminate violence against women. Remember, you can only solve gender-based violence if you listen to girls’ experiences and respond to their needs. This will help you address risk factors for violence against women and girls at the individual and societal levels.
5. Support Her Education
Girls and women have the right to safe, formal, and quality education. Similarly, attending school can prevent girls from marrying young. However, girls face barriers to education caused by several factors. Factors such as cultural bias, gender discrimination, and safety concerns discourage girls from learning.
You, too, can support initiatives that help girls achieve their full potential. You can start by building a supportive environment for them in the community and at school. You can also provide grants for the implementation of education plans that promote gender equality.
6. Provide Clean Water
Lack of access to clean and safe water has frustrated women’s empowerment efforts and hindered their economic prosperity. However, women’s access to safe, clean water is a right, not a privilege. Access to consistent sources of clean water is crucial to women’s empowerment.
Having access to modern water systems increases the likelihood that women and girls drinking water is clean and safe. However, the higher costs of setting up such a system often lead to rural water schemes becoming unsustainable. Ultimately, securing water access for all women would go a long way in combating diseases, especially among young girls.
Conclusion
Women and girls continue to face challenges. Fortunately, you, too, can build an environment where women have a voice, and they are being heard. You will find great joy in propelling others and witnessing their success and accomplishments.